Last Stop in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Our last stop in South America was Buenos Aires, Argentina. Our expectations of the city were lowered because one of our traveling family friends spoke quite badly of it – huge city, nine lane roads to cross etc. etc. However, we stayed in the Palermo neighborhood, which was a little off the beaten track with more of a small town feel, complete with trendy restaurants, bars and bakeries on each street corner.

Also working in our favor was the fact that this was now our last stop in South America, which gave us a burst of motivation and energy to do and see a lot in the city. It’s amazing how a different perspective and mood can completely change your opinion of a city. We’ve noticed this a lot in our travels, which makes us hesitant to rely too heavily on the opinions of others (that means you reading this too – don’t listen to what we say, go see it yourself!).

Case in point, one of our first stops was a fairly highly rated science museum for children called the, “Prohibited NOT to Touch Museum”. Now we love ourselves a good hands on children’s science museum. So as you might expect, we’ve been to quite a few on our travels. Therein, however, lies the problem! I hate myself for saying this, but we’d seen it all before…and we’d seen it done a lot better (Calgary, Gothenburg (best ever), Edinburgh, Minneapolis, Granada for starters). I really do hate to say that because it wasn’t a bad science museum…just not a very good one, relatively speaking. #travelingtheworldproblems. Even worse than first world problems…that’s how bad we are.

All was not lost, however, and our second case in point was our trip to Boca Juniors’ (one of South America’s top football teams) stadium to do a tour. We’d just come off our very disappointing tour of the World Cup stadium in Montevideo, so we were skeptical about doing another stadium tour. However, we had heard good things about this tour, so C and A went ahead and gave it a try.

And what a stadium tour it turned out to be! A guide told them all about the history of the team and the stadium. They were able to go on the pitch and they even got to go inside the away team’s dressing rooms. There were some videos of former glories and legendary players, displays and trophy rooms. Everything you would want from such a tour and, coming off the Montevideo stadium tour, they appreciated this one that much more.

The stadium was in the La Boca neighborhood in Buenos Aires. An area equally popular for its Boca Juniors football team as it is for its colorful buildings, and its danger. I had read about how dangerous the area was and how important it was to stay vigilant with valuables and not to wander outside the heavily tourist areas. We had no problems there, but we did stay right in the thick of the tourists.

The area was certainly very touristy, but we loved the vibrant colors of the buildings, and since our wish list included a Lionel Messi/Argentina football jersey and a few other tourist souvenirs, the area was perfect for us that day.

We strolled up and down the streets, dodging restaurant hawkers and a guy offering a “picture with Diego”. He was clearly alluding to the Argentina hero and former footballer, Diego Maradona, but obviously not the real Maradona. Just an entrepreneurial guy, possibly called Diego, with a passing resemblance to the former footballer.

So how are we doing so far in Buenos Aires? Trendy European style neighborhoods? Check. Football? Check. Diego Maradona? Half check. Eva Peron? Next up! Most people have heard of Eva Peron, or Evita, but maybe you are like me and don’t really know much about her beyond the fact that Madonna played her in a movie and, presumably, the people of Argentina liked her and something bad happened to her (hence “Don’t cry for me, Argentina”). If you want to learn more about her, you can read this, but otherwise, I will just say she was a popular figure in Argentina, and a few of the places we visited were directly or indirectly related to her.

The biggest Evita related sight is the famous Recoleta Cemetery. This is one of the most well-known cemeteries in the world, and one of Buenos Aires’ top sights.

We took a walk through the cemetery, enjoying the varying architectural styles of the overground crypts and trying to figure out what all of the plaques on the mausoleums meant. Eventually, we followed the steady stream of people down a side row to find the much-visited mausoleum where Eva Peron lies. She is actually in her father’s family mausoleum, so it doesn’t say “Peron” on it, instead “Duarte”.

After taking a moment to look at the famous resting sight (and eavesdropping a tiny bit on the tour guides nearby to get a bit of info on the cemetery), we left the cemetery, located centrally within the city, and headed to a really cool place, El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a bookstore located in what was formerly a theater.

The bookstore is gorgeous, with multiple lighted balconies overlooking the main level. We went to gawk at the architecture, but couldn’t resist buying books while we were there.

I think we have finally found a winning formula for local bookstores to stay open and successful – put yourself in such a beautiful building that tourists are constantly streaming through, and many grab books while they are there. You heard it here first!

Our last day in Buenos Aires, we headed to visit the Casa Rosada, or the Pink House, basically Argentina’s equivalent of the White House.

This was also the place where Evita sang (okay, maybe she didn’t sing in real life, just the movie??) to the Argentinian masses. After seeing Argentina’s government seat, we walked over the so-called Woman’s Bridge to a small park where they had some cool 3D pictures on the sidewalk.

After a quick break to play at the tiny playground in the park…

…we continued our walk through the city to revisit a really tasty Parrilla (steak restaurant) for one last Argentinian steak.

After a hearty steak lunch, we continued our journey to Plaza Dorrego in the San Telmo area, which is well known for its tango dancers. We spent a few minutes soaking up the atmosphere and perfect weather, while watching a professional pair dance.

After dropping all of our change in their donation hat (we were leaving the next day!), we headed to a local bar to catch up with another traveling family. We had a great time passing a few hours swapping stories and comparing notes. However, we had to get home, since we had to pack up for our flight back across the Atlantic!

We really enjoyed our time in Buenos Aires, and it was a great final stop in our South America adventure. As much as we were ready to get back to Europe, we were sad to say goodbye and thankful to Buenos Aires for showing us a good time!

We had a few more stops once we crossed back over the pond, so stay tuned for our European adventures starting in the next post!