Day By Day in BA - Part 2

As I starting writing about 12 days ago, here's the continuation of our daily activities in Buenos Aires.

Saturday March 23
On our final full day in Buenos Aires before heading to Santiago, Chile on Sunday, my father decided that we should try to get to La Boca, the colorful neighborhood on the southern end of the city to see the famous El Caminito, a short walking street filled with restaurants and shops.

The two main things they tell you about La Boca are (1) it's VERY touristy and (2) it's not the safest area if you venture beyond the tourist zone. #1 suggests you should try to go during non-peak hours where the crowds will be less. But #2 suggests you definitely shouldn't go when there's no one else around. So we picked Saturday mid-afternoon hoping the big crowds will have finished by lunchtime but still early enough where there was plenty of daylight and other people around.

We had a few options to get from Palermo Hollywood (northwest part of BA) down to La Boca (southeast part of BA). Taxis were easiest but also most expensive. The metro only got you so far before you had to walk. Or the bus which took you all the way for about 3 pesos ($0.50 USD) per person, but took forever.


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Being cheap mindful of our travel spending, my father suggested we do a combination of all three options. Walk from our hotel (A) to the metro at Palermo Station (B) and take it to Catedral (C) where we'd find a taxi to La Boca (D).

La Boca is a working class part of the city - which I found was a politically correct way of saying "watch your purse." Years ago, an artist decided to re-decorate a part of the neighborhood and splashed vibrant color everywhere, creating an open air museum in the street. Soon, the tourists came and local businesses (restaurants and tourist shops) popped up trying to take their money legally (and illegally if you're not careful).

Nothing happened to us for the 90 minutes we were there, but there wasn't too much to see after you walked around the main block. We just had lunch at ChoriPoint in Palermo before coming down, so we decided to head back via Bus 152 that would take us all the way back to Palermo for only 3 pesos / person ($0.50 USD).

Fortunately, we knew beforehand that the buses only take a bus card (like a MTA Metrocard) or coins. No paper currency accepted. So during the way from our hotel to the metro station, my father would buy water and other things from the small stores asking for his change in coins. When that didn't work, my mother used her charm and just got storekeepers to change her 2 peso bills.

The stop for Bus 152 was a few blocks down the street away from the main Caminito, but on the wide open main street so you didn't feel like you were wandering where you didn't belong.

The reason we took the bus wasn't entirely because my father was being cheap. Reading some posts on TripAdvisor, my father read about one person who wrote how he took a taxi, but there weren't any official radio-taxis available. According to the post, the unofficial taxi (which looks the same except no sign on the roof or phone number on the side) took him and his wife to some random street where 6 men with guns showed up and robbed them all. After losing their valuables, the taxi eventually took them to their hotel pretending like he had no idea that would happen. Who knows what really happened, but it seemed like a bus was a safer option for my parents and I.

The bus started its route at La Boca so the three of us all got seats but eventually the bus filled up with locals making their way to different parts of the city. My parents took turns holding me as I was having a rough time sitting still for 45 minutes, but it was actually a nice tour of the city going north from La Boca to Microcentro/Recoleta and then west to Palermo along Avenida Santa Fe - pretty much the same way we came, but above ground. For $1 USD total, not a bad deal.

Skip 10 days ahead...

Tuesday April 2
We landed at Jorge Newbery Airport and took a taxi to our hotel for the final 2 nights, the Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt. Skeptical of taxi drivers (see above), my father tracked his route with his smartphone. Fortunately, the ride was uneventful and we arrived at the hotel in about 15 minutes and for 50 Argentine pesos ($10 USD).

After getting settled into our upgraded room (A), we made our way around the neighborhood to find some food. Luckily there was a large grocery store called Disco (B) only 2 blocks away on Avenida Presidente Manuel Quintana.

After picking up some milk for me and snacks for later, my father stumbled upon a nice empanadas restaurant with take out called El Sanjuanino (C) on Calle Posadas. They had the best empanadas we've had on our trip and cost only $8 ARS ($1.60 USD) for each one. The restaurant offered about 7 different kinds, so my parents had 3 each and that was enough for lunch. Quite filling for a $10 USD lunch for 2.


Having spent 5 days in Buenos Aires the week prior, we weren't in any rush to push more things on our schedule so we spent the evening in our room and ordered room service while watching TV and letting me run around before bedtime. My parents are so boring!

Wednesday April 3

After enjoying a nice free breakfast buffet at our hotel (another great benefit of Hyatt Diamond status), we decided to spend our last full day walking around Recoleta, heading vaguely towards the Buenos Aires Zoo near Palermo.

Someone told us the Recoleta neighborhood reminded them of the Upper East Side in Manhattan and we'd have to agree completely. They even have the same angry looking old grandmothers dressed in Burberry to go grocery shopping.

After meandering around various streets and parks, we started to get hungry again. Fortunately, my father found a great Choripan place called Nico Fast Food on Calle Bulnes 2500 off Calle Cabello. For those of you who don't know what choripan is, you're really missing out. For 16 Argentine pesos ($3.20 USD), you got a delicious filleted chorizo sausage sandwich. Douse it with chimichurri sauce and you're ready to eat the tastiest food in Argentina.

We finally made it to the zoo around 3:30PM, with enough time and daylight to see the animals before they closed at 6PM. It was a standard zoo with the usual animals (lions, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, etc), but main attraction was the albino white tigers. They had 4 of them! And did I mention, they were all babies?

 

 

So that was our time in Buenos Aires. After spending a full 7 days here, we came across a lot of Americans. I had no idea it was so popular a destination, especially among people from the middle of the country who I assumed didn't even have passports.

So since I underestimated American appetite for Argentina, for those of you readers who are thinking about making the 11 hour flight down here in the future, I'll have another post next week when I'm back in NYC with some of my Argentina travel tips.