Buenos Aires – on our own!

Wednesday 11 March

We’re now having to fend for ourselves, without having all our wishes taken care of without having to think about anything.  Oh dear, how will we ever manage back in the real world.   Well actually, it seems we can!  We’re now esconced in our lovely hotel in the city and have made the most of yet another day.  By the time we leave Buenos Aires there will be no stone left unturned!

At 12.30pm we were met at the hotel by Pablo, a dear friend of Geoff’s for many, many years.  He has invited us to lunch with his wife Rosa, and they took us to a great little restaurant, El Preferido de Palermo, located in an iconic pink building which dates back to 1885, with an old-world charm of period floors, mirrors and colourful jars of pickles, and plenty of traditional dishes.  Remember I mentioned in a previous blog about the plentiful meat dishes in Argentina with the average serving of 500grms per person?  Well, I ordered pork and I’m not joking, there would have been enough meat on my plate to feed a family of four!  I was full and seemed to still have a plateful, it was very delicious!  I managed to persuade Pablo to doggy-bag the rest of it for his dinner!  We had a lovely, convivial lunch and it was great to catch up with our wonderful hosts, the last time we saw them was at Geoff’s bach in Waiheke Island almost a year ago.

Pablo then took us to one of his favourite places in the city – the Malba Museum of Latin American Art.  It was founded in 2001 with the aim of collecting, preserving and studying Latin American art from the beginning of the 20th century.  There was a special exhibition on show –a textile body of work from Colombian artist Olga de Amaral which was really interesting and showcased her using textiles from threads, to wool, to gilded works woven on a loom in cotton, coated with a thick layer of gesso and then with acrylic and gold leaf – they looked absolutely spectacular. 

Then it was back to the hotel for us to have a thirty minute rest before we ventured out once more – this time to San Telmo, one of the oldest and most bohemian neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires.  Famous for its antique shops and the iconic covered market, it is characterised by its cobblestone streets, 19th century colonial houses and strong tango identity.  We started in the famous Plaza Dorrego and were delighted to see a wonderful street performance of the tango which we enjoyed whilst having a gin and tonic sitting outside in the Square – it was perfect and so authentic. 

We followed this with a lovely walk and a stopover in the inside market where I bought some beautiful black grapes to have back in our room – in lieu of the bottle of Malbec that was always left in our room by Dee, our very kind housekeeper back on the Viking Jupiter!!! 

Thursday 12 March

Our last day in Buenos Aires today, so after a much-needed lie-in and lovely breakfast, and with no set timetable, we ventured out, firstly to The Grand Splendid Athenaeum, one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world.  It is incredible!!!  It opened in 2000 in the former Grand Splendid theatre of 1919 and has retained its decorated balconies and railings, and original boxes which are used as small reading rooms.  With a huge selection and variety of books, it provides an immersive experience in the theatrical and cultural history of the city.   What a start to our day, it was magnificent!  Next up was a visit to Calle Florida, a pedestrian shopping street, for a mooch about.  Didn’t take long before I happened to spot a pair of beautiful three-shades-of-purple leather sandals in the window of a fancy shoe shop – yep, you guessed it, I couldn’t get my money out of my purse fast enough! 

And then it was back to my favourite place, Caminito in La Boca.  I love, love, love this place!  I just had to visit it one more time to soak up the vibrant atmosphere and colours.  I left Geoff enjoying a coffee in one of the neat cafés and zipped back to La Bombonera to see if I could get some better photos since the ones I took from the bus weren’t so great – so here you are football fans – some more to browse through!

Back to Geoff in the café and a nice empanada each.  Empanadas are savoury or sweet pastry turnovers and originate from the Spanish/Latin American cuisine, the name translates to “wrapped in bread” – and we’ve certainly had more than our fair share of them in the last three weeks.  The café also provided us with a delightful tango show whilst we were enjoying our snacks.

Then it was another walkabout and plenty more colourful photos – I particularly love the one covering the two most important things in Argentina – the shop selling Dulce de Leche products with the mural of Lionel Messi kissing the World Cup above it!  I just love this area – the colours, the music, the vibrancy and the happiness on the faces of everyone here – from the Dads and sons, nearly all sporting football shirts, and enjoying the football stadium and its surrounds, to the ladies looking at the colourful accessories and eclectic things to purchase, and the constant Latino music pouring out of all the cafés – it’s definitely my kind of place.

Our last night in this beautiful city and we headed to Puerto Madero, a modern neighbourhood for a change.

The construction began on the old, abandoned port area in 1994 using red brick, and combines port history with modernity, and is home to a vibrant gastronomic scene as well as numerous high-rise apartment buildings. It also highlights the Puente de la Mujer, the Women’s Bridge,  a cable-stayed bridge with counterweight pylon, named to honour women, and reflecting the Puerto Madero neighbourhood where almost all the streets are named after prominent women.   There is also a 350-hectare ecological reserve here and the Casino of Buenos Aires is located on a ship in the southern area. 

We happened on the “ARA Uruguay” corvette ship which of course delighted Geoff.  Built in 1874 in Birkenhead, UK, it is now a floating museum and they were just about to close up for the night but let us on for a quick peek inside.  It is Argentina’s oldest ship still afloat and is recognised as a National Historic Monument featuring exhibits on its naval, exploration and Antarctic rescue history. This Corvette participated in revolutions, rescues and expeditions and was the floating headquarters of the Naval School.  Great to have a look inside although not the easiest for me, up and down the ladders in my stiletto heels!!!

We then had a lovely walk along the riverbank looking into the various restaurants, to see which one took our fancy.  Geoff was very keen to have an Argentina Asado for dinner.  Asado is a slow-cooking BBQ process usually only seasoned with coarse salt, known as parrilla which means grilled on a grate, or al asador – skewered on a metal cross over an open flame, and believe you me, the word parrilla appears on almost every restaurant here – it’s grilled meat all the way!  We found a delightful one right opposite the good ship Uruguay and settled into a lovely outside table on the boardwalk.  Geoff was delighted with his big steak, and I was very happy to go vegetarian for the evening with a mushroom risotto! 

And that my friends concludes our visit to Buenos Aires!  We certainly made the most of our three days here and covered a lot of ground, we’ve seen many, many beautiful parks, cathedrals, palaces, buildings and monuments, enjoyed the delicious cuisine and were delighted to be able to see so many performances by the sexy tango dancers as well!

We off to high places tomorrow…..we’ve already started taking our acetazolamide tablets to accelerate acclimatization to high altitude in preparation!