Buenos Aires - Argentina

Passionate, contrasting and busy.

After a very luxurious? (We had a blanket, a cushion, a sandwhich, hot meal and breakfast provided) we aririved in Buenos Aires at around 11:00 after leaving Puerto Iguazu at 17:00. It took a while to get to the hostel but we were lucky to be able to check in straight away once there. We relaxed a bit and the decided to take a graffiti tour in the district of Palermo after enjoying a similar one in São Paulo. Palermo is the more eclectic and quirky district of Buenos Aires with many interesting looking bars and very instagramable cafes (and donut shops!!). We learnt about the history of graffiti in the area and how it came to be a very tolerated and encouraged art form welcoming local and international graffiti artists to display their work. For dinner we headed to a local parrilla (a typical argentine steakhouse), and boy did it not disappoint, the steak needed it’s own plate!!
We woke up to thunder and lightening on the Saturday and torrential rain, which threw quite the curveball into our plans of a walking tour. It did clear up a little which allowed us to take a different tour at 3:00 of the city center. This tour gave us a both historical and political overview of the city. Buenos Aires has faced a lot of hardship, our tour guide gave personal accounts of his experiences and views. It seems to us each government that has come into power hasn’t been well accept, or solved the many economic problems faced. In just the last 8 months the peso has continued to devalue against the pound, currently we get around 53 pesos to £1, in January of this year it was around 20 pesos to £1.
On the Sunday we headed to San Telmo Market, a famous market in Plaza Dorrengo and the surrounding streets. There was both an antiques section and then the further from the centre the more general it got. Rachel found a stall of coins that had been carved into in different ways and made into pendants. The work gone into these pieces was incredible, and we ended up buying a 1 peso coin that had been adapted to have as a necklace. We both also picked up Argentina tshirts and an Argentina pin. Once again we were unlucky with weather and it rained a lot in the late afternoon, we joined the hostel for a movie night but got so confused by the film we ended up leaving.
Finally we knew the forecast for Monday was dry meaning we could take the Recoleta tour we intended to take on the Saturday. We met at the Teatro Colon, a grand opera house made to hold around 2,700. Although beautiful, the opera house is not most famous for its architecture, but actually its perfect acoustics. Pavarotti only sang their once due to not wanting people to hear the roughness to his voice from being a self taught singer. Heading into the Recoleta district it was clear there was much more money in this area, the guide describing it as the posh Buenos Aires. There were many old, large mansions once home to aristocratic families, but now many are used as embassays. We had already walked down the 9th July Avenue many times since being here, but learnt of how the name came about when visiting Plaza San Martín. San Martín lead the war for independence for Argentina in 1816, which was finally gained on the 9th July, the street was named in honour of this. The street is also special due to it being the widest street in the world at140m, and is something Argentinians are very proud of. In the afternoon we went to Recoleta cemetery. This was a very unusual experience, although the architecture of the mausoleums was very impressive, it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience for some (Rachel), so we didn’t spend too long there. We went back to the steakhouse we visited on the first night for dinner, Rachel was ambitious in trying red wine, but unfortunately didn’t enjoy it.
Tuesday was the day for La Boca, the sunniest day our our time in Buenos Aires. It is the South East area of Buenos Aires down by the port. From the 1880’s many immigrants arrived here, 70% being Italian followed by the Spanish. They made their homes (conventillos) our of wood and corrugated metal they could take fro: the jobs down at the docks, then to prevent them getting too hot, used leftover paints they could find to paint the outsides. Benito Quinoquela Martin was an orphan born in La Boca, who became interested in art and made a name for himself. He went on to be a very important figure providing plots of land and building schools and hospitals for the area. We saw murals for the voluntary fire service of La Boca (the closest fire station in San Telmo never wanted to go to La Boca when they heard of fire due to its working class routes). Tango was born in La Boca. When the immigrants first arrived from all area of the world the only way of communication was through music. They would gather in the courtyards of the conventillos, pull out the instrument they brought from their country and begin to play - this is how tango music was born. Interestingly, the dance was originally performed by two men, trying to assert dominance and the footwork was intended to try and trip up the partner, we got to see little snippets of a few tango performances whilst in the area. We ended outside La Bombonera, the stadium of La Boca juniors. The stadium is a place of faith and hope, in this district football is much more important than politics of religion making the stadium the “cathedral” of the area. The current president of Argentina started out as the president of La Boca stadium - showing just how important Ndebele influential football can be. The sports played in Argentina are very British sports, this is what the British immigrants brought with them when colonisation began. There is very much a yin yang relationship between the districts in Buenos Aires.