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Trip Report - First time in Buenos Aires/Iguazu Falls/Rio de Janeiro

Trip Report - First time in Buenos Aires/Iguazu Falls/Rio de Janeiro

Old Dec 4th, 2015, 04:44 PM
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Trip Report - First time in Buenos Aires/Iguazu Falls/Rio de Janeiro

Just got back from our first trip to BA, Iguazu Falls and Rio. Thank you to those of you who answered our questions before our trip.

Although we have been to Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize, this was our first trip to South America. We have also traveled extensively in Europe, while living in Italy for a couple of years, and indeed found that we were often comparing our experiences more to those in Europe than to Central America.

We were very happy with the location of our hotel in Recoleta. Arriving about noon, we took our first day slowly, enjoying a leisurely lunch, and then a 4 block stroll to the cemetery for a look through the church and cloisters next door, and a visit to the final resting place of some of BA’s most illustrious citizens. We had heard that the architecture in Recoleta was Parisian inspired, but were surprised to see how pervasive this was throughout out the city, even if not as beautifully maintained as in Recoleta.

For dinner our hotel had made reservations at a place called Unik, in Palermo Soho, which I would describe as modern Argentinean cuisine. Decorated in trendy mid-sixties furniture, I was a little worried that it was going to be all style and no substance, but the food was very good, my favorite dish being the excellent sweetbreads.

The next day we had a bike tour booked at 10:00 am with BA bikes, meeting at their shop in Monserrat. Our guide was the very well informed Matteo, who was excellent at explaining the history of the areas we visited, as well as making sure that we were safe. If fact, we spent at least 50% of the time on bike paths, and never felt at all in danger or overwhelmed by traffic.

The tour took us through San Telmo, La Boca, Puerto Madero and the adjacent ecological reserve, and ending in the historic core with Plaza de Mayo and Av. 9 de Julio, before proceeding back to the shop in the Monserrat area. There were only the 3 of us, so it was great to take our time and stop as often as we wanted, and Matteo was happy to answer all of our questions at length, whether it was about politics, the economy or some of the less savory aspects of Argentine history. What was supposed to be a 4 hour tour ending up taking 5, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had done some advanced reading before our trip, but there were a few things that I found surprising (which for me is always a positive) as we rode around town. Living in Los Angeles, and having visited Mexico frequently, it took me a while to understand that when Matteo was referring to Plaza de “Masho”, or Av. “Cashao”, that he was actually saying what we would have called, Plaza de Mayo or Av. Callao, but with the Argentine pronunciation, where the “y” sound is replaced with “sh”. It took us a couple days to get used to ordering a tortilla de papas as “tortisha” de papas, but we eventually got the hang of it!

I was also amazed to see just how European the population was, not realizing that Argentina is reputed to have the second largest immigrant population, after the US. Everywhere we turned there was an Italian market or restaurant, and many Italian words have entered the vocabulary. When BA wasn’t reminding us of Paris, it was making us think of Milan.

Since it was about 3pm by the time we arrived back at BA Bikes, we decided to walk back towards Centro, where we found ourselves on Calle Florida, a pedestrian street lined with stores, and populated every 10 feet with someone calling out, “cambio”, in an effort to attract US dollars. I had read about this on these forums before our departure, but felt much more comfortable changing money at the “blue” rate at a place recommended by our hotel. I was amazed to find that the blue rate is 50% better than the official rate! We had brought enough cash to pay for all of our meals and activities in pesos, so we were pleasantly surprised to see that this rate enabled us to enjoy a 33% savings off of what we would have paid.

After a long but enjoyable walk back to our hotel, we ended the day with dinner back in Recoleta, at an Italian restaurant called La Pecora Nera, with some excellent homemade ravioli (after a way too vinegary carpaccio). Overall, probably our favorite day in BA.

The next day, we decided to explore the very large and spread out Palermo on our own. We started at the Evita museum in Palermo Chico, which was interesting and worthwhile. On the same block was another outlet of BA bikes, from which we rented a couple bikes to take out without a guide. We rode to the excellent Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), where we took in the small but very good collection of Latin American modern art from the 20th century, ending our visit with lunch outside at the café.

After a quick ride down the dedicated bike path to see the enormous, steel Floralis Genérica sculpture, we proceeded to Palermo Soho, where we locked up the bikes and wandered among the shops, our favorite of which was one specializing in traditional Argentine products, such as a massive collection of cups used to make yerba mate, a tea-like infusion. These ranged from simple rustic gourds, to those ornately decorated in silver.

We got the bikes back by 6pm and chatted with Pablo at the shop for a while, covering everything from our cultural observations, to the outcome of the recent elections, and the possible impact on the official exchange rate, about which he was understandably apprehensive.

That evening, we had dinner at an Argentine steak house called Fervor, which was very good. As usual, the place was pretty dead when we arrived at 8:00pm, but it was packed by 10:00pm when we left, one of the more pronounced cultural differences we noticed.

And thus endeth the third day.

Day 4 in BA, Iguazo Falls and Rio to follow...
russ_in_LA is offline  
Old Dec 4th, 2015, 08:46 PM
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Sounds like you had a good time. Looking forward to reading about the falls.
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Old Dec 4th, 2015, 10:12 PM
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Sounds like a great start to your trip. Looking forward to reading your impressions of the falls.
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Old Dec 5th, 2015, 05:56 AM
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Interesting observation about the local accent.
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Old Dec 5th, 2015, 07:09 AM
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Yes, Spanish is pronounced differently in different countries. Spanish Spanish is also different from Mexican Spanish.
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Old Dec 5th, 2015, 09:14 AM
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For some reason, I am fascinated by the regional variations in different languages. I think I like it because it puts me squarely in a particular place. I am well acquainted with the differences between Castilian Spanish and Mexican Spanish, so it was interesting to me to hear another variation. My family is from New England where they don't park the car, they "pahk the cah", but I think American English regional variations are pretty widely known.

When we lived in Italy we were surprised at the wide variety of regional accents, for such a relatively compact area. For example, in Bologna where we lived, we found that they pronounced the soft "g" sound as a "z". So mangiare was pronounced as "manzare". Of course, regional accents apply to every country, but like trying local food specialties, these variations are one of the things I love about travel.
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Old Dec 5th, 2015, 01:43 PM
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Your family is from New England, russ, where you might now be able to hear Porto Rican Spanish, Dominican Spanish, Honduran Spanish, Nicaraguan Spanish, Castilian Spanish, Cuban Spanish, Salvadoran Spanish, Catalan Spanish, in addition to Azorian Portuguese, Continental Portuguese, Angolan Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese from various regions......and that's just in my immediate neighborhood, within a few blocks of my house, one of the things I love about staying home here.
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Old Dec 5th, 2015, 01:45 PM
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Oy vey, spell correction on devices....
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 11:11 AM
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Gracias, Russ, for this informative and thoughtful TR. You are obviously quite a fine traveler and you have an exceptional way of describing so many aspects of your experiences and reactions.

I look forward to the ....rest of the story
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 07:21 PM
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Our last day in BA was more about slowing down and seeing a few things on our list that we missed the first three days, as well as just soaking in the atmosphere.

After a leisurely breakfast at our hotel, we walked about a 20 minutes to El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore, which I had read about in an article about the most beautiful bookstores in the world. I have to admit, it was stunning! Opened in 1919 as a gorgeously ornate theater, it was converted into a cinema about 10 years later. In 2000 it was renovated and converted into a bookstore, while retaining the fresco painted ceiling, its box seating now used to display books. Definitely worth a stop if you are fan of architecture or book stores.

We decided to keep the theater theme going with another 20 minute walk to the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires’ main opera house, built in 1908 and located on Av. 9 de Julio. Unfortunately, when we arrived to purchase tickets for a tour, we were told that the lights were off in the main auditorium due to maintenance, and that we would be able to see little to nothing. So we decided to take a pass.

We continued down Av. 9 de Julio to the giant Oblisco de Buenos Aires, located in the middle of the Plaza de la Republica. Built to commemorate the founding of the city, in recent years it has been decorated as a giant Christmas Tree, a pencil or even covered with a giant pink condom. For us it just stood stoically, doing its best impression of the Washington Monument.

From here, it was another 20 minute walk to the Plaza de Mayo, where we took a spin through the National History Museum of the Cabildo, located in the first government building, which was started in 1608, taking its current form in 1940 after a series of additions, demolitions and renovations. The museum had some informative displays on the history of Buenos Aires and afforded great views of the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada from the upstairs balcony.

All this walking was taking a toll on our tired feet, so we decided to cab it back to Recoleta for a simple lunch at a side walk café near our hotel. Having recharged with a tortilla de papas and a nice glass of Malbec, we had just enough energy to peruse the beautiful hand-made goods at a shop on C. Montevideo. The owner showed us his workshop in back where he made custom leather shoes and hand-carved the handles of beautiful hunting knives.

For dinner on our last evening in BA, we walked about 8 blocks, to an Argentine/French restaurant called Roux, located a bit southwest of the cemetery. The local ingredients were given a French twist, and I enjoyed an appetizer of goat sweetbreads and a main course of a locally caught freshwater fish, the name of which escapes me. Our very friendly server had just moved back to BA after 26 years abroad, and made our last dinner memorable.

Overall, our impressions of Buenos Aires were very good, and it made a good introduction to our first trip to South America. We had fantastic dry weather, with highs in the 70’s and warm evenings throughout our stay. The bicycle tour was definitely the highlight of the trip, and it was a great way to get our bearings, learn a bit of the history, and cover a lot of ground at the same time. If we had another day, I think we would have spent a bit more time in San Telmo, as we didn’t see much of it on our tour, and we tended to focus more on Centro and points to the north, due to the location of our hotel.

Soon to come, wet but happy in Igauzu Falls.
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Old Dec 8th, 2015, 05:28 AM
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Very entertaining and informative.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2016, 09:28 AM
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Thank you so much for this trip report - it's been a huge help in our planning for a trip in March 2017. We will be in BA longer - maybe 10 days - and adding some day trips out of the city to your ideas has given me a better view of how we'll fill our time as well as planning a "down day" somewhere in the middle.
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Old Oct 24th, 2016, 06:17 AM
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A very enjoyable read indeed.
I wish Russ would come back and finish this report ending with Rio de Janeiro.
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Old Jun 25th, 2017, 11:37 AM
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Don't know if I'll ever finish this report, as I've developed some frustrating hand pain that is aggravated by typing, but at least I've finally posted some pics!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/152011...57685498787765
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Old Jun 25th, 2017, 11:57 AM
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Sorry to hear about the hand pain. Have you looked in to speaking instead of typing?

Thanks for the link! Seems there was plenty of water coming over the falls for you.
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Old Jun 25th, 2017, 12:36 PM
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Actually, I've been dictating my more recent Thailand report (also still unfinished), which does help. Still a lot of corrections to make. I'll finish both eventually!
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Old Jul 22nd, 2018, 01:50 PM
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bookmarking
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Old Jul 25th, 2018, 07:23 AM
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I was surprised to read about a "blue rate" until I noticed that the report was started in 2015!
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