Buenos Aires - Blogabond

It was indeed a big journey north to the capital, about 20 hours, and we arrived late morning. We checked into the Hostel Sol and were a bit disappointed with it. Nothing had yet compared to La Casa Roja, and this place certainly didn´t !! Nevermind, we hadn´t come to BA to spend too much time in the hostel. The first afternoon we headed up the road to the district of San Telmo, home of the Tango. We chilled in the square with cold beer and monkey nuts and watched the tango dancers and other interesting characters. We had talked about maybe having lessons whilst we were here but in the end it didn´t happen - 5 days just wouldn´t have been enough.

Crazy Argentine, San Telmo

The following day was spent pounding the pavement, seeing a few sights and shopping - we must have walked for miles !! It was back to the plaza in the evening for food and to soak in the atmosphere.

The next day we invested in some metro tickets. Buenos Aires is a big city and there was no way we were gonna spend another day walking around it ! We headed to the Japanese Gardens in Palermo and had a very nice picnic in that little oasis.

Japanese Garden

That night we headed back out to Palermo for a most fantastic experience - pints of beer and real Indian food in a pub called ´Bangalore´. The food was amazing and the place was like a proper pub back home....just what was needed !!
Before we left Blighty, all those months ago, our wonderful neighbour had asked us if we would try and track down a statue of one of her ancestors, Admiral William Brown, who is credited with founding the Argentine Navy in the early 19th Century. We hadn´t yet seen it, but whilst in the famous La Recoleta Cemetery, the next day, we stumbled across his grave, and a mighty impressive affair it is. La Recoleta Cemetery is like nothing we had ever seen, the graves are almost as big as houses, but William Brown´s stands out from the rest. All the others are black or grey stone but his is a huge green metallic column (maybe like a ship´s mast), it´s green to show that he was Irish, and sits in pride of place.

Recoleta Cemetery

Admiral William Brown´s Grave

Later that day we sampled more of BA´s fine culture at the Thelonious Jazz Club (also in Palermo). The music was ´nice´, the cocktails strong and the clientele rather cool (but not as cool as they thought....). We also got to sample (on the house) Argentina´s national drink, Fernet. If ever you get the chance, and even if it´s on the house, make sure you turn it down - it´s proper grim !!
The following day, sunday, we were a bit hungover after all those cocktails. We eventually made it up the road to the famous San Telmo antiques market. The place was buzzing with loads of market stalls and lots and lots of live music and people dancing. We chilled out to a cool Tango band and rocked it up to some Argentinian roots and treated ourselves to CD´s from both bands (sometimes music is just meant to be heard live !!).

Live tango music

Radio Roots (better live than on CD !!), San Telmo

Tango dancers, San Telmo

Afterwards it was out for more of BA´s gorgeous food. This time to another pub for an authentic Thai curry. We spent the rest of the night watching the numerous Tango dancers in the plaza and talking to some crazy locals...we love San Telmo !!
On our last day we set about hunting down the statue of Admiral Brown and finally located him. We pigged out on yet more gorgeous food (a ´pizza sandwich´...try it, it works !!), packed up and got the night bus back west, across the continent again, to Mendoza, home of Argentinian wine...mmmmm.

Obelisk, Avenida 9 Julio

Street scene, Buenos Aires

Admiral William Brown statue

written by

jonnik on March 12, 2008 from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Argentina

from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour

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