Kristina and I get up at the a** crack of dawn to get to our flight from Portland PDX airport. While I like the productivity aspect of making as much time during the day alongside hating red eyes, it didn’t make it any easier. Our route to Buenos Aires, Argentina, our first destination of a small list of anticipated destinations, was with Air Canada and 3 hops - Portland to Vancouver, BC, Vancouver to Toronto, Toronto to Buenos Aires. Our first hop was fine and made for an extremely uneventful 2 hour flight. The beginning of the second hop was a little more eventful at the gate while boarding. Generally, we both like to carry-on all our luggage given that we’ve had bad experiences in the past with late or lost luggage. That happening on this trip would be an insane disruption, irrespective of the great Diver’s Alert Network travel insurance I always carry on international trips. Basically, our backpacks which were our luggage were “too big for the overhead compartments”, according to a rather rude gate agent in Vancouver boarding flight AC110 at 10am Pacific time (in case anyone wants to pass on this dissatisfied customer feedback). Now, what was the measure of the “too big” opinion of the gate agent you ask? It was the silver tubular frame in all airport terminals and sprinkled throughout a few of the boarding gates for the allowable carry-on size. Our backpacks in fact did NOT fit in that measurement frame, but neither would half of all the roller luggage being brought on the plane that quite comfortably accommodated them in the overhead compartment, as ours would have as well. In my opinion, I think she just didn’t get her “French press coffee” that morning, if you get what I mean.
Kristina was disappointed and a little deflated during that 4 1/2 hour flight to Toronto, but that all changed as soon as we boarded the final flight to Buenos Aires as we cozy up into our international business class (there was no first class, so this was basically the same) that I waited to surprise her for her birthday. Needless to say, endless pampering, leg room, flat bed sleeping, and wine have a way of helping one regain a perspective on the unimportance of one person with a bad attitude (yes, looking at you Air Canada gate agent) and enjoying the little things in life.
We arrive at 7:15am local time in Buenos Aires so have a ton of time to take in the city on our first day. Several weeks prior, I setup a public trip on Couchsurfing to announce our presence in the various cities and towns we knew would be part of the agenda with the express intent of meeting locals. I got a few hits from both Buenos Aires (dinner with May and Lucas, and their 8-year-old son, Fausto; drinks with Eduardo) and Viña del Mar, Chile, (Alex who has kindly offered to host us) which is close to Valparaiso. If you’ve not checked out Couchsurfing, you must try it out! Fortunately, our AirBnB in Buenos Aires (Moira and Cara) were kind enough to allow us to check-in at 11am after we got through a super long customs line (1-hour) and after THE FOURTH UBER to finally find us at the parking lot B waiting area! It took as long for Uber - it’s not quite legal yet in Buenos Aires - as it did to clear customs!
We’re staying in the Recoleta barrio of Buenos Aires. It is one of many though this one was recommended by
one of my MBA classmates’ friends who frequent tango dancing in Buenos Aires practically every year. Nice neighborhood, relatively centric, and all the necessary things nearby, so no complaints. But knowing what I know now about the San Telmo barrio, I would have preferred to stay there instead - more on that later. We drop off our bags in the AirBnB and head out to explore some of the neighborhood before we meet up with Eduardo at Las Violetas cafe restaurant, apparently a famous place with ornate decor and local history. After recharging on some caffeine (not jet lagged per-se, but still tired as we’re not early risers) we head to Las Violetas where we’re immediately seated in a 6-person table after I tell the very jovial and funny older gentleman host we will be a party of 5. Kristina and I get there a little before our “scheduled” 4pm time with Eduardo and a Canadian Couchsurfing couple he was bringing along. We order some jamon con queso sandwiches and a few boozy coffees of various interesting flavors and add-ins. Then 5pm rolls around and no Eduardo. I text him via the Couchsurfing app to no avail. We decided to leave and chill out somewhere else to see more of the city before we need to meetup with May and Lucas for dinner at 9pm (EARLY dinner for them, by the way). We make our way into a couple of cafes to have a sit, some conversation with locals from time to time, and kill some time. In the last cafe before we grab an Uber (only 1 this time and they found us reliably), some older ladies who happen to be university professors ask me where I’m from on their way out. I tell them I was born in Cuba but have lived in the US for most of my life. One of their professorial colleagues is also from Cuba and they comment to me on how familiar the Cuban accent is to them. I get that a LOT anytime I travel in a Latino/Hispanic country :)
Our next stop was to Siga la Vaca, a moderate parilla for asado (Argentinian for a LOT of meat). We met May,
Lucas, and their son, Fausto, there. They were marvelous hosts and really nice to speak with, share our experience thus far, and getting tips from them across Buenos Aires. We also spoke quite a bit about the Argentine government, economy, and their many woes. In fact, we heard these topics from every single one of our Uber drivers while in Buenos Aires. They REALLY like to chat about the local economy, things their president can do better (I think we United States folk know a little about that topic), but in general, they always concluded with a sort of “it is what it is” attitude and they enjoy what they can. Their soccer (REALLY big here), their food, their families! We wrapped up the night with some flan for dessert, and hugs and kisses with May, Lucas, and Fausto, as we took our Uber back to the Airbnb, although this time, no conversation about Argentine government nor economy…the driver was from Venezuela :)
The next day was jam-packed with a whole itinerary of target places and neighborhoods Kristina wanted explore and experience. Here’s the rundown and we did almost all of it by foot.
- Recoleta Cemetery: fabulous architecture and many old mausoleums dating back as far as 1700s, that I saw. Plus we took several pictures of Evita Peron’s mausoleum with the many flowers and plaques honoring her.
- La Casa Rosada (The Rose House): very distinctive building with serious security around it where apparently Evita Peron gave her famous speak from the balcony. Great people traffic around this area as it has a few government buildings and many speeches and protects going on about one topic or another.
- La Boca barrio and walking tour: we had an amazing time exploring around La Boca neighborhood and their incredible fandom for their soccer team! The team’s color’s were everywhere, amazing murals and street art (reminded us of our own Alberta Arts district neighborhood in Portland, Oregon) and very unique artisanal work in the area known as La Boca Walking Tour. We stopped to have some empanadas and beer to give our weary feet some time to rest, as well as take in the people watching opportunity.
- San Telmo barrio and market: this was my favorite area of the day! We braved some more walking, even with Kristina’s blisters violently reminding her of how bad of an idea that was, and reached the San Telmo neighborhood. The only way to describe it is Bohemian in nature. Narrow cobblestone and brick streets, old world building architecture reminiscent of Paris’ Left Bank or some of the off-the-beaten-path neighborhoods of Rome, Italy. We perused the neighborhood market and bought some empanadas for the flight to Iguazu Falls the next day. Then we walked around the corner and stood in line for a well-recommended restaurant called La Brigada about 20 minutes before it opened (yes, there was already a long line formed and all the other open eateries around were empty inside). I have NO words to describe the quality, ambiance, and flavor of this restaurant and its food and service! One of the BEST culinary experiences I’ve had in a long, long time!
- Closing out San Telmo was #BarSur a couple of blocks from La Brigada and it’s nightly tango show. We were a few hours from midnight and Kristina’s birthday, so it was a perfect pairing and experience to wrap-up Buenos Aires. Bar Sur was quaint (aka, small) and very intimate in that the service with the tuxedo-dressed host was personalized and impeccable, I could reach out and touch the musical trio playing their renditions of Argentinian tango music, and the tango dancers (both from Mexico and living in Buenos Aires) practically brushed against us during each set - not to mention spoke with us for quite some time and took pictures of Kristina and I pretending to dance tango with them. The Bar Sur host even arranged for the musical trio to play Happy Birthday for Kristina as she had her choice of a birthday shot…she chose Tia Maria because she’s a fan of coffee!
A few hours later for wake-up, an Uber ride to the airport (with our requisite political discussion with the driver) and we’re on the plane headed to Iguazu Falls in northeast Argentina - goodbye, Buenos Aires! Fue un tiempo splendido!!!