Our time in Buenos Aires has been fun so far! We are splitting up the days with a day trip to Colonia, Uruguay which is only a 1 hr ferry ride away.
On the night we arrived, we got to the house/apartment we were renting in Palermo Soho (area in Buenos Aires) and acted like we were in war torn Syria or something because we were all jumpy at every noise and creek because of the reputation this city has of being unsafe. The housing is very secure here even in our area, which is safe to walk around in at night, etc. We have 2 sets of locks with a long narrow hallway before you actually get to the house/apartment where it opens up at the back with other homes off shooting off the hallways as well. From the outside, it doesn't like anything at all and one of the other places that we can see into, even has a pool but you would never know from the street. In our defense, a lot of the city is very poorly lit which probably adds to the crime although the terrible economy is what probably drive the desperation for some quick cash.
Inflation here is astronomical so Argentinians horde American dollars. It is the strangest thing. The official rate is $8.5 peso to $1 USD but you can Exchange money for up to 14 to 1 (non-bank) and maybe more if you're a local and know where to go (probably someplace shady that we wouldn't go). Even restaurants and clothing stores will accept US at around 11-13. As a result, everything is cheaper than we expected which is nice since Chile was definitely more expensive. We didn't use public transportation here although it's supposed to be safe and efficient as taxis are pretty cheap especially with four people.
Palermo is a great area with lots of restaurant, bars, small hotels and boutique clothing stores from local Argentinians designers. One store we went into had 5 rows of clothes and each row was from a different designer who was actually there and who you paid directly. Prices for cute unique items is very reasonable because of the dollar at the moment. Although the big international brand hotels are situated at Puerto madero and some in Ricoletta, Palermo is a more interesting and safe area, in my opinion, that has more reasonable prices for everything as its catering for locals and tourists alike.
Tango lessons were an interesting experience! We went to Salon Canning near our apartment. We only pseudo understood the instructions as they wee mostly in Spanish. What a difficult dance! It would definitely take a long time to master but nonetheless, fun to watch the pros! Marta, our geriatric instructor, can still bust a move! You see random tango dancing in the streets in tourist areas as well with live music as well so we didnt to a Tango show per se.
Travelling with Shy and Arif has been interesting. Arif's new nickname is "Shin splints" - his feet always seem to be hurting and always wants to take a taxi even for a short distances instead of walking. They've been great travel buddies so far though.
We did a city tour which was a quick and dirty overview of all the tourist sites including the Recoletta cemetery including Evita's tomb, the women's bridge, Caminato street in La boca, the Pink House, San telmo, etc. The cemetery seems like an odd place to visit but it's more like a cemetery of grand looking mausoleums where members of a family can be buried together (Often above ground).
Because of the economy, some of the high end stores etc have shut down in Recoletta which was known to be the Paris of Latin America. It would have been nice to have one more day to explore BA a bit further including the more touristy areas.
We ate like Kings and Queens while we were here! Of course Argentina is known for their beef and we definitely had our share of it! Even Shaila has good luck with vegetarian options even at the steak houses. See my post on BA food! We had a bit of a cockroach incident on the last night in BA and it was Shaila, the vegetarian, that saved the day!
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