Don't cry for me Argentina … unless I never had a chance to visit you

As the second largest country in South America [and sixth in the world], it has four seasons and enough variety of ecology, culture and activities to satisfy most any traveler.

 

Since we arrived in August, and had no interest in skiing, spending time in Patagonia was bypassed for a longer stay in Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls.  Argentina was experiencing a colder than usual winter, and just a few weeks prior to our arrival, it snowed in Buenos Aires for the first time in ninety-seven years!

We stayed at the Hotel Paname-ricano which was across from the Obelisco, a sixty meter high monument, built in the thirties, where people come to celebrate sports or political events.  The Panamericano is a five star hotel with an excellent and attentive staff who were very helpful in assisting us in navigating the city.  It is centrally located and near the famous Florida Street where the shopping is easy and the cars are banned.  It has a spacious lobby but the real attraction is the rooftop health club and indoor pool from which one has a spectacular panoramic view of the city.  We enjoyed the extensive buffet break-fasts and afternoon coffee breaks in their lounge, made all the more tasty with an assortment of complementary chocolates.  In fact our most memorable dining experience was at the renowned Restaurant Tomo 1 which has been in the hotel for years. First class service and first class cuisine make this dining Mecca second to none. Check out their menu at www.tomo1.com.ar and learn more about the hotel at www.-panamericano.us.

How about kosher food choices you may ask? The answer is as easy as www.mapakosher.com.ar. It will tell you places to eat, such as a kosher McDonalds, as well as Jewish sections of Buenos Aires and synagogues. Argentina has one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, and the flag of Israel is visible on the facade of several buildings.

One of our cab drivers spoke to us in Yiddish [which was barely better than our Spanish], and told us that his family came to Argentina from Warsaw, Poland.  There is, in fact, a European ambiance in this city that is not surprising as so many of its inhabitants emigrated from that area.  Buenos Aires is referred to by many as the Paris of South America.

There are several different neighborhoods in Buenos Aires to explore.  The Recoleta section is best known for its Cementario de la Recoleta, the burial ground for the rich and famous, as the nation's great leaders are buried there. One of the most visited tombs [under the name of Duarte Familia] is that of Eva Peron.  The architecture of the mausoleums is quite elaborate and reflects the wealth of the families buried within them.  It is suggested that you have a guide or purchase a map to appreciate the history of the cemetery.  Recoleta is also known for its parks, variety of restaurants, and for its flea market which is held on the weekends.

The place to go for a delicious dinner is Puerto Madero, a waterfront neighborhood that is undergoing a vibrant transformation with the construction of upscale restaurants and housing.  We found the food to be consistently good.

Interesting boutiques and restaurants are plentiful in the San Telmo area, Argentina's equivalent to New York City's Greenwich Village, where artists and intellectuals reside.  A major event is the Sunday flea market in the central plaza where one can find a large selection of handmade leather goods and jewelry.

We ventured back to San Telmo one evening to attend the La Ventana Barrio de Tango show [www.la-ventana.com.ar].  One must not leave Buenos Aires without a Tango experience.  In addition to the sensual tango dancing there were gauchos and performers in native dress entertaining us with music and twirling bolos.

The Italian influence is strong in La Boca, which is famous for its brightly colored houses made from sheet metal. It is also known for its Boca Junior soccer team - a sport that is a passion for Argentineans.  If you have a chance to see them play, hopefully against their rival, River Plate, do not hesitate to do so.  

In order to get a sense of the city it is suggested that one take a city tour.  One company that combines video displays in addition to a description of the various areas by their guide in both English and Spanish is Opcionsur [www.opcionsur.com.ar].  The tour is well worth the $30 charge.

From Buenos Aires, there are several side trips that can be arranged.  We visited the town of Tigre, situated at the mouth of the delta, which is especially popular during the summer months for the water activities offered.  A trip to a gaucho ranch where one can observe the life of a cowboy is another popular attraction.  For assistance and suggestions there is a well established company specializing in Argentina tourism that can help arrange the ideal side trips at www.argentinain-coming.com.ar.

Even though the economy of Argentina has improved over the last several years, the American dollar is still strong, and one can get great bargains in leather goods, silver and certain gems.

We had leather jackets custom made at a cost of a little more than $100 each!  While there are many places to shop for these items, we felt comfortable staying away from the "factories" and perusing the popular shopping districts.

A Walk in Buenos Aires, San Telmo

I leave La Boca, wander off in the general direction of San Telmo, quickly lose myself in a grey maze of streets that don’t seem to lead in the right direction. The sun seems to have disappeared for good, and all of a sudden a tall man in his mid-thirties and a tracksuit is at my side.

“Where are you from?”

I answer his questions in short sentences, a little nervous in abandoned, unfamiliar streets. He stays at my side for a few blocks, quizzing me on my life, my visit to Buenos Aires, my job. Telling me I’m beautiful. Wondering about my civil status. I’m beginning to feel the tiniest knot of fear, scanning the streets ahead for any sign of life, or passage through to a main road. It’s not like me to be so frighten so easily, and this makes me more uncomfortable still, wondering if animal instincts are trying to tell me something.
But we reach a corner, and he stops.

“It was lovely to meet you. I just wanted to talk to you and tell you you’re gorgeous.” And he kisses me on the cheek, and is gone, and I feel guilty for being so suspicious.
I reach a main road, and follow it north to Parque Lezama. Here there is life; Sunday afternoon wanderers, picnic-ers, lovers, tourists. A tall man is walking a ridiculously tiny dog, and a troup of musicians is in full swing beneath a tree with low, sweeping branches. Some of them play real instruments – guitar, violin, trumpet – while others are keeping beat on percussion instruments improved from buckets and crates. The sun has come out again, so I sit on a nearby park bench and listen to the wild gypsy music.

A girl in a pink tutu runs past me to grab the hand of her boyfriend, dressed in a tux and a monster mask, and as I watch them dance it takes me one dizzyingly surreal moment to remember that today is Hallowe’en.
The tall man with the tiny dog hugs his young daughter, and they wander off together as the band pauses, and the guitarist swigs a beer. I listen a little longer, and wander off as well.
On the corner of Defensa and Juan de Garay is Café Crema, with today’s menu scrawled on lined paper and taped to a window. We had eaten there before and loved it, and I push open the door and find a seat by the window, order a coffee and media lunas, croissant-like pastries that completely fail to reach the light perfection of a real croissant but are delicious nonetheless.

The waiters are grey-haired, clad in black and white, corteous without being obsequious. They give the impression of having worked there fifty years, and as I sit in the black-and-white tiled, red-trimmed interior, I have the feeling the only things that have changed in those fifty years have been prices and hairlines.
I sip my coffee, watch the comings and goings, nibble on my pastries.

Later I wander up Defensa, pass a man painting a low wall with a tango scene. Half a block beyond, a gorgeous old blue and green car (a Cadillac, I wonder?) is parked in the middle of the pedestrian street, a man in brown hat and sports jacket seated on a stool a few metres away, strumming on a guitar and singing. A woman of indeterminate age, with curly, bleached blond hair sits on a smaller stool in the shade of a grey and yellow beach umbrella that extends from the trunk of a car.

I push through the crowds thronging the market in Plaza Dorrego, the clicking cameras, more tango. I spend ten minutes admiring old jewellry and vintage clothes before the inevitable claustrophobia amongst all those people sets in, and I push my way back out again, heading for Independencia.
The streets of San Telmo are wide and clean, lined with cafes and boutiques and antique stores and vivid street art. I zigzag, knowing I’ll hit Independencia sooner or later and can follow it home. On Bolívar, just half a block up from its corner with Estados Unidos, I come across El Ruffián Melancólico, and lose myself among its second-hand books for almost an hour.

Stacks of old magazines spill across the floor, and the dusty, musty smell of old books closes in as I run my hands along their cracked spines, pause over some, pull them out and breathe in their pages. Freud is there, and de Beauviour, and Hemingway, and Neruda, and Engels and a whole pile of Latin American applications of Marxist theory. I briefly lust over a beautiful old edition of Don Quijote, reluctantly place it back on the shelf thinking of budgets and a pile of still-unread books waiting for me in Cusco.

Every corner and niche and untidy pile of books and maps and newspapers scoured, its treasures identified and pined after, I return to the street, set bearings for the hostel, start thinking of Palermo, and parties.

From: http://brinkofsomethingelse.com/

The Spanish prefer Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is among the 25 cities preferred by the Spanish, according to travel search engine Skyscanner.
Skyscanner is internationally among the leading European travel search engine for its power and flexibility. Lets compare current.

The trip marked tendency to Buenos Aires and New York are the most required in non-European destinations, Buenos Aires is in the post 19 and New York in 22.Una explanation is how the City developed a good positioning strategy in Europe and especially in Spain, the organization of the Rally 2010 received a lot of influx of tourists from around the world, it will again in January 2011, the tango world, and numerous other cultural activities, gastonomicas, etc.
Spain accounts for the City of Buenos Aires the first emissive European market and that despite the economic difficulties Spanish shows how our city is becoming more attractive for travelers who decide to choose faraway destinations.