Tango nights and super steaks in Buenos Aires!

Trip Start Feb 01, 2005

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Argentina Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Hola! So here we are in Buenos Aires, apparently one of South Americas most appealing and sophisticated cities and we have to agree! The city has a bustling centre, but it also has beautifully ornate and elegant older buildings and definitely has a cosmopolitan, almost European feel to it - wide tree lines avenues, lots of green parks, stunning architecture and some fabulous restaurants and shops too.
We are staying in a huge hostel in the heart of the city which has been a great opportunity to meet people and see the sights. We have done several walking tours, in fact we have walked everywhere!
The first place we visited was La Boca, a vivid, working class area situated alongside the smelly port and riverside. The streets are cobbled and all the houses, cafes and restaurants are painted bright red, yellow, green, blue and you can sit and have a drink while watching a couple tango dancing along the street! Its also the home to the Boca Juniors football club (Maradonnas old team!) and we were lucky enough to get tickets for a local derby...again the fans were crazy!
Then it was onto Recoletta, one of the plushest neighbourhoods and here the cemetary is the main attraction where you can walk amongst enormous mausoleums, literally a mini city of statues where the rich and famous of Argentina are buried, including Evita Peron.
San Telmo is the artists quarter and a great place to wander around the antique shops and the buzzing market square and gaze at the beautiful buildings.
We also took a tour of the cavernous national theatre, my favourite part was going into the storeroom that holds 90,000 costumes and 20,000 pairs of shoes! Imagine that! Im sure they wouldnt miss a few pairs...!
The nightlife has also been bit crazy with us not leaving the hostel to head out until 2am and last weekend we were lucky enough to go to a Tango show and dinner showcasing some amazing dancing! Our hostel also offers free tango and salsa lessons, but I havent yet managed to persuade Fin to go along! We have also undertaken some Spanish lessons to help us out and so far so good!!
Our last day was actually spent in nearby Uraguay, only a 3 hour ferry journey and we spent the day in beautiful Colonia, a quaint town with small squares and cafes spilling out onto the pavements, whitewashed churches and crooked houses selling arts and crafts.
So we leave this vibrant city behind and fly south to El Calafate for some outdoor adventures....