Hey there once again everyone. As you’ve seen, things continue to go well with my time in Buenos Aires. Today I have a couple rough plans in my head, but it will be okay if they don’t work out as expected.
Anyways, I took my time getting out of the apartment in San Telmo, not departing until 11:46 AM. I set off walking and came across Bar Seddon. It was a very picturesque place, so I decided to have the menu del día (Daily special). Incidentally, this is a good tip for visitors, if you want to eat in actual sit down places, you will generally do better with the menu del día since it tends to be more affordable and many times includes several items. Also, unlike some other countries, you usually have a choice of at least two options, so there should be something you like. Honestly, I don’t know the name of what I ordered, since I tend to just pretend that I know what I’m talking about when they give me options, but the starter was a nice vegetable soup, and the main course was done sort of lightly breaded beef. The food was good, but after having had this sort of breaded beef thing a couple of times, I could see it quickly getting old. The meal also included either a simple dessert or coffee at the end; I opted for the coffee since I had already eaten way too much of the bread which also typically is served at these sit down places. The entire meal, including a Pepsi, was just 9500 ARS which I paid for with a card and then left a 1200 cash tip.
At 1:15 PM I departed and headed towards la basilica de nuestra señora la Merced, as I had seen on a Facebook group called BAIRES free that there would be a free organ concert there. I arrived at 1:35 PM and shortly thereafter they were announcing the concert. As expected at that time of the day during the week, few people had come and they were mostly retirees but the short program which began at 13:51 was great! I recommend that Facebook group for anyone visiting, or even residents of the city, because they constantly announce nice activities which as you might have guessed . . . Are completely free.
The concert finished at 2:37 PM and I immediately headed over to catch a bus to la Recolecta cemetery. At 2:48 I was on the bus, arriving nearby at 3:03 PM. It was a short walk, and at 3:17 I was paying my 8270 ARS (590 INR with my Indian card). As I speak Spanish, and the weather was nice, I decided to hang out near the entry in order to have the free tour in Spanish which happens every hour.
Right at 4:02 PM the free tour began and we were off. The mausoleums here were incredibly over the top. While I’m no history expert, I thought the free tour was great. The guide was very responsive to questions, and I learned various tidbits along the way. First of all, many of the cruise crypts are actually open, since for various reasons, the remains of the deceased were later on taken to a different place. The crypts themselves can be sold and remodeled, but the front of them have to stay the same. Women in Argentina were first able to vote in 1952. Oh, and wealthy Argentinians used to take a cow with them on the boat when they would go to Europe so that they could continue to have fresh milk. Finally, as was incredibly obvious just from looking around, the families with crypts here either were or still are crazy rich.
The tour ended at 5:05 PM, but we were welcome to continue to wander around on our own. Without a guide, while the crypts were still amazing to look at, there didn’t seem like too much of a reason to stay for a long time. So, at 5:23 PM I was already walking outside, passing plaza Lavalle at 5:44 PM.
I continued walking, and arrived at the apartment at 7:00 PM.
Then at 7:48 I decided to go back to Cosas Ricas to get more of those amazing empanadas. When I got there, I realized they also sold takeaway pasta, so I also ordered Raviolis with Bolognese sauce. The total was 9600 ARS ($8 USD) in cash, and it was way too much food! I hadn’t realized how big the pasta serving would be.
So, at 8:20 PM I was back in the apartment having dinner. I however decided to leave the empanadas in the refrigerator, having them in the morning for breakfast. And thus ended my fourth day in Buenos Aires.
My key takeaways for the day were: (1) Free cultural events can be amazing, so try to find it about them wherever you are going. (2) Buenos Aires does generous takeaway pasta dishes, or at any rate Cosas Ricas does in San Telmo, and it’s really tasty and filling. (3) If available, opt for the Menu del Día.
Despite being Winter in Buenos Aires, so far the weather has been great. I hope it stays that way for the next few days. Tomorrow I think I might try to visit a satellite city which is highly recommended, but you will have to keep reading in order to find out whether or not that worked out. As always, thanks for reading along and let me know if you have any questions; you might also scroll further down and check out some of my other trips I’ve made over the past couple of years. For now, I hope your travels are at least half as great as mine, and I look forward to seeing you again for day five.
Travels with Jay 