Our budget couldn't accommodate a direct flight to Buenos Aires, so after a long layover in Lima, we landed in São Paulo, Brazil at 1am local time. From there, another 7 hour wait before we boarded our next flight to our final destination, Buenos Aires. Doable on paper but in reality, not so much. When our bags, which were checked through to Argentina, appeared on the luggage carousel in Brazil, the writing was on the wall for us.. It was going to be another long day. Our ability to communicate in Portuguese made us feel fluent in Spanish and after clearing up our baggage issues, we were directed where to proceed for our connection, or so we thought. We ended up in the main terminal which meant that to get back to departures we would need to pay an unnecessary airport tax. After a couple of frustrating hours we were both physically and emotionally broken (...meg burst into tears when she tried to buy a water at McDonalds and the cashier wouldn't accept her US dollars!!) and so in an attempt to get some sleep, we resigned ourselves to the dirty, hard airport floor. I've seen more glamorous bergies.
We arrived in Buenos Aires looking worse for wear (not to mention that we hadn't showered for two days!). We checked into our hostel in Florida Road in the city´s Micro Centro, and basically slept until the next morning. Life's tough for us travelers :)
Feeling horribly guilty for wasting precious traveling time, we woke up and hit the city streets, on a historic walking tour offered by the hostel. We were taken to the San Telmo, the oldest suburb in BA and given great insight to the early days and the European influences, most notable in the architecture. The main square in the city (Plaza de Mayo) is surrounded by all the governmental buildings, the most famous being the Presidential offices known as The Rose House for its pink colour, where Eva "Evita" Peron delivered her speeches from the balcony.
With the rain pouring down, we continued on our way and decided to explore the suburb of Recoleta, recommended to us, along with Palermo, as more vibrant parts of the city. We enjoyed a great coffee and cheesecake at a quaint little cafe and met an American poet who gave us some tips on where to explore. Our next stop was the Recoleta cemetery, which is unlike any cemetery that you've seen before with each grave having its own little building and street address, some as elaborate as cathedrals adorned with statues and decorative pieces. As the saying goes, "it's cheaper to live like a King and Queen than to be buried in Recoletta." Evita's body went missing for 16 years, and eventually was returned to this graveyard.
Coffee and Cake in Recoleta, a cozy escape from the pouring rain |
The next day we headed for Palermo, a funky suburb with colorful buildings, great local fashion stores and a myriad of cool bars and restaurants. Our main agenda for the day was to hunt down a local restaurant and enjoy a prized Argentinian steak. Our expectations were exceeded as we devoured incredible meals paired with a homegrown Malbec, certainly one for the memory bank!
We enjoyed our last day at Puerto Madera, the waterfront. The water here is an awful brown colour, as Buenos is built around the Rio De La Plata Estuary. It was here that we sampled Empanada´s for the first time (see middle pic above), a delicious traditional pastry filled with meat, veg etc, that taste similar to a Samoosa.
We catch an overnight bus to Iguazu Falls this evening, which are located on the border of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.