Buenos Aires - Part I

Day 1: Settling in and Book Store

Libreria Ateneo set in an early 20th century theatre

After the great year end in San Martin de los Andes we arrived in Buenos Aires. We had planned to stay in the country’s capital for just under two weeks and we were very much looking forward to it.

On our first day there we got ourselves some grocery to enjoy a quiet relaxing time in Cecilia’s family apartment. The area was very nice with a lot of small bars and restaurants and a little park. We had a nice lunch at the corner snack and went to look for a book in one of the most beautiful book store I’ve ever seen. It is actually a converted theatre with books everywhere from the ground floor to the second level. They kept the whole interior completely untouched and it was beautiful.

Day 2: Free Walking Tour

Café Tortoni downtown

On our second day in Buenos Aires we took one of the two free walking tours of the city. It was great and our guide Virginia explained the history and politics of this relatively young country with a very fresh youthful view. She is herself a Porteña, that is a native from Buenos Aires, and she keenly made us discover her city.

After the tour we actually went back to one of the cafés we had seen earlier. A huge queue of people was waiting to get in. It looked like the front door of a busy nightclub a Saturday night. The Café Tortoni is the oldest in Buenos Aires and it has a special status of “Recognized Cultural Establishments of Buenos Aires” by the Argentinian government.

After that we went to the Cathedral where the body of the great liberator, José de San Martin rests.  (Wikipedia San Martin). Later that day we met up with Will and Archanna who were also staying in Buenos Aires for a 6 weeks break. We had a few close in a very nice neighbourhood and then parted company around 1a.m. as we had an early rise the next day.

The Mausoleum of José de San Martin

Day 3 : Kevin Johansen Concert in Mar del Plata

Kevin Johansen and his illustrator friend

We have been trying to go to a concert of Kevin Johansen ever since we came to South America. We have been fans of his music for years now and this American born Argentinian singer was on our “to-do” list. The problem is that we’ve missed him by a few days on two occasions already in Lima and in Buenos Aires. We had even considered taking flights and changing our itinerary just to go to one of his concerts.

We had pretty much given up when Roxana found out that he was performing in Mar del Plata early January when we would be in Buenos Aires. As Mar del Plata is “only” a 5-hour bus trip away we got on the bus and went there. This seaside resort is a very popular destination catering mainly for the Buenos Aires crowd. When we got there we went straight to the ticket office to procure ourselves the holy grail. We had some dinner in a very nice place and went to the concert.

Live illustrations of the songs

The venue was a very nice and cosy bar-club-concert hall called Abbey Road in honour of the Beatles. It was very intimate as only 400 people could attend the concert. Kevin Johansen is a great performer and he constantly interacted with the public. His partner on stage was a comic strip illustrator and he was drawing away as Kevin was playing the guitar and singing.

It was very original, especially when they made paper planes with the drawings and threw them in the crowd. After the concert we went back to the bus station and got on the 2.30a.m. bus back to Buenos Aires. We got there and 8 in the morning and were in bed for 9.

Day 4: Cemetery and Tango Show

When we woke up at in the afternoon we took it easy and had a lazy breakfast. Then we left home to go to the Cemetery where most of the great names of Argentinian history are buried. It is the Argentinian “Père Lachaise” if you will. We went there like most tourists to see the Mausoleum of Eva Peron (Evita). (Wikipedia Evita).

After this we walked through the small artisans market that was set up around the cemetery and we bumped into Will and Archanna. We had a look at the stalls. There were some nice things although most of these were generic stuff we had come across all over South America, only it was more expensive here!

Spectacular tango show

We agreed to meet up with them the following day at the huge San Telmo Sunday market. That evening we booked the Tango show that Will and Archanna had been to. It was the Homero Manzi show and it was breathtaking. They even had a pick up and drop off chauffeur service which made it even better.

The show was excellent and we had a very good table. The venue was probably 90% full of tourists. Out of those my guess is that about half of them were Brazilians! You could eat during the show that started at 10.30pm but we opted not to as we had already had a bite at home. The dancers were very talented and the choreography was exquisite. We had a great evening out.

Day 5 : San Telmo market

A sea of locals and tourists alike

It was again one of those extremely hot days in Buenos Aires. The mercury had stayed around 30°C through the night and at 9am it was already 33°C. We went to the San Telmo market to meet up with Will and Archanna and their Portuguese friends Tiago and Livia. There also was a girl from Barcelona, Marta, who was living in Buenos Aires for 6 months.

We met around a very busy square where we had a few cold beers and lunch. The food was plentiful and the chips were actually very good. There was a tango demonstration going on in the bar while we were enjoying our food. It was fun to watch but too hot inside.

We then browsed the streets in search of a few items to buy. We did not have anything in particular in mind but enjoyed the atmosphere there. It was very packed. Thousands of tourists and locals gather at this Sunday market to find the rare piece of decoration or vintage clothing.

Tiago haggling over the price of this rare piece

Tiago and Livia were looking for something in particular: a glass Syphon. Those things are really hard to come by in Europe. They were very popular at the beginning of the 20^th century but very few remain today as during the great depression that hit Argentina hard, people were selling the glass and the metal to get some money. One of those in good condition would fetch about 30€ here and might be 4 to 5 times more expensive in Europe.

That evening we wanted to go to the Planetarium in one of the big parks in town. They have this open door every Sunday to promote Astronomy amongst members of the public. The moon was full and bright and we were relishing the prospect of seeing its seas and craters through the telescopes. But then, only 2 minutes before it was our turn, they stopped looking at the moon as it had risen behind the planetarium and out of sight. They had turned it towards Jupiter which we had seen with much better telescopes in San Pedro de Atacama. It was a bit of a disappointment. After that we went back to Will and Archanna’s apartment on their bikes and had a very nice dinner there.

Beautiful evening to be star gazing at the planetarium

Day 6: Shopping and dinner in nice meat restaurant

Ready to attack!

Roxana went out to do some shopping while I stayed in the apartment. I was not tempted to go out at all because of the heat. I caught up with some admin work and waited for Javier who was coming back from Cipolletti. When he arrived, we had a quick lunch together.

In the evening we met up again with the gang of friends and went out to Las Cholas, a steak restaurant in San Telmo where the portions are huge and the bill very small. We had a Bife de Chorizo with chips and veggies to share between Roxana and I and it was plenty!

Trendy bar downtown

All photos of Buenos Aires