I’ve been asked what we did for a whole month in Buenos Aires. In addition to taking Spanish lessons every weekday, we did a lot of sight seeing, walking around, getting familiar with the city. This post lets you know some of the things we did over about a two week period, and of course includes pictures for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.
Tuesday 12/16/08: Today after lunch, Steve and I went separate ways and did our own things. Steve bought a used bike. I walked through what appeared to be Buenos Aires’ financial district (big banks making big statements with far out modern architecture) on the way to Plaza de Mayo and the subte stop.
The financial district.
Along the way I encountered a demonstration (there seem to be a lot of them) which ended at Plaza de Mayo. Police in orange vests and other police in riot gear stood at the place where the demonstration ended. It seemed quite peaceful to me so I don’t know if all that police stuff is routine for any demonstration, or if there was a possibility that this one could get out of hand. I couldn’t tell was it was about. From the banner it seemed to have something to do with retired people and seemed to be in honor or memory of a particular individual.
A peaceful demonstration in Buenos Aires
I guess they take "Be Prepared" quite seriously at a Buenos Aires demonstration..
I then walked to the other side of the Plaza and visited the main cathedral.
Catedral Metropolitana
A view of the interior of the main Catedral Metropolitana.
Tomb of José San Martin, who I know was important in Argentina's war of independence. He is revered sort of like George Wahington.
After that, I took the subte to our neighborhood where the Eva Peron Museum is conveniently located. It was very interesting to learn more about her. The museum is housed in what was once a mansion that she turned into a shelter for homeless women and their children where the women got social services to help them find work and other housing. Eva Peron was only married to Juan for about 7 years, and she died of cancer at age 33. She was apparently quite a beloved figure and reminded me a little of Princess Diana. Bit by bit, I’m learning more of Argentina’s story.
Eva Peron Museum, formerly a home for women that she established. I went there trying to better understand the "cult" of Evita that still exists.
Eva Perón forever.
- The famous presidential palace, the Casa Rosada. Evita Perón gave her crowd energizing speeches from its balcony.
Thursday 12/18/08: We were told it was not far from where we were, so we headed out to walk the Recoleta Cemetery, a major sight where, among famous military and other wealthy people, Eva Person is buried. Well, not actually buried because it appears that the bodies are kept above ground, embalmed I assume, in these elaborate mausoleums. The mausoleums were amazing but the idea gives me the creeps. The walk turned out to be long, we got a little lost, the day was hot, Steve doesn’t do well in heat, so it was a somewhat difficult hike.
Evita's tomb is a major attraction in Recoleta Cemetary.
Recoleta Cemetary, where the embalmed bodies of the elite rest in ornate splendor.
Friday 12/19/08: We visited the National Museum of Fine Art. What a fantastic collection! We wondered why there is a Museum of Latin American Art, the collection of which we found disappointing, separate from this museum, which also has art from Latin America. We learned that the other museum was privately built to house a certain individual’s collection. That explained a lot. There are a number of museums named for individual people, and I wonder if they are the same deal.
Museum of Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA). We were disappointed by the art in this so-called cutting edge, privately owned, museum. But the building was an interesting place and space.
The National Museum had two special exhibits: a very exciting traveling exhibition of Latin American art, and an eerie and interesting exhibit of the work of a contemporary Argentine artist named Jacques Bedel.
The public Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes has a very interesting collection. We appreciared the Latinoamericano subject matter better when we visited it for a second time after having been inSouth America for 3 months.
Upon leaving the museum, we walked again to the Recoleta district, which was not so far away this time. We found that there is a street fair in the park there every weekend, as well the Recoleta Cultural Center, housed in an historic building that was formerly part of a religious institution.. The city operates cultural centers in various neighborhoods where they offer classes and have a variety of programs. The few that we’ve been in so far have been very impressive: well kept, architecturally interesting places with libraries, exhibits and performance spaces.
Monday 12/22/08: This morning we are going to have coffee at Cafe Tortoni, the oldest cafe in BA where all the famous people used to hang out. Opinions differ on whether the waiters are friendly or obnoxious and whether the food is bad or good. In either case, it is sure to be very touristy, but they say worth it anyway.
Historic, classical Cafe Tortoni.
Wednesday 12/24/08: Steve and I took a day trip to a resort town about an hour’s train ride north of here. The train was like the regional rail in Philadelphia, another form of public transportation in addition to the subway and the buses. We had a lazy morning and left Buenos Aires around noon. The train departed from one of the main train stations. I’d not been there yet, but Steve was familiar with it from his bike rides. It is a big, bustling place with a market and deserves a more leisurely visit sometime. Fortunately, it is easy to get to by bus from our apartment.
Buying tickets for the train (like the regional rail) to Tigre, resort town on the river, an hour north of Buenos Aires.
The town we went to is called Tigre. It is located where a couple of rivers come together to form the big Rio de Plata on which Buenos Aires is located. The story goes that when Tigre was discovered, tigers were seen in the area. But everyone knows that there are no tigers in Argentina. Maybe they were some other kind of cat. We expected to find it crowded, but it was actually pretty quiet on Christmas Eve day. We did not venture much into the town per-se because from the little that we did, it did not look too interesting. Besides, it was very hot and we were hungry. The tourist area close to the train station and near the river was, however, quite lovely and we headed back in that direction. Being hungry, we stopped to eat in the first place we saw, realizing only later that if we’d walked on just a bit we would have found several more attractive places. But no matter. After our pizza and beer, we took a short nap in a park, and then checked out how and where to catch a boat for a touristic ride on the river. Steve, with his keen mastery of where to go, noticed some wooden boats along the other side of the river from where we were. We headed across the bridge to see what the deal was with all these smaller boats. Turned out that they are colectivos that transport the regular folks to and from their houses in the delta. We got round trip tickets on one. It was a lovely hour long ride, through a part of the delta, past houses and small docks where the boat pulled up to pick up and let off passengers, many of whom had come to be with their families or friends for Christmas at their summer resort homes (remember it is summer in South America in December); others to take the boat back to Tigre to catch the train for Buenos Aires which is also what we did at about 6:30 p.m.
An hour's train ride out of Buenos Aires is the river resort town of Tigre.
Riding through the delta around Tigre.
Tigre Museum of Art, which we did not visit.
An amusing dock-side scene. Be sure to read the sign. Drinking water has to be transported to the homes on the islands in the delta.
We later went back to Tigre and spent several days at a kind of run down resort that we grew to love, among other things because of the people who ran the place. Steve has already written his post about Tamet. Maybe I’ll get around to writing my version of the experience. So you may have more to look forward to.
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