Day 2,237 of Traveling the World | Buenos Aires, Argentina | March 16, 2024

Jan and Mike

2 years ago

The Paris of South America. The Most European capital city in South America. For us, Buenos Aires was the New York City of South America. We found little neighborhoods, sprawling districts, beautiful late-19th century buildings, parks, government buildings, churches, markets, fun retail shops, lots of antiques stores, and seedy-looking blocks of once-radiant buildings and businesses. So…a lot like New York, more so than the other capital cities we visited in this part of the world.

The main story we have is concerning the mosquito problem. There have been several waves of mosquito infestation, as starting in January, Buenos Aires experienced more rain than usual. The leftover standing water helped with hatching millions of mosquito eggs. We saw photos where a woman had dozens on the back of her white shirt, thousands were inside an apartment, and an awe-inspiring plume of mosquitos in the distance that looked like a tornado funnel! So, they were still here when we arrived. Jan has the skin they like – they turn their noses (proboscises) up at Mike’s not-so-inviting skin. The total wasn’t as bad as Tahiti: Jan had 20 itchy bites, including clusters on the bottom of her feet (ouch!), while Mike had, as always, ZERO.

Some other interesting things we have observed have to do with their currency problems. Argentina has gone through a series of defaults and currently has a an inflation rate of over 250%. All of the prices are changing constantly, so don’t be surprised if you see changes in prices in a few days. When walking through some of the public market areas, one sometimes hears an almost constant call of “cambio!” That is people advertising to sell the local currency at other than the official rate. When in stores, you often see signs saying they will give discounts for US dollars. Taking advantage of this, in one store we bought a $90 item for $65 US in cash. So if you come to Argentina, you may save money by carrying some US dollars. But keep it in a safe place to avoid pickpockets. Also, if the inflation is as high when you come as it is now, use credit cards and don’t bother to get any local currency, as it loses value quickly.

This past week, it rained (with lightning and thunder) almost every day, so we mainly stayed inside and only ventured outside for a few meals and some necessities. And thus, we did not explore as much of the city as we would have liked. So we are showing you the places we did see, and now have a reason to return in the future.

For the first few days, we stayed in the San Telmo District, the up-and-coming Bohemian art district. Most notably, there is a lot of street art and the fabulous San Telmo Mercado, with shops and cafes and restaurants. The glass dome and wrought iron structure dates to 1897, when it was designed to cater to the large number of European immigrants arriving daily. It was a neighborhood that was very youthful, alive, a bit badass, and thoroughly enjoyable.

The rest of our time has been spent in the city center, nearer the shopping areas and historic district. There are some beautiful, old buildings now in use as shopping arcades and malls. We visited a few, with stunning photos. The rest of the time, when we ventured out between rain drops, we took photos of buildings and stores, as usual. It has been a great place to visit, except for the mosquitos and excessive rain. Maybe we will have better luck next time with both.

*Entryway to the stunning San Telmo Market.*

*The market first opened in 1897 and was designed by architect Juan Antonio Buschiazzo.*

*Meet Mafalda. Mafalda was everywhere, being the most popular Argentine comic character in the country (probably behind Spider-Man and other super heroes, though).*

*Coffee Town roasts their own beans and are touted as one of the city’s best coffees. Just beyond is the fruit and veg area.*

*We arrived in late afternoon, and the market was already pretty full, being an after-work gathering spot.*

*A random crown sitting on a table. It wasn’t near anyone or anything else, just inexplicably sitting there.*

*A Swiss restaurant, Je Suis Raclette, serves all things cheese. The next photo shows our casual, but sumptuous, dinner there.*

Fondue! Our non-meat version was served with crusty bread, tomatoes, crunchy pickles, pearl onions, and potatoes. It was heavenly, and enough for three or four people. In other parts of the world, particularly Switzerland, it is always pretty expensive, but this was just $20 US. We were told that it was hard finding a source for these specialized cheese dishes in Argentina, and they get it from the only local source. It was as good as we have had in Switzerland…and more abundant.

*A pretty “everything” store – lots of souvenirs.*

*Very surprising was the number of antiques stores, both in San Telmo Market as well as the general neighborhood.*

*This looks just like a Chili’s Restaurant – we were wondering if it used to be one, or if the owners just liked the look of cheerful red chilis.*

*In the window of an antiques store – it could be St. Patrick, whose feast day is tomorrow. If we still had a house and bookshelves, this would have been purchased yesterday!*

*This Italian restaurant has been here many years, as you can tell – and translates to Grandpa Bachicha.*

*Interesting how most of the statues here have a curvaceous look to them.*

*Another antiques store in another venue, complete with vinyl records for sale.*

*This store across from the previous one looks like it has Picasso artwork for sale…and maybe something from Little Shop of Horrors.*

*A beautiful Art Nouveau antiques store. We didn’t know it when we took this photo, but the name of the shop is the title of a famous tango song (Sugar, Pepper, and Salt).*

*Here is an example of art thriving amidst rather run-down buildings. The whole world sure does like black cats, though, right?*

Over and over, we saw this sentiment – on buses, scribbled as graffiti, and here, on the Institute of Military History: “The Malvinas Islands (i.e., the Falklands) are Argentinian.” As we noted in our blog when we visited the Falklands last month, Argentina had sovereignty over the islands for just a very few short time. It is overwhelmingly British when you visit. And as we also related in our Falklands post, with the overwhelming pro-British referendum they held, *they would have a very unhappy populace if Argentina was ever able to take over.*

*Casa Rosada, the Government House, headquarters of Argentinian government. It is located on Plaza de Mayo.*

*The May Pyramid in Plaza de Mayo is 61 feet tall and, dating to 1810-1811, is the oldest monument in the city.*

*This huge statue fronts the Basilica Nuestra* *Senora del Rosario.*

*This seems to be a sort of Coat of Arms in mosaic on the floor as you enter the Basilica, but we are hard-pressed to understand why a dog is involved.*

*Galerias Pacifico shopping mall – although the paintings sure make it look like a church or museum. It is breathtaking in person – and then you get to shop!*

*The main pedestrian-only street, Calle Florida, is jammed with a little bit of everything, including Galerias Pacifico.*

*This empanada place had a line of about 15-20 people. Each empanada costs about 60 cents, with a variety of meats and veggies. They must be pretty good, although we didn’t wait in the long line.*

*It is usually in the Caribbean that you see pirate stores and motifs, but we saw several places here exploiting the* *pirate life.*

*There were lots of cool old buildings like this one.*

*Galeria Guemes is another shopping arcade a few blocks from the other one – huge arches and domes dotted the inside.*

*The entrance to one area of the gallery.*

*…and we saw many, many cows decorating ice cream shops. Beef is one of Argentina’s main products, so cows and bulls are everywhere.*

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