Buenos Aires, Argentina

Sept 30-Oct 8

Back to the land of endless steaks. My heaven. I can't even count how many steaks I had... Often two a day. Here's the tastiest one:

Drool. 

So many group dinners and lunches, on a mission to find the best steak in Buenos Aires (which was at La Cabrerra in Palermo, if you ask me!)

Buenos Aires is all about its little neighbourhoods, so I spent most of my time just roaming the streets.

So...the neighbourhoods. 

SAN TELMO

This is known to be the 'coolest' area of BA. It's where all the rich people lived, back in the day. Then there was a yellow fever outbreak and they all ran off to Recoleta & Palermo, currently the richest neighbourhoods of BA. The streets in San Telmo are all cobble-stoned and filled with bars and restaurants. San Telmo is also home to many comic strip/ cartoon characters. The most famous one is Mafalda, a little girl with a very mature an sensible view of the world. 

San Telmo is also famous for its Sunday market. There is an antique market open every day, full of weird and wonderful things.

The Sunday market was immense, it seemed to just go on forever and ever, covering all the streets in San Telmo. There was everything from clothing to antiques to crafts. It was incredible.

Just outside of San Telmo lies Plaza de Mayo, a square filled with many of Buenos Aires most important buildings, including the 'pink house' (like America's white house) 

Every Thursday afternoon, crowds gather at the square and walk solemnly around the fountain in remembrance of the children who were 'stolen' during the military dictatorship, back in 1976-1983. Their aim is to keep the issue current, in hopes of finding the children. Thanks to their efforts, 114 missing children (now adults) have been found. It was very moving to watch.

LA BOCA

La Boca is the most touristy of all the neighbourhoods, even though it is considered a favela (slum) and known to be quite dangerous at night. The most famous part of La Boca is Caminito, a bright and colourful street. There were pictures of what the area used to look like before they gave it a make over, and it really did look like a slum. However, it now looks pretty well maintained and is lined with tourist shops.

The other famous spot in La Boca is the Bombonera Stadium, home to Boca Jnrs; one of Argentina's most popular soccer teams. We had a browse through the museum and a look inside the stadium. In the museum we watched snippets of matches and it became quickly evident that the Bocas fans are mad. They've got big wire fences up around the pitch because the fans are known to be violent and the players need protection. However, in the videos you could see fans scaling the incredibly tall fences, so I'm not too sure how much difference it makes! 

RECOLETA

This was probably my favourite neighbourhood. It's one of the fancy rich ones and it's full of beautiful old French architecture. Most of the embassies were in this area, and every one of them was in a huge palace-type building.

In one of the main squares there was a huge tree, with it's branches growing so wide that they were being held up by pillars and by an odd little statue. 

We found the Floralis Generica, a huge steel and aluminium flower which has been specially designed so that it opens up when the sun comes out. Cute.

The highlight of Recoleta was the cemetery. I've never seen anything like it and it really fascinated me. None of the coffins are underground, instead they are kept in tombs. This meant that the cemetery felt like a little village. A village for dead people. Creepy, but incredible. And beautiful.

What was even more incredible were the stories of some of the deceased. Evita was buried here, after being moved around all over the world. Many people leave flowers at her family tomb.

One girl was buried at the cemetery after an unexplainable death. The very next day her tomb appeared to have been disturbed. Assuming that someone had attempted to rob the valuables from her coffin, they opened it up to find scratch marks all over the coffin.. It seems she was not really dead, she had some disease  that made her appear dead...And when she awoke in the coffin she had a panic attack which resulted in a heart attack that then killed her for real. 

Another young girl, said to be incredibly beautiful, was married with a few kids. Her husband and children all unfortunately died when the yellow fever outbreak hit Buenos Aires. Many men were in love with her because she was so beautiful and eventually she got engaged again. On the night of the engagement one of the other men who was in love with her shot her dead, saying that if she would not be with him then she could not be with anyone. 

PALERMO

The day we explored Palermo we were quite hungover and sleep deprived..so we didn't exactly explore it well. We roamed the botanical gardens and then the streets, but managed to miss the shops and cafés and the main square until we were leaving. A pretty area but we didn't really explore it quite as we should've. On the plus side, Palermo was home to the worlds most incredible steak! So it was worth the visit!

TIGRE

Tigre is a neighbour in the north, quite far from the centre of the city.. And it is where Laura lives! I was lucky enough to be guided around by Laura, seeing the markets and the dock. A pretty area.

I returned another day with some friends. We hopped on a boat to have a look at the islands and spent some time at the markets.

The evenings were also busy in Buenos Aires...resulting in some nasty hangovers and some serious sleep deprivation. Most nights out began at the hostel bar and then continued on into the wee hours at a different club each night. All kinds of different clubs with a wide assortment of music on offer. 

One night a big bunch of us went to La Bomba Del Tiempo (which translates to Time Bomb!) This was an epic drumming show in a big open warehouse space. The atmosphere and energy was incredible. It was essentially just a massive party!