Taste of Buenos Aires (Day 2)

So, between the bus ride in from the airport yesterday and some exploring today, here's my first impressions of Buenos Aires. Some of the buildings and streets are pretty cool- very old, intricate buildings with fantastic details and lots of cobblestone and brick streets. Especially in the area of San Telmo, where the hostel I'm staying at is, there's a really funky vibe with lots of artisan shops, antique galleries and art studios. But, this is a big, bustling, city. Read: pretty dirty and smoggy by Tera standards (and I know they're pretty steep), lots of wandering stray dogs (and their poo) everywhere, quite a bit of garbage littering the streets and a lot of what were once beautiful buildings that have become too expensive (I'm assuming) to maintain. But, I can't say enough great things about the local people I've met. They approach in Spanish, and soon learn I have no idea what they just said to me. Then, without question, either switch to their best English or begin the best charades they can muster for me. You'd be amazed at what you can act out when you're really stuck. I'm lucky to have a few basic words that I can throw in here and there to help along, but for the most part, it's just nice people taking the time and patience to try to understand me. So far, Argentinians are fantastic people.

Today, accompanied by Susie who's staying at the same hostel, I headed out towards the neighbourhood of Recolleta- in the southwest of downtown- to do some sightseeing. Lots of cool buildings (check some of them out below) and quite a few open spaces. The architecture in these buildings are pretty cool.

Shops of San Telmo and the Government "Pink" House at Plaza de Mayo

Plaza de Congreso (left), Streets in San Telmo (middle), Museo Sanfrancisco (right)

In the same district, we headed to the Recoletta Cemetery. There are no "graves" so to speak, but hundreds of shrines housing caskets of the dignitaries and their families, on full display (middle). The shrine of the family of Eva Peron (aka Evita) is in this cemetery (left), although well tucked away despite her fame in Argentina (from what I understood, her controversial life had a lot to do with where her casket came to be, or not be).















Regardless, it was unlike anything I've ever seen and really cool. And, there are cats everywhere in this cemetery. Just strays (like the dogs in Buenos Aires) who appear to be pretty healthy for strays.

Since we had walked a lot, a whole lot, we opted to take the bus back to the hostel. Man, the traffic and smog in this city is unreal. There are so many 14 lane roads, right in the middle of the city (not highways but downtown streets) that the exhaust just hangs in the air.







Last but not least, here's a photo of the hostel I'm at (Extremo sur Hostel). There are 3 open patios, it's clean and bright and the hosts are fantastic- a really cool spot. And, I'm slowly learning that everything in Argentina happens exponentially later as the night goes on- breakfast seems to be a morning snack right before bed!