Buenos Aires, Argentina - Part 2

The last full day in Buenos Aires started with a steak lunch at Las Lilas.  Steak is what Argentina is known for and this was the best we had till this point - very tasty.  Argentinians cook their steak longer than we like and the cuts of meat are different than what we’re used to.  However, the steak at Las Lilas was quite delicious!  We also enjoyed some sweat breads with some red wine.  Las Lilas is located along the water where we stumbled upon this old boat. It was the ARA Uruguay, built in England.  It's the largest ship afloat of its age, commissioned in September 1874, and had made many expeditions to Antarctica.

After lunch we took a cab to Calle Murillo, also known as leather heaven!  The street has store after store of leather shops and is very inexpensive.  We bought a leather jacket for Kate, a leather briefcase and belt for Chris, and a few wallets!  

We then went to the La Recoleta Cemetery which is actually a beautiful place to walk around on a nice, sunny day.  Evita Peron is buried there as well as countless others. 

This is where Evita Peron is buried.

Rows and rows of tombs

 

We ended the day at a dinner and tango show that our travel agent set up for us.  We were somewhat familiar with tango but this show really showed us all the variations of the dance.  It was a very exciting, entertaining, and impressive show.  Definitely a highlight of the trip and we were able to chat with fellow English speakers from New Zealand.  The pictures don’t do it justice. 

Following Buenos Aires, we jumped on a short plane ride to Mendoza, Argentina’s famous wine region.

On our way to the airport we spotted this truck filled with what appears to be beef.

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Part 1

Argentina has been at the top of our “places to visit” list for quite some time.   It’s a county known for their tango dance, wine, and red meat – all things that we are fans of!  The timing of our trip worked out perfectly: Argentina elected a new president about two months before we arrived and had already implemented some changes.  One specific change that greatly improved our trip was changing the official government mandated exchange rate to be the same as the street/market exchange rate (which was a considerably better exchange rate).  This meant we could benefit from the best available rate safely and legally.  The people of Argentina that we talked to during our trip are all very optimistic about their new leader and we hope to see this beautiful country with plentiful resources prosper with their new president.  Anyways, onto our trip!

As with all long flights (11 hours direct from NYC), we took the overnight flight and arrived in Buenos Aires early in the morning on December 26, 2015.  Luckily, our hotel had a room ready for us so we could take a quick nap before walking around the city.  We went shopping for some warm-weather clothes as it was very hot outside, and we grabbed a bite to eat at El MirasolCampo & Mar.  We enjoyed some seafood and refreshing wine while sitting on the patio overlooking the water.  It was at this restaurant that we had the best empanadas, crab empanadas!

While walking around the city we encountered some street dancers dancing the tango! As tourists, we ate it up!

Our first full day in Buenos Aires started with a group tour of the city.  We like doing these types of tours on our first day in a new city because we can get a feel for the city and ask the tour guide questions about what to see while we’re in town.  On the tour we saw the Floralis Generica a structure in the shape of a flower which opens during the day and closes at night.

We also stopped in the Plaza de Mayo where the president’s house, also known as The Pink House, is located.  The plaza has a long political history and even while we were there, the plaza was filled with protest signs and graffiti. (Honestly, graffiti was everywhere in Argentina.)

The president's house (A.K.A. the pink house)

It may not look like it, but this is a church!  It's the National Cathedral.

General Jose' de San Martin's Mausoleum inside the cathedral

Then we walked around the famous street Caminito in the neighborhood of La Boca.  This was a very colorful, touristy street full of souvenir shops but otherwise not a noteworthy stop. 

At the conclusion of our tour we were dropped off at another touristy area with a flea-market shopping vibe but wondered into a steakhouse called La Brigada Parrilla.  We were greeted by an English speaking waiter and delicious food.  

That afternoon we visited the Eva Peron museum to learn more about Argentina’s most memorable first lady.  The museum was very interesting but definitely very one-sided.  She accomplished a lot in a short period of time but was a controversial figure and we would’ve liked to have learned the full picture.  She must’ve made quite an impression because she’s on the currency! 

More on Buenos Aires in our next blog post!