Back in Buenos Aires - the Paris of South America!

  Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Sunset on the paraná River

Km 4190 - Buenos Aires

After 3 long driving days southbound through northeastern Argentina we finally made it to Buenos Aires, the capital of Tango and one of my favourite cities in the world.

One the way down we camped at some lovely beaches, first along the Rio Paraná (with views of Paraguay) then along the Rio Uruguay (with views of Uruguay right across the river).

It's nice to be out of mosquito land and back to much cooler temperatures as well (25 degrees daytime here in Bs As).

I only spend 5 days this year in the Argentine capital and planned quite a nice program for the group, starting with a good meal in a typical restaurant to get the taste of a real asado (BBQ) with a LOT of food (steak, sausages, goat, ...) before heading to some bars for some cocktails.

Being in Buenos Aires on a Sunday morning, we all went of course to the antique market of San Telmo where you also can see some Tango dances on the street. San Telmo has also some good and typical bars, one of my favourite being "El Federal" on the corner of Calvo and Peru streets - El Federal is a typical begin of the 20st century bar, with a gorgegous long wooden bar - another of those make you feel good places.

At the Boca Jrs stadium

At the Boca Jrs stadium (2)

We got lucky to be here on a weekend when Boca Juniors are playing in their own stadium (La Bombonera), so I managed to convice 17 out of the 22 of our group to go and see the evening game on Sunday between Boca Jrs and Argentino Jrs. Boca fans are really fanatic and I made sure we all were dressed in the right colours. Seeing a game of Boca is always fun for the great atmosphere inside this historic stadium. Boca won against Argentino 3-0.

Bears at Parque San Martin (Bs As) - Belgian Bear

On Monday I did a walking tour through some neighborhoods of Buenos Aires with some of the group and told them about life and history of the city walking through areas such as Plaza de Mayo, Congreso, Recoleta and Palermo. We took the oldest metro line (linea A) where the original cars from 1913 are still in use (wooden seats inside and you have to open the doors manually !) before walking on Avenida Callao towards the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes then heading to the Recoleta cemetery to see Evita's grave. After lunch, we got out of the city noises and walked through the beautiful parks of Palermo towards Plaza Italia before enjoying a drink in Palermo Viejo.

Monday night was also the meeting of the new people that are joining us on the Patagonia part of the trip (from Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile via Ushuaia). We leave the Kiwis behind as well as some British ones and we get some new Brits plus a Dutch and a Croatian woman.
After a group meal, it was also time for some dance in one of Buenos Aires boliches (dancing).
Usually people go for dinner around 22.00 hrs before going for some drinks and then at around 2 am enter the discos until daybreak !

Tonight will be time to meet some of my portńo friends (from the past years I was in Bs As) before heading downtown to the Kilkenny Irish bar as we're the 17th of March.... St.Patrick's Day !

Tomorrow and most of Thursday are free days to enjoy the city, the cafés and do some shopping before an overnight drive down to Puerto Madryn on the Atlantic Coast - but that's a story for later !