¡Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires! Part Two

Introduction: I spent a soul-satisfying three weeks (September 24 - October 14, 2024) in Buenos Aires, Argentina and will be making several posts about my adventures. I’m not sure how much about my daily activities I’ll include because some of my time was pretty boring and spent binge-watching Netflix, but months from now when I’ve forgotten the details, this blog will help me to remember, so I want to include as much as possible. Please bear with me and feel free to skim ahead or better yet, read every written word, and go on this journey with me. 

Enjoy and as always, thanks for reading.

Day Two

When it comes to eating while traveling, I want foods indigenous to the region and that reflect the culture in which I’m surrounded. I was eager to try the cuisine of Argentina, however, my first meal was a simple salmon bagel with cream cheese at Dulce Charlotte Tienda, a small café just a block from my Airbnb in the trendy Palermo Hollywood neighborhood. 

This meal was more out of necessity than anything else. The in-flight dinner of pasta was disgusting, and the breakfast of yogurt did little to appease my appetite, so by the time I reached my lodging, I was famished.

I met up with Shawn who had already been in Buenos Aires for a month. He was staying in an Airbnb just around the corner from me. The courtyards of our apartment buildings abutted so we could stand on our balconies and holler at one another.

Shawn and I sat at a little table on the sidewalk enjoying the warm rays of the midday sun while catching up on each other’s lives. I’ve known Shawn for close to 25 years but have not seen him in almost six. 

After our meal, we took a short walk along tree lined streets with uneven sidewalks. It was the perfect introduction to Buenos Aires.

Alfajores & Drinks

Palermo Hollywood earned its nickname due to the numerous TV and film studios that established themselves in the area in the mid-nineties. It’s currently known for its concentration of restaurants, sports clubs, cafés, and vibrant nightlife.

Later that evening I officially met Alejandro. Alejandro and I first met online about four years ago and have been texting ever since. Along with seeing Shawn, meeting Alejandro was also a factor in why I was visiting Argentina.

Our first date was casual with us having drinks and sharing alfajores at the stylish Von Berry House Cafe. I have been studying Spanish on Duolingo for almost a year, but I floundered when I tried to put it to use in the real world and since Alejandro’s English was worse than my Spanish, we relied heavily on Google Translate for our conversations.

Alfajores are traditional Argentine pastries made with two soft and crumbly shortbread cookies with dulce de leche sandwiched in between. They are often coated with chocolate or sprinkled with sugar.

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Day Three

For breakfast, Alejandro and I shared egg and ham croissants (another not so authentic meal) at Nuevo DaAccordo. I practiced my Spanish with the waiter and was relieved when our food arrived, and it was exactly what I had ordered! Perhaps, it was my pointing to the item on the menu that he understood and not my Spanish, but either way, it encouraged me to try and speak the language more.

We rode the subway to the San Nicolas/Monserrat neighborhood and I'm glad I was with Alejandro.

Standing on the subway platform

The subway was crowded, grungy, and like most subways, had those less desired in society begging for money. Most likely, I would not have attempted riding it on my own but did enjoy the experience. I felt like a local as I sat among the other passengers.

The Buenos Aires Underground, or Subte as it is locally known, is the first underground railway in Latin America. Its first line opened in December 1913 making it the 13^th underground system in the world. The system now consists of six lines with about thirty-five miles of routes serving 90 stations.

At one point a teenager walked through the subway car with small boxes of food, maybe candy or cookies, and he placed one on my knee as he passed. If I wanted to buy it, I would have obviously given him money, but I didn’t and put the item on Alejandro’s knee instead. As the boy made his way back through the car, he retrieved the box and then waited for the next group of passengers before doing it all over again.

I saw this done numerous times during my stay. It was even done to cars at intersections where something would be placed on the windshield and then retrieved before the light turned green. 

During one of my walks around Palermo, a young man had strung up a rope across an intersection and was walking it like a tightrope. He was juggling fire for money, but I caught only a glimpse of his performance as he had to quickly take down the rope before traffic started moving. I thought that approach was creative as opposed to just standing on the corner with a sign asking for donations.

From the subway station, we walked through Plaza de Mayo, taking in the sights such as Casa Rosada.

Casa Rosada

Casa Rosada (Pink House) with a monument to Christopher Columbus in front, is the president of the Argentine Republic’s official workplace. Officially, the palatial mansion is known as Casa de Gobierno, (House of Government.) The house is considered one of the most emblematic buildings in Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires developed outward from Plaza de Mayo, a historic square where Argentinians have protested and celebrated many of the city’s most important events and where, from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, Argentina’s leaders have addressed the country. All distances on national highways are measured from the zero-kilometer point in the small square. The Pyramid of May marks the center of the square, and it was constructed to commemorate the first anniversary of the May 1810 revolution when Buenos Aires severed ties with Spain.

I noticed that while we were sightseeing, Alejandro spoke to random people who I thought were other tourists, but they weren’t. They were representatives of cambios, or unofficial money exchanges. The blue market rate is generally higher than the official exchange rate and Alejandro was asking them what their rates were. At the time of this writing, the official rate was 985 pesos for every $1 USD.

When he found one with a better rate than the others, we followed the representative to where the money would be exchanged. As we were led down an alley towards an unmarked door I was immediately on high alert. I had no idea where we were as we entered a building and got into an elevator with a stranger.

My heart was beating fast as we exited the elevator and went into a small room. The man who escorted us sat by the door, like he was guarding it. We approached a window with Plexiglas separating us from a second man who was on the other side acting like a bank teller. I put a $100 bill on the counter as did Alejandro, but the man sneakily replaced my $100 bill with a $1 bill.

At first, I thought he was asking if we had another $1 so he could make change. This happened to me in Russia when I exchanged USD for Rubles. They wanted a few extra dollars to make an exact exchange so they wouldn’t have to give me coins, but this man wasn’t asking that. He was trying to cheat us and told Alejandro he’d given him only $101 and not $200. I couldn’t understand what was being said, but knew something bad was happening by the tone of Alejandro’s voice.

And I thought we were about to get robbed.

My Garmin watch has a Live Tracking feature that I would activate while out sightseeing so my friend Isabella could keep track of me. My thought was that if something happened to me, hopefully she would be able to locate my watch to at least give the police a starting point for their search in finding my body.

I sized up my opponent by the door. 

Most likely, I wouldn’t be able to overpower him, but maybe I could deliver a kick or two to his groin (Nutcracker! IYKYK), which I hoped would be enough of a distraction for us to escape. There didn’t seem to be any other way out except through the same door we entered. I wasn’t going to be an easy mark and was ready for a fight, but eventually our money was exchanged correctly, and we were escorted back outside.

After it happened, I was angry. How many times had they pulled this swindle? And how many times did they get away with it? Although I was ready to throw down, I also had Alejandro with me, but what about those who were alone? Or didn’t speak Spanish? Or weren’t confrontational? There was no sense in calling the police either because what could they do? And I didn’t know how corrupt the police were so maybe that would make it worse for us. 

When we were safely outside and I knew that we were going to live to see another day, I laughed because now I had a fun travel story to share with those back home, although when I told my mom, she didn't find it so entertaining.

Drinks at Cafe Tortoni

After our scary encounter, we headed to La Junta de 1810 for empanadas. Nothing like a delicious empanada to calm the nerves. Further down Avenida de Mayo we stopped at the iconic Café Tortoni for drinks.

Café Tortoni opened in 1858 and is well known for its 1800s Parisian-style appearance. It was once the go-to place for Argentina’s elites and has had many famous visitors, but now it’s more of a hot-spot for tourists.

We crossed the Puente de la Mujer, where I saw my first glimpse of Tango dancers, and watched the sunset along the Rio Darsena Sur.

Puente de la Mujer is a footbridge designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and the design is a synthesis of the image of a couple dancing tango. It opened in 1998. Many streets in the Puerto Madero district have women’s names, thus giving the bridge its name that translates to ‘Woman’s Bridge’ in English. 

The tango originated in working-class districts of Buenos Aires. The music is derived from the fusion of various forms of music from Europe. The words "tango" and "tambo" were initially used to refer to musical gatherings of slaves, with written records of colonial authorities attempting to ban such gatherings as early as 1789. In 2009, the tango was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Puente de la Mujer

Tango dancers on the bridge

Sunset along the Rio Darsena Sur