Day 4: Buenos Aires, Palermo & Recoleta

The plan for the day was to go to the Recoleta and Palermo areas. We had my good friend Andrea as our tour guide this day as well. The first stop was the flower in the Plaza de las Nationes Unidas (UN Plaza). Our guide said that sculpture used to open up to the sun every morning and close down at night. It only stayed open on special nights, but apparently the mechanism is down and it is permanently open. 

 

We walked about 1 mile towards the famous Recoleta Cemetery. Normally I don't visit cemeteries as a tourist attraction, but this one is special. I heard about it before because Evita's grave is here. An urban cemetery is different to what I've seen before. The entrance to the cemetery is free.

 

Entrance to La Recoleta

 

Evita's Grave

Recoleta Cementery

 

Since it was Saturday there was a flea market on the streets. I got a few things to bring back including alfajores. Alfajor is a sugar cookie sandwich filled with dulce de leche. My favorite is just the basic cookie, but the most popular is covered in chocolate. We took a break at Plaza Francia and continued walking towards El Ateneo, a bookstore located on Santa Fe Street. We walked at least another mile, but we were distracted by the beauty of the Recoleta neighborhood and the shops on Santa Fe Street. The building used to be a theater, and it is the most beautiful bookstore that I've ever seen. We had a coffee break just to sit down where the stage used to be. I tried taking a picture inside, but I still don't know the settings to take a good indoor picture.

El Ateneo. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

After El Ateneo we were meeting our other friend for dinner. We were meeting at Plaza Serrano located in the Palermo Soho neighborhood. We took a taxi this time, we were exhausted from the previous day. The plaza is surrounded by restaurants and bars. If I go back to Buenos Aires I want to stay in Palermo Soho. There were so many trendy stores to see!!! I decided to stay on my budget and shop at the crafts fair. I bought MANY things including enough rings and earrings for me and my sisters. We walked looking for a place to have dinner distracted by the stores. We ended up walking over 10 blocks without even noticing. We had dinner at Forneria. I had the best pasta that I've had in my life!! Even better than in Italy! It was that good!!!! I had the "Penne rigatte con ave ahumada, espinacas, tomates asados al horno y crema" = penne with chicken, spinach, tomatoes and cream sauce.  The following day we had plans for another intense tourist day so we decided to go home. That pasta was the end of another perfect day in Buenos Aires.

 

Day 3, Part 2: Buenos Aires

After a long morning walking around Buenos Aires most famous sites, we were exhausted and ready for a long break. Our feet were hurting, but we were so close to the obelisk that we kept walking.  We walked across the famous 9 de Julio Avenue and took many pictures of the obelisk. This 16 lane avenue is supposed to be the widest avenue in the world. Since I am a transportation engineer, I was more than excited to walk across this beautiful street. 

 

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

We couldn't walk anymore so we had lunch at the first place that we saw after crossing the avenue. We ate at the restaurant of the Hotel Republica. Service in Argentina is not the best (Just like in many places in South America!), but it was perfect to allow us to rest for a while. After a 2 hour break we were ready to keep walking. We walked towards Teatro Colon. We decided not to do the tour inside (approximately $30 dollars) and kept walking towards Avenida Corrientes. We got tired again and found the perfect place for another break and have some Freddo's ice cream.

 

Teatro Colon

We had plans to go out that night but we were exhausted. We stayed in, ate dinner, and went to bed early. I have to admit that at first, I was not impressed with Buenos Aires because it was dirty and it looked like nobody cared to keep it beautiful. There is trash and dog’s poop everywhere. I was expecting the Paris of South America. I guess it is the Paris of South America because many buildings look Parisian but it truly reminded me of Rome. Buenos Aires is definitely a City of contrasts and there is something for everyone. After a few hours, I accepted it with its flaws and started appreciating the beauty of it. I was very careful not to step on poop, but it eventually happened. After our first full day in Buenos Aires I was  really loving it. I still think that if the citizens tried to keep it cleaner it would be 10 times more beautiful. 

Day 3, Part 1: Buenos Aires

This was the longest tourist day of our vacation. I had only one thing in mind of what my first day had to include and it was to see the famous obelisk in the widest avenue in the world. One of my friends was our tour guide this day. It was wonderful to have a local take us around and explain what all of the beautiful buildings were. There were some places that she had not seen after a year of living in the City. 

Our day started with a train ride to Retiro, the main station in the City. The building was beautiful. we started our walking tour towards Plaza San Martin. This plaza is surrounded by European-style buildings.

Retiro Station

Torre de los Ingleses 

Plaza San Martin

  

Marriott Plaza Hotel

Plaza San Martin

Palacio San Martin

Palacio San Martin

After taking lots of pictures of the plaza we kept walking towards Calle Florida a pedestrian street with many stores, restaurants, and the Galerias Pacifico. This is the most beautiful shopping mall that I've ever seen.

Galerias Pacifico

Inside Galerias Pacifico

 

Centro Naval

After a little shopping, we kept walking towards La Casa Rosada, Argentina's presidential house. May 25th is Argentina's independence day. That was the day that we were doing our City Center walking tour. Some of the streets in this area were closed for the celebration.
 

Plaza de Mayo

Catedral

Walking towards the Obelisk

 

Avenida Corrientes, Buenos Aires Theater district

 

Up to this point we walked over 5 miles which is a lot for 2 people that drive everywhere. We were ready for lunch and a long break to continue our City tour. 

Day 2: Santiago to Buenos Aires

After a nice breakfast buffet at our hotel, we went to the airport. When we arrived we found out that our flight was 4 hours delayed and not confirmed to depart. We were given the option to take the next scheduled flight instead of waiting at the airport indefinitely. 

 

The best part of the 2 hour flight was flying over the Andes Mountains. 

 

Our bags were checked into the original flight. They were suppossed to be moved into the flight that we took, but it never happened. We asked LAN personnel to confirm that they would arrive. However, they will always tell you what you want to hear. We were not surprised when we arrived to Buenos Aires we had to stay at the airport waiting for our bags since our original flight was close. The ride from EZE airport to the City is about one hour without traffic. We arrived at 6:00 PM: peak hour traffic. It took us a at least 2 hours to get to our friend's house. 

Two of my childhood friends, Andrea and Natalia, hosted us in Buenos Aires. They are graduate students and roommates. I've known them all of my life, we grew up together in Colombia. We went to the same school. Since kindergarden with Andrea and 5th grade with Natalia until we graduated from high school. They met Andre previously and I am happy to say that he now loves them too. They were great with us! I miss them terribly. Most of my best friends live in another Country or City. I'm used to "long distance friendships", but I really wanted to bring them home with me.

After we dropped our bags and rested for a few minutes, we went to a restaurant close to their apartment. We walked a few blocks to Casas Viejas, a steak house that they usually visit. I had bife the chorizo only because they didn't have my favorite cut of meat, lomo (tenderloin). My steak was not great, but the chorizos, and the melted provoleta (provolone) cheese were amazing! After a nice walk we were ready for dessert. We had ice cream from a place just across the street from their house. It was the best passion fruit ice cream that I've had. We definitely ate too much that night! But that's what you do on vacation, right?

Day 1: Santiago de Chile

On our way to Chile, we had delays and a long layover that added up to a 22 hour travel day. Needless to say, we were exhausted! After our overnight flight, we arrived at the Santiago Park Plaza Hotel. While we were in the taxi, on our way to our hotel, I felt that I had arrived in Bogota. It could be a combination of the weather and the architecture. I really enjoyed the feeling of being "home". We were allowed to do an early check in.  For lunch we walked to a bakery to eat some famous Chilean empanadas. My favorite was the pino (steak) empanada minus the olive.

After our short break, we headed to the Museo de Bellas Artes. We took the train to the Bellas Artes station. The metro was very modern and clean. I have to say that I was impressed. We took our time in the museum (which is free) and had a strong cappuccino at the museum coffee shop. The plan was to continue to the City center, but we were exhausted and wanted to take a nap. 

Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After admiring the Bellas Artes building we went back to the hotel for a nap. We met the lovely Emily for a great dinner that night. It was a short day and the next morning we were flying to Buenos Aires for 6 days. We had to wait to explore the rest of the City on our return.