The Big Crazy Buenos Aires Recap

Amanda and I just had a wonderful 10 day trip to Buenos Aires and Iguazu. Sorry that it took me so long to put this together, but at long last, here’s a ridiculously in-depth rundown of our travels. And if words aren’t your thing (and even if they are) be sure to check out our Buenos Aires Flickr Set and our Buenos Aires Video.

Day 1

After our long overnight flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires, we piled out of the plane and were greeted by mask-clad, camera wielding airport staff. As you can imagine, we weren’t feeling very photogenic after about 20 restless hours and two flights.

But we stumbled along sputtering out the best Spanglish we could muster and managed to get a cab to our apartment. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the cab ride was actually really long and we got quite the introductory tour of Buenos Aires. Don’t worry we prepaid for the cab, so we weren’t riding in circles.

We arrived at our apartment and met Louisa & Lucia who checked us in and went over a few ground rules. One of those rules being no sex in the elevator or common areas. Apparently, they had some problems with previous Norwegian tenants. Yikes.

After we were all checked in, we ventured out and had a really nice lunch outside at a French restaurant, then hopped on the subté (subway) to Plaza de Mayo where we checked out the Casa Rosada and a pretty large mall that was close by. Pizza for supper, then we were down for the count. I’m pretty sure there was a nap in there somewhere too.

Day 2

We started the day with a Frommer’s Guidebook walking tour of Calle Florida. Calle Florida was an onslaught of consumerism with shops lining the entire strip. The guidebook pointed out a few hidden architectural gems though. It was also on this walk that we first saw tomatas loco and one of the most insane Burger Kings I’ve ever seen. Check out the video for more on those two things.

Then we took a walking tour beginning at Plaza de Mayo continuing down to their legislative building and the surrounding area. We hopped on a super old timey subté car that had super cool light fixtures and wooden benches that faced perpendicular to normal subway seat configuration. I thought that was neat. Even the subté stations on this particular line were old fashioned and cool.

On the way back to the apartment we noticed that even though it was friggin’ sweltering outside all the Porteños (Buenos Aires natives) were bundled up like crazy. We were in the Southern Hemisphere, so technically it was fall, but man it was hot outside. We didn’t quite understand that.

But we made it back to our pad and decided to pay a visit to the rooftop hot tub. Turned out to be a luke-warm tub with no jets, but it was relaxing after a day of walking nonetheless. After a quick nap, it was time for supper at a Mediterranean place where Amanda dined on tapas and I had chicken. I should mention that Porteños eat supper around 11 or 12, so it was quite an adjustment for us.

Day 3

After a chilled out & relaxed morning, we hopped on the subté to meet up with our four-hour urban bike tour. We showed up to the address provided where there was really no sign of us being in the right place. But after 2 days, we were getting a bit more confident with our Spanish and found out that we just needed to hang out for a bit. Soon after, our tour guide Xavier rolled up riding a bike, and guiding two others, which was a spectacle to see. Especially considering I had tried to do the same thing back home a few weeks prior and almost crashed and burned horribly.

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that it would be just the three of us, so our tour would be very intimate and personal. Our guide Xavier was a farmer that moved to the city 8 years ago. Although he’d only spoken the language for 10 months, his English was excellent.

Our ride took us through Puerto Madero, the ecological reserve, La Boca, San Telmo, and finally Plaza de Mayo. All along the way Xavier talked about everything from architectural history to a daily life in Buenos Aires. He told us that Porteños only sleep about 5 hours a night, without a siesta. That’s a tough pill to swallow though, because only 5 hours sounds pretty crazy to us.

We took a break while cruising through the ecological reserve. The Reserva Ecológica de Buenos Aires was formed when debris and waste from demolished buildings were dumped into the river. Over time, the sediments in the river built up and formed the reserve. Go Nature!

As we sat in awe of the sheer size of the Río de la Plata, Xavier prepared some maté (the accent is not technically correct, but without it things can get confusing) for us to share. Maté is South American drink made from the dried leaves of yerba mate mixed with hot water, served in an ornamental gourde and sipped through a silver straw. He also went on to school us in the ways of mate etiquette.

For instance, the individual who prepared the mate always drinks the first couple of cups because they are the most bitter. Also, don’t move the straw around because it could cause leaves to enter the submerged end. And lastly, save your “Gracias” for when you are truly done. If you share 7 or 8 cups with somebody, there’s no need to thank them after every one. They know that you are grateful.

It was a very interesting experience and Xavier was great, but I think maté may be an acquired taste. Then again, we don’t drink coffee or tea either.

Once we were done resting, it was off to bike through La Boca, where we got a very gritty, firsthand view of the side of Buenos Aires that you probably won’t see on any postcards. We also rode past La Bombonera (the Chocolate Box), the stadium where the Boca Juniors play.

The route then took us through San Telmo, where we got a view of the area where we’d be staying after our trip back from Iguazu (more on that later). San Telmo was a bustling area where we maneuvered our bikes around buses in the streets, pedestrians on the sidewalk, and workers in construction areas.

After a stop in Plaza de Mayo, our ride was over and Xavier & His Three Bikes rode off into the sunset. It’s hard to say that any one portion of the trip was better than the rest, but the urban bike tour was definitely a highlight.

Amanda found a salon about 20 feet from where we ended the bike tour, so she dipped in for a haircut. Which was totally fine by me, because that meant I got to sit and rest in the AC for about 30 minutes. Then we were back off to the apartment for our daily nap before supper. Shaking off sleepy cobwebs, we hit the town and found an amazing Italian restaurant where we got blissfully stuffed and called it a night.

Day 4

We started the day by heading to Recoleta to visit Evita’s grave in Recoleta Cemetery. I’m not sure if it’s possible to go to Buenos Aires and not do this. But geez, it was tourist central in there. We heard more English (not just English, American English) in those walls than anywhere else in Buenos Aires. Regardless, Recoleta Cemetery is a pretty fascinating place.

Nothing builds an appetite like cemeteries, so we headed to La Biela and had a very enjoyable and relaxed lunch outside while we soaked in the sights and sounds of Recoleta. Then we were off to check out the Buenos Aires Design Mall, but were immediately drawn in to a Tango street performance along the way.

The history of the Tango is quite interesting. While I’ve found varying stories online, this is the version that we were told numerous times while in Buenos Aires:

Tango originated in the brothels among the lower-class. A shortage of women meant that the gentlemen usually had to wait quite a while before they were, uh, serviced. So, to pass the time they would dance along to the music that was playing…with each other. It’s hard to imagine two gentlemen dancing the Tango the way it is performed today and I’ve found other stories online, but again, this is what we were told. Since the Tango originated in such an unsavory manner (the whole brothel thing), it wasn’t embraced by the larger population and was even looked down upon. However, in the early 1900s the Tango was performed in Paris and people loved it. That is allegedly when Tango’s fate turned around and the people of Buenos Aires supported it and took pride in creating such a popular dance.

So that may or may not be true, but it is definitely interesting. Anywhos, we finally made our way to the Buenos Aires Design Mall, which was pretty cool, but we just sort of strolled through.

Once we were back in Palermo, Amanda headed up to the apartment while I went on the hunt for an ice cream parlor. My mission was in vein, as I had to settle for store bought ice cream and Amanda enjoyed a beautiful sunset from our 17th floor balcony. She made me proud though, and took some awesome photos in my absence.

As the day wound down we decided to catch a nap to rest up for some serious shopping that evening. Unfortunately, we slept so late that all of the shops were closed when we went back out to hit the town. Somewhere along the line we heard a lie that the shops were always open late. Not the case, my friends. No bigs. One small hiccup on what was overall a really nice day.

Day 5

Every Sunday the markets of San Telmo are open in the streets so we decided to check ‘em out. We were all geared up to buy a ton of cool stuff and souvenirs and things, but it turned out to be mostly antique stuff. It was all pretty cool to look at, but there were no real practical purchases there that we could see.

One booth did have some interesting 3D photo collages that reminded me of Thomas Allen, whom I was fortunate enough to meet at Design Ranch in April.

We were a little bummed that the shopping wasn’t panning out so we ducked into a nearby restaurant for some pizza. That definitely turned my frown upside down. By now it was getting close to game time so we headed back to our apartment to prepare for the Velez vs. Boca futbol match.

We were just going to get tickets and go, but we soon found out that sporting events here aren’t like sporting events back home, so we decided to go with a group that specializes in keeping tourists alive at futbol matches. We were picked up in front of our apartment and we were on our way. During the trip to the stadium, our guide pretty much told us that as long as we cheer for Velez everything would be fine.

On the shuttle we met Katie & James from San Francisco and Stephen & Michele from Scotland (who we’d later cross paths with a few more times). Stephen & Michele had a particularly interesting story about their 3 month sabbatical that included a trip the San Francisco where they ran a race, and even managed to get in the audience for an American Idol taping where they met all sorts of celebs from the music and entertainment industry.

Meanwhile, back on the bus, we arrive at the Velez futbol stadium and proceed to get into game mode. We were led to our seats which were obviously in the tourist section, but that was fine with us. We had a great view of the pitch and all the action ended up happening on our end of the field anyway. The game was very entertaining with Velez besting Boca 2-0. Interesting things of note from the game:

• There was a credit card mascot walking around during the pregame and halftime sessions that was totally cracking me up for some reason. I think it was the shoes.
• Crazy Boca fans jumped, danced, and sang for the entire match. No joke. Even after losing.
• There was a buffer zone of empty seats between the Velez and Boca fans so they couldn’t throw things at one another.
• There were some Aussies behind us making (not meant to be) funny comments the whole time, like “Oi, that’s skeel. Bwal skeel.” They eventually started to quietly root for Boca, which had me scared for my life because:
• We saw an alleged Boca fan sitting in the Velez section a few rows above us get pushed down the seats and kicked out by the Velez fans.
• Water bottles aren’t allowed in the stadium. Roman candles, it turns out, are perfectly fine to bring in though. Not sure what the fans would have done with them had Velez lost, but luckily we didn’t find out.

After such a crazy day we decided to spend a relaxing night in eating pizza and watching Hitch since it was on and actually in English. That was the better Kevin James movie we watched on this trip.

Day 6

Day Six was an eventful one as we headed to the aeropuerto first thing after checking out of our apartment to catch our flight to Iguazu. The cab ride took forever, but we got there in plenty of time. Yep, plenty of time to find out that we went to the International Airport when we should have gone to the Domestic Airport, or the aueroparque. Which is back in the other direction where we started the day. So we catch another cab to the aueroparque and actually get there with a few minutes to spare before our flight. So we haul tail through the airport to find out that our flight has been delayed 3.5 hours. But the silver lining was the lunch meal vouchers we got. Hello more pizza!

So we settled in and tried to enjoy the wait. I popped open the laptop and did a little work for the first time since we arrived. At one point we thought we heard a choir singing in one of the terminals, but we couldn’t see to be sure. More on that later. We even ran into Stephen & Michele, our buddies from Scotland, in the airport because they were headed to the Iguazu Falls too. But our flight eventually showed up and we took to the skies. So on our 3-hour flight from Richmond to Dallas we got a can of soda. The 1.5-hour flight from Buenos Aires to Iguazu provided us with a little snack box with about 4 different kinds of cookies to munch on. It was amazing. Of course the tickets were crazy expensive, so I guess that’s the least they could do. Although the alternative to fliying was a 20+ hour bus ride and that definitely wasn’t happening.

But we eventually landed and made our way to the Hotel Saint George where we checked in to our room, then struck out to explore the streets of Iguazu. Not much to tell there, because Iguazu is a pretty small town, which was a nice change of pace from Buenos Aires.

Day 7

We were greeted in the morning by rainy, nasty weather and wondered if our tour of the Iguazu falls would still be on. Luckily it was and we were picked up and were on our way. We were part of a big group led by our guide Oscar around the Iguazu National Park. We all had little tags clipped on us with Oscar’s name like 3rd graders. It was quite cute.

The Iguazu falls consist of over 275 different falls of the Iguazu River situated between Brazil and Argentina. The falls were described to us as “making Niagara Falls look like a toilet flush” and “imagine the Grand Canyon with too much water.” We’ve never seen Niagara Falls, but I’ve seen plenty of toilet flushes, and there’s no comparison. The place was amazing.

One of the first stops we made was at the Garganta del Diablo or “Devil’s Throat” which was absolutely nuts. We joked about everything there being ‘majestic’ but the Devil’s Throat was borderline scary because it was so large and powerful (twss).

Along the way, we ran into our Scottish buddies AGAIN! We caught up a little bit with them and exchanged stories before we were off on our separate ways. We went on to cover a lot of ground and see some amazing sights, but the next stop for us was a boat tour of the falls and river. Our guide Oscar earlier joked about getting a ‘shower’ if you do the boat tour. We figured as much after we saw how much spray and mist the large waterfalls produced. What we weren’t expecting, however, is that they actually drive the boat under the falls (some of the weaker ones) and you literally do get a shower. I mean drenched, head to toe. But it was a ton of fun. Clips from our boat ride and shower can be seen in the video we’ve put together.

After the boat tour we had a rooftop truck tour of the rainforest with another guide that told us some history and facts about the park. Amazingly only about 7% of the original rain forest is still in existence because a logging company owned it before selling it to the Iguazu government.

After lunch we were taken back to our hotel where we had another hot tub experience that turned out to be a luke warm tub, but that was fine with us. With a day of rainforest exploration under our belt, we spent a relaxing evening in the room (there’s not much else to do in Iguazu anyway) and watched Can’t Hardly Wait. Even though Amanda and I share a little bond over that movie, it had been ages since I’ve watched it, and was pleasantly surprised to see Jaime Pressly and Jason Segel among the cast members.

Day 8

We woke up early to enjoy another complimentary breakfast (that included eggs much to Amanda’s delight) and asked our hotel to check on our return flight to Buenos Aires since our flight from Buenos Aires was 3.5 late. Sure enough, the hotel told us that our 10:50 flight would not be leaving until 2:10. Ugh.

So, armed with more time, we bought a bus ticket back to the National Park to explore some of the trails that we didn’t get to see the day before. More nature fun ensued including a visit by some wild coatis! But our time was drawing to a close, so we hopped on a bus back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and head to the airport. As it turns out, when you travel with a group, a large man named Oscar tells you when to get on and off the bus. And when you go on your own, you both fall asleep on the bus and miss your stop. We literally had to get off the bus with the bus driver and get on another bus to go back where we started. It was something else, boy. So now time is against us, but we make it back to the hotel in time to pick up our stuff and if we really hoof it we can get to the airport in time.

So that’s what we did. We went into overdrive and got to the airport in time to catch our 2:10 flight that was originally supposed to leave at 10:50. Only, guess what! It DID leave at 10:50. THANKS Hotel Saint George! But the kind folks of LAN put us on the next flight to Buenos Aires, which happened to be boarding just as we arrived. Hooray for small miracles.

So we head up to one of the two gates at the Iguazu airport and file in to start boarding. We made it through the security checkpoint and found our place in the boarding line. That’s when a group of guys behind us started singing an amazing old hymn, I’m Bound for the Promise Land. Everybody in the line stopped and just stood in awe. They sounded incredible. As it turns out, the faint singing we thought we heard before our flight to Iguazu was this group offering up this song before they departed from Buenos Aires. From what we could tell, they were the Men’s Choir of Baylor, a Baptist liberal arts university in Texas, and they totally rocked it. To see them in action, be sure to check out the video we’ve put together.

But we were finally back on our way to Buenos Aires and enjoyed some more delectable cookies during the flight. I wasn’t too keen of the bumpy ride back, but it wasn’t a long flight, so I just dealt with it. Once we were back on the ground we made our way to Lina’s Tango Guesthouse in San Telmo where we’d finish our stay in Buenos Aires. Lina greeted us at the door and was one of the warmest, sweetest people we met during our trip. She gave us the scoop on our room and even told us about a Milonga later that night.

We headed out for some grub and found a nice little Italian place for our first supper. Of course we offended the guy because we couldn’t eat every bit of our meal, even though the ravioli was one of my favorite meals of the trip. Yum!

Then we headed back to our room to rest up for the Milonga. We struck back out later that night trying to track down a somewhat discreet location for the Milonga we were to witness. We weren’t sure what to expect aside from Tango dancing, but what we saw was pretty amazing. A live band (including 3 accordion players) churned out incredible music while young people packed into the large open room, claiming tables that encircled the dance floor and lined the walls. Amanda and I found a small table on the outskirts and soaked up the spectacle.

The live music paired with swarms of young couples dancing the Tango was incredibly romantic and the passion in the air was palpable. In an effort to blend in, I left my camera in our room, and this is my biggest regret from our trip. There were other cameras there, as all the young people wanted to document the night’s events. Even though I hate that I don’t have any photos or videos from the Milonga, I find it oddly fitting that one of the most authentic experiences from our trip will forever be captured solely in our memories.

After watching people perform and dance for a few hours, we were ready for a second supper, so we found a little place on the way back to our room and had…yep, you guessed it…some more pizza. The trip was wrapping up quite nicely at this point.

Day 9

We rose to have a light breakfast with a few of our fellow Guesthouse mates, Jim & Dawn from San Francisco. Their trip was coming to a close as well and we discussed how or respective trips had been so far. We recounted the awesome power of the Falls at Iguazu and they enthralled us with their tales of experiencing wildlife while camping in Patagonia. After discussing how we’d all spend our last day in Buenos Aires, breakfast was over and we all set out to make our last day a memorable one.

Amanda and I decided to spend the day shopping, so we headed back to Calle Florida. While we didn’t quite load up as much as I’d expected, we did take advantage of being in the leather capitol of the world (I made that up, I think). We both came back with a pair of cowboy boots, and I scored a sweet leather jacket. Amanda got a few additional items, so we considered it a successful day and decided to head back to pack up for our 9PM flight.

We found out that Jim & Dawn were catching a cab to the airport at the same time, so we decided to all go together. Dawn spoke Spanish very well and this set off a storm of jokes and stories from our cab driver. With Dawn translating, the four of us had one of the most fun cab rides ever. We found out that the driver likes American Classic/Southern Rock and even busted out a CD plastered with a Confederate Flag. The laughs, singing and dancing continued the entire time and we all had a ball. Traffic was a nightmare but Dawn and our driver made sure we had a good time despite it all. And we sure did.

But all good things come to an end, and we arrived at the airport. The driver (I wish I knew his name) shared a hug and kiss with us all and was off to scoop up another fare that I can only hope was as much fun for him as ours was.

After the customs and airport rigmarole we were seated in the last row of a 777 and ready for takeoff. What we weren’t ready for was getting turned inside out by the worst turbulence I’ve ever experienced. We were jerked and jostled for almost the entire 10.5-hour flight. At one point the flight attendants were serving beverages and couldn’t make it back to their seats before they were yelling at each other to “just sit in the floor!” As you can imagine, this did not settle my nerves one bit. No exaggeration, I probably spent half of that flight praying to God that he guide us home safely. The only thing that kept me sane was seeing Amanda, who was as solid as a rock. She wasn’t scared or worried or anything. She was indifferent to it all. That helped tremendously. I would have never guessed that a 10.5 hour flight to Buenos Aires that included watching Paul Blart: Mall Cop could be less enjoyable. Turns out that a  turbulence-filled 10.5 hour flight to Dallas that included watching Bride Wars was much, much worse.

Mercifully, we landed in Dallas/Fort Worth and the pilot had the nerve to say “Hope you enjoyed your flight.” I think more than a few people laughed at how ridiculous that was. But we piled out of that death trap and later caught our flight back to Richmond, which was by no means a smooth trip, but it was worlds better than the roller coaster ride to DFW. As we walked down the terminal to meet our neighbor Christina (who was kind enough to pick us up), I realized that this was one of those perfectly timed trips where it was a ton of fun, but I was glad to be home. We saw some amazing sights and met some unforgettable people, but we were ready to recoup from it all. And recoup we did. We got home, hit the bed and 14 hours later woke up Saturday morning ready to get back in the swing of things.

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long recap of our trip. If you ever get the chance to visit Buenos Aires, we highly recommend it. Just don’t fly AmericanAirlines (jk).