More Santiago Adventures

Sep9

My second day in Santiago was also jam-packed with interesting things. I started out by walking the few blocks to Pablo Neruda’s Santiago house, where I took a tour around the premises (the only way they let you visit the house). Neruda must have been a genius when it came to property – he had three beautiful houses in areas that were relatively isolated in his day but have become prime locations nowadays. He loved the sea but couldn’t swim, so each of his houses is boat-themed…and this doesn’t just mean that he decorated with a nautical theme. In fact, many of the rooms in his Santiago home are shaped to remind you of a ship’s cabin.

His Santiago home is called La Chascona, a Quechua word that means dishevelled (in reference to his mistress – who later became his wife – and her mane of hair). It’s built on separate levels into the hillside, necessitating actually going outside to get from one to the other. We started on the bottom level, the original area Matilde lived in before Neruda married her. There’s a charming bar and a dining room which is low-ceilinged and very much like a captain’s dining room on a ship.

The next section of the house is higher up, and has a living room with floor-to-ceiling glass walls which once had a fantastic view of the Andes before all of today’s smog. There was a bar in this section of the house as well, and then, once we exited this part of the house to reach the library/study, we passed yet another one, filled with more of Neruda’s fascinating and eclectic collectibles!

La Chascona – Neruda’s Santiago house

Another view of one of Neruda’s quirky bars

A view of one of the bars in Neruda’s Santiago home

Walking around the neighborhood near La Chascona:

Painted house near Neruda’s house

The houses in Bellavista are known to be brightly colored

Back by Neruda’s house…

After visiting La Chascona, I decided to climb the Cerro San Cristobal, after a mote con huesillo, an interesting sweet Chilean drink. There is a funicular up, but I didn’t think the hike would be too bad. Boy, did I underestimate it! It’s a pretty steep grade, and close to the top it no longer has guardrails, so my fear of heights kicked in and I decided that I was high enough to get a pretty good panorama.

Mote con huesillo – a very sweet drink containing a dried peach and wheat

Cacti! Or some other succulent on the Cerro San Cristobal

A view from near the top of Cerro San Cristobal

Statue of the Virgin at the top of Cerro San Cristobal

I wrapped up the day at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, built to explore and commemorate the human rights abuses under the Pinochet dictatorship. It’s really thoughtfully put together, walking through both government action and protests in a chronological fashion while using still photos, tv clips, and documents. A couple of the things that most struck me: television footage of the coup, including the bombing of the presidential palace of La Moneda; pictures drawn by children who experienced the oppressive regime; tv commercials pushing the “yes” and “no” votes for the final referendum that voted Pinochet out of power. (I have to say that I find it amazing that Pinochet actually relinquished power when he lost the referendum held to determine whether his government should continue.) There is also a display of photos of the disappeared that hangs 1-2 stories up over the central gallery. When you go up to the next floor (which overlooks the central gallery), there is a little room walled in glass in front of that display, with lights that look like candles making it a poignant shrine.

Museum of Memory and Human Rights

The next day was spent quietly, finding a laundromat, going to different airlines to price tickets to various places as I tried to figure out where I wanted to go next (and where I actually had enough time to go to). And I admit it, I finally gave in to the craving for some real coffee instead of the prevalent Nescafe and went to Starbucks!

Some more sights of Santiago:

In the mornings you can see the Andes from the city!

Outside view of the old Cabildo, Plaza des Armas

Cathedral in Santiago, Plaza des Armas

Santiago Cathedral

The nave of the Santiago Cathedral

Santiago Cathedral – ceiling

The Santiago Cathedral, interior detail

Correo Central (Central Post Office) de Santiago

Paila marina at the Mercado Central

Arrival in Santiago de Chile

Sep7

OK, I’m back! I’ve gone to Chile, returned to Buenos Aires, bussed to Cordoba, returned once more to BA, and then flown back to the States, where I’ve been busy relaxing, preparing for my Southeast Asia trip, and…not catching up on my blog. Oops! But I figure you don’t want excuses now, you want to see my pictures or read my oh-so-charming words. Right? Right! So here goes…

I arrived in Santiago rather later than expected, given the slow transit time through Customs and the hideous traffic that we ran into in Santiago itself. Santiago has three or four bus stations, all located relatively close together, so there were all of the other inter-city buses to contend with. And then there was the Friday night traffic in general.

I got off, a little overwhelmed by the lights and the crowds, and found my way to an ATM as I had absolutely no Chilean pesos whatsoever. I was a little nervous being in a big, unknown city after dark, but I quickly felt very comfortable in Santiago, and safer than in many an other city. (That’s not to say that there aren’t pick-pockets or bad areas, but honestly, Santiago is known for being one of the safest cities in South America.) I also quickly found out how very nice and welcoming Chileans are, as when I asked a young woman where the metro was, she walked me to the station, showed me where to buy a ticket, and told me in which direction to go.

Accustomed to the dearth of small bills in Argentina, I very apologetically offered my fresh-from-the-ATM 10,000 peso bill (about US$20) for my 600 peso ticket. The lady in the ticket booth didn’t even blink, just gave me my change and my ticket and sent me on my way!

The next surprise was the subway. Trains come only a few minutes apart, and are spotlessly clean and modern, comparable to (or better than!) many a Northern hemisphere subway system.

My hostel (called Nomades Hostel) was in the Bellavista neighborhood, once known as being the bohemian area of town. After all, it’s where Neruda had one of his three houses. It didn’t seem too artsy nowadays, but it was a pleasant area in which to stay, with a couple of streets full of restaurants (the street of nice restaurants versus the bar-filled street). My hostel had apparently given up on my arriving, since I was pretty late, but I managed to check in without trouble. They even moved me to one of their empty dorm rooms, so for most of my stay, I essentially had a private room for the price of a dorm bed!

My first day, I decided on a free walking tour since it’s a great way to learn about a city. To kill time until the tour, I set out to Plaza de Armas, the historic city center and where the tour was to start. It’s a perpetually busy square that’s predominantly pedestrian – the first time I saw it, there was some kind of festival going on that celebrated Bolivian dancers and bands. I popped into the Cathedral but had to leave fairly quickly – while mass wasn’t going on, some religious broadcast by Radio Maria started while I was there and I didn’t want to disturb anyone.

Plaza de Armas – the Cathedral and post office

I checked out the inside of the central post office, and went to the National History Museum (which had some amazingly preserved old clothes) which is located in an old governmental building.

Cabildo (old seat of government) – now the History Museum

Another view of the Cabildo

Outside view of the old Cabildo, Plaza des Armas

Correo Central (Central Post Office) de Santiago

I had time to head out for lunch, so I went to the Central Market to get some of Santiago’s vaunted seafood. I had heard that the restaurants around the outer wall of the market were much cheaper and less touristy, so I attempted to find one of them, but ended up accidentally in one of the most expensive. Oh well! I found my meal of chupe de mariscos – a type of seafood stew – tasty, if not cheap.

Central market

Interior of the Mercado Central

I hurried back to Plaza de Armas after lunch, and headed out on my walking tour, which was really enjoyable. Not only did we walk through several different, charming historic barrios (Santiago is extremely walkable, another point that made me absolutely love my stay), but we got very dramatic explanations of the various sights. (Apparently our guide’s other job is as an actor.) Unfortunately, there is a lot of construction going on right now, so we weren’t able to see the presidential palace of La Moneda, and we learned that the most-vaunted museum in the city (the Pre-Colombian Museum) was still closed for renovations.

Old Chilean Congress building

Santiago’s “Wall Street”

Santiago Stock Exchange

Formerly owned by a Frenchman I believe…

Near or in barrio Paris Londres, charming narrow streets

Graffitti near Neruda’s house

Gorgeous sunset near Neruda’s house in Barrio Bellavista

The graffitti on the front of the Bellavista wall with the sunset view

On the tour, I met another young woman named Samantha. We hit it off and went for drinks with some others from our tour group and then hung out and had dinner at one of the slightly pricier seafood restaurants. I am now in love with grouper – it’s a delicious fish! And I had a great time with great people, a good omen for the rest of my South American travels!

Hasta la Vista, BA! Part Two…Belatedly

Aug5

Wow, I’m a bit behind in the writing department. Sorry! Must be all that wine tasting in Mendoza…just kidding, really it’s that I’ve taken too many pictures to upload in a reasonable amount of time. But who said anything about reasonable anyway?

So, back to my final post, final part about my stay in BA (final at least till I return in a few weeks). I was trying hard to see the things I thought I’d really regret having left without seeing. This included the Bicentennial Museum, Puerto Madero, and a quick photo op with Mafalda. (Who’s Mafalda, you ask? All will be revealed in due time, never fear!)

First, the Bicentennial Museum. Built underground in a complex that incorporates the remains of the old customs house, it chronicles Argentine history from settlement and independence to the current government. And opened by the current Peronist government, it’s fair to say it has a decided bias. I had been warned about the bias, but even my limited Spanish gets language that associates the economic policies of the pre- Kirchner governments with the preceding military dictatorship! But overall I still learned a lot about the sequence of events that molded the country. I do have to admit, however, that one of the highlights (other than seeing a beautiful old desk that I love, its having belonged to Sarmiento being somewhat incidental to its sheer beauty), were a set of political dolls in the gift shop. I had heard that there was one of Kirchner as well as one of her husband, and the latter had angel wings to show that he is no longer living…

Bicentennial Museum on the remains of the old customs house

Sarmiento’s Desk

The Perons

Madres de Plaza de Mayo

Dolls of Argentine political figures – some with angels’ wings!

I walked to the canal from the museum, entering the barrio of Puerto Madero. It was a short-lived port a long time ago, having been outgrown pretty much as soon as it was developed, so for a time it was full of abandoned old warehouses. Then someone had the bright idea to covert the old warehouses into apartments and restaurants, build some new high rises, and make sure that the yacht club was located there – instant gentrification! Now it’s quite a ritzy (and touristy) area, though the ecological reserve there is apparently enjoyed by many porteños. I didn’t go there since I wasn’t in the mood for a park so soon after the Jardín Japonés. Instead, I enjoyed walking around the water, checking out an old Argentine naval sailing ship turned into a museum.

View up to Plaza de Mayo from the side of the Casa Rosada

A first view of Puerto Madero and the Women’s Bridge

Fountain in Puerto Madero

Training ship turned museum

Bridge and boat, Puerto Madero

A view through some rigging

An officer’s cabin

The training boat viewed from the bridge

One of the remaining old warehouses

Looking back at Puerto Madero

Spaceship or flower? You decide!

I wrapped up the day with a quick stop in San Telmo.

A lovely church in San Telmo

I wanted a picture of me with Mafalda, a little cartoon girl by a celebrated Argentine cartoonist. The picture someone kindly took of me turned out terribly and is consigned to digital deletion, but I snuck in another shot of Mafalda herself so not all was lost!

Mafalda

Hasta la Vista, BA! Part 1

Jul29

Wow, it’s hard to believe I’ve been in Buenos Aires for four weeks and it’s already time to move on. (Mendoza, I’m ready for wine tasting!) I’ve had a good time living in this city, enjoying getting to know it at my own pace. It’s been quite a change from switching cities every few days. I’ve gotten used to seeing dog walkers and avoiding their charges’ detritus. (Almost nobody believes in the scooping here – when I see someone scoop the poop, I want to take a photo of the novelty!
.

Going to class every afternoon gave me structure to my day. On Thursday we had our written test, which was pretty straight-forward, thank goodness! Friday was the oral exam – each of us had to give a short spiel about our city (or our daily routine), then we had to select a random photo and describe the people in it, and lastly we worked in pairs to run through one of the types of scenarios/dialogues we had in our books, like waiter-customer. I passed! Yay, I have a shiny certificate that lets everyone know that I passed the equivalent of Spanish 101.

Election season has swung into full gear, with people handing out flyers and painting political graffiti (boring and in no way art!) It’s the congressional elections, with the presidential ones coming up in 2015. I have a feeling that there will be a change in president, given what I’ve been hearing from people, but who knows? A lot can happen in a year, and the caliber of the opponent makes a big difference, too.

One thing I haven’t been able to describe yet is the Cartoneros, people who manually go through the bags of trash waiting to be picked up in order to separate out the cardboard, which gets recycled. Most of them have a cart that they wheel around, although in Uruguay and once or twice here I’ve seen the cart drawn by a donkey or mule. It’s a stark reminder of the poverty of many of the citizens here.

In between all of my normal activities, I’ve found time to do some further exploration of the city! A week ago, I went with a couple of friends from school to go food shopping in Chinatown. We got off in Belgrano and walked around in circles before finally finding the few blocks that make it up, but that means we got to see some of Belgrano. (Definitely middle class with some upper middle class thrown in, more modern buildings than old-money Recoleta, and some plastic surgery centers that fit right in.) Small though it is, Chinatown has several markets that we spent a fair amount of time in searching for white corn meal for my friend. (No luck, but at least I bought some shrimp chips!)

I also got to experience a Buenos Aires boliche (disco or club). We went to a gay club, which was very interesting compared to the States. I’d have expected more women there, since in the northern hemisphere women often like to go to gay bars to avoid creepy guys. Not so here, apparently. Anyway, we stayed there till 4 or 5, still several hours before closing time in this city that takes its nightlife very seriously.

And I saw some of the other side of dancing, going to another milonga (this one called Maldita Milonga in San Telmo) to take a dance class and listen to the live tango musicians. I was really impressed with this one, as they tried to teach partnering before teaching the steps to one of the toughest of partner dances. The music was great too. We heard a guitarist and singer opening act and then an orchestra which included four accordions. I couldn’t look away from the accordionists! Especially one, who wore a hoodie and such an intense look of concentration! His whole body got into the music.

After a brief cold spell, the weather has gotten much warmer again, so I checked out the Jardín Japonés one afternoon (along with everyone with kids on spring break, it seems!). It’s a lovely, small Japanese garden that was a gift from Japan to the Argentines. It felt like I was in Tokyo for a brief moment! The next day I checked out plaza San Martín in Recoleta and felt like I had stepped into Paris!

It’s getting close to time for me to leave for the Retiro bus station, as you may have guessed from the rushed nature of this post, so I will make a part two to this post and share some pictures of Puerto Madero another time. Until then, enjoy these!

A monument on my walk to the Jardín Japonès

At the entrance to the Jardín Japones

Could be in a garden in Japan…

Only place I’ve seen in Buenos Aires that separates recyclables – in a Japanese garden!

Waterfall

People taking advantage of the lovely day – Jardín Japones

Flowering tree

A little bit of Japan in Buenos Aires

Jardín Japones

BA tea house

Warrior statue

Commemorating the gift of the garden

Flowers in the Jardín Japones

Fish flags!

Palacio de Paz on Plaza San Martin

By Plaza San Martin

Scenes like this are why BA is called the Paris of the South

The Plaza Hotel

Torre de los Ingleses

General San Martin

Street Art!

Jul24

On Saturday, I took a local non-profit named Graffitimundo’s Hidden Walls tour of Buenos Aires to discover the grafitti – more specifically the street art – in four different barrios. We went to the dodgy neighborhoods, La Boca and Barracas. We also stopped in Congreso and Palermo. I have to say, I didn’t realize how good street art could be. I like much of what we saw more than much contemporary art I’ve seen. (Of course, that’s kind of damning with faint praise.) I was impressed, both with the tour and with what we saw. I learned about stenciling versus free-hand and even saw a street decorated with mosaics in an attempt to make it brighter and more cheerful. Real graffiti is a relatively new phenomenon in Argentina, given that there was a military dictatorship during the time most other countries were developing it. I don’t remember every artist’s name, but several are supported by Graffitimundo and will be on their website.

Anyway, enough history! Judge for yourselves whether you like it or not:

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The Many Colors of La Boca

Jul22

Last Thursday, we had a Spanish class field trip to La Boca, the gritty, colorful, formerly bustling port barrio that welcomed waves of Italian (mainly Genoese) immigrants in the 19th century. Those pictures of brightly painted yellow and blue and red wooden and metal houses that you see in brochures advertising Buenos Aires? That’s La Boca – and more specifically, that’s the area around El Caminito, a cool-looking tourist trap that is meant to be a living museum of what La Boca once was. Those poor Genoese dockworkers used leftover paint from the ships to brighten their abodes – thus the rainbow of El Caminito. Most actual houses in La Boca have lost these bright colors as the area became poorer. There are a lot of squatters and a lot of multi-family apartments in La Boca now, part of why guidebooks warn tourists from straying from the area right around El Caminito and the Bombonera soccer stadium.

Tourist trap or not, it was cold and a Thursday, so it wasn’t too crowded. We started off with a quick visit to the museum dedicated to Benito Quinquela Martín, a man who painted the ships of the port of La Boca and was instrumental in creating (recreating?) El Caminito as an homage to La Boca.

Then we froze more and walked along El Caminito and a street parallel. On the weekends, there are tango shows in the restaurants, which have tiny dance platforms so the dancers can attract customers. (I’m sneaking in a photo or two from Saturday, when I went back to La Boca to take a graffiti tour and there were actual dancers out there.)

People have told me that La Boca (by which they mean El Caminito) is over-rated. I’d honestly just say that you need to set appropriate expectations for yourself. There are only three or four blocks to see, but those blocks, especially when there aren’t too many tourists walking around, are bright and vibrant and lovely.

A knight near La Boca

Caminito corner building close-up

La Boca tango!

View of the bridge to the province

More colors within the conventillo

Within the conventillo

Conventillo view

Wall decorations in the conventillo

Wall painting in the conventillo

Entrance to a conventillo (multi-family dwelling)

More crazy La Boca figures

By the Boca market

Tree in the city…

Color contrasts

Maradona, Evita and Carlos Gardel wave to La Boca

Life-sized figures showing what La Boca might have been like…

Italy, Spain, Argentina – La Boca had lots of immigrants

Looking back down El Caminito

Caminito relief

Another colorful view

Ah, the colors!

Back of a conventillo (multi-family building)

Caminito

Caminito colors

Looking down El Caminito

First view of the colors of La Boca

El Caminito

El Caminito – a far view

Boca restaurants and shops

Argentina’s flag

Gaucho in a souvenir shop

Colorful trim on a store

Heading towards El Caminito

La Bombonera soccer stadium backlit

La Boca view

Even the warehouses are colorful!

La Boca warehouses

View of El Caminito

View of Fundacion Proa

View of La Boca warehouses

Tango in La Boca! Wall painting

Dancing through Congreso

Jul22

One of the women in the level two Spanish class has some connections here and was invited on a guided tour of the Congreso building while she was here. She graciously arranged for a group of us in the first three levels of Spanish class to go, so I got to explore in depth the imposing Congreso last Wednesday!

It started with a little bit of initial confusion, with nobody there to greet us as amazingly our group was closer to American time than Argentine time (aka a group of ten people actually arrived within just a few minutes of when they said they would). Eventually a guide and our fellow student’s contact arrived, and we found out that the guide only spoke Spanish. So anything after this paragraph, take with a grain of salt. I’m only at level one of Spanish, after all!

The guide handed out mini copies of the Argentine constitution to everyone, we went through security, and we were in! First stop, the official ceremonious doors and entryway, almost all of which was made from imported materials. In fact, that holds true for pretty much the entire building.

Next came the room with all the flags of the different provinces, with its stained glass roof under repair. Apparently it’s been under repair for a while, as every time bad weather arrives, the glass gets moved around by the wind. Sounds challenging, and like maybe they need a different way to fix the panels down.

Then came a super imposing room, the center of the building, the Blue Room. The Blue Room is located directly under the dome and houses the constitution (one of multiple original signed copies, if I understood correctly). There is a magnificent chandelier dripping in baccarat crystal and showcasing plaques on the metal part that represent eight or nine important moments in Argentine history. (I didn’t quite get the details on what those events were, however.)

We visited a room used by the senators to relax. It’s full of leather and the scent and atmosphere of old men, which may not be fair as I have no idea of the average senatorial age here – and there was only one senator in the building anyway as it’s between sessions right now. Another room was decorated in pink and was the equivalent room for women. Quite pretty and a nice thought for back in the day, though now, appropriately, both rooms are for both sexes. We disturbed a staffer of some sort having coffee in the pink room, but at some point he stepped out so we could then visit.

Next came one of the most amazing moments: we got to enter the Senate, sit in the senators’ seats, and even go up in the front of the room and sit in the Vice President’s seat. Everyone had been taking a ton of pictures of themselves posing in places during the tour – this was where I stopped taking pictures of just the building and posed myself!

Our foray into the Chamber of Deputies’s side of the building was shorter: we entered the (very large) Chamber and the waiting room in front of it. By now I think people were getting tired, as we had been there for quite some time what with the tour guide’s lectures and all the photo-taking. But we got to wrap up in my favorite room, the library! It was absolutely beautiful.

In fact it was all beautiful. It seemed very European, very 19th century, even though it dates from later than that.

We headed out as it grew dark, and I went off for dinner and then my first venture out to a milonga. La Viruta offers tango classes most nights of the week and is very welcoming to beginners (at least during the class – I got asked to dance several times by individuals who ran away when I told them I was a rank beginner. Not that I blame them. Too much.) I enjoyed it despite the fact that it was extremely crowded in the beginners class. After the classes, the floor opened for dancing (aka the milonga part of the evening) and I enjoyed watching some very good dancers tango. I even managed to not scare someone by my newness and danced!

Loves the architecture on our walk from class to the congress!

We’re definitely in the right building:)

The floor in the entryway – I believe the tiles were imported from the US

Ceiling in the room where all the provincial flags are flown

Provincial flags

A detail of the dome of the Argentine Congress, modeled after the US Capitol

Details of the chandelier in the Blue Room

Argentine Constitution

Salon Azul

Salon Azul details

Room for Senators to hang out in

Who is in the house? One senator

Beautiful ceiling of the Senate chamber

Sitting in a Senado seat…hmm, pretty comfy

Senado chamber

In the VP’s seat!

Pink room – originally for women in the Congreso

Another beautiful ceiling in the Congreso building

Waiting room outside the Chamber of Deputies

Yep, outside the Chamber of Deputies!

Chamber of Deputies

My favorite room – the Congreso library!

Books!!!

For serious legislative research

Lovely library decor

Gobelins decorates the library

Check out the 4!

Some interesting angles going on…

Congreso at night

Doors of Recoleta Cemetery

Jul19

Tuesday morning saw me back at Recoleta Cemetery, enjoying the view (and getting scammed for a few pesos by the guy saying he was collecting for charity just outside the gates *mental head slap*). This time I got to see Evita’s family tomb as well (the Duarte family).

We got some good views in the bright sunshine:

Another lovely old tomb

Recoleta cemetery view

A family’s monument

And having seen posters everywhere showing doors of a city, here’s my attempt at doors of Recoleta Cemetery:

Out and About in Buenos Aires: Feria de Mataderos and Tango!

Jul16

Sunday and Monday were busy, interesting days! I’ve realized that I don’t have a long time left in Buenos Aires (how time flies!), and I want to take advantage of it.

I had been intrigued by a description of a feria (fair or market) that takes place in the very southerly barrio of Mataderos. It’s known for its singing, dancing, and gaucho-related activities, along with artisanal food, drinks and crafts. The other advantage is that it’s off the beaten path, taking an hour by bus to get there. It was definitely worth it, though! I bought the best dulce de leche ever and had my first choripan (chorizo on bread). We heard live music and even saw people dancing a handkerchief dance to it. As seems to be common at ferias (at least, I also saw this in San Telmo), there was a table loaded with goodies baked by local women. Of course we had to try a piece of cake! We wrapped up the day with a little more shopping, at Ateneo, the prettiest bookstore ever.

Feria de Mataderos sign

Charming old car at the Feria de Mataderos

Statue of a gaucho at the Mataderos Feria

Bus stops can be pretty much anywhere…

Folks having fun dancing to live music at Feria de Mataderos

Yummy array of desserts in Mataderos

Display of matés

Best.Dulce de Leche.Ever

Ceiling at the Ateneo

Me at Ateneo

View at the side of Ateneo

View from the top floor of Ateneo

On Monday, a group of us finally went to Cafe Tortoni to see a tango show. (We’d only been trying for a week!) We got a great view of the Congreso building while heading to buy tickets. Before the show we went to a parrilla in San Telmo. It was pricey but tasty. Unfortunately, dinner took a little longer than expected (oh so common with a group of people) and apparently my Spanish was not up to par, so we missed part of the show. (I could have sworn they said doors opened at 10, show at 10:30.) Oh well, everyone had fun at least, and what we saw of the show was fantastic.

A view of the side of the Congreso

Cafe Tortoni

Interior of Cafe Tortoni

Evita! Seen heading back from Cafe Tortoni

Exploring Abasto and Congreso

Jul13

On Saturday, I took a free tour of Buenos Aires that taught me how to use the bus system in BA. Apparently there is a bus guide that divides the city into a series of smaller maps, each map being divided into a grid. To figure out what bus you need to take you somewhere, you find what grid cell you’re leaving from, look up the list of buses for that box, then do the same for your destination. If any of those bus numbers overlap, you’ve found a bus you can take to the general area. Then you look up the bus route number in the back of the book to see what streets the bus will go down.

Statue of Garibaldi, Plaza Italia

We hopped on a bus from our starting point of Plaza Italia to head towards the barrio of Abasto. First stop, Carlos Gardel’s house. (Carlos Gardel was the famous tango singer who made tango respectable – previously it was danced by pairs of male dockworkers in La Boca and in brothels.) While the house doesn’t really look like anything out of the ordinary, the street it is on has a number of houses decorated with the local painting style of filete. Filete is the filigree and flowers painted onto brightly colored houses (which tend to be red or pink or yellow).

Abasto painted house near Gardel’s house

Abasto building detail

Carlos Gardel’s street, with Buenos Aires painted houses nearby

Next door to the Gardel’s house

A street in Abasto near the Gardel house

We walked around a few blocks of Gardel’s neighborhood, soaking in the houses covered in tango music and the pavement blocks that held the lyrics to famous tango songs. One street had a little, red shrine to a gaucho not-quite-saint that was dedicated to someone who had died in an accident there. Our guide Jonathan pointed out the ribbons tied to the bumper of the taxi next to the shrine – red ribbons to the gaucho, red ribbons with words on them to a saint, and finally the Argentine flag. Down the block was a car with a pail of water on the roof – that is a sign that the car is for sale.

Shrine places where someone was in an accident – not dedicated to a saint, but rather to a gaucho legend

We then headed to Asbasto shopping mall, home to the only kosher McDonalds outside of Israel. Since it was Saturday, of course it was closed. (You may have guessed from this that Abasto has a big Jewish population, and you’d be right. And in fact BA is home to the fourth largest Jewish community outside of Israel, numbering around a tenth of the city.) Abasto shopping center used to be the central market for the city, and you can still see that from its architectural style.

Me and Carlos Gardel

Tango shoes

Sign on a building

More Carlos Gardel signs!

Abasto souvenir shop

Gardel’s statue by the Abasto mall

The old Abasto central market, now a mall

The only kosher McDonalds outside of Israel

We stopped in the food court for a snack (baked potato with ham and cheese, an unfortunate choice) and then headed down to the Subte. On our way out, we passed some tables with people applauding. Apparently Argentine director for 2010’s Oscar winning foreign film, Juan José Campanella, was there.

Confiteria del Molino

Congreso

A touch of the old world

Broader view of the Argentine Parliament building

Congreso

Looking down the Avenida de Mayo

Heading towards Av de Mayo

Le Penseur by Rodin, version given to Buenos Aires

Av de Mayo, Palacio Barolo and neighbor

Faded splendor on the Av de Mayo

An old insurance company building on Avenida de Mayo

Palacio Barolo

Next we headed to Congreso, the building which houses both chambers of the Argentine parliament. Apparently the building was modeled on the US one. It’s in a square full of Belle Époque buildings, opening onto the Avenida de Mayo and, in the far distance, the Casa Rosada. Avenida de Mayo has a bit of faded elegance about it, buildings in the Parisian style sometimes boarded up or graffitied. Jonathan pointed out to us one incredibly interesting building called the Palacio Barolo, built in the early twentieth century to house the remains of Dante when Europe faded into its inevitable and imminent decline (according to the Italian immigrant to Argentina who had it built). And in homage to Dante, the building is rife with symbolism, from how high it is to numbers of columns to the murals depicting Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. I think I may need to go on a tour and check out the inside for myself!

Our final stop was the Plaza de Mayo, after which I headed to see the inside of the cathedral. It’s lovely.

I wrapped up the day with dinner at a parilla and a housewarming party where I got to meet more international students. Hurrah for all these opportunities to meet new people!

Catedral

Buenos Aires’s Cathedral

trails untrod

Satisfying wanderlust one day at a time

Tag Archives: solo female travel