Buenos Aires 5 - 11 May

Buenos Aires 5 - 11 May

Friday 5 May we have arrived at the Viajero hostel, in the Montserrat/ San Telmo area.  It has five floors of dormitory and individual rooms, two swimming pools, one outside and the other forms the ceiling of the central atrium/ staircase.  There's a ground floor seating/ TV area and a basement breakfast room and bar. It has glass and metal staircases (try not to look down when you're on the stairs!) and two glass panelled lifts.   

All very funky, but not a soft surface anywhere, apart from the hostel cat, so it's a bit echo-y and noisy.

We go for a drink in the basement and find that there's a show on - music and dancing from a trio playing drums and guitar - one of them also does tap dancing with bolas which is brilliant.

Saturday 6 May.  Awake early to watch the Coronation in the UK (4 hours ahead of Argentina).  Have the choice of badly buffering BBC via the internet or the local TV broadcast in Spanish - we opt for Huw Edwards, Clare Balding, Anita Rani et al on the BBC.  It is interesting to see all the guests and to watch all the pomp and ceremony.  My mother would have loved it!

Later we go out to explore and walk to the Plaza de Mayo the scene of many demonstrations and political rallies.   

Our contribution is to have coffee and cake in a restaurant on the corner of the plaza.  

We manage to buy a card to load with money and to use on the buses and metro (the SUBE).  The card was not available in a couple of Sube stations (we'd been warned about this) but we buy ours, at many times the normal price, from a newsagent.

Travel on the Sube (easy to use and air condioned) to visit the Museo Evita which describes her life and achievements - through what she accomplished and represented she is still a huge figure in Argentina.  The museum is in a lovely building and is easy to move around and understand her story.

In the evening we go out for dinner to the Gibraltar pub which manages to present as a pretty good 'British' pub style and serves a delicious Thai green curry 😁.  Friendly clientele.

Sunday 7 May.  After breakfast we go to the local San Telmo market which is pretty busy.   Lots to look at - and we are keeping an eye out for a replacement for John's Terry Pratchett hat.  But, fun though it is, we don't buy anything apart from a hat, conscious that whatever we buy we'll have to carry.

Monday 8 May.     We go to the Avenida 9 Julio, a major north/ south route through the city, on an expedition to find a Western Union and to get some cash at the best rate possible.    After a false start we find one that's open and operating.  Lots to see here with huge images of Evita on the Ministry of Health building, 

the Obelisk built to commemorate the fourth centenary of the foundation of Buenos Aires 

and the Teatro Colon.  I also managed a sneaky photo of a banner on a government building about the Falklands/ Las Malvinas, which features as a poster on billboards throughout Argentina.

We have a beer in what looks like a greasy spoon restaurant. There's plenty of customers who look like regulars there for lunch.  There's a news programme on the TV which is talking about the inflation figures for the month of April and an inflation forecast for 2023 of 126%.  I knew inflation was bad here, but that's scary stuff.

In the afternoon we visit the Recoleta Cemetery where Eva Peron is buried in her family tomb.    Impressive graves and mausoleums (mausolea?) and as this is still a place of pilgrimage for Evita many flowers have been left for her.

Tuesday 9 May. A quiet morning,  but I head out by myself in the afternoon and take the Sube/ metro to visit the Museo de Bellas Artes.  I think this is the first time we've been apart on the whole trip; travelling solo is a bit nerve wracking but I don't get lost and do enjoy the museum.

Wednesday 10 May. A bit late in our stay in Buenos Aires but today we are going on an open topped bus tour of the city, with commentary in English.  

a demo in the Plaza de Mayo 

We see some areas that we have already visited and lots of handsome architecture;  the ride takes us south to La Boca, where we get off.  In La Boca houses were originally built using cast-off ship building materials such as planks and corrugated sheet metal. They were painted with a variety of leftover paints.  Nowadays it's a tourist destination with markets, restaurants and tango dancers - but very bright, great fun and lots to look at.

The second part of the trip takes us to the equivalent of Docklands, with lots of high rise development, Palermo which, from a bus, doesn't have a lot to see but does have a lot of trees that batter the bus, and past the Casa Rosado in Plaza de Mayo.

An interesting day out which we should have done on day one not day five. 🤣

Thursday 11 May. Today we are flying to Iguazu in the north of Argentina.  Leave most of our luggage in a store room at the hostel so we only have to take carry on. 

 Please see the Iguazu section of the blog for fabulous pictures!