Week 33: Argentina

We have had an amazing first week exploring a couple big cities in Argentina!

Our first stop: Cordoba! There are six universities here, so this city is filled with students! Our hostel was in a great location to explore from, so explore we did! After getting money exchanged, booking a bus, and getting an Argentinian SIM card (all adventures in themselves, as we worked with our limited Spanish and hand gestures), we were ready to take on this city. During the first day, we saw many old buildings with beautiful architecture and large, gorgeous churches. We also walked through Parque Sarmiento, a large, quiet park situated next to one of the universities. That afternoon, we joined a walking tour of the bohemian area. We had lots of other travellers to talk to, and a few locals to badger with questions. This walking tour took us through the Spanish square, Bicentenary Park, Capuchino’s church, the flea market, Paseo de Los Artes, and the galleries of the Guemes neighbourhood. This neighbourhhood was once a low income housing area for immigrants, filled with very small homes, connected with skinny alleys and all facing into central garden areas. This area has now been converted into a maze of awesome bars and restaurants and shops that all come alive at night. Each building has a totally different vibe, which was so neat to experience. Once we left the tour group, I headed out to my first Zumba class in South America. Just as I had suspected, Latin American women definitely know how to move! I was welcomed in, given a free pass to join the class, and had a permanent smile plastered on my face all night! Later that night, we enjoyed an impromptu language lesson over empanadas at our hostel!

We participated in a different walking tour the next morning. This tour focused more on the history of the city, showcasing a variety of old, beautiful buildings. We were joined by another great group of travellers here. We visited San Martin square, a cathedral, the Jesuit crypt, town council, the narrowest building in the city, Sobremonte’s house, the law school UNC, and Monserrat School. This city is home to 80 churches, is 66% Roman Catholic, and is known as the City of Bells. We also learned more about the iconic Arroya la Canada, a canal that was built through the city to reroute the water that was flooding the city after each heavy rain. After a little rest involving books and delicious fruit, we took ourselves through the art museum inside Palacio Ferreyra, which is free on Wednesdays! In the evening, we headed back to Paseo de Los Artes to enjoy the vibrant nightlife here.

The following day was March 8, International Women’s Day. I was so excited to be in a bigger city and see how the women celebrated here. We talked to women setting up for a full day demonstration in San Martin square and later watched as thousands of people took to the streets for a march powered by some serious energy. I felt grateful and empowered. I am so fortunate to have so many incredible women in my life- women who inspire me, women who push me, and women who stand right by my side.

After walking through the university campus and paying another visit to Parque Sarmiento, it was time for our first night bus in Argentina. We travelled to Buenos Aires via cama ejectivo, which allowed us to recline in oversized leather seats, and provided us with a delicious dinner and a light breakfast. The bonus is that we both slept well!

We arrived in Buenos Aires rested and ready for a big day. After dropping our bags off at our great AirBnB location shared with an awesome host, we joined a massive walking tour group. We spent nearly four hours in the Recoleta area. This city was greatly inspired by France, and was built up when it was one of the richest countries in the world. So, there are some enormous buildings, like Palacio San Martin, that were once just a home for one family. The city has the largest Jewish community in South America (7^th largest in the world). The city also has a highway, 9 de Julio, which is the widest road in the world. I managed to get across the whole thing with one light, but I had to run most of the way. We heard a history filled with envy, greed, revenge, fighting for ownership and independence. We learned that San Martin was hugely important throughout South America. We watched parrots fly through the parks and visited a massive tree. We finished the tour at the Cemetery where 350000 people are buried, including Evita. Later on that afternoon, we visited the Belles Artes Museum. We really enjoyed the modern art displayed here, but there were lots of traditional paintings to see as well.

We then met up with our AirBnB host, Jessica, and within the first few minutes of talking to her, she had us signed up for her Intro to Tango class that night! She had had two people cancel last minute, so we were able to take their place. We headed down to San Telmo with her, and joined seven others for the class. Jessica was an amazing instructor, giving us simple steps at first and building on with each new song. After the lesson, she took us all to a milonga. A milonga is a place where people dance tango, and they pop up in different places all over the city each night of the week. Some are more serious than others, but Jessica brought us to one that was very welcoming of newcomers. The milonga we visited was set up in a museum, providing three different rooms to dance in. Will and I danced a few sets (there’s four songs in a set) and watched many other amazing dancers. Where we felt uncoordinated and awkward, they just seemed to feel the music and move so gracefully. It was such a fun experience, and knowing that this most certainly took Will out of his comfort zone, I was very grateful he was so game to try it!

On Saturday, we figured out the bus system and took ourselves about an hour out of the city to a place called Tigre. Tigre is a tourist town set up along the water, with lots of boat trips taking people out to through the delta. There are a lot of interesting market stalls and shops throughout the town too. We wandered about, stopping at various stalls and a great cerveseria for samples of artisanal beers. In the evening, we caught an amazing free concert set up in a little park by the water! We hadn’t had any plans or expectations for Tigre, but it shaped up to be an amazing day. We just love when that happens! Back in Buenos Aires that night, they were celebrating the Night of Bookstores with large concerts and authors speaking in the street. We wandered through and finished our night with pizza at Guerrin’s.

During our final day in Buenos Aires, we set off for Caminito La Boca. This touristic area of the city is filled with brightly coloured buildings and an interesting market. It’s another area of the city that was once a pretty rough neighbourhood but has been revamped. Our next stop was San Telmo, where an entire street spanning many blocks was closed off for a Sunday market. This was a high quality market with many vendors selling leather goods, jewelry, pottery, clothing, paintings, and food. We then set off for a large eco reserve, set along the Rio de la Plata. This reserve has great walking trails, a park to sit in, and is home to over 200 species of birds. As we ventured back through town, we visited the impressive pedestrian bridge, the Plaza de Mayo (under major construction right now), and Café Tortoni (didn’t go in because there was a massive lineup). We finished the night with hours of chatting with Jessica about her own incredible travels, interests, and various career paths. Between airports and these two cities, we walked a LOT this week, so it was nice to rest at night. Wandering the streets at all times of day and night, we felt like we got a good feel for these cities that never seem to sleep!

We can’t avoid taking a moment to talk about some of the food and drink here. First up, mate. Mate (ma-tay) is a drink consisting of dried herbs (yerba) and hot water. There is a special cup and straw used for this drink, and a whole process to follow for consuming this drink correctly. Many locals admitted that it isn’t so much a taste they enjoy as a taste they have acquired. We found it very bitter, even when we added some sugar. People drink it individually, but it is usually consumed as a drink shared amongst friends. The person pouring drinks the whole first cup, then refills and passes to the person to the right, and this process is continued until everyone has had a cup. We love the idea behind it and what it symbolizes, but man, this drink is bitter!

The other drink we tried was fernet a coca, which really doesn’t need an explanation… fernet mixed with coke (about 30/70). Again, very bitter!

We also tried alfajors. Think two cookies sandwiched together with a thick caramel/milk spread. This spread, dulce de leche, is basically a staple here, and we’ve enjoyed it in alfajors, on toast, and on crepes!

We had tried empanadas in Colombia, but the empanadas here are baked, not fried. They are so delicious!

While at Guerrin’s, we ordered the ‘classic’ according to locals- mozza y fiana (mozzarella pizza with a piece of flatbread made from chickpea on top).

We have also seen many restaurants advertising parrilla, which is a small iron barbeque filled with meat. Argentina is famous for their steaks, and this is certainly one way this meat is enjoyed.

We have learned that Argentinians eat a light, sweet breakfast. This often consists of a café and a couple medialunas (croissants) or toast with jam or dulce de leche. They eat a fair sized lunch, often consisting of some variation of sandwich (choripan, empanada, lomos, or bife de chorizo). They eat their third meal, merienda, between 5-7pm. This meal is almost identical to their breakfast. Dinner doesn’t happen until 9-10pm!

Just in case the rest of this post didn’t make you feel like we’ve learned anything while we’ve been here, we’ve got this…

Ten Things We Have Noticed This Week:

• The city planners here have done a great job of ensuring that green spaces are preserved throughout the cities.
• There are long line ups outside many of the banks, which we learned has two reasons behind it- the ATMs are stocked on Monday and often run out of money by the weekend, and many people still pay bills in person at the bank rather than online.
• People go out SO late here- drinks with friends happens around 8pm if meeting before dinner or midnight if meeting after dinner, and then you go out to the discoteque/club between 2-6am!
• We have seen more people out running and exercising here than we have anywhere else during our travels.
• People here also know how to relax and honour days of rest. Many parks were filled with people sitting on blankets and drinking mate with family and friends, especially on Saturday and Sunday.
• People will go to the milongas on their own or with a couple friends, and will just dance with anyone who asks them. You could be asked to dance at any point, as I was when we attended the milonga. Everyone seemed very comfortable with this, and I took note of the fact that I didn’t see anyone with their phone out!
• Many women here wear ridiculously high platform shoes and manage to walk without ever falling over.
• We have heard that Argentina is one of the most expensive countries in South America, especially for food and drink. We have found some good deals at local restaurants and have been doing more cooking for ourselves.
• Many people here have been eager to talk to us and practise their English. This has been great in some ways, but is not helping our case of trying to learn Spanish!
• It has been very warm while we’ve been here, although there is a little breeze that cools things off at night.

Act of Kindness: Will really enjoyed chatting with the guys at the cerveseria in Tigre, and they gave him lots of free samples. I loved getting a great Spanish lesson from a local at our hostel, and especially loved my free Zumba class!