Travel experiences: Buenos Aires, Argentina – Part 1

Buenos Aires, the tango city, is proud of its parrillas and macho males.

I always make sure to stop over at a weekend.

On Sunday I head for the San Telmo district to enjoy the fun at Plaza Dorego which is converted to a flea market. Tourists crowd the stalls and fill the nearby restaurants and bars. I examine the goods – old swords, revolvers, horse brasses, bolas, “mate” paraphernalia, ancient books and maps, all someone’s treasures of a bygone era. A record player with a monstrous horn blares forth Caruso songs and tinky-tonk tunes.

Each corner of the plaza is reserved for performing artists. The haunting rhythm of the tango attracts me. On the pavement I watch spellbound the dancers. A slick macho Argentino entwines gracefully with a scantily-clad lady draped in red ostrich feathers. Wow! No wonder the tango was for ages frowned upon by high society in Europe. It originated in La Boca, the port area of Buenos Aires, or BA for short.

At another corner I watch a Houdini rope trickster do his thing. It takes him only a minute to untangle himself. Next a star-spangled clown amuses a group of children. Outside the Dorego Bar is an old-time musical group, a singer with piano accordion and guitarists. Elderly professional dancers invite lady tourists to try the tango. Everyone applauds. I admire the scores of oil and watercolor paintings on street display. Even the houses are painted bright colors. Sunday at Plaza Dorego is Buenos Aires at its best.

Weekdays BA is one great bustle. The narrow canyon-like streets link up the broad avenues and impressive plazas giving the city a special enchantment. The towering white Oblesco on the broad Avenida 9 de Julio is a famous landmark.

Ubiquitous black and yellow taxi cabs vie with multi-hued buses while hustling along their street racetracks, so pedestrians beware! Motorcyclists roar through the traffic with hair streaming and crash helmet conveniently held on an arm.

Necrophilia is alive and well in Buenos Aires as visiting the dead is a favorite Argentine pastime. I went to the Recoleta Cemetery where the departed rich and famous rest in ornate mausoleums the size of houses. Many visitors pay homage at the modest tomb of Eva Peron. Others go to the Charcareta Cemetery to see the tomb of Carlos Gardel, the famous tango singer and dancer.

The central city pedestrian malls of Calle Florida and Calle Lavalle have the fanciest shops and the smartest shoppers. By comparison, the average tourist might have dressed from the Opp-shop or come in from beach. Even poodles get to wear knitted cardigans!

Parrillas abound. These are eating places specializing in barbecued meats, such as steak, spareribs, chorizo, morcillo (blood sausage), even whole sides of lamb and pig. I marveled at the huge charred steaks devoured by office-workers at lunch time. Just one would keep me going for a week.

BA operates on Latin time. Morning is best forgotten. A midday siesta of two hours is common with businesses. The locals are called Portenos who look for a restaurant about 10 pm. Sunrise is convenient for finding your way home.

Buenos Aires is the most European city of South America. It is safe and friendly and full of fun loving people enjoying their city and music. It is a great place for rest and recreation on your entry to, and exit from South America.

Ends

Travel Argentina And See The Marvel Of The South

If you love Hollywood, you surely would associate Argentina with Madonna’s portrayal in Evita. If you know your history and geography, you would recognize Argentina as the passageway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. And if you like to travel, you would recognize Argentina as one of the more favored tourism spots in South America.

Argentina has a total area of 3.761-million squire km and 99% of which is land. After Brazil, Argentina is the second largest land mass in South America and 8th in the world. Its bordering nations are Chile in the east, Bolivia and Paraguay in the north, and Brazil and Uraguay in the west. The Atlantic Ocean is in the eastern and southern part of the country.

With its size and location, Argentina is home to several tourist attractions that would boldly define the uniqueness of the country.

The Iguazu Falls, part of the Iguazu National Park in the province of Misiones, Litoral showcases the beauty of water and the spectacle of nature. The falls produce 70-meter plummet and is taller and twice as wide as the Niagara Falls. The horseshoe-shaped falls is the result of a volcanic eruption. Surely your travel in Argentina is not complete without paying a visit to Iguazu Falls.

Also in Misiones is the San Ignacio Jesuitic Ruins. This religious community founded by the Jesuits aimed to bring the Christianity to the locals. He 17th century ruins will show how the community has survived and has lived in during its time.

The Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires is Argentina’s pride and one of few structures that has gained the country its reputation and rights to be called as the “Paris of South America.” The opera house is finished in 1907 with a touch of French, Italian Renaissance and Classical Greek. If no show is presented, visitors can see tour the opera house’s interiors.

Also in Buenos Aires is the La Boca, a fancy and colorful neighborhood located near the Rio Riachuelo. “The Mouth” when translated in English is filled with street performers, tango dancers, and tourists taking pictures everywhere.

Meanwhile, a trip in Cafe Tortoni, one of the oldest café where Carlos Gardel, the tango legend and Jorges Luis Borges, the writer spend their precious moments. The 1858 Café Tortoni is the focal point of Buenos Aires’ social life.

Cementerio de la Recoleta is Buenos Aires is the place to go on you Argentina travel if you want to see where Evita Péron lies- wife of the former president Juan Péron with a movie named after her and dedicated for her. Her final resting place is directed within Recoleta neighbourhood, a sophisticated mausoleums where other rich and famous Argentine lies.

Traveling in Argentina would introduce you to tango. And there is no better place to witness the local dance than in San Telmo. The place is once a lonely place for Spanish immigrants. This is where they sang and dance. Men dance with prostitutes. Soon, some respectable women joined in. And as time and people passed by, the dance soon became one of the most recognized in the world: tango. Today, San Telmo still resembles the old Spain with cobbled stone streets and historical buildings but most of all, San Telmo is a unique place where tango is most applaud.