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Buenos Aires is a buzzing city, and we were staying at the heart of the new economy in Puerto Madero – BA’s version of London’s docklands on a much smaller scale. All new, shiny and teeming with trendy bars and restaurants. But it’s not a huge city and from the pool deck of our hotel, we look over and see the BA of yesteryear with the old buildings, beautiful and some very ornate, but still with a “Socialist” feel to them. We felt in Europe, not Latin America – it was like Madrid, or in some places, Paris, but the shopping not quite so good! Sightseeing is limited – and most seems to be based around Eva Peron (or Madonna, with whom we frequently confused her – we decided that no one would really have know much about Eva if it hadn’t been for Andrew Lloyd Webber, but they seem to have built a successful tourist economy based on her nonetheless). We saw the balcony where Madonna (sorry – Eva) stood in the beautiful Casa Rosada, and visited her tomb in the rather spooky Recoletta cemetery – at times with a large number of others from a cruise ship which had docked that day. The cemetery is a small “village” of what are rather grand, small house like structures, containing the coffins of the family members. Some are kept in beautiful condition, and some are left to go to rack and ruin, with broken glass and weeds taking them over. We wandered the streets of Recoletta and down Av de 9 Julio, the widest avenue in the world, with a huge obelisk at its central point. The Portenos’ penchant for demonstration is also still alive and well, with the main square at the front of the Casa Rosada full of people protesting about the sacking of some casino workers. And surrounding them, the gun toting policia in rather large numbers….
Eating is really interesting in this city, it’s very late and it’s beef, beef, or for a change beef! But always wanting to live like the locals, we took up the recommendation of Ant’s Spanish teacher and go to a restaurant called “Siga La Vacca” or “Follow the Cow” – that was the phrase Ant heard so often when he was on the Estancia working with the Gaucho’s and herding the cattle. Up we turned at 9pm to face a long queue – but it looked so popular, we decided to wait. It was a fantastic place – for your 52 pesos (£8.50) you got a starter, your pick of really good meat from the huge indoor bbq (parilla), a fantastic choice of good, fresh salad, a choice of fabulous puddings, mineral water and a bebidas (drink). When asked what we wanted to drink, I went for white wine, Ant for red and Derek for Coke light – and the waitress returned with a full bottle of white, a full bottle of red and a huge jug of Coke all included in your £8.50 – what a bargain! The place was heaving with families and groups of all ages, interestingly not many of whom were overweight – they eat huge amounts of red meat here, but we decided that the whole nation must be on the Atkins diet, as generally they look very trim – not sure what their cholesterol levels are though…………..
We visit the San Telmo antique market on the Sunday morning – at least it’s cooled down a bit. When we arrived, for the first couple of days it was 35 degrees – and it’s still only Spring here, but that is unusually high. The antiques market is an interesting place with a mix of stalls, entertainers and good antique shops, but I think you need to know a bit more about it before you buy something here and of course there is also the issue of getting it home. We thought of Mum as we saw all the old dolls for sale. Ant has already had to buy another bag for his purchases – he bought some lovely things for the house in a shop recommended by Diana at the Estancia – and the attached photo shows him trying out a few things! But a sad day – I (Gill) leave this afternoon (the 23rd), and Ant and Derek go off to Antarctica on Boxing Day. Their blogs from that will be posted after they get back – internet communication is not that easy out there on the ice! So the first part of our adventures together come to an end. We’ve had a fantastic time so far, have enjoyed some amazing, special and varied experiences, stayed in loads of different places – from backpacker to flashpacker, and agree that we would not have changed one single moment of it.
Eating is really interesting in this city, it’s very late and it’s beef, beef, or for a change beef! But always wanting to live like the locals, we took up the recommendation of Ant’s Spanish teacher and go to a restaurant called “Siga La Vacca” or “Follow the Cow” – that was the phrase Ant heard so often when he was on the Estancia working with the Gaucho’s and herding the cattle. Up we turned at 9pm to face a long queue – but it looked so popular, we decided to wait. It was a fantastic place – for your 52 pesos (£8.50) you got a starter, your pick of really good meat from the huge indoor bbq (parilla), a fantastic choice of good, fresh salad, a choice of fabulous puddings, mineral water and a bebidas (drink). When asked what we wanted to drink, I went for white wine, Ant for red and Derek for Coke light – and the waitress returned with a full bottle of white, a full bottle of red and a huge jug of Coke all included in your £8.50 – what a bargain! The place was heaving with families and groups of all ages, interestingly not many of whom were overweight – they eat huge amounts of red meat here, but we decided that the whole nation must be on the Atkins diet, as generally they look very trim – not sure what their cholesterol levels are though…………..
We visit the San Telmo antique market on the Sunday morning – at least it’s cooled down a bit. When we arrived, for the first couple of days it was 35 degrees – and it’s still only Spring here, but that is unusually high. The antiques market is an interesting place with a mix of stalls, entertainers and good antique shops, but I think you need to know a bit more about it before you buy something here and of course there is also the issue of getting it home. We thought of Mum as we saw all the old dolls for sale. Ant has already had to buy another bag for his purchases – he bought some lovely things for the house in a shop recommended by Diana at the Estancia – and the attached photo shows him trying out a few things! But a sad day – I (Gill) leave this afternoon (the 23rd), and Ant and Derek go off to Antarctica on Boxing Day. Their blogs from that will be posted after they get back – internet communication is not that easy out there on the ice! So the first part of our adventures together come to an end. We’ve had a fantastic time so far, have enjoyed some amazing, special and varied experiences, stayed in loads of different places – from backpacker to flashpacker, and agree that we would not have changed one single moment of it.
