Buenos Aires is HOT! We did come straight from Patagonia where the weather was perfect (if it wasn’t raining or windy) and landed here where it’s a bit more humid and so hot! We were all sweating the entire time. But that didn’t stop us from exploring. We checked into our AirBnb in the Palermo neighborhood, which I highly recommend. It was in a great location with tons of cute restaurants, shops and cafes and a few delicious breweries, and we felt safe the entire time which was a plus.
We found out about some pop-up markets that only happen on Sunday, we landed on Saturday, so day 1 we set off for the San Telmo Markets! There was a large, old warehouse that housed permanent markets stalls and restaurants (and delicious empanadas) and then blocks on blocks on blocks of the Sunday market. So much to see! It was a little overwhelming. We made our way to Plaza de Mayo, which we later learned was basically the first plaza in Buenos Aires that started laying out the city. From there we crossed the canal to the Bosque and sweated the entire time. Unfortunately the bosque didn’t leave much to be desired, I guess that’s expected after coming from Patagonia (we should have known).
We went back to our hood and grabbed some beers before the highlight of the day… Tom’s plan worked out to go see the River Plate futbol game! Somehow we got a hold of tickets, each with the actual owner’s name on it. We changed our clothes to make sure we weren’t wearing the opposing teams colors and joined the crowd of 1,000’s of die-hard fans. They block off all the streets about .5 miles from the stadium, have multiple check points and full armored police and riot squad everywhere. It was a little nerve wrecking, especially when they made the men and women go in different lines. But somehow we made it through! Even when Tom was asked for his ID when presenting his ticket and he said “no, don’t have it”, with a second glance at his card that said “Carlos Perez” they let him through! Completely sweating at this point for so many reason, we watched such an awesome game, in a stadium where 70,000 fans filled with so much energy! I am very thankful River Plate won.
El Ateneo Grand Splendid
Cementerio de la Recoleta 
biking the city
On Day 2 we rented cruiser bikes and did our own city tour. Buenos Aires has a pretty good network of bike lanes so it was fairly easy to get everywhere. Designated bike lanes was also great because people drive very aggressively here. We made our way to El Ateneo Grand Splendid, coined “the most beautiful bookstore” and rightfully so. It is a designers dream! They kept the original details of the theater and turned it into a bookstore. I could just imagine it in it’s hay-day with everyone dressed in their finest. We then biked to Cementerio de la Recoleta which has tons of mausoleums, including Eva Peron. We made our way to siesta at the Botanic Gardens, which was unfortunately closed on a Monday! But we found a little shady area to nap anyway. We stopped at our second brewery find to cool off with a delicious beer and looking up dinner spots. We chose a place around the corner from the Airbnb that had the traditional dish of mash potatoes backed with savory meat.. it was good!
Day 3 we opted for uber rides instead of bikes, one reason is Uber’s are super cheap here and we didn’t want to work that hard in the heat. We went to the famous Caminito street in the La Boca neighborhood. Boy, this is a tourist trap but, so worth it! This is the area where tango originated and the buildings are painted many different colors to represent the time when immigrants first settled there and painted their tenement homes with left over paint from the adjacent harbor. There were so many little markets (I would even say better than the San Telmo markets) and people dancing tango in the streets. We decided upon a piece of art from a guy painting right on the street who happened to be in movies, the mafia, on the Tonight Show, taught tango everywhere and so much more! He was such a character and signed the back of our piece specially for us!
in the original Spanish house 
in the tunnels below the house
After, Tom and I did some solo time and went to La Manzana de las Luces which was my favorite place to visit! There are way too many interesting facts to get into here, but it’s an old Spanish house that turned into the tenement building after yellow fever spread through the town and killed 14,000 people and everyone else fled. It was then abondend and when someone bought it, they discovered a network of tunnels underneath that was used to control the river flowing through the town. The architecture and preservation were so beautifully and thoughtfully done, I didn’t want to leave. Our tour guide had so many interesting facts about the history of Buenos Aires our minds were blown. This far exceeded our expectations.
free champagne and empanadas 
the meat counter 
We then treated ourselves to date night at Don Julios. It’s a very well known steak house in the Palermo district and always has a wait. We put our names in at 7:30 pm for a 1.5 hr wait, they serve you complimentary champagne and delicious empanadas while you wait! We grabbed some drinks at a near by place and when we arrived our table was ready. And we got the best seats in the house right by the grill station and were able to watch to masters at work. Wow! The atmosphere is “fine dining” but the mood is casual and non pretentious. Right up our alley. Our server recommended a great bottle of Malbec (for only $30!) and brought us up to select which cut of meat we would like. It was so delicious! I’m not a big steak person, but this was cooked to perfection along with the grilled veggies. completely mouth watering. We finished off with flan for dessert when the meat sweats and meat sleeps were kicking in. Afterwards we tried going to a tango show where mostly locals go, but unfortunately we didn’t have cash and the atm wasn’t working. So we went home to pass out.
Brent and the Little Bee golf cart 
Day 4 we were convicted by Brent to take the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia de Sacramento in Uruguay. It seemed like a fun idea to get out of the city for a bit and check out another country! Even if it was just for a day. Colonia is one of the oldest towns in Uruguay and the Historic Barrio is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that kept going back and forth on ownership during the Spanish-Portugese war. The streets are mostly abandoned but the buildings still remain and have become restaurants, shops and hotels for tourism. The textures and colors of the buildings and the cobblestone streets made for such an interesting place to walk around and photograph. Brent then rented a golf cart and drove us through the newer part of Colonia where we saw the old bull fighting ring (which is under reconstruction) and we found a nice beach for a siesta. Tom and I took the late ferry back so we grabbed dinner in the old plaza and had goblets of wine and delicious paella! Thankfully we were able to smuggle the left overs across the border on the ferry.
Our last day was spent running final errands and sitting in Starbucks working on internet things before we said good-bye to Brent and caught our flight to Iguazu Falls. And shout out to Brent for muling our tent to us for Patagonia and a handful of other things home that we no longer needed!