San Telmo Buenos Aires

This morning, after buying a bag of ground coffee at a Chinese grocery store that blasts Asian rock-rap and is adorned with golden, ceramic kitties, I started thinking of San Telmo’s quirkiness.  This is not an uncommon thought; no, the realization occurs to me quite often.  Take yesterday, for instance, when I was walking home from the subway and saw a man pedaling a stationary bicycle parked on the sidewalk, quite in the middle of foot traffic.  That is not the end of it, though.  The stationary bike was powering a knife-sharpener that spun on top of the man’s handlebars.  The man was pedaling his heart out while holding a very intimidating-looking knife blade on top of the spinning sharpener.  I hustled past him as I morosely imagined him losing his grip and the knife flying through the air, perhaps soaring onto (or rather, into) an innocent bystander.  Later in the day I wondered if I had fabricated such a ludicrous memory.  But, no, as ridiculous as it is, I am certain that I did indeed walk (run) past a knife-sharpening exercise-biking man.

 

I love San Telmo.  All of its quirkiness makes it an inimitable neighborhood.  Its just-around-the-corner local from Microcentro keeps it within walking distance of all the Buenos Aires hot-spots, but its distinct barrio borders separate it from the city-center-hub. Once Calle Florida turns into Calle Peru and thus marks one’s entrance into San Telmo, you notice the architecture fade from modern to colonial, from classy stone and brick facades to muted pink and green building fronts.  The blocks have a feel of Cuba during the Godfather II era, with classic architecture painted in bright Latin flavors.  The shops are old-fashioned, with the merchants standing outside greeting potential patrons, spending hours dusting the storefront windows, meticulously keeping track of their wares.  Artisans who can not afford their own shops spread blankets out on the cobblestone of Calle Peru and sell their hand-woven pashminas, hand-sculpted bracelets, and hand-carved wooden tea cups.  On Sundays the entire avenue of Defensa is taken over by these artisans, and you can find everything from wooden desks to handy kitchen items to beautifully embroidered dresses at this San Telmo craft fair.

 

The restaurants and cafes, bars and bakeries of San Telmo significantly contribute to my desire to live in no other barrio in Buenos Aires.  Whereas in Recoletta, the best deal on pizza I could find is one mozzarella pizza and six empanadas for 29 pesos, around the corner is a hole-in-the-wall pizza/beer joint offering a liter of Quilmes and a mozzarella pizza for 17 pesos!  On the busiest streets of the business districts, coffees are sold for 7 pesos per cup, whereas the San Telmo diners serve you a glass of espresso and three media-lunas (delicious croissants) for only 4 pesos and 50 centavos.  Not to mention that the wait-staff itself in San Telmo will make you feel right at home, as they will not let you leave without telling them your reasons for being in Buenos Aires, wishing you luck during your visit here, and insisting that you come back again.  Take Gaston for example, waiter and host of Limi-T Wine Bar, which really isn’t a wine bar at all, but rather a dive café located on the corner of Venezuela and Chacabuco.  My boyfriend and I frequented Limi-T once, a dining experience where Gaston brought out 80’s and 90’s rock cd’s along with our coffee orders, asking us to please choose an album for him to play.  We chose David Bowie, and seconds later Limi-T was filled with the sound of Major Tom’s count-down, and Gaston was smiling proudly at us from the bar.  Before leaving, he gave us his business cards and kissed us both on the cheek.  Now, even though we have only eaten there once, every time we walk past the corner of Venezuela and Chacabuco, we always wave through the window, and Gaston flies out to give us a hug and check up on our stay.  He makes us feel as though this is our home, too.  And right now, San Telmo really is a wonderful home.    

The City Of Puerto Madero

Crossing Avenida Paseo Colon, marking one’s departure from San Telmo and subsequent entrance into Puerto Madero is like crossing into a whole new city.  Puerto Madero streets are somehow quiet, as if portenos have mercifully agreed to a traffic code of conduct in just this one barrio.  The sidewalks are a wide contrast to the normally narrow streets of Buenos Aires, and the broad avenue lanes are divided by strips of grass illuminated by soft lamps in the evenings.  A cobblestone bridge carries urban foot travelers across a view of the river that is a refreshingly open breather in this magnificently jam-packed city.  The river sparkles in-between its cement dams and giant, colorful cranes adorn the bridge, seeming to keep an eye on the barrio.

 

The cranes remind one of the construction required to make Puerto Madero what it is today.  Built in the 1890’s as the city’s leading port, it was abandoned only a decade after its completion due to the quickly changing shipping industry.  For an entire century, the area was more or less unclaimed, making it a no-man’s-land of decay and degradation.  Finally, in the 1990’s, the city laid claim to Puerto Madero. The old, empty, and decaying warehouses were renovated and remodeled into coveted apartment lofts, raved-about restaurants, classy hotels, and posh office buildings.

 

Crossing Avenidas Aime Paine, Juana Manso, Olga Cossettini, and Julieta Lanterri will make you wonder at the feminine names of the avenues.  In a machismo metropolis where the streets carry the legacies of the country’s masculine heroes, from Bolivar to San Martin, the gender difference in this barrio is a noticeable one.  And it is all on purpose—Puerto Madero renovation plans included renaming each street after an Argentine feminist.  This barrio really is cutting edge, a model of progress and revitalization.

 

Passing by all these female-inspired streets will eventually lead you to the Ecological Reserve, a stunning display of the power of nature.  This nature preserve is a peaceful sanctuary of rolling fields wrapped by inlaid hiking and biking trails, flocked with birds, wildflowers, trees, shrubs, and other exotic wildlife that is hard to come by in such an urban and densely populated city.  The reserve itself used to be a concrete junkyard, a graveyard preserving the remains of failed attempts at development.  Years of abandonment let nature walk back in the door, and soon enough, She took over, to the point where the past evidence of development dumping is invisible.  I could walk in the Ecological Reserve every day, never tiring of the fresh air and beautiful views of the estuary. 

 

As you leave the Ecological Reserve and walk back along the avenues, past the Hotel Madero, past the Universidad Catolica, past the dozens upon dozens of other boutiques, inns, and cafes, you will find it hard to believe that this trendy, clean, and vibrant neighborhood lay in ruins a mere 15 years ago.  It is an amazing feat, and a complete testament to the city of Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires Catching the Collectivo

Monedas.  Some may say your days in Buenos Aires are characterized by a struggle to find coins.  Yes, that’s right—coins, monedas, something that in the US piles up in our pockets and the bottoms of our purses and on the floors of our cars.  We don’t really count it as money.  I for one think I got something for free if I paid with coins in the US.  But no, in Buenos Aires, they are indeed a precious metal. 

The collectivo is the bus system in Argentina’s capital.  In a city with 14 million people and nearly as many neighborhoods, the collectivo is shall we say, crucial.  However, although its name may suggest otherwise, it is a privatized bus system.  Yes yes, freedom to choose and all of that, but let’s put it this way: there are literally hundreds of bus lines in the city, different companies pulling the strings on different lines, each company with its own idea of a good route.  And each route was unimaginably completely undocumented until the arrival of the GUIA. 

Ten years ago, the GUIA was born, ingeniously invented to document each collectivo route into one guide.  Landing in Buenos Aires and deciphering the collectivos without a GUIA would be virtually impossible if one so choose to also pursue other activities.  This guide lists all of the streets within the city limits of Buenos Aires, from Acassuso to Zuviria, in the first pages of the booklet.  Proceeding the listed avenues comes a map of the city, spread out piece by piece over 36 pages.  Each page, or 1/36th of the entire city map, is further broken down into 24 squares.  Each square is accompanied by a list of buses that frequent that area, which is 5 city blocks.  However the collectivo list does not tell you the exact stopping point of the bus.  Therefore, to find a certain bus, you must walk that square area of 5 blocks, and hope to find a marked spot, or perhaps a queue of public transportation veterans waiting with resigned helplessness at an unmarked but somehow designated point. 

To make things just a little bit more adventurous, the routes are subject to change at any time the various owners of the collectivo lines so choose.  Therefore, the bus that the GUIA points to for your destination square may have changed its route, may have voted your square off the island.  But, the best you can do is hope that doesn’t happen, and wait for it to come.  The good news is that because bus drivers see traffic lanes as suggestions, there’s really no way you could miss a passing bus, as it is usually the only automobile in three lanes. 

Okay, so imagine that you have miraculously found the stop, and the route has not changed, and the bus has arrived.  You hop on as the doors fly open and the bus driver removes his foot from the gas for a generous 20 seconds.  You tell the driver “noventa”, because unless you are going outside of Buenos Aires, it only costs 90 centavos to go anywhere within the city.  The bus driver starts the meter, and you drop your coins in.  And here is where we go back to the aforementioned issue of monedas.

In an act of saving grace, the city of Buenos Aires has decreed that all bus rides within the city are 90 centavos, as I said before.  The buses do not accept bills, only coins.  And there is a coin shortage, to say the least, within the Capital Federal.  When I say there is a coin shortage, I can not adequately convey the off-kilter supply and demand balance without examples.  Take, for instance, a trip to the grocery store.  I gather my groceries into a basket and head to check out.  The cashier tells me the total is $20.80.  I hand her $22.00.  She looks at the money with such a look of disapproval that she barely stops short of wagging her forefinger at me.  “Do you have 80 cents?” she asks me.  Do I have 80 cents?  Just luxuriously jingling in my pocket?  And would I willingly hand it over to a grocery store? ”No,” I say without apologies.  This is getting ridiculous.  I see in the till that there are only a few coins, but enough to give me my 20 cents change.  Let’s just think about that for a second.  She asks me for 80 cents, when she only owes me 20.  Where is the logic?  Just as I am once again asking where the hell are all the monedas, the tiller opens up a locked drawer underneath her register, and I see the sparkling, rolling hills of hundreds of coins.  She sourly hands me two 10 cent pieces, as if parting with these coins is a major infringement on her day.  On my way back home from the grocery store, I take note of the dozens of kiosk and shop store window-fronts that warn customers that they “have no monedas.”  Don’t even try it, they seem to say.

For this shortage, there are various rumors.  One of my favorite explanations is that apparently, the metal that composes the coins is actually more valuable than the monetary value of the coin itself.  Therefore, some shrewd swindlers stash away these coins, melt them down, and sell the metal on the black market.  Perhaps an even more ridiculous, but no less accepted, rumor is that the Chinese mafia—yes, specifically the Chinese mafia—hoards the monedas until there are desperate shortages, at which point the Asian gangsters sell the coins for a hefty profit.  I’m pretty sure that’s the real reason. 

So, as if finding the appropriate bus is not hard enough, the Chinese mafia has now made paying for the bus an equal struggle.  In a city that never sleeps with a subway system that closes at 10 pm, you do what you can to get to a bus, and you do what you have to to pay for it.  When I walk down the street, I can spot the glint of the sun against a dropped coin from yards away.  And I will knock people over to be the first to reach that fallen treasure.  Precious metals and unpredictable routes.  A day in BsAs.  The upside of all this is that taking the bus now is really the only thing I need to do to feel as though I have led an accomplished day.

Visiting Cordoba

The second largest city in the country of Argentina is the city of Cordoba. Established in the fourteenth century, and home to one of the first universities on the continent, today Cordoba is called “la docta” for its many educational opportunities. During the 1950s the city faced industrialization programs led by the government, which has left it today as a leader in the motor vehicle and software industries as well.

 

Visitors to the city can view many of the city’s well preserved buildings dating from the 1600s, though the industrialization period did expose some structures to the affects and interference of modern architecture and construction. Luckily entire blocks are now under preservation and protection and the city continues to retain its beautiful and antique charm.

 

In additions to the dozens of historic buildings open to the public, there are also numerous museums, some belonging to the colleges and universities that fill the city, and others simply focusing on a specific subject or collection. There are currently museums of modern art, historic Latin American Indian collections, science museums devoted to the prehistory of the continent as well as the other sciences. There are technology museums dedicated to the industrial focus of the city as well as those educating children about technology. The history museums of the city could easily fill a few days’ itineraries and include everything from art history, to coin collections and a review of Cordoba’s fascinating past.

 

Because the city was built for scholarly pursuits there remain many green and open spaces where the pace and noise of a thriving city can be easily escaped. The two million residents of Cordoba have over twelve large gardens and public parks to visit. Some regularly stage craft or artisan fairs, and some make all sorts of family activities available each weekend.

 

Additionally, because Cordoba is still a college town it offers fantastic cultural venues both day and night. There are many excellent theaters and clubs, including annual festivals in the theater and cinematic arts. There are some major sporting events held in the stadiums built by some of the universities and regularly scheduled games take place throughout the year.

The Unique History of La Plata

Argentina is home to some fairly large cities, and most with several hundred years of history behind them. These include the extremely sophisticated Buenos Aires as well as the college city of Cordoba. The third largest city in the country of Argentina is La Plata. While it is now over two hundred years old, the entire city was created using modern concepts in design, urban planning, and was even photographed throughout its construction.

The governor of the region, Dardo Rocha, decided to create a new city meant to serve the needs of provincial government institutions and a new university. Pedro Benoit was then hired to design the new city. He did so by developing it around an urban center – La Plata has a city center with two main, intersecting avenues that run along a diagonal. All other streets are built along a grid of six blocks by six block patterns which meet at small parks.

Rocha effectively created the design using standards of the day, and to take it even further opened up the architectural design of the main city buildings to an international competition. This is the reason today that the city has such a cosmopolitan appeal – its city hall was won by the German designers, who had their own European influences, and the Governor’s Palace was created by an Italian firm with concepts of their own.

La Plata is the home to some other unique “firsts”. In addition to being the first city on the South American continent designed by urban planners, it was the first city to install electricity throughout the entire town – as early as 1884 the streets of La Plata were lit by electric lighting.

It is also home to the largest church in the country – the Cathedral of La Plata. The city also contains one of the only two buildings designed by Le Corbusier (a Swiss architect known for his contributions to Modern Architecture) in the Americas – the Curutchet House was fully restored in the 1980s and is a national landmark of Argentina.

Clearly, any visitor to La Plata has a great deal to see and do. The many parks are lined with Linden trees, the streets are full of interesting shops and restaurants, and the University is known for its remarkable observatory and paleontology museums.

When planning a visit to the well designed city a traveler can count on a wide range of accommodation choices. In order to enjoy a great deal of savings in time and money visit HotelsCombined.com, where both a room and flight reservations can be made with a few clicks of the mouse!

The Sophistication of Buenos Aires

The capital city of Argentina is the remarkable Buenos Aires. Divided into an astounding forty eight districts it also contains one of the most diverse populations on the continent. With a total of around fourteen million citizens, that also makes it one of the most populated places in the world.

Many people choose to relocate to the city because of its open minded atmosphere of acceptance, which is one of the reasons the city has such a thriving gay tourism industry, as well as an open and readily accepted gay community.

In addition to its friendly and hospitable atmosphere, Buenos Aires is also one of the finest places in the world for those who like to walk, dine, shop, learn, dance or explore a new city. Buenos Aires is home to some of the largest parks in the country, including the promenade in the Palermo district of the city and the La Boca area of the city which boasts an enormous arts and crafts community.

If a more unique walking experience is desired, braver tourists visit the Cementerio de la Recoleta where the wealthiest residents bury their dead. The crypts are palaces in their own right, and the cemetery is populated by a staggeringly large community of friendly calico cats. A famous resident of the cemetery is Eva Peron, who was considered a leader of the people until her death at the age of thirty three.

The city is also well known for its love of the dance known as the Tango, which is the national dance of Argentina. Most visitors are encouraged to visit a “Milonga” in order to experience a true Tango dance. Traditional Milongas will be advertised in the local media and it is a good idea to plan on attending one, they are held in late in the evenings or during special matinee performances. In general, the population is happy to help teach newcomers some steps and some of the basic guidelines of the Tango, but if more formal training is desired there are an ample number of schools and dance academies available.

The city is also popular with shoppers who come for specialty crafts, such as “gaucho” or cowboy items made from leather, traditional baked goods, Tango shoes, and many other regional products.

When planning a trip to Buenos Aires a great deal of time and money can be saved by a quick visit to HotelsCombined.com. The site offers exclusive combination rates to those who book their airfare and accommodations together. Some of the finest hotels in the city can be found when looking through the listings at the web site.

The Appeal of Patagonia

Unfortunately many tourists envision the area of Argentina commonly called Patagonia as a vast flat plain of cold wind and rain. This is unfortunate because the area is not entirely the same from end to end or corner to corner. Though it is at the southernmost area of Argentina, and South America, the area contains some remarkable geographic features, and lovely wildlife.

For example, an itinerary for the Patagonia region of Argentina could include a trek or hiking in the Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park, or through the Fitzroy Mountains. A wildlife enthusiast could enjoy observing the Magellanic Penguins in their natural environment or they could partake of seasonal activities which include the migration of whales and some seals.

Patagonia has much to offer, and many visits begin in the city of Ushuaia. Here visitors can embark for winter hikes and outdoor activities or they can prepare for a cruise to Antarctica. The city is located on the shores of the Beagle Strait, making it the ideal place to depart for the shores of the nearby continent.

In fact, the tourist industry in the city has grown to such a level that it alone is a destination for outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds. There are actually many hotels, restaurants, shops and even casinos that have appeared to answer the needs of the tourism trade in this part of Patagonia.

The town is also home to several fascinating museums including a maritime and military prison as well as the Museo del Fin del Mundo which educates visitors about the many birds that make this part of the continent their home.

From Ushuaia a visitor can hike the Glacier Martial or visit the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

Another city popular with tourists of the Patagonia area is San Carlos de Bariloche, known for its natural scenic beauty, and its European atmosphere. The town has a reputation for outdoor activities as well as its many popular chocolate boutiques, which many people claim give it a Swiss village charm and appeal.

The city is the home of the Museum of Patagonia which covers the history of the region from pre-Hispanic settlement to the modern age. There are also several cruises that depart from the town, and these include all day tours of Lake Nahuel Hauapi and the National Park.

A comprehensive tour of the Patagonia region is easy to plan, especially with the right travel tools. At HotelsCombined.com airfare and accommodations reservations can be made with only a few quick clicks of a mouse!

Enjoying Mendoza

The province known as Mendoza in Argentina contains a diverse number of fascinating industries, locations and scenery. It is home to some of the country’s best vineyards; it contains the continent’s tallest mountain, and several beautiful sites of natural beauty and wonder.

In addition to scenery Mendoza provides access to year round sporting activities such as skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, horseback riding and fishing, in addition to many more.

The wine industry in Mendoza is supported by the climate of the region, and is celebrated during the annual harvest festival known as the Vendimia. This usually takes place in March, but can actually begin as early as January in some areas. The main focal point of the celebrations however is the Mendoza area because it is home to most winemaking activity. While there are some religious elements to the Vendimia, for the most part they involve events marked by the celebration of a successful season. Simultaneous to the annual wine celebrations are other harvest festivals, and visitors to the area always find these to be fun and lighthearted events.

While they do take place during the hottest part of the year, the many fountains and plantings of the area manage to keep celebrants comfortable and relaxed. Additionally the pleasure of the afternoon siesta keeps guests and laborers from the worst part of the day. Visitors who cannot attend the celebrations are always welcome to tour the many vineyards and farms of the area at any time of year. In fact, wine tasting tours are becoming one of the most common reasons for visitors to come to the Mendoza region.

In addition to the wine and harvest festivals there are many historic areas to visit. The Museo Popular Callejero gives a wonderful glimpse of the changes that have come to Mendoza since it was founded in the late 1500s. The Cristo Redentor statue marking an historic border dispute between Argentina and Chile is in the Mendoza region, and is considered one of the most remarkable sights around. It is located at an altitude of over thirteen thousand feet, and can only be seen during the summer months.

Those interested in the pre-Colombian period of the area might want to take a trip to Uspallata where the remains of a settlement and mining operation can be viewed as well as ancient petroglyphs (drawings usually on rocks).

There is a great deal more to enjoy in the Mendoza region, and numerous hotels and accommodations providers happy to take in travelers and visitors to the region. To find the best prices on a room or suite visit HotelsCombined.com, where visitors can also book their airfare at the same time.

Enjoying Mar Del Plata

Millions of people have visited Argentina’s most famous city, Buenos Aires, but only a short distance away is a city equally exciting and offering some of the best beaches in the area – Mar Del Plata. The city has been a major seaside destination since the late 1800s, and this influx of both domestic and foreign tourists can still be seen today in the city’s architecture and cultural institutions.

In addition to fantastic waterside fun and activities, the city is home to an incredible assortment of cultural and historical activities dedicated to the Argentinean and South American people and to the city’s early founders. For example the Museo del Mar is strictly dedicated to the preservation and education around the seashells and tidal activity of the Argentine coastal areas.

The city is also home to an impressive Aquarium, historical and natural history museums, a large number of historic homes and many world class beaches. Mar Del Plata also has several professional Tango theaters where the daily shows are reasonably priced and performed both during matinee and late evening hours.

There are many cafes and restaurants specializing in Argentine cuisine, including the nation’s favorite beverage – mate, an extremely bitter yet somehow addictive beverage that is loaded with caffeine and which fuels many late night Tango and Carnival events.

In addition to its popularity with travelers, Mar Del Plata also specializes in several other industries, including sporting events at the city’s Olympic quality stadiums. Fishing is still a major way of life for many residents, and the city has also expanded to include some light industry including textiles plants and food production facilities.

The focus on the fishing and seafood industry has brought the Fiesta Nacional del Mar to the city (the National Sea Festival) which takes place every December and is the official opening to the summer months in the country.

The city is also home to an increasing number of popular festivals and regular cultural events including film festivals, fashion shows, theater events and sporting events such as the Mar del Plata Marathon.

For visitors to the city there is a seemingly endless variety of options in accommodations. From luxury suites to affordable single rooms the city makes it easy to find a comfortable and satisfying place to stay.

Central Argentina Travel

The Pampas plains are amongst the richest areas in Argentina. They have the magic of wide-open spaces with an unlimited horizon, and they are the land of the gauchos, traditional Argentine country men. The estancias (ranches) in the Argentine Pampas are remarkable because of their varied architecture. They were built in widely differing styles such as colonial Hispanic-American, English Tudor, and classic French. Many of them have been transformed into tourist accommodations. Towards the northwest of these plains are the Sierras of Córdoba. The highest peak, Mount Champaquí, towers some 2,790 meters above its surroundings. Its fertile valleys contrast with deserts and salt pans, a particularly appealing landscape. Towards the north, scattered chapels and “estancias” begin to appear. These constructions date back to the 17th and 18th centuries, and many of them are a Jesuit legacy.

Next Page »