A BREATH OF FRESH AIRES
After living au naturale in Peru, we were both eager and excited for some metropolitan happenings. Best way to start would be to fly business class from Peru to Argentina, wouldn’t it? When we checked in at Cusco airport, the airline required physical documentation of bookings due to their computer system being down and ours conveniently showed Business Class. Not sure if it was a typo on our flight itinerary or not, but we weren’t about to correct them as they printed out our boarding passes. En route to Argentina, we guzzled French champagne for breakfast right through till lunch, alongside delicious salads, platters and other goodies. We landed in Buenos Aires without any bookings or any clue of where to go and took a punt on a fellow Machu Picchu trekker’s recommendation of an alleged ‘trendy area’ of the city. We stopped into the first hotel we found in this trendy area, called Palermo Hollywood. Booked out. Along with the next 4 that we saw. Finally, we were referred to a next door apartment block that accommodated for short term stays. We lunged at the $50AUD/night deal and settled in for the night as it was now 8pm and we were super duper tired from such a physical week of trekking. The next morning we got up and walked outside ready to take on the city. Then walked back inside to wack on another 3 layers as it was Melbournishly freezing! Take two, we walked the streets of this ridiculously cool area with funky cafs, restaurants and shops scattered on every block. Kez was oohing and ahhing every 10 metres at the contemporary architecture and spunkiest interior design that would be typically featured in her fave home mags as well as being classic examples in her interior design text books. No excuses for anything less than a High Distinction in her next assessment. Killing for a coffee to warm the bones, we stepped into a parilla restaurant-come-cafe… which saw us return 5 times throughout our stay in Palermo. Yeah, it was that bad. Possibly the unintentionally coolest of all cafes we’ve been to and we returned that afternoon for a long anticipated Argentine steak sided with creamy mash and Malbec ( a type of Argentinian Red wine). This quickly became a tradition for the next 10 days in between checking out local sites and delights of this modern mecca. We struggled to get our heads around and the Argentine lifestyle as nothing usually until 11am, with lunch typically starting around 3pm, dinner at least after 10pm and nightlife kicking off well into 2am. But, we had fun trying. After a week in Palermo, we thought it time to jump over to the ‘dark side’ in bohemian San Telmo – famous for the best markets in all of “BA” as well as a world renowned hub for amazing antiques from as far back as the 16th century. We also visited the historical Recoleta Cemetery where the rich and famous were buried, competing for the most grand and elaborate tombs. It was absolutely stunning and not even spooky. Oh, except for the glass doored tombs with a clear visual of the coffin(s) and condensation on the INSIDE of the the glass! Recoleta was like a parallel to the Upper East of Manhattan with high end designers commanding prominence and home to the snootiest of McSnoots. We relished in the sun at the Plaza De Mayo, previously the Presidential Palace where Evita pleaded for Argentina not to cry for her. Okay, that’s not really what she said but Madonna had Ads genuinely convinced otherwise. Nice one, Broadway. Now, after enough culture injections to get the most addicted of Hunter Street junkies high, it came time to move on to our next destination, Brazil. But, with that came visa and flight complications so we decided to rendezvous there another time and aimed up for Europe. Next stop; Portugal…
WIN:
Buenos Aires. The whole gosh darn lot. It make Melbourne look daggy.
FAIL:
Us. For not taking our camera out for fear of being robbed. Could have something to do with our small digi being stolen from our luggage from our flight out of Peru though.
NOTABLE NOTES:
Eat: Merinda in Palermo Hollywood had an exposed grill and served up succulent steaks, lamb, pork and any sort of meat you can imagine. Think around the $70for 2 people including a bottle of wine should keep you in the game. Obviously, any parilla (Argentine steakhouse) is a must if you can’t get to Palermo.
Sleep: Buenos Aires if riddled with short term apartments – the best way to live as the locals do. We’d met enough people throughout our journey thus far to accumulate advice and tips so didn’t really need the hostel connection. Prices start upward of $50 in the good areas.
Drink: Malbec. And lots of it. They start off super cheap ($10AUD will get you a decent drop) and dish up a nice contrast to the Aussie Merlots and Cab Savs.
Hints ‘n Tips:
Buenos Aires must do’s are:
– Gaucho tours (traditional Argentinean BBQ on a farm)
– Catch a soccer match in La Boca
– go to a Mangola – a tango bar. Preferably a non touristy one but apparently these are good too but we only went to the local ones.
theflightclub 