Part 1: Buenos Aires
Trip Start
Jan 14, 2008
1
20
22
Trip End
Mar 05, 2008
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Thursday, February 28, 2008
We were met at the airport by a transfer that was booked by the apartment rental company we had gone through called BA4U. We had a very warm welcome from a gentleman who was holding a sign with our names on it who said "Welcome to Argentine!" With that we were whisked off into the city. Luckily we arrived at the domestic airport which was only a 20 minute drive from our place, vs. a 50 minute drive from the International airport. It was Saturday night in Buenos Aires and the city was starting to come alive. Our driver made a couple turns and we were suddenly on a 12 lane one way road. I am not sure if Andrew or I had ever been on a 12 lane road before. There seemed to be absolutely no order as nobody seemed to stay in their lane and what was a 12 lane road would at times be a 15 lane road. It was amazing. I had heard that if an American wanted to rent a car in Buenos Aires that they must have nerves of steel and eyes in the back of their head. I now knew why. What was more amazing was the beautiful marble sculptures and endless parks that were on either side of us. It was beautiful and I truly felt like we had arrived in Paris or Rome. After a quick turn by the famous Recoleta cemetery, our driver told us we were a couple minutes away from our apartment in Recoleta.
Upon arriving at our apartment, Andreas from BA4U was there to meet us and take us up to our home for the next 9 days. We went up to the 4th floor on Av. Pueyrredon and entered a spectacularly modern studio apartment. After looking around, I could not believe this place was costing us $50 a night. It was modern and better than any hotel room. It had a huge bed, flat screen TV, small kitchen and living area and a very modern bathroom. It was perfect. Andreas took us through our map of Buenos Aires and gave us some recommendations for places to get steak. With that, he was gone. It was when Andreas left that I was reviewing our map and I noticed a small logo in the corner that advertised the best gay way to travel and then I saw recommendations for bars such as Toms Cruising Bar and it was at that point that I discovered we had a gay map of Buenos Aires and I loved it!! Needless to say I was made exclusive holder of the map.
We made our way downstairs to the Pizzeria on the corner. Already we were adapting to the Buenos Aires lifestyle as we were sitting down to dinner at 10:30pm. This was when things just got started and the place was packed with adults and children alike. We had a great pizza, a couple of diet cokes and went back upstairs to unpack to go to bed.
We woke up on Sunday morning energized. Andrew grabbed us a couple coffees and croissants from downstairs and we decided to make our way to Palermo, which is known for its hip cafes, trendy boutiques and fabulous restaurants. My friend Abe, who had lived here for a year gave us some excellent restaurant recommendations as well as some other friends of our friend Dave, so we felt pretty set on where we were going to shop and eat.
We made our way down the narrow one way streets, past beautiful classic buildings and churches. It was so quiet on the streets and everything seemed to be closed. Undaunted we walked to Palermo where we discovered that yes... pretty much everything was closed except for a beautiful corner restaurant that was on our list called Lo De Jesus. Hungry for lunch, we sat down at an outside table and decided to enjoy ourselves with a lunch paired with a bottle of wine. After being jealous of Andrews steak in Bariloche, I decided that I was going to order a steak for lunch and ordered one of their special Fillet Mignon's. Andrew ordered the lasagna and I called him a Wuss for not ordering the steak. He had once said that he was going to eat 20 steak meals in Buenos Aires and this was putting him off on a bad start. He came to regret his decision as soon as my eyes started to well up with tears upon my first bite of the most amazing, delicious, flavorful steak I had ever put into my mouth. It was so good that I actually had to compose myself before my second bite as tears were blurring my vision. Being the good wife that I am, I gave Andrew some of my steak to enjoy and he too could not believe how good it was. By the time we got up from lunch at around 3pm, the area was starting to come alive. Stores were starting to open and the streets were filling up. We walked around Palermo, hit the Lacoste store and a number of other fabulous stores for Andrew. The mens shopping here really is amazing and I am quite jealous.
After a long afternoon out, we walked most of the way back admiring the architecture and the truly modern, yet classic European feel of the neighborhoods. After relaxing at our place we made our way down to the Waterfront, an area called Puerto Madero, which is a hip new area filled with fantastic, but expensive restaurants. It is right near the historic Plaza de Mayo, which is known for being the area where citizens gather to air their grievances. We walked the length of Puerto Madero before being one of the first to arrive at our 8:30pm dinner reservation at La Caballeriza, a fantastic restaurant made to look like a barn and dedicated almost solely to meat. Yes, this would be the first time I would ever have Fillet Mignon for both lunch and dinner. We watched the cooks turning huge steaks, ribs, sausage, entrails, sweetbreads, potatoes on the Parilla through the window outside... this place was a meat lovers dream!
We were seated at a booth overlooking the waterfront and we ordered a bottle of La Linda Malbec which was fabulous and so inexpensive compared to the steak houses we are used to. I think our bottle of wine cost us a whopping $12 and that was towards the high end wines. Our steaks were just fantastic, not as good as my lunch, but excellent compared to everything I know. I have to admit, I felt a little bit gluttonous after a second steak meal, but it was our first day in Buenos Aires but when in Rome... I knew I would have a reprieve upon our departure to Iguazu Falls the next day, so I went to bed quite happy with myself.
Comments
Late dinner
Isn't that strange, how late dinner is? Your hotel sounds pretty awesome too.
Louise Brown
TravelPod Community Manager