kevin57

Recently a friend and I visited Buenos Aires. On our first day there we enlisted the services of a private tour guide, Marcelo Mansilla, in order to get an overview of the city.

Marcelo is very accommodating and can arrange for any combination of main city attractions, depending on your interests. We learned so much on our day with Marcelo, not just about the history and sights in Buenos Aires but also about the culture and people of this terrific city.

Marcelo is professional, knowledgeable, and friendly. Also, he gave us very useful recommendations on restaurants, museums, shopping, and tango shows. We took his advice on several occasions and were never disappointed. We would highly recommend Marcelo to anyone who would like a personalized and informative tour of the city and its attractions at very reasonable rates.

Marcelo's website: www.ciceroneba.com.ar

avrooster

Great!

How about telling this forum a little more about all those "useful recommendations on restaurants, museums, shopping, and tango shows"?

In other words, kevin57, I believe it would be more helpful for other forum members if you posted a proper trip report, instead of just recommending your guide.

Have a great time in our town.

Eddwarm

Although I am not Kevin, I will accommodate your suggestions. I used the services of Marcelo in 2007 (October and November), and last month he and I were together on two occasions-- one I used his services, and the second time I took him out to breakfast and for conversation. Both times were refreshing!

I'll cite my recommendations later, for this particular time is not right for me! Thanks, Kevin! I recommended the services of now 29 year old Marcelo a while back!

avrooster

My previous comment also applies to the above post, so I repeat: "I believe it would be more helpful for other forum members if you posted a proper trip report, instead of just recommending your guide."

SusanInToronto

Sometimes people don't have a lot of time to post trip reports or they're just not interested in writing one. On the other hand, I have seen a lot of posts where people are asking for a recommendation for a good guide. So I don't have an issue with Kevin's or Eddwarm's posts.

Skiergirl

"I'll cite my recommendations later, for this particular time is not right for me! Thanks"

What is it about this that's so hard to understand? Is it then necessary to admonish a second poster? I'm with Susan on this one.

avrooster

If you go to the huge trouble of using this forum's search feature to check out "Mansilla", you'll notice this gentleman gets quite a few recommendations, usually without any further comments about the poster's travel experience in our country. Besides, his website's name seems intended to generate a confusion between his services and that of the real "Cicerones" who are volunteers who work for free and are part of the Global Greeter Network.

This leads me to question all such endorsements for the quality of his services. I strongly feel this shouldn't be "so hard to understand".

I stand firmly by my previous posts of May 23 and 26. I'm with yours truly on this one. LOL!!!

Have a great time in our country.

LyndaS

I am really happy to see this post as I have booked Marcelo for our up-coming Buenos Aires visit in Dec 2010. He was recommended by my travel agent - he is a friend of his, so I had no hesitation in boooking him. I hadn't ewven thought of searching to see if others recomended him, but it makes me feel good knowing they did! I'm the 'trip report' kind of person - mostly over on the Africa board - so I will post in detail once I'm back at Christmas.

wkwb42a

Hi Lynda!

I read your very helpful comments about Africa, prior to our trip. Thank you so much. My husband and I would like to plan a trip for Christmas week to Buenos Aires; we live in NJ. Any info that you could share on planning (especially getting a reasonable airfare) would be greatly appreciated. Do you have a source or travel agent who specializes in this area? Thanx so much.

Carole

WanderingTrader

To be honest you really dont need a tour guide in Buenos Aires, we pulled up all our activities on google maps and just walked. Buenos Aires is a great city for walking around. hope that helps

http://www.wanderingtrader.com

LyndaS

Hi Carole,

Good to hear that you went to Africa & I hope if was a great trip! Love that continent! Where did you go in Africa?

We booked our airfare to BsAs through a travel agent that gets great dels on LAN, so we eneded up going with them. I don't really know anyone that specializes in the area though, but I did find it helpful to use an agent in general rather than bookin g over the internet.

We are staying at a B & B in Buenos Aires, it will be our first time at a B & B rather than a hotel, so we are looking forward to it! Where are you planning to stay?

sundowner

Hi, Lynda. Most of my trips have been to Africa (love that continent, too!). My son is getting married in April and I'm putting together a few itineraries for a honeymoon for them to choose from and Argentina is one I'm going to include. It seems to be a little cheaper than Africa.

I have just started this process and the website I'm looking at has some itineraries that look very exciting. I am now itching to go to Argentina! December is a long time to wait for your trip report but I know it will be worth the wait.
Cindy

Eddwarm

In 2007 I took a superb South American Tour with Grand Circle Travel. Prior to the tour, I contacted Marcelo at www.ciceroneba.com.ar, [email protected] and shared with him that I would be visiting Bs As for an additional two weeks and that I would like to engage his services.

Marcelo wrote back to ask me how best he could accommodate me. Well, I sent him my desires in terms of places that I'd wanted to experience. In other words I devised my own itinerary after reading some "solid" guide books.

Two days before the tour ended--I rang Marcelo, and he arranged to have dinner with me in a tony restaurant in Recoleta. He met me and we traveled first to a mansion dwelling to have drinks (rather inexpensive because we received 2-1). From there we went to the restaurant, ordered and discussed my impending itinerary. The meal was cheap from what I'd pay in the US in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and the like.

I enjoyed his company as well as his professionalism and knowledge and awaited the time that our being together with his being my English/Spanish speaking tour guide. (I cannot speak Espanol.)

Marcelo and I walked to some places (barrios), and he gave me the history as well as significance and the high points. We used taxis, too. Both of us chose the restaurants that I'd wanted to experience, but one "steak house" in Recoleta which Marcelo selected is a MUST. I've forgotten its name and cannot find my books at this writing, but it's the place that gives one a lot of sides without one having to order them separately. A superb experience for all three of us.... (My friend who traveled with me-- joined Marcelo and me.)

From the experiences that I had with Marcelo in 2007, I promised him that I'd recommend him and his services via INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL NEWS, a stellar international publication. I have yet to do this (feel embarrassed and quite guilty) but will commit before the end of 2010, because of the promise that I'd made to him on my own accord, not his, and because if one wants an independent guide with whom s/he/they can feel quite comfortable-- then he/Marcelo is the one.

-----------
In May of 2010, I engaged his services for a day. I'd wanted him to join me for brunch then venture to San Telmo for its Sunday faire. We had brunch at a wonderful restaurant which I chose just by looking at the empanadas a woman had on her plate while dining at a small table outside of this Palermo eatery. After our meal we hailed a taxi and went to the top area where the fair began and walked and walked and walked.

I gave Marcelo my Nikon digital camera to take my photos of the day; he did and definitely took some stellar photos for me, some that I plan to frame. He also managed to help me purchase a leather shoulder bag which I like very much. Smilingly Marcelo told me that I could retire the favorite black bag that I've carried all over the world as well as used when I was an educator in a secondary setting. He said that I now looked like a "porteno." I returned his smiles and am quite pleased with the purchase. I paid $80 pesos for this leather, well-made creation.

I also bought a cd merely by hearing the music as both of us meandered this street and the "flea market" component at the end. <This day was one of the highlights of my 10 days-- 3rd trip to BsAs.> <On the following Wednesday, he came to my apartment, stood outside in the air and waited briefly for me. We walked to a little restaurant up the street from my apartment and had breakfast-- light but tasty. ...parted company and occasionally write on each other's FB pages.

When I muster enough energy-- I'll recap my ten days in May2010 in Buenos Aires. I'll list places and prices (if I can remember the latter). So, fellow travelers, past and future-- please utilize patience!!!! -

wkwb42a

Hi Lynda!

Our trip to South Africa was our favorite trip to date!! Thanx for all your great info on the Africa board at that time. We went to Cape Town, Mala Mala, and Ngala(tented).
Can't wait to go back to(a different part of Africa)someday..

We are now thinking of going to Bs As in the end of January (instead of Christmas week). We will probably stay in the Sheraton in Bs As and fly to Iguazu Falls and also stay at the Sheraton there for 1 night. We also plan to do a day trip to an estancia. We have to book it all soon, still trying to get a reasonable airfare from Newark.

Thank you so much for your reply.

Carole

Eddwarm

Come on folks! Get back to the topic at hand and consider what the initial request asks! I've been to both North and South Africa and Egypt, but do you see anything here about it? No!

Please get back to the topic at hand.

And to the woman who questioned the integrity and the professional attributes of Marcello-- why not go on one of his tours with him to see for yourself why some of us laud his expertise and have recommended him to others. If I DID NOT LIKE how he enhanced my third trip to your country and city-- I would NOT be highly recommending him!! I am one who believes in receiving outstanding, quality service from all providers of such!! And I firmly stand by this!!!

And to the person who wrote about one's NOT needing a guide-- that's well and good if one knows Espanol, but if one does not-- it's imperative in doing things other than touring!!

MarnieWDC

Eddwarm hola,I have to disagree with you, somewhat.

We do not know Spanish,and this did not at all interfere with our having wonderful - independant - trips to BsAs and other side-trips. Whether to have a guide or not is a very individual choice, IMO.

We did avail ourselves of travellers' Spanish booklets, and that gave us the ability to pose questions, politnesses, and menu vocabulary. That was sufficient for our first trip. We try to do this wherever we travel.

Our next trip we took Espaniol Andando: 4 sessions, in different locales in the city - an organized program (group or individual)to familiarize with shopping, busses etc - though we had already figured that out ourselves the year before. This was fun and worthwhile, but not necessary to managing in the city. Our Spanish is still pathetic, yet we manage quite well in Arg., albeit without any serious conversations.

Also,

I think the above poster took a very brief side-tour to Africa, and then returned to her Arg. plans. Not really so aggregious, IMO, as to require a rebuke.

Your posts,Eddwarm, have been useful and interesting; Thank You.

~MarnieWDC

LyndaS

So, as promised, I am back from our trip to South America and will post my impressions in this post!

Sorry Edwarm for getting off topic, Africa does that to me.

Anyhow - our trip was fabulous, and as promised I will be posting a trip report on this forum detailing everything I can think of just in case anyone is interested. But it will take me a while, so for now, bear with me while I speak on the subject at hand in this particular post.

Out time in BsAs was incredible! We stayed at La Casa Rosa B & B, which we all loved. There were four of us, and I would not hesitate to recommend La Casa Rosa for a B & B. This was our first time in a B & B, but I don't think it will be the last, what a great experience! Full details will be in the trip report.

We really loved the city. It is so vibrant, so historical, so interesting! And the people, what can I say, we met so many wonderful people (and one idiot tax cab driver). And the empanadas. Oh, those empanadas! I will have to dig out a recipe for them; as I really miss them now that I'm back home.

But the gem was truly Marcelo. He was a fabulous guide, spoke excellent English and was just all in all a wonderful person to be around. I really wanted to take him home with us & adopt him, but alas, those Argentineans are so hard to persuade to move to any other country - fiercely loyal to their own!

His knowledge of the history and the culture of his country was extensive, and his honesty in telling it like it is was greatly appreciated by us. We are history buffs, and we do not want sugar-coated versions, we want the way it was, and he delivered. His attention to how we wanted to spend time in his city was greatly appreciated; he custom tailored our two days to accommodate us. We are not as mobile or as fast as we used to be, his infinite patience with us was appreciated. He even took us tango shoe shopping (not that we can wear these lovely shoes at our age, but the young couple that was with us sure could!)

I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone, and will go into more details of what we did in my trip report on this forum.

wkwb42a

Hi Lynda!

Welcome home! Glad you enjoyed a fabulous trip to Buenos Aires! We are leaving for Buenos Aires on Jan. 12; so we are eagerly awaiting your trip report! Do you have any brief tips on sightseeing, restaurants, (empanadas), shopping, tango shows, etc., which would help us before we go? Also, can you give us a ballpark figure on Marcelo's fee for tourguiding? We would appreciate any advice you can provide before our departure. Thank you so much.

LyndaS

wkwb42a, thanks for the welcome home! I was planning on putting together a trip report over the next week, but unsure if I can finish it by the time you go. I will post a few brief things here though on BsAs just in case I can't finish it before the 12th.

Marcelo was very reasonable priced; we paid $150.00 US for 4 people for each day, which was appx 8 hours each. This was $125.00/day for the first 3 people and $25.00 for the 4th person - probably quoted this way as 3 people plus Marcelo fits in a cab. It was worth every penny to us. This is for guiding only, we paid the cab fares (with 4 people plus Marcelo we always took 2 cabs) lunch, and would have paid any entrance fees if there were any. (we didn't go into anything that required it though).

Sunday was our arrival day - we arrived very early in the morning & without Jim's (hubby) luggage - it decided it wanted to go to Santiago, not BsAs, so we had a nice relaxing day at the B & B until it was time to go to the Tango Show. After 2 days of traveling I'm sure Jim had no intention of going anywhere without a shower and clean clothes, so we didn't even ask. I had planned on taking the subte to the San Telmo street market, as it goes every Sunday afternoon, but we will just have to go back for that! Our B & B was La Casa Rosa - there were 4 of us, our son's best friend Andrew & his girlfriend had been traveling in Europe since Aug 11th, and they flew over to BsAs a few days before to meet us here, as they were going to explore South America during the next 3 months. The B & B was EXCELLENT! We had never stayed at one before, it was wonderful - Rachel, the hostess was incredible, the breakfast was wonderful, and the two resident cats, Carlos & Flavia were a real treat for me! A treat for them too, I brought a bag of Temptations, they loved them! it won't be our last B & B for sure.

We went to Tango Porteno that evening, Rachel recommended it (she came to BsAs originally to learn to tango) and we really enjoyed it. It was expensive, but I would do it again - the food was good (empanadas, steak, chocolate mouse for dessert, beer, wine, soft drinks included). The show was EXCELLENT, we really enjoyed it. But it was a late night (or early morning I guess you could say), made later by the fact we hadn't seen Andrew & Kelly in months, the wine was good & I just couldn’t wait to hear all about their European adventures.

So, as we had been up VERY late the night before after the tango show, I emailed Marcelo that we needed to sleep in a bit, so our first day ended up to be about a ½ day. I should also say that even though Andrew & Kelly were probably raring to go at a good pace, Jim and I are not as mobile as we should be, and we had asked Marcelo to show us the highlights of BsAs without rushing – we like to take it nice and slow & if we don’t see it all, then oh well – we have to come back again someday! If you are someone who loves to take in a lot – Marcelo will keep pace with you, no fear & you will see lots more. I guess one could say Jim & I are both dawdlers. This was also the reason you will see that we cabbed it instead of taking buses. Cabs are cheap though, so it was worth it to me.

He met us at the B & B at noon; we all cabbed it to Café Tortoni – our first stop. It’s a wonderful older restaurant that is such a pleasure to see inside. The line up to eat was long, and we weren’t that hungry anyhow, so we just went in to take pictures, they were nice enough to let us in to do this. Throughout our two days with Marcelo we sure appreciated that he could talk to others for us as many of the people that we met – especially the older cab drivers, did not speak English at all & our Spanish is very little. Andrew actually did pretty good by the end of our trip, his Grade 11 Spanish teacher would have been proud of him, but it was still nice to have someone to translate for us.

From here we walked to Plaza de Mayo, where Marcelo told us all about the historical significance of all the buildings in the square, and of the Mothers of May and the history on the Disappeared. I had read a book on this a few years ago, it was very memorable to be standing in that square, thinking of this. We explored inside the church on the square – it’s very beautiful & worth it go inside (time only – there is no charge of course to go in)

We then took the subte one stop out (I wanted to go on it…) to see Florida Avenue, tango shoe shopping for for Kelly, and a Milonga - the Confiteria Milonga where we had coffee, and then went upstairs where Marcelo gave us the history of the tango while we watched the dancers.

By now we were quite hungry (it was about 5:00) so we cabbed it to El Cuartito for empanadas – Kelly had bought some empanadas to go from a little store/kiosk that was around Café Tortoni, and they were so good, we asked Marcelo to take us to a restaurant where we could have some more. We had empanadas and pizza – mmmm they were so good! From here we cabbed it home, but not before getting more empanadas to go for an evening snack!

One of my best finds was the grapefruit ‘pop’ that I love over in Africa – it’s a Fanta drink in Africa, but here it is a different brand and it’s called ‘Pomello” It is so refreshing & being grapefruit I can actually fool myself into thinking it’s good for me. I shall miss that Pomello. We stayed home and relaxed that evening at the B & B, more good conversation & empanadas.

Next day, Marcelo came for us at 9:00 and came up for coffee to meet Rachel. We left around 10:00 and cabbed it to La Boca. What a wonderful area to explore! Save lots of time, as it is a really cool place to poke around in, and had we had time, I would have loved to stay for one of the outdoor BBQ’s I saw. I brought my Temptations with me (cat treats) and made some darn good friends in the cat world here.

We cabbed over to Puerto Madera. By now we were really hungry, so we stopped at a restaurant there – Madero Este. It was good, but I think I would have preferred to eat in La Boca at that outdoor BBQ! We had a very leisurely lunch asking Marcelo all kinds of questions about life in BsAs and telling him about ours. Which was a moot point as he has been to Vancouver before, but he still seemed very interested!

We walked over the bridge and then cabbed to Recoleta. First stop was Volta for ice cream – it really is very good & it hit the spot for dessert. Lots of flavours, the rum & raison was really good!

We walked to the cemetery, and went into the church, just a short stop this time as there was a service inside. Unfortunately, the graveyard was closed though – they had just sprayed for Dengue Fever about ½ hr before we got there & they closed it up tight. Not to be dismayed though, Marcelo sat us on a bench, drew us a diagram of the cemetery, and told us what graves to look for the next day. He told us the stories of the more popular ones to see (of course we all knew about Evita) and marked them on our map. Fortunately we had time the next day as we did not have to board our ship until 6 pm. (the 4 of us were heading out on a cruise around the Horn).

From here we cabbed it the Falkland Islands Memorial – we were going to be visiting the Falklands on the cruise. Marcelo gave us a historical overview of the war while we visited the memorial. It was very enlightening to hear about the war from both sides on this trip. We walked to the Plaza de San Martin for an overview of the historical significance of the momuments & buildings here. From here we said goodbye to Marcelo and cabbed it home. Traffic was especially bad this evening – it took us a while.

After a re-group & shower we hopped back in a cab in order to make it on time for our reservations at Astrid y Gaston for 10:00. Jim and I are well versed on eating late, so we fit right in with the locals here – we never seem to get around to eating until 9 or 10 at home. We had been to Astrid y Gaston in Lima, and when we mentioned this to Marcelo, he told us one had just opened last year in BsAs. An EXCELLENT restaurant, that ceviche - mmmmmm so good! It’s not cheap, but really, the best things in life aren’t. I had them substitute vegetables for potatoes – they were the best veggies I have ever tasted – a mix sautéed perfectly!!! And the steak was incredible – definitely Argentina’s claim to fame. We ended up meeting the owner too, Roberto - he is one handsome guy & so nice! Younger ladies, you must go & meet him….. Actually this was one thing I noticed for sure (and I can say this freely as I am too old to notice these things anymore) the men in Argentina are INCREDIBLY handsome in general!

The next day after packing in the morning we cabbed back to Recoleta by ourselves and explored the cemetery. Evita’s grave of course was good, but my highlight was two fold- the Recoleta gang of cats & Rufina’s mausoleum. The cats are self-explanatory – I brought my Temptations & I tell you, I had instantaneously 50 new friends. No idea how they all knew once the first one was fed, but word traveled fast that there was a crazy cat lady with treats in their midst. It was such fun!

Rufina is a haunting story. Marcelo told us the day before to look for her grave, and showed us where on the map. In 1902 Rufina was a teenager – I believe she was about 16 or 17. She was born into a fairly well off family, and they would attend the theatre regularly at night. She was asleep one evening before they were to go, her mom or dad went into wake her up & horrified, found they couldn’t wake her. They were very distraught, and as autopsies were not common at this time, they did not even know what had taken her away. It was also common to bury your dead (embalming did not exist at this time in BsAs) right away, mourn for a specified period and then hopefully you were able to move on. Her dad & her uncle placed her gently in the casket the next morning, and mourned all the way to the cemetery in Recoleta to place her in her tomb. Two days later, her uncle was mourning by the side of her casket when he noticed that the casket had been moved – it was sitting crooked on its shelve. He looked closer & saw that the lid was slightly moved too & immediately thought grave robbers had been here. Horrified, he opened the casket and there he saw Rufina with scratches all over her face from her own nails – she had not been dead when they buried her, she had only been in such a deep sleep that they could not wake her – I believe Marcel said it was ‘narcolepsy’ not sure how that is spelled, but this is what my spell checker says…. She was dead now though from suffocation. This one really haunted me. Later they commissioned someone to make a statue of a young girl either opening – or closing – no one is sure which – the door of her mausoleum. Not sure if it’s on purpose, or from the weather – but there are scratches on her face in the statue. Very haunting indeed.

My apologies if I have anything wrong in the above story or any spellings incorrect – usually I research what I’ve seen & remember just to make sure I have remembered it correctly, but I wanted to get this done for you before you went on Jan 12th, so I haven’t researched my ‘correctness’ yet.

Wkwb42a & anyone else - Hope this helps for your time in BsAs – enjoy – it’s an amazing city!!!! Just realized I have the start to my trip report now…..

Eddwarm

LyndaS, I am quite glad that you recaptured your adventures while in Buenos Aires recently and decided to relay them to us. I am also extremely elated that you were quite pleased and satisfied with the services rendered by my guide and amigo Marcelo.

As stated-- his personality and concern for his guests' satisfaction along with his knowledge and expertise all made for his being recommended previously.

After having traveled to Buenos Aires on four occasions and having a guide each time as well as doing things independent of one, I hope to take my fifth trip in October 2011. While there my friend and I will reacquaint ourselves with previous experiences as well as engage ourselves completely in new ones.

I, personally, will invite Marcelo to expose me/us to the unknown which we perhaps missed during our past trips there. Again, I am happy for you and your companions in having enjoyed yourself in the land of the portenos and portenas. Thanks for reporting back!!