Attitude Adjustment: Buenos Aires

Days two and Three

Our first night in Buenos Aires started with a former classmate and friend, Sharon Boyd, who has known Michael since childhood.  She has been living in Buenos Aires for five months, teaching English, and has learned a lot of what makes this city tick.   Because it was raining, we had a quick tour of our part of town known as Recoleta.  As we walked, it began to rain even harder with the wind trying to blow the umbrellas inside out. I wondered why we couldn’t just put the tour off for another day.  But having since experienced the heat of Argentina, I now realize what a relief rain is here and why everyone seemed to be enjoying it so much.  During our walk, we discovered that we are near the Recoleta cemetery with numerous fancy, tall, old crypts housing the remains of many famous and infamous Argentinians.  Across the street is a large, rather new shopping center with such establishments as a TGIF Friday’s, McCafe, multiplex theaters, book stores and dozens of upscale clothing stores.  Nearby, down narrow streets, are several cute and charming small restaurants that serve mostly pizza and beer.  One such establishment even has pizza delivery guys who manage their deliveries quickly on inline skates.

Our wonderful guide, Sharon, chose a small restaurant not far from our residence for us to have our first Argentine meal.  “French” serves many things that are wonderful, but it did not seem particularly French in cuisine and unfortunately for the owner, it was empty except for us.  That being the case, we got the most wonderful service, and the food was plentiful, reasonably priced, and delicious!  By now you have read about our first full day in Buenos Aires. Not a particularly great start, but being resilient (along with you for reading this blog) we started out our second day and the subsequent ones in much better humor.

On our second day we got back on the tour bus to finish out our time and hitch a free ride to one of the points of interest-the Galerias Pacifico Mall. The Mall first opened over a hundred years ago in 1891, in the likeness of a similar shopping area in Milan. Unfortunately, it ran into difficulties not long after opening because of an economic crisis.  For many years it served as an office space for the Pacifico Rail Road Company until, in 1992, when it was re-imagined into the beautiful space it is today.   I chose this particular place because it was one of the only old buildings on the tour that was open, plus it had air conditioning and food to entice Michael to come along.   It was just as spectacular as the tour guide promised.   The mall is housed in one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, with glass cupolas and Michelangelo-like fresco
painted   on some arched ceilings. There are three floors of stores and a large 1^st floor

full of restaurants.  I was mostly interested in checking out the famous Escuela Argentina de Tango Dance Center that takes up a large portion of the third floor space. The shopping portion of the mall is impressive.  There are numerous fancy stores that could satisfy the wants and needs of any well healed shopper who had a lot of Argentine Pesos.  I noticed that the prices were at about 25-40% percent more than the prices for the similar quality items in Manhattan Beach. But the prices were probably similar to those in New York City or Paris.   I found that the dance center was very private.  I had hoped to find classes in session that we could watch, but I came away disappointed.  However they do have a performance schedule that has an interesting Tango show that we are considering for another evening. 

Today we met with Sharon again to go to the San Telmo area where only on Sundays the town is host to antique dealers and crafts people who set up booths.  I could have wandered the streets for days.  The town itself is charming, with wrought iron balconies, shuttered windows and cobblestone streets.  Add to that literally miles of booths, street performers, attractive restaurants and colorful visitors and you have enough to delight and entertain anyone for hours.  It was here that we saw our first live Tango performance, ate some wonderful empanadas, and listened to a fabulous jazz quartet. 

Unlike Pacifico, with its upscale trendy fashions, San Telmo had interesting talented people selling their one of a kind crafts.  With so many fabulous things to choose from, it is a place that should be re-visited to select the just right items for gifts and personal gratification.  Sadly, the market only takes place on Sundays, and we don’t have any more Sundays left in Buenos Aires. Also there would never be enough room in our suitcases to carry all the things I was tempted to purchase.  Looking at the pictures of some of the unusual glassware makes me wish for the ability to drag some of it home!

During the next few days we plan to pay our respects to Eva Peron during a tour of the famous Recoleta Cemetery.  We must find a tango lesson and show if I can keep Michael awake long enough, as many do not start until 10:30 pm. And we have made plans to go to Uruguay for the weekend.  The time goes quickly, especially when it is necessary to spend a chunk of time planning for the weeks ahead.  In our future is Iguassu Falls and Mendoza, in the opposite direction.  Nestled near the Andes, Mendoza is apparently a wonderful town famous for its wineries and great food.