Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires is the capital city of Argentina and home to close to 13 million people. It is a large city and one often characterized as the Paris of South America but with a Latino heart. It is a city of glamour and style bustling with tall skyscrapers and the world’s widest street at 20 lanes. But it also has a dark and gritty core. It is a city of contrasts and unfortunately one that we were all too happy to leave after a brief 2 days in the city.

Arriving 3 hours late but at least safely by plane from Santiago under heavy rain clouds we made our way into the city centre by shared taxi. We had met a very friendly family of 5 from Tasmania, Australia while disembarking the plane and they offered to split a cab into Buenos Aires. We happily agreed and had a great ride as we shared travel tips and stories from home. Checking into our pre-booked hotel we faced one of the not-too-pleasant sides of being foreign travelers. Our room was reserved at $92 US for two nights stay or $421 Argentinean pesos at the current exchange rate of 4.58%. The staff said that if we paid in US dollars than the total would be $92 but if we paid in pesos it would be at their 5.8% exchange rate; clearly contradicting our reservation which stated that the rate was to be converted at the official daily exchange. There was no way we were paying what amounted to an extra $25 US for the two nights so we went hunting for an ATM that dispensed US dollars. It was a miserable hour spent searching in vain that somewhat appropriately finished with a 3-block sprint under torrential rain and thunder overhead.

The next morning and still with no US dollars in hand we marched up to the front desk and demanded that we pay in pesos at the 4.58% rate. They hummed and hawed but eventually balked and agreed; our threats to write negative reviews about the hotel on the reservation website surely helped. Buoyed by our victory we set off on foot to explore the city for the day under grey skies but at least with no rain at the time – that would unfortunately come later. After learning to dance the tango from some cool sidewalk art we stopped at the famous Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires, the resting place of some of Argentina’s most famous citizens including Eva “Evita” Peron. It was a sombre gray landscape of above-ground tombs and mausoleums but extremely interesting both historically and architecturally. Each tomb was a unique grand monument to the deceased person or family and often with statues and marble finishes. Unfortunately many of the tombs had been broken into over the years, possibly by grave robbers, and they were left in a sad state of disrepair.

After our walk through the cemetery we got absolutely soaked by a sudden downpour of rain. Fortunately it didn’t last long and we had rain jackets on but we got chilled very quickly. To combat the cold we sat in a warm travel agent’s office where we booked our ferry and bus tickets for the next morning to Montevideo, Uruguay, and then settled in for a 2-hour lunch and wi-fi internet session at a great cafe overlooking the world’s widest street. Sufficiently dried and warmed we then toured the cities busy pedestrian avenues looking for Argentinean souvenirs and then Plaza Mayo, which is anchored by the presidential “Pink” House (just like Washington’s White House but actually illuminated in fluorescent pink and blue lights).

Seeing the city cleansed by the day’s heavy rain and bathed in night time accent lighting it was very beautiful as we finished the evening strolling hand-in-hand. If only our experiences with the hotel staff and ATM machines had gone better, or the people and weather of Buenos Aires had been more pleasant, then we might have enjoyed our visit more. Regardless we were happy to have visited the city and equally happy to be continuing on our way to Uruguay the next day.