First week in Buenos Aires

We are nearing the end of the first week in Argentina. We spent the past days in Buenos Aires. Before we left on our trip, we had booked two hostels in different neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. On the plane we were seated next to a kind Dutch girl, with whom we travelled from the airport to the city center.

San Telmo

Our first stay was at the Ostinatto hostel in the San Telmo neighborhood. We arrived a couple of hours before we could check in to the hostel. We spent the morning and afternoon exploring the neighborhood. Eventually we even got to the Casa Rosada: the office of the president of Argentina. The building is less pink than the name suggests! Although it was quiet during our stay in the hostel (the eight-bed dormitory was only half filled), we met a great many nice people at the barbecue the first night. It was a typical Argentine asado. Lots and lots of great cuts of meat, all prepared above the parilla. Among them were traveling couple and their friend from the U.S.A., Johannes from Germany, some folks from Australia and Mario from South Korea.

The next day Angelo, Mario and I got to the Recoleta neighborhood to visit the Cementerio de la Recoleta. It is by far the most impressive cemetery I have ever visited! Instead of normal gravestones, every single grave is a small mausoleum. Among them are the graves of many famous Argentinians. Ofcourse we also visited the grave of Eva ‘Evita’ Perón. After the cemetery Mario took us to La Cholita where we enjoyed our lunch. The venue had a great atmosphere with plenty young porteños (that is what the inhabitants of Buenos Aires call themselves) enjoying their lunches as well. The rest of the afternoon we explored the neighborhood before returning to the hostel.

On the third day we returned to Recoleta via the Retiro neighborhood. Near the Retiro train station we visited the Torre Monumental. From the tower we walked to the Floralis Genérica sculpture. A huge flower made out of aluminum by the Argentine architect Eduardo Catalano. The location of the flower, situated in the Plaza de las Naciones Unidas, allows for beautiful photography opportunities. We went back to the hostel by the Congreso Nacional. That evening we met with Mario again, who introduced us to a couple of his friends which he met earlier on his trip. Together we had dinner and got a beer in a brewing pub near the Recoleta cemetery. Because the subway was closed (it runs until 11pm) we had to walk back from the pub to our hostel…

Palermo

Before we had to move to our next hostel in Buenos Aires on January 31, we visited the weekly Sunday market on the Defensa street in the San Telmo neighborhood. The market had many stalls with local produce, arts and crafts, and as always plenty of souvenirs for the tourists to buy. Changing hostels was easy. The Buenos Aires subway system connects the neighborhoods where we were staying. Only a short walk to and from the subway was needed.

The following day we got to visit the Jardin Japonés: the Japanese gardens. According to my Lonely Planet travel guidebook the gardens should be the best maintained gardens in Buenos Aires. Although the gardens are really nice, they are not as well maintained as many (public) gardens around Europe. As Angelo pointed out, the gardens are more catered to the South American tourist crowd instead of providing an authentic Japanese experience. We explored the rest of Palermo neighborhood and that night we had an amazing dinner at Don Julio. The parilla restaurant was recommended by friend, definitely worth a visit! The bife de lomo was one of the purest and best tasting pieces of meat I ever had.

Unfortunately our week in Buenos Aires is coming to an end. The last two days here we relaxed near our hostel, walked around the Palermo neighborhood, and had to plan the next destination. Finding our next destination was harder than we expected initially…

Our next destination will be Puerto Iguazú. There we will visit the Iguazú falls for a couple of days. See you next week!