Beunos Aires has been our home for the last week. This place is huge, modern and feels european with all of its street cafe´s, old architecture and clothing boutiques. As we wander the borro´s or neighborhoods, however, we are constantly reminded that we are in Argentina by the beautiful spanish being sung, the tango music blasting from all of the resturants and music stores and the cow parts hanging in the windows of the typical parrillo (grill) resturant. I guess Argentina is home of the best steaks and I think Jared can now vouge for that ("that was the best steak I have ever had"). 
This city is devided into distinct areas and we have explored all of them by foot. San Telmo (where we are staying now after three hellish nights in the worst hostel yet) is home of the tango and rustic antique markets. There are people dancing the tango in the streets and the restaurants offer free tango shows when you come in to eat. I love the tango, attempted it once, but the dance and the music is so fun to see here in the heart of Beunos Aires. I have even got Jared to come watch the shows 2 nights in a row, one night was in the basement of Cafe Tortoni, the oldest cafe in the city, very cool. The sunday market in San Telmo is also great. It is really an antique market in the square, but all of the surrounding streets have artists and vendors selling their goods. There are street performers and Tango bands/dancers all over. The antique vendors are all dressed up in ancient vintage wear, wigs and makeup, it is full of constant surprises.
We explored Ricolletta, where there are art museums, great boutiques and a beautiful cemetary. Palermo is the quieter part of the city with huge botanical gardens, parks and a great little mexican food restaurant that we happened upon while visiting the Saturday market (I made Jared take me back there the next Friday but it wasn´t open, how dare they!). The city center is fast and hectic with a lot of historic buildings and a great pedestrian street (Florida street) full of shopping. We stopped in La Bocca for a quick lunch but the only street to see (very vivid and colorful) was a bit overplayed and only sold rack after rack of tourist items (postcards, mate mugs, tee shirts, etc, things we definately don´t have the space or the money to buy). We have even gotten in a few popcorn and movies (in english) which we miss from time to time.
Overall it has been a nice stay but we are definately ready to leave this huge city. The loud traffic is a bit hard on the nerves, especially after our tranquil time in Pategonia. Our hostel is on "bus street" which is a very narrow street (think echos), but somehow manages to have every bus in the city doing loops on it (our room is probably the loudest room we have ever been in). Also, the exhust is getting to us. We are ready for some quite beach time in South Africa (after our stay in big Cape Town of course).
1 comment:
'Carne asado' was the name of the thick, tasty steaks that hung over the sides of your plate that were a nightly dinner for me on my mission. The entire meal would cost 50 cents. Of course that was a few decades ago! Adios and we're looking forward to your adventures in South Africa. Be safe ourside Cape Town! Love you both!
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