¡Bienvenido a Buenos Aires! Part Five

Introduction: This blog entry is continuing with my adventure to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I thought this might be my last entry about my trip, but there will be at least one, maybe two, more. I am enjoying sharing my journey to one of South American's most beautiful cities with you and I hope it inspires you to travel, whether it be to a destination a thousand miles away, or to a new place just down the street. As always, thanks for reading. 

Day Eleven

Beethoven's 6 Pastoral Symphony Statue

My itinerary was flexible and whatever I did for the day was based solely on how I felt when I woke up. This morning, I felt energized, so I took a 1.25 mile walk to Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays.

The day was beautiful as I wandered through the gardens taking photos, birdwatching and wishing I had brought my sketch book.

Carlos Thays Botanical Garden was designed by French architect and landscape designer Carlos Thays in 1898. It has three distinct landscape gardening styles - the symmetric, the mixed, and the picturesque, recreated in the Roman, French, and Oriental gardens. In 1996, the garden was declared a national monument. 

Carlos Thays Botanical Garden

It is a little over 17 acres with approximately 5,500 species of plants, trees and shrubs, five greenhouses, as well as 33 artistic works including sculptures, busts, and monuments. Thays and his family lived in an English style mansion located within the gardens between 1892 to 1898. The mansion, built in 1881, is currently the main building of the complex. 

 Not far from the gardens was Museo Evita.

María Eva Duarte de Perón was an Argentine politician, activist, actress, and philanthropist who served as First Lady of Argentina, from June 1946 until her death in July 1952, as the wife of Argentine President Juan Perón.

Unfortunately, I thought the Evita Museum small and boring.

I connected my phone to the museum's website so I could listen to an audio tour, but I didn't have my earbuds. Each time I moved my phone, the audio cut out and I'd have to scan the QR code and start all over. I didn't even know which room I was supposed to be in while listening to the audio anyway, so by the third or fourth time I was disconnected, I gave up. 

Most of the signage was in Spanish and I grew tired of having to use Google Translate at every exhibit, so I wandered through the museum not knowing what anything was. However, there was a video with English subtitles I enjoyed watching and her dresses that were on display were pretty, but I wasn’t allowed to photograph them, and they were the only things worth photographing. The entrance fee was 7,500 pesos, about $7.40 usd. 

I did meet another couple, sort of. There were two couples who came in together shortly after me and I heard them talking English with one of them telling the clerk at the ticket counter she was from Los Angeles.

As they caught up to me in the museum, I attempted to make small talk by asking where they were from and letting them know I live in Utah. One couple simply ignored me and walked away, while the other man curtly responded, “California” and followed after the first couple. The other woman said she was from Australia but lives in Oregon. And that was the extent of our conversation. 

When I come across other travelers who are rude, like these people, they most often end up being from the United States (and usually from California). It's disheartening because Americans are already stereo typed as being arrogant, rude, and entitled and these people I attempted to talk to, perpetuated that image with their outright rudeness.

I, on the other hand, try to be a conscientious traveler. 

I don't expect everyone to speak and understand English. I take the time to learn a few words in whatever the native language is and found that when I try to speak the language regardless of how bad I butcher it, it is appreciated. I travel with an open mind and know that the hotel room, restaurants, customs, etc. won't necessarily be like what I'm used to in the United States. I try to adapt to my surroundings and, as much as I can, act like a local. I wish more American travelers would travel like that, but I think how they act in a foreign country is how they act in America. They're rude and obnoxious regardless of what continent they're on. And it's not that I don't have unfavorable opinions about the country I'm visiting, I just keep them to myself until I get home. 

Okay...let me step down off my soapbox.

After a brief rest in my apartment after my 5-mile walk, I returned to Almacen Pizza for a bite to eat. It was much too early for dinner and too late for lunch, so there was plenty of empty tables at the restaurant. I ordered a Milanga Sandwich – beef Milanese, ham, hardboiled egg, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. Delicious! I ranked this meal as one of the best of the trip.

Across the street from the restaurant was a little store that sold soda pop, candy, and snacks. I bought several alfajores for dessert. I love those things! It was an early day as I was back to the apartment, showered, and in my pajamas by 5pm, but around 11:30pm, my neighbors were on their balcony playing their music again and woke me up. Ugh. 

Day Twelve

From all my walking, I've developed big blisters on the bottoms of my feet, and my calves are sore, so today was a rest day. I ate my leftover Milanese sandwich for breakfast and spent the day in bed binge watching “Manifest” on Netflix, reflecting on my trip, writing about my adventures, and looking at all the photos I've taken so far.

Day Thirteen

Time to Tango!

Well, not me specifically, but I have reservations for the Tango Porteño Show, which includes dinner. I didn’t pack any sexy, after dark attire, so I grabbed the cleanest pair of jeans I had from the three pairs I'd packed, slathered on some makeup, wrapped a scarf around my neck and tried to look as presentable as possible. And to be honest, I looked and felt rather cute. 

On the shuttle bus that picked me up to take me to the venue, I was hoping to meet some other people, but they were all couples who only wanted to talk with their partners. Sometimes, in moments like these, I wish I had someone to share these amazing experiences with, but instead of feeling sad, I leaned back and enjoyed the city sights on the way to the theater. It was going to be a good night regardless of whether I was by myself or not. 

Someone once told me it is better to do something alone than not do it at all and have regrets later on. Going on this trip is me embracing that philosophy and, although it's been scary at times, so far, it's all worked out. 

At the venue, I was seated next a Norwegian couple who didn’t even notice I had sat down next to them. Just as I was feeling like a 3^rd wheel, and thought about asking to move tables, another tourist, who also arrived as a single, sat down next to me. He was from Canada and spoke English!

Although conversation with Gianni was great, the dinner and tango show were unfortunately, just average. 

Gianni & I

Dinner started with empanadas, followed by steak and then a dessert of several different things. I think it was flan, ice cream, chocolate mousse, and maybe cheese (?), but I'm not sure. I couldn't differentiate the tastes. The dessert presentation was nice, but I don't think they paired well with each other.  In the dim light, I thought the ice cream was a bread roll and tried to pick up. 

Dinner felt rushed. I assumed they wanted to clear the dishes before the show started, but the waitress tried to take Gianni's plate before he was even done eating!

There was lots of dancing and some singing, but very little tango and that is what I had come to see. I was also seated towards the back and my view was obstructed by a family of four with the dad holding up his cell phone for a good portion of the evening taking crappy photos and video in the darkened theater. 

Overall, I was disappointed with the experience, but what did I expect for an $87 dinner show? Next time I'll splurge and pay a bit more, but I still had fun and made a new friend.

Day Fourteen

Another day of stepping as I walked 6.3 miles round-trip to El Ateneo Grand Splendid. About a mile of that was me getting lost and having to backtrack. Along with seeing a tango show, visiting this place was at the top of my itinerary.

El Ateneo Grand Splendid is a bookshop in Buenos Aires that was named the “world’s most beautiful bookstore” by National Geographic. The building, designed by Pero and Torres Armengo with ceiling frescoes painted by Nazareno Orlandi, opened in 1919 as a theater with seating for 1,050 people. 

In the late twenties, the theater was converted into a cinema, and in 1929, showed the first sound films presented in Argentina. It was then converted into a bookstore and music shop under the direction of architect Fernando Manzone and in 2007, they sold over 700,000 books. 

I went to each floor and wandered through the rows of books, however the section for books in English was tiny, just a couple of shelves, but I did buy two books by H.G. Wells (The Invisible Man and Island of Dr. Moreau). The downstairs section was devoted entirely to children and the stage area was made into a café where you could enjoy drinks and pastries, but by the time I was done exploring the store, all the tables were full.

Over a million people visit El Ateno Grand Splendid each year.

Later that evening I had a dinner date with Gianni.

We dined at La Pescadorita a few blocks from our apartments as he was also staying in Palermo. I ordered pink salmon with white polenta, Mollet egg and vegetable ragout. It was good to have fish as I hadn't eaten any since I arrived in Buenos Aires, and it's mostly what I eat at home. I was having fish withdrawals! We shared two salads – one with couscous and the other a more traditional lettuce salad. For dessert, we shared chocolate cake with roasted hazelnuts and ice cream.

La Pescadorita Restaurant

The entire dinner was delicious and ranked among the Top 3 meals I’ve had so far on this trip, plus the company was enjoyable.

Day Fifteen

I woke up with a stuffy nose and a scratchy throat from allergies. Tall, blooming trees line the sidewalks of Palermo and when the breeze blows, the air is filled with their flowers. After two weeks of inhaling pollen, as well as secondhand cigarette smoke, it's no surprise I got sick.

I knew a walk around the city would be my cure and I set off that afternoon in search of a bakery, but I enjoyed walking, so I didn't bother to stop anywhere. However, after only about 1.5 miles, I ran into Gianni who was also out sightseeing. We bought a nice bottle of wine and spent a few hours in conversation before I returned to my apartment to get ready for tonight’s food tour.

Picsa Restaurant

I met our guide, Tony, and the others at Picsa Restaurant about 6:30pm

Victoria and Alex, a 30-something couple from London, were working on visiting 40 countries by the time they turned 40. They were friendly and engaging, especially Victoria.

The other couple were young, maybe in their late 20s or early 30s. He was from Ireland and did most of the talking. The woman, who was from Calgary, had very little interest in speaking to anyone in the group. Whenever someone asked her a question, she would give one- or two-word answers, but mostly she wouldn’t answer at all and defer to the Irish man. At first, I thought she was introverted, but as the night progressed, I thought her behavior rude because at no point did, she try to interact with any of us.

Tortilla at Paquito

We started our food tour at Picsa sampling roasted red peppers with red onions spread on focaccia bread. A fried beef empanada followed, and we washed it all down with red wine. A good start to the tour.

At Paquito, we ate fritters filled with goat cheese and a tortilla filled with potato and egg, which was my favorite taste of the night. When Tony ordered us a “tortilla” I thought of the flat flour tortillas I eat at home. I was a bit disappointed, thinking I came all this way for a tortilla? but when it arrived, and we cut into it…delicious!

Sausage sandwiches were on the menu at Chori Papa, but my least favorite food on the tour was at Voro Steak House. We sampled a sliver of sausage and a slice of beef, but the steak was so tough I had a hard time swallowing it. I didn’t bother finishing the small amount we were given because it was that bad.

To end the tour, we had ice cream at Antiche, which was fresh and creamy since it was made on-site. There were so many good flavors to choose from, but I had salted caramel cream with a sweet and salty peanut crunch.

We all sat around a table together and sampled each other’s ice cream, however, when I asked the woman who hadn’t spoken to any of us all night if she wanted to sample my ice cream, she gave a curt “no” and when everyone else offered up their ice creams for a tasting, she didn’t partake.

Ice cream at Antiche Tentazioni

Our food tour ended after 9pm and I found myself alone and about seven blocks from my apartment. I was apprehensive about walking at night by myself and thought of calling an Uber, but the streets were crowded as the dinner rush was still going strong. 

I stuck to the busier and well-lit streets and saw lots of women out on their own. That gave me confidence for being out after dark and, although I was a bit afraid, I enjoyed the evening and made it back to my apartment just fine.

Carlos Thays Botanical Garden

Plaza Inmigrantes de Armenia, Palermo
(Place for Immigrants from Armenia)

Thank you for following along on my journey and stay tuned as the next, and hopefully final, installment will be published within the week.