Buenos Aires - A city of PASSION
DAY 10 - SUNDAY - OCT 19 - BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
I got up early, my flight kept getting delayed so I ended up at a coffee shop in the airport for a few hours - where I met sisters Paola and Aixa (pronounced Ieeksa). We would end up on the same flight and sharing an Uber to downtown BA, and they gave me many great tips about the city. They both work in tech and marketing, and are hoping to leave to another country due to the difficult economy here.
The population of BA is 17.5M, making it 15,161 people per square km. They are paid here per MONTH. An average monthly salary is $600-800 per month, and rent takes all of it. Rent costs $800-1000 per month, so it is difficult to have an apartment as a single person. Most people live in apartments, not houses. The girls I met have never lived in a house, and most likely never will. Most people here identify as Catholic, though most do not practice any religion.
The moment we started hitting the skyline of BA, I could feel the energy. The skyline was spectacular, several skylines, and the lush green trees all throughout the city was unique and incredible. It kept getting better the closer we got to where I was staying. My location was perfect, in the heart of downtown where the streets are brick, and closed to driving traffic.
I dropped my bags, and decided to walk to find the starting point of the Hop On Hop Off bus so my morning would be easier the next day to know where I am going. I feel like I walked forever and never found the spot, despite asking a few people for help. I love this city already! Just walking around is very exciting, the architecture is insane in every direction.
My hostel was putting on a YERBA / MATE class to learn all about it. Well, I grew up drinking yerba mate my entire life. This is a cultural drink which originated in Argentina and Paraguay. It is a plant which the leaves are ground into a tea, and placed into a special cup. In Paraguay, and how I grew up, this cup is called a wumpa. In Argentina, they call it a Mate. (pronouned mahtay) The metal straw, we call it a bombelia, in Argentina they call it a bombijsha. In Argentina the double L is a jsh sound. This is a cultural drink and social activity - the tradition goes like this.
The tea is put into the wumpa and just a little water put in. Drinking it hot is called mate, cold is called tarrarae. There is one server - who passes it to the first person. That person drinks from the bombelia and passes it back to the server. The server puts water and passes it to the second person, and so on. This goes on until everyone is satisfied, when you are finished - you pass it back to the server and say ‘Thank you’ - to indicate you do not want any more.
In the class in my hostel, I learned that this tradition is really only from Paraguay and Argentina. In the past 10 years, I see yerba mate in every coffee shop, including Starbucks and all the other big ones. I learned that it is filled with antioxidants and has many health benefits.
We also made white cream cookies with dulce de leche, exactly what I grew up with. It really feels special to connect with the people and culture of everything I had in my home growing up!
I really enjoyed the class, called it a night and went to my cozy room. Great hostel!
DAY 11 - MON - OCT 20 - BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
I found my starting point for the Hop On Hop Off bus fairly easily this morning. The full loop is 3 1/2 hours, I decided to do the full loop without getting off and then take the day from there. It felt very long, but I really enjoyed it. I had Joseph from Slovakia sit beside me for 1 1/2 hours - a professor and Dean of Engineering at University of Slovakia (Comenius University in Bratislava)- super interesting man has traveled most of the world. He owns a house in the mountains as his weekend home and an apartment in the city for work. He is here meeting professors and deans from countries around the world to implement AI into Engineering programs at universities - they are here all together for one month to work on this project. Pretty crazy.
I walked around for a while, and against all my rules due to lack of space I have, I saw a great little shoe shop and caved. The owner named Oskar is a legend - a tiny little shop bursting with people and product - and the sweetest pair of leather shoes in the window. I bought them, I’ll get them home somehow. Super high end leather and I’ll have them for life.
I stopped for a slice of of the best wood-fire pizza I have ever had. The restaurant was called Kentucky. I asked the Manager if I could purchase a hat for my son, it was retro and cool and I figured I could hang a hat off my backpack. She went to her office, came back and said, I have no hats but I can give you this.. she gave me a FULL UNIFORM and a t-shirt which I have NO SPACE for. I asked if I could purchase a hat!! Oh my - after all that, I didn’t have the heart to leave it. I cut the t-shirt to a tank top for Jorg, it will be too small for me. The uniform I have no idea what I will do with that.
I came back to the hostel to reset. Ended up taking an Uber motorcycle to San Telmo Market, super cute place with amazing pubs and shops. Going anywhere, you always seem to cross Avenida 9 de Julio - one of the widest city streets in the world - which has the Obelisco - a monument tall white concrete monument to celebrate independence.
I walked to a beautiful mall called Pacifico, grabbed sushi (SA not known for sushi, it was awful) and I had to get some Lucciano’s ice cream which everyone talks about. While reading the menu, a man named Matteo approached me, talked with me for 45 minutes. He lived in the U.S. for over 10 years as a tennis pro, still teaches tennis as his profession today. A number of coincidences happened.. we were talking about Peter Gabriel and Peter Cetera.. when 30 seconds later Peter Cetera came on at Lucciano’s.. we had a good laugh.
Everyone told me I had to try the Argentina Malbec, so I stopped for a glass close to my home and facetimed my kiddos- for me the Malbec didn’t come close to the Cab Sav in Chile. I came back to the hostel, showered, chatted with Karo from Sao Paulo and went to sleep fairly early.
DAY 12 - TUES - OCT 21 - BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
Today got mixed up, my tour was changed to tomorrow so I explored Palermo and Caminito. Palermo was ok, nothing too special, Caminito was beautiful. Colourful and markets, and the people I met were great!
I checked back in to my hostel 3x today, I went out walking to try to find a hair wash. Oh my.. in Asia, 99% of every shop is massage and hair…. and luxurious! I walked everywhere, got sent to the top of apartment blocks to dark hallways for salons, found nothing. Finally found one and she ripped my hair out, gauged my neck with her nails repeatedly and blow dried my hair directly into my face and did a horrible job curling. Great $35 I spent. I think I need to invest in a small travel curling iron to wash my own hair .. this is expensive and not even fun.
I went to a steakhouse in Caminito and the steak was massive. It became my dinner too with the buns and salad.
I ended up chatting a long while w my roomies Annie - a high school teacher from Colon, Germany and Koba - a graphic designer from Sao Paulo, Brazil, both early 30’s. It is astonishing how many people (and women) travel solo, and prefer it.
DAY 13 - WEDN - OCT 22 - BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
I visited an Argentina farm today - a 2 hour drive out of Buenos Aires, stopped in a town called San Antonio with only 26K population. I sat on the shuttle van with Erin, a 25 yr old auditor from Chicago. Spent the day also with Deb, my age - from San Diego but living in Washington DC, working with the Federal Gov’t as a marine biologist.
The farm was wonderful. We were served I believe 12 kinds of meats, fresh salads and bread - along with Argentina red and white wine. What a feast! We danced to accordian music. We rode horses. We played with dogs. What a beautiful day with local gauchos.
It was a 10 hour day. I ended up going for a walk with Deb after we were back, checked out a speak easy. Shared some real stories, amazing the people you meet when you travel solo! Another great day in the books for sure!
RECAP - BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
The moment I saw the skyline driving into BA, until I was smack in the middle of CENTRO BA, I felt the energy. I felt myself getting fully excited as we drove closer. The architecture is incredible and it is endless. Street after street after street of old massive buildings, many on narrow cobble streets.
This city does not seem obsessed with beauty and fads. It is full of culture, theatres, great restaurants, soccer, markets, music, and mate. Everywhere I went, I saw individuals carrying around their thermos with their mate in public. This is such a huge part of their daily lives, people drink this from the time they wake up until the time they go to sleep.
Mate grows only in Paraguay, North Brazil and in Argentina.. globally. The Guarani people of Paraguay discovered this tree, the Jesuits made a business deal with them and introduced this drink to high society. This is a social drink, full of vitamins and minerals.
I look back on my life and think it has probably been a great thing that my parents drank this mate every day of their life, it has probably helped them with health a great deal.
This country is FULL OF PASSION. Tango is a passionate dance. Soccer is a passionate game. Spanish music is full of passion and love. Their love of mate and the tradition of SHARING that is a cultural passion. Their love for ASADO is a huge passion. You feel passion in the air as you walk the streets. The vibe is electric. I felt much safer here than I did in Santiago.
Their stadium holds 85K people and Coldplay sold out 11 shows. Sold out!
Gauchos are still real here (cowboys)… gauchos here do not use guns, they have 5 knives on them at all times.
They implemented a ‘Lazy Law’ here. if you get caught being lazy by police, you have 2 choices.. jail time or go be a gaucho.
I think many people here still live in poverty. The economy here is very difficult and it’s almost impossible to get ahead.
The amount of green space is mind blowing. The amount of huge beautiful parks in Buenos Aires is not for believing. I just googled it, and I learned that the city of BA has 1139 green spaces - that is insane!! Every time I turned around, I saw another absolutely gorgeous park.
Shopping is great here too. It is so difficult not to shop here. This is the place to buy leather! Shoes, a bag, belt, hat, etc.. everything is such great quality.
People are proud of their culture here. Their Spanish is more slang than other countries. Their economy is tough, the people seem more trustworthy than I felt in Chile.
I rate Buenos Aires 8/10. No beaches, so that is a drawback - a beach is over an hour away. The people seem pretty genuine. I love all the greenery in the city, beautiful trees everywhere. Shopping is great. There are numerous cultural areas, and each is unique. The smells around the restaurants is great, though walking down the narrow downtown streets has a strong smell of urine, not sure exactly why as I did not see too many homeless in the city. I didn’t personally try the bus system, though I was told it is easy to navigate, ..Uber was so cost effective and easy, I used Uber, both motorcycle and car.
I realized too, that traveling solo is a gift in so many ways. While on the Hop On Hop Off bus, I sat beside a married couple for a 2 1/2 hours. The entire time, they were either silent - or bickering. My heart went out to them in a strange way. Being in Buenos Aires exploring would hopefully be a good time. They both looked exhausted of eachother and overall unhappy. I realized that it was very limiting for them being on this trip together like that. They were in their own miserable world.
I was alone, people coming to talk with me - and I enjoyed every minute of the tour. Wind in my hair, meeting people from around the world, taking in the sites. It occurred to me that though there are benefits to traveling with a spouse, traveling solo outweighs it. I have already met people from most continents and received invitations to many cities. I am not limited by anything - I am free. I LOVE this feeling. I just feel these opportunities do not present the same way to couples. Feeling grateful that I have the opportunity to travel solo as it really suits me as a woman. Buenos Aires, thank you for a beautiful experience all around! 8/10 from me.
I have noticed
PICS BELOW
1 many balconies like this.. but alive!! in Japan, nothing on any balconies.. minimalists vs living
2 first time driving into downtown
3. sweet mya at the hostel drinking her mate.. people carry it with them while shopping, even teenagers.. it is like americans carrying their starbucks
4. standing outside my hostel.. my street was surrounded by walking streets instead of too many cars
5 - 6 exploring downtown
7 people bringing their mate to restaurants!!
8-9-10 my lesson on mate and the dulce de leche .. learning the history of what i’ve been having since i was a kid
11 my hostel room the bed with the light on is my bed
12-15 different areas including la boca area for their soccer team
16 reminded me of asia.. air conditioners hanging out of every window due to old plumbing they all have exterior units, even on the beautiful buildings
17 every store has a huge assortment of wumpas for the mate
18 and last pic of album shows the tiny leather shoe shop owned by Oskar on my right in beige
19 obelisco monument represents freedom
20-21 exploring
22 the shop where i bought my bombelia
23-26 & 31 telmo market
27-29 pacifico mall
31 view outside my hostel window / patio
32-37 palermo area
38 almost the the end is Argentina farm tour with Aimee except colorful building is Caminito
many small collages of all the people i met.. when you travel solo, everyone talks to you.. ‘where are you from?’ and inevitably there is some type of connection with each person.. here are some pics
