Land of Steak and Wine

  Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Our last country has finally come. It is hard to imagine that we are almost done! When we arrived in Buenos Aires we were met by Mom and Arla who were there the day before. We knew they arrived safely because the driver who picked us up told us that a woman yesterday took a photo of him holding the sign with their name on it at the airport. That could only be mom.

BA is a huge city and is rightfully said to be the most cosmopolitan in South America. About 90% of the population is European (most Spanish and Italian) so it does have a real European feel to it. For years they pegged their currency to the dollar which gave them a good standard of living and made their money worth a lot overseas. It also made it an expensive vacation spot for those wanting to see South America. Unfortunately their currency was not worth a dollar and eventually this caught up with them. In December of 2001 their currency (the Peso) collapsed, the banks shut down and all these people living like Europeans lost their shirts. These were hard times but the one thing this collapse brought about was a new important industry: tourism.

      Now, instead of it being just one alternative to Europe, it is a chance to visit a European-ish country where the dollar is worth three times more. Steak dinners are 10 dollars, leather boots are 30 dollars, taxi rides across the city are 4 dollars. A tourist could live very well here for very little a day, leaving lots left over for shopping and dining out.

The fall weather in BA was perfect, cool at night but sunny every day. The city also had a good subway system which we used to get around. On our first day we tried to visit the downtown to get our bearings.

During our visit to the main plaza we ran into a common sight in the city: the protest march. At first it made me nervous. What if things got out of control? However, no one in the square seemed concerned at all, sitting and chatting over their coffee as the air horns, firecracker blasts and shouting got closer. We asked a vendor who was protesting and she said it was doctors and nurses demanding more funding for hospital. That made me feel better. It didn't sound like a protest that would descend to violence. We watched for a while while they gathered around the president's office, shouting and waving signs. We then headed out to a different part of the city for more window shopping.

Over the weekend the places to shop were the many fabulous outdoor markets. Our favorites were in Recoleta and in our home neighborhood of Palermo. Recoleta is one of the chi-chi neighborhoods in town where people dress up to do their errand running. The market was huge and full of art, crafts and textiles made in Argentina. We went a bit crazy with buying stuff but the prices were hard to resist and the quality was great. Recoleta also has the most famous cemetery in the country so we got to see where all the rich and famous people were buried, including Eva Peron, probably the most famous Argentinian woman outside the country thanks to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about her.

          It is funny that shopping was such a huge part of our time in BA because we aren't real big shoppers by nature. There were a few things that kept our shopping in check. One is that women in Argentina are all skinny. It was very rare to see a woman of any age close to my size; the vast majority of women were a size 8 and below. Anything above a size 6 is considered plus size! This limited the clothes we could buy a bit. If someone were a size 8 or less they could really go crazy here. Also, Mom and I have wear a size 11 and 10 shoe, respectively. I did manage to find one pair of leather boots in my size but heels were out of the question; Mom had no luck at all. Shoes are huge business here so it saved us a lot of money to not fit into them!

        When we weren't shopping we were going out for steak dinners. Argentina's grass fed, hormone-free beef is famous around the world for its quality and Argentinians eat more beef per capita than anywhere in the world. If you want a good steak, this is the country to get it. Thanks to the great exchange rate a very large tenderloin steak plus red wine and side dishes will set you back about 10-15 dollars. 

Mmmmm Steak

Julius and I swore to eat steak for every lunch and dinner just on principle (the same principle that led me to eat Phad Thai every day in Thailand because it was 75 cents). The steak was as tender and tasty as everyone says. It was a pleasure to eat it so often. If we weren't eating steak we were perusing the bakeries with the fabulous pastries filled with Dulce de leche, a thick carmel paste.

       With so much time spent shopping and eating out we didn't hit many cultural sites like museums and such. Our biggest bit of Argentinian culture was going to a Boca Juniors match at their world-famous stadium. 

Boca Juniors Match

Getting tickets to the game without being a season ticket holder is very difficult (especially as a tourist who doesn't speak Spanish) but some guys started a business busing tourists to the game and making sure we didn't get in too much trouble. Boca Juniors are the most famous club team in Argentina and apparently have the craziest fans. The opposing team was not a huge rival of theirs so people were fairly well behaved.

       When we tell people that in America the opposing fans and home fans are able to mingle together in the same sections they are stunned. This is apparently unheard of in the rest of the world, especially at soccer matches. At the Boca Junior stadium the opposing fans enter through their own entrance and sit in a special section surrounded by high bars and barbed wire to keep the home fans out. When the game begins, all sections are locked so no interaction (read: brawling) happens during the game. When the game is finished our door stayed locked until the the opposing fans had left the building. Fans in our section did have to be careful and not sit to far in front of the balcony where the opposing fans sat. When a full coke cup was flung from the balcony above, the guy next to us said it probably wasn't full of coke. Nice.

      The game itself was a lot of fun. Each soccer team around the world has their own songs and cheers, something that never caught on in the professional leagues in the US. It is great because one section will start a song and the whole stadium will sing along loudly. This goes on the whole game. The teams ended up in a tie but at least we didn't lose. Oh, and one bit of trivia for all of you in the states. You know what "The Wave" is called in the rest of the world? "The Mexican Wave". No kidding. We felt a bit snubbed because everyone in Seattle knows that the wave was invented by a cheerleader and band director at a University of Washington football game. We wondered how it got the name "Mexican Wave" so we went to the source of all knowledge - Wikipedia. According to them, the Wave had spread around North America but the first time it was seen by an international audience was at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico City. The whole world watches the World Cup so after seeing it there, the wave became a global phenomenon. It also explains why everyone thought it was invented by the Mexicans.

      So, there we are. We totally recommend this city and country to anyone looking for a fabulous and cheap place to visit. Size 8 and below are especially encouraged since you can enjoy its shopping opportunities to the fullest.

Want to see all our photos for BA? Check them out on the Buenos Aires Smugmug Page!