I’m sitting here at our second of three airbnbs we will have had in Buenos Aires (lots of hopping in and out of the city!) and am extremely grateful we have finally had one day here in Buenos Aires when I’m not immediately engulfed by suppressing humidity upon walking out the door. (I realize it seems rude to complain about the heat as my friends back in Chicago just said it was painful to take one breath outside, but humidity is gross.) We’ve now had more than a week total in Argentina’s capital, and while there are things I’ve really enjoyed about this city (mostly its delicious and relatively cheap food), I haven’t completely bought into the BA hype.
As Dom and I were walking to brunch this morning I brainstormed the different reasons this city has not resonated with me: it’s extremely large, which makes it hard to digest in a short amount of time; there are many annoyingly wide roads (think more than 12 lanes in one direction) that make areas feel less walkable; many of the bus stops are poorly marked and drivers seem to decide on a whim whether they’d like to stop for you; and, most of all, it is so freakin hot and humid!
In what world does a road need to be this wide?!
All complaining aside, however, Buenos Aires is undeniably a bustling metropolitan hub with lots to offer. I’m struggling to write a narrative about our time here, so if you want that I kindly redirect you to Dom’s blog. If you normally just view the pictures on my blog anyway, then you can ignore all of this rambling and just continue to do as you always do 😉
Enjoying the fountain at Plaza del Congreso
The closest we got to Congress after two failed attempts to take a tour inside the building. When we showed up the first time, staff at the desk laughed as they explained that tours weren’t running in January but would resume on February 1. We returned on February 1 and…they still weren’t running.
No tour? No problem. I will just sit here and eat this amazing chocolate frosted dulce de lece filled doughnut to buy time before we can eat lunch.
Dom mocked the concept of including a piece of cake in the set brunch menu and then proceeded to eat the majority of it
I had the brilliant idea to get Peruvian food one last time before we jet off to Asia where I sadly imagine it isn’t readily available. The portions here literally could have fed four. And also apparently everyone was born on February 1; nearly every 5 minutes we were all singing and clapping for another birthday celebration!
Dom ordered two choripans (grilled chorizo sandwiches) and the woman clearly assumed one was for me. It wasn’t. Dom: “No regrets”
As the previous set of pictures relayed, Buenos Aires was largely about eating. Luckily there were also some great parks to get in some (very sweaty) morning runs to work up my appetite.
Murals spotted along my runs around Centenario Park
An afternoon with no humidity reading in Centenario Park is an afternoon well spent
But know what we weren’t reading? Books purchased at El Ateneo Grand Splendid. In a review we read of this most beautiful bookshop before visiting, a guy complained all the books were in Spanish. An odd complaint considering we’re in a Spanish-speaking country…
We did go and see tango! And while the entire plot of the show was rather misogynistic, we got a brief respite in the form of this woman singing “Don’t Cry for me Argentina” in Spanish and members of the audience then breaking out into chants of “Ar-gen-ti-na! Ar-gen-ti-na!”
More tango! This time at Plaza Dorrego with regular folk young and old.
And here’s a subway picture to close it all out.
We’re off to Montevideo, Uruguay in the morning for our final South American country before one final night in Buenos Aires and our 36 hours of travel to Singapore!
Yep, a little hard to feel too bad about the humidity when you’ve been recently and unwittingly volunteered by nature to experience Alaska and Antarctica-range temps. I’m sure you’re super sorry you missed that fun Frozen experience. Although between you and me, since I’m not the one who is actually experiencing weather by running in it, I hope your humidity goes down at least a little.
Amanda Schalk February 8, 2019
Yep, a little hard to feel too bad about the humidity when you’ve been recently and unwittingly volunteered by nature to experience Alaska and Antarctica-range temps. I’m sure you’re super sorry you missed that fun Frozen experience. Although between you and me, since I’m not the one who is actually experiencing weather by running in it, I hope your humidity goes down at least a little.