The Argentinian lifestyle is one that contrasts greatly with the big city living that I have grown accustomed to while living in DC and especially after spending so much time in NYC. Rather than rushing from place to place and squeezing in as much as possible in as little time as possible, a typical day in Argentina is much more leisurely and relaxed. Lunches can extend to two hours and beyond, dinner is rarely eaten before 9pm and clubs often do not even open until 12 or 1am. Bedtime never seems to be before 5am but people are always milling about early in the morning leaving me to wonder when or if these people actually sleep.
In past travels with Jeff and continuing on this trip, we have always tried to see as much as humanly possible in the time available. The schedules set an aggressive pace that leaves us fulfilled but often exhausted as well. Our original South America itinerary had us visiting both Buenos Aires and Córdoba during the four days leading up to the Patagonia portion of the trip. Some brief research showed we would need to spend a total of 20-25 hours on overnight buses to make the Córdoba leg happen. (Flights were not cheap enough.) So rather than pushing ourselves to such extremes, we embraced the laid back Argentinian lifestyle, bagged on Córdoba, and spent four plus lazy days in Buenos Aires taking in as much as we could at a much more leisurely pace.
While in Buenos Aires, most days for Jeff and I started with a wake-up call somewhere between 10am and noon. Only twice were we successful in making it to the complimentary breakfast in our hotel that ended at 11am. We would get cleaned up, get our email/blog/Facebook fix, and eventually make our way to a café for lunch. By 3 or 4pm, we were ready for the day to begin.
Much like most large, metropolitan cities, Buenos Aires is broken up into several different neighborhoods, each with their own style and sub-culture. Our daytime activities included self-guided walking tours of the neighborhoods with help from maps and MP3s from the Buenos Aires tourism website that take you to all of the prime attractions. While the MP3s were a bit dry and boring (we ditched them almost immediately), it was great to have some understanding of what we were seeing and some of the history behind the sites.
In Recoleta, Buenos Aires’ upper-class neighborhood, Jeff and I visited an impressive flower sculpture that opens and closes throughout the day as well as the city’s famous cemetery which included a stop at Eva Perón’s resting place.
In La Boca, a neighborhood in the southern part of the city, Jeff humored me by going along with a tour of the Estadio de Boca Juniors, the stadium for one of Argentina’s most famous soccer teams. Following that tour, we walked down to Caminito, a cobblestoned street filled with shops and cafés where we stopped to take in a live tango performance.
In San Telmo, we spent an afternoon browsing handmade crafts in Plaza Dorrego. Another afternoon was spent in the central part of the city, appropriately named Centro, where we saw the Presidential Palace, the metro, a famous billiards hall and Congress.
Our walking tours would be followed by some downtime back at the hotel in the early evening and then a late (by US standards) dinner at around 9 or 10pm. From there we would usually venture over to the Palremo district which seemed to be one of the more active nightlife areas. However much to our disappointment, we continued to struggle finding fun places to meet new people. The city offers very few bars in the traditional American sense but is instead filled with restaurant after restaurant where locals and tourists alike spend their nights seated at tables. This setup makes it very difficult to meet new people especially when we still have not come across many English speaking tourists.
Thankfully during our tour of San Telmo, we bumped into a fellow American named Molly who was spending a few days in Buenos Aires before moving on to Bariloche to participate in a Spanish language program. We quickly bonded over our nightlife frustrations and exchanged contact info in an effort to meet up later that night. In another stroke of random luck, I received a Facebook message from our buddy Warren stating that he was actually moving to Buenos Aires for two months and was getting to town that day. So on Saturday night Molly, Warren, Jeff and I went out on the town for a much needed dose of variety in both company and conversation. Aside from maybe the New Year’s fireworks on Copacabana beach, best night on the trip to date.
One last highlight from Buenos Aires that doesn’t really fit into the flow but is one that I must mention. Argentina is known for their meat. Jeff and I have certainly had our fair share while here. On Sunday night, our last in Buenos Aires, Jeff, Warren and I visited a restaurant called La Cabrera in Palermo for yet another steak dinner. While all of our meals in both Brazil and Argentina have been great, this was one of the best meals I have ever had. I hate “best ever” statements but I enjoyed this one so much, that while in the cab ride home later that night, I was able to merge my love for the Kobe Beef (no jokes please) with the lyrics from Lauryn Hill’s song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”. Great waiter, great wine, great sauces, great sides and most importantly, great steak. If you are ever in Buenos Aires, make reservations here.
With our time in Buenos Aires having come to a close, we will say goodbye to the warm, sunny weather and head south for Patagonia and what weather reports tell us will be rain with a little cold mixed in. Looking forward to it nonetheless.
