Hey there everyone, thanks for continuing to follow along. Today will be my first full day in Buenos Aires, so I’m hoping it’s a good one.
Despite not having slept until 1:00 AM, I woke at 6:20 AM this morning, but then resolved to try to sleep until at least 8:00 AM. That didn’t really work out as planned, but at least I stayed resting in bed. The previous evening Beatriz had suggested that we meet up again at 11:00 AM, so I left the apartment at 9:46 AM and headed walking in the general direction of Plaza de Mayo.
Mostly because I didn’t want to deal with the difficulties of figuring out breakfast, at 10:12 I stopped in at a McDonald’s along the way and got a small breakfast sandwich and drink, paying with my Indian credit card at a cost of 281 INR ($3.36 USD). Incidentally, they didn’t have “Mcmuffins” but rather a less dense local bread which was similar in size. Regardless, it tasted fine and served its purpose.
I departed at 10:41, walking through Plaza de las Armas.
I then arrived to the Plaza de Mayo at 10:49. The plaza itself is a bit smaller than I had imagined, but it’s much the same as other city plazas. There was a statue no doubt of someone very important on a horse, and around it people had placed stones with the names of people who died during the pandemic. I thought that was a nice symbol, especially since in other countries I’ve been, society as a whole seems to be intent on just completely forgetting that it ever happened.
Beatriz arrived shortly thereafter and we went walking across the plaza towards the Catedral de Buenos Aires. Beatriz and many locals were quite excited to see that the changing of the guard was taking place. For tourists, the main attraction of this cathedral is the tomb of San Martin, Argentina’s national hero. The tomb itself was quite impressive, but as I discovered a couple of days later, Argentinians with money definitely don’t scrimp on tombs. Still, it’s one of those places you definitely should visit if you are in Buenos Aires.
By 11:19 AM we were heading into the Calle de la Defensa market which takes place on Sundays to supplement the San Telmo market which is near the end of it. Going to this Sunday market is always mentioned as one of the “must do” activities of visiting Buenos Aires, so I was happy to be doing it. To be sure, there was a lot of interesting stuff to buy, but I’m not much of a casual shopper; although, I do still like to see it.
At 12:18 we were in Plaza Dorrega. As far as I can tell, they have a more or less permanent installation of stalls there. It was similar stuff to what one finds on the Calle la Defensa Sunday market but with the difference that they seem to be there all the time.
At 12:36 we stopped into Mercado San Telmo itself, but it was so crowded that I didn’t actually want to go in.
Evidently a lot of people go here to eat, but I’m not sure. We wanted a bit more, but by 12:56 we were already in a bus headed towards la Boca, where we arrived at 1:03 PM.
The first landmarks I saw were puente nueva and puente vieja. Essentially just two bridges next to each other. The area itself was pretty enough, but there wasn’t really all that much to see. It seems that for the most part this is another general area where people go to eat and do some souvenir shopping.
As Beatriz is a local, she recommended that we eat in Cafe Proa, a rather elegant cafe on the upper floor of a museum there. It must be quite popular because we didn’t have a reservation, and thus almost didn’t get in. However, there was an early departure, so at 1:29 PM a table unexpectedly opened up.
There we stayed eating and chatting until 3:30 PM. This sort of “slow dining” seems to be the norm in these cafe/restaurants and it’s nice because they don’t try to push you out quickly. The total for both of us was 28000 ARS, with them easily allowing us to split the bill, both paying by card. I separately left 3000 ARS in cash as a tip.
Beatriz asked if I would like to see part of the north of the city, and as I had nothing planned, I agreed. By 3:36 we were on bus 64, arriving to Palermo Norte at 4:21 PM. This part of the city was very different from where I’m staying, much fancier, and it was nice to just walk around and continue to chat with Beatriz.
After a couple hours of exploring, at 6:11 PM I was waiting for bus 130, which did not arrive until 6:30 PM, but it was a pleasant bus stop, so I had no concerns. The bus trip was very fast, and at 6:42 PM I was at the bus stop near where I was staying.
So that was my first full day in Buenos Aires. Certainly I got lots of great pictures, but more importantly I had another nice visit with a dear old coworker and friend from when I used to work at UWC Costa Rica. I have no definite plans for tomorrow, but I’m sure it will be another interesting day. Let me know if you have any questions, and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Finally, as always, thanks for following along; I hope you enjoy reading a bit about my adventures. See you next time!
Travels with Jay 