Buenos Aires

What a fantastic city, we loved it from the moment we arrived. The contrast between the smelly, stressful and full of hassle Cuban cities and Buenos Aires couldn't have been greater. As soon as we occupied our AirBnB room and then started wandering about in the Palermo neighbourhood, we immediately felt relaxed and happy.

Like Cuba, Argentina doesn't have a cheerful history either, despite being one of the richest countries in the world by the beginning of the 20th century, a sharp decline started with a 1930 military coup, followed by a succession of many others. It's been 30 years now since the end of the last military dictatorship, where 30,000 people "disappeared", but democracy still did not bring social and economical stability.


There are 30 protests and demonstrations in Buenos Aires, a week. This one in the picture above for example comes with the necessary Che merchandise, unfortunately still prominent across Central and South America, which to me is a symbol of communist dictatorship, political labour camps and totalitarianism.

A fun fact: in the background on the facade of that tower that is not a guy eating a burger, but Evita Peron singing into a microphone!

In 2014 the inflation was 20%, and since it was illegal to exchange Argentinian pesos to dollars, a thriving black market became a part of everyday life. Even us changed our money with our host's "delivery guy", as he offered a better rate than banks.

With the newly elected president, Macri, people we talked to are a bit more optimistic. He even lifted currency controls just two weeks before our arrival. Time will tell, but apparently there is a Brazilian joke about Argentinians and their country, "Only people this sophisticated could create a mess this big".

And sophistication is indeed apparent everywhere in the city, and that is probably down to the huge influx of European immigrants, who flocked to the new wild west in the early 20th century.

Let's start with architecture. Walking along the many avenidas and looking at the great palaces and magnificent residential buildings we could be just in Madrid, Paris, or even in Budapest at Erzsébet tér.


How about this building, are we in Paris?


Nope! Every single building material in this house has been shipped from France to BA.


Coffee. The huge number of Italians and French immigrants luckily brought not only the tendency to strike and protest but their coffee house culture. In BA you don't see busy city workers running around with giant paper cups filled with milky foamy hot piss. Argentinians like their coffee sitting, even if they are in a hurry. We've learnt from our free guide (more about that later) how to order espresso with a bit of milk (cortado) and ask for the bill at the same time with hand gestures.

Meat. Extraordinary meat.



Beef and its production have played a major part in the culture of Argentina, starting in 1536 when cattle were first brought in by Spanish conquistadors. Whether it is the preparation (asado), the romantic and wild history of gauchos, the rich farm owner families and their estancia, or the very core of agriculture, they are still apparent in everyday life in the capital and down at the pampas.

The church of the charcoal grilled beef religion, a cult that I'm now a faithful member of, is the parrilla house.


Ice cream. Dulce de leche ice cream. Oh wow. I could live on pure beef, wine and ice cream diet and die fat and happy. A kilo of best ever ice cream (on par with Italian ice cream to be fair) for A$100 (£5). Yep.


We have spent a whole week in Buenos Aires and still left many areas unexplored. The ones we've visited was obviously Palermo where we stayed, very similar to Budapest's district XIII in architecture and atmosphere, and liked very much.

Then there was the modern, re-purposed wasteland area Puerto Madero, same as London's docklands, which became obsolete as a port very soon after it was completed in 1897, thanks to the appearance of larger cargo ships.


Now a recreational area full of upmarket restaurants and overpriced apartments in skyrisers. In the shadows of these though, locals of all kind are spending their Sundays in style, having a picnic, relax or ...dance.


La Boca, the "mouth" of the river, a notorious working class area where the old port and the Boca Juniors stadium is located, is an other popular tourist spot (only in daylight and in groups) where you can see the Pope and Maradona hanging out together.


But a couple of streets off the beaten track, life is not as shiny and colourful. And naming anything after Hugo Chavez? Seriously?! So yes, a hotspot for the far left.



On Sunday we went to see the market at San Telmo, a district between downtown and La Boca. Antiques, food, all sorts of crafts and entertainers were attracting the crowds. Liked this "ruin pub / boutique".

Despite the fact that there is a random black guy with a cigarette stuffed in his earhole in this picture, we were more stunned by the selection and variety of fruits and vegetables at this market, especially after spending a month in Cuba.