It was a really easy flight to Buenos Aires, just under two hours and we were being collected by our guide, Laura and a driver. The first thing we noticed as we landed was that everyone on the plane started putting on their jumpers, coats and scarves! When we got outside we realised why, it was cold and windy….just 10 degrees. Oops…we probably hadn’t prepared for this as neither of us have a coat and we only have one pair of jeans each.
We went straight to our hotel in Retiro and had a friendly greeting from the reception staff. We found our room and went off to bed.
The next day we were up early for our half day tour with Laura of the city. This turned out to be a real whistle-stop trip, by car, around this vibrant, European styled city. Unfortunately, the weather was grey and still rather chilly. Laura is a teacher and she was very keen to show us as much as possible by visiting the different neighbourhoods , each of which has it’s own character. Sometimes we just drove past in the car, for example posh Palermo where all the embassies are based, but elsewhere we’d stop and have a more detailed visit. We learned quite a bit about the history of Argentina, well, I did. Jane glazed over rather early on and I distracted Laura by asking lots of questions so that Jane could take her photos!
I learned about the period of independence from Spain (1816) and how the period between 1860 and 1930 was a time of great prosperity when Argentina became one of the richest countries in the world, thanks to waves of European immigration. During this time the city of Buenos Aires was almost completely rebuilt as the old Spanish style buildings were largely replaced with today’s beautiful Neoclassical and Beaux Arts styles imported from France and Italy.
We also heard about Eva Peron ‘Evita’ who was a champion of the people but who now seems to get blamed for the Argentine inclination to depend on state benefits….it was all very interesting. We visited the mini-city of ‘Recoleta cemetery’ (No 2 in the world…..I don’t know what the scoring basis is but Pere Lachaise in Paris beats it!) where the architecture of the tombs is as flamboyant and ostentatious as the real city outside.
Laura also tells us about the appalling state of the Argentine economy. They currently have inflation of 70% , predicted to go as high as 120% by the end of the year. There is a very confusing situation with the currency whereby if you go to a bank you’ll get only, say 350 pesos for a dollar, whereas on the street you can get 760 pesos. We can’t really get our heads around this but it means that quite often things aren’t priced because they can’t keep up!
It also means that in turn there is a huge amount of poverty in Argentina with 40% of the population living below the poverty line and we see plenty of homeless people which Laura says ‘is the real Argentina’. There is an election coming up in October so I think they’re hoping for someone different to get the country ‘organised’ , as Laura put it.
Poverty also means that Buenos Aires isn’t quite the really safe city we thought we were coming to. We got plenty of warnings about areas not to go to and generally not to be out on the streets after dark. We visited some of the more dodgy areas of Boca and St Telmo. At Boca we drove past the blue and yellow football stadium where Maradona and Carlos Teves used to play. The shops all around here are all devoted to football and it’s quite a sight. But we don’t stop there, we carry on to the two streets where it’s safe to walk called Caminito. Here there are some really colourful old style buildings where the influx of immigrants used to all live in a shoebox. It’s full of tourist tat shops and bars and there was also a dressed up couple about to do some tangoing for tips. Luckily, it started to rain and we got back in the car sharpish.
Finally, on our tour we drove past Puerto Madeiro which is the newest area of the city with quite a few skyscrapers and lots of nice looking restaurants in the old warehouses.
Back at our hotel at about 2-30pm we were both a little over-whelmed and decided we needed a snack. The nice girl on reception recommended the perfect place right near the hotel, Vinicas. Here we ordered some empanadas ( little pasties. 3 cheese and onion and 3 meat) to share and a glass of Malbec. The empanadas were delicious and we were having such a lovely time in this cosy, local place that we d decided to stay and not go out in the evening. We ordered another glass of the Malbec and a banana and Dulce de Leche pancake ( more like a banana tatin. Yum.
Where shall we go to next? 