Rosie and the Operator are spending 14 days in Buenos Aires, Argentina! A country we have never visited before and yet we ask ourselves why has this country never been on our radar? Our national carrier Air New Zealand flies direct to the capital Buenos Aires in 12 hours. Its Spanish speaking, European looking and appears to be fun loving…..it sounds like it is going to be the perfect small break away. Check out our 14 Day Itinerary.
Buenos Aires – San Telmo Suburb – 4 Nights
Tigre, Buenos Aires – 3 Nights – one hour train ride out of the city on the Parana River Delta.
Buenos Aires – San Telmo Suburb – 1 Night – early flight in the morning to Iguazu Falls
Iguazu Falls – 2 Nights – Visiting the Brazilian side of the Falls as well as the Argentine.
Buenos Aires – Palermo Suburb – 4 Nights – Day trip to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, just across the Parana River
Yes, we are spending a lot of time in Buenos Aires, but did you know that Argentina is 11 times bigger than New Zealand making it the eighth largest country in the world! Rosie and The Operator didn’t really want to go racing around those distances in 14 short days. This is a leisurely holiday where our main focus is on eating, drinking and seeing the sights of this city of 3 million a suburb each day at a time and venturing out a little further now and then.
OK, we are on the ground in Buenos Aires! Its late afternoon and lets get this holiday started. Coming into a new city we have never been to before is so exciting, we are craning our neck trying to see everything from the back of the taxi as it speeds us into town.
The motorway is huge! Seven lanes each side with a small strip of green belt down the middle of it as you drive into Buenos Aires from the airport. Wintery, bare, skeletal trees dot the green in the dimming light where a full moon is already high in the icy clear sky as the sun sets in bright blinding majesty opposite it.
Curiously, parked in the middle of the green belt, which stretches on for miles of motorway, are cars that have turned off the multi lane road, bumped over the road edge and are parked up on this wide green median strip. Family groups are sitting on outdoor furniture or on blankets bundled in coats and having a Sunday evening picnic on the frosty looking grass. Some groups were barbecuing, kids were playing football and teens were lounging as the traffic swirled around them.
Rosie cannot believe it, she would not call this area a park. It is an area of grass planted with random trees bordered either side by a loud, fast moving seven lane motorway of which we would generously call a median strip. Yet the amount of people in small groups enjoying the last rays of the day before the dark cold winter night set in was quite amazing.
Closer to the city the median strip tapered off and the motorway ahead becomes as straight as a die and looks like it ploughs through the middle and over the top of the housing and buildings which stand so close to this roaring beast. The way is lined with cramped tenement buildings of various heights and pastel colouration. Looking out the side windows of the taxi Rosie swears she can see into the living rooms of these houses. Huge advertising billboards look down on you from above and the urban jungle seems to spread for as far as the eye can see.
Toll booths are frequent, incredibly so…seven lanes crowded with cars all converging and seemingly racing each other to the shortest lanes of the toll booths. Our taxi driver wound down the window to pay at the booth and the smell of charcoal BBQ and grilling meat is heavy in the air, on the motorway! This is the pervading smell of Buenos Aires Rosie would come to learn and love as the evening turned to darkness and the moon illuminated the dark streets of San Telmo, the area we were staying in.
We arrived at our apartment and checked in, Edgar greeted us and was a great host with a map of the city all ready to circle the sights we must see and a recommendation of all the local places we must visit. He also offered us earnest warnings of areas not to venture into, a first on our travels.
Don’t take with you what you cannot afford to loose. Do not carry extra money or your passport. Iphones are hard to get here and are targeted by pick pockets and snatchers, they are so quick said Edgar, don’t leave anything sitting on your table while you eat or you will turn your head and it will be gone. People are watching you everywhere here in this city he ominously finished with as he shook our hands and wished us a nice stay….as if he was never going to see us again…..
Cautiously, after that lecture, out into the darkness we forged, Rosie clutching warily onto The Operator, our first foray onto the streets of Buenos Aires. The streets are very dim, with few streetlights lighting the way. The footpaths are cracked and paving stones erupt from it or are missing altogether leaving huge craters. Dogs are being walked on leads or sans owners, just roaming . The tang of dog piss is rife and the soft stinking grenades these animals leave are everywhere…..and Rosie means everywhere…like live landmines….just ready for the unwitting or upward gazing tourist to stand on…lucky Rosie has The Operator to steer her clear as she does the latter.
El Federal is on our list of recommendations from Edgar. It is one of the oldest bars in Buenos Aires and has been serving beverages, food and hospitality since 1864. It is a fab place! Like stepping back in time. The wood of the ornate and unique bar gleams in the light whilst the dust on the top sits undisturbed seemingly for decades in a satin, silvery patina.
The menu is huge, full of all the yummy basics and the place is full of locals at 9.15pm, the start of the Argentine dinner rush. Yes, this too is a country of late eaters reminiscent of their Spanish founders.
Rosie laughed as a bowl of unshelled peanuts was put in front of her and The Operator as a bar snack, Rosie was wondering what that crunching noise underfoot was as she walked to the table. Tonight we enjoyed a lovely steak straight from one of the smoky charcoal fired ovens that we can smell through out the city. Did you know that Argentina has the highest consumption of red meat in the world, Rosie asked The Operator? Good, said The Operator, we will not go hungry! The taste emulated the smoky, wood smoked smell and was simply divine. Small roasted potatoes and a delicious mushroom sauce accompanied the steak and it was washed down with a tasty local beer…in an old school brown liter bottle.
El Federal was a good introduction to Buenos Aires and Rosies Spanglish was understood fine! Its been a long trip to get there and now its time for bed. Cant wait to hit the road tomorrow when we visit the colourful Suburb of La Boca!
