Buenos Aires

After more than two months of intensive travelling in Chile and Argentina, we felt like we needed a bit of a break before continuing to other South American countries. Therefore, we spent a full two weeks in Buenos Aires. For once, we did not go sightseeing every day, but spent most days much more relaxed.

The only thing we tried to do every day is learning to dance tango. We had the ambition of learning this beautiful dance while we were in the city where it was created. The first difficulty already came in finding suitable classes. We would have liked to join some intensive group class that offers continuous progress, but this does not seem to exist. Instead, we went to different beginners classes all over the town. Every teacher would focus on some other aspect of the dance and for the first week, we felt like we made progress every day. But then we hit some sort of ceiling. The beginners classes did not teach us anything new, as they had always lots of first time dancers. More intermediate classes, however, were often not so open to new faces, especially to tourist faces. More than once, the teacher has politely told us, that we are not good enough for his class, despite the fact we have inquired previously whether the level will be adequate for us. Learning tango can be frustrating at times. You are supposed to lead with very subtle movements of your body and by changing the center of your weight. It can take years to do this well and for the follower to pick up these movements. So maybe our plan was a bit too ambitious, but we did learn the basics and we managed to dance at a few milongas (tango dance events). Our favourite place to dance was an outdoor rotunda called La Glorieta, which reminded us of the dancing at our wedding.

From time to time, we also did some sightseeing in Buenos Aires. We were most impressed with the Recoleta cemetery, where Argentina’s rich and famous are buried. The decadence of this place is astonishing. Instead of simple graves, the people there have built opulent mausoleums for themselves and their family. The grave of Evita Perón, wife of former president Juan Perón, is the most famous one in the cemetery. The story of what happened to her body after her premature death is absolutely unbelievable, much like the crazy history of Argentina itself. We will not repeat it here, but we encourage you to read about it online.

Recoleta cemetery

Statue on top of a mausoleum in the Recoleta cemetery

Recoleta cemetery

Plaque for Evita Perón on her family’s mausoleum

Another interesting visit was the one to the colorful neighborhood of La Boca. This is where tango was created by the poorest of immigrants in the early 20th century. Nowadays, the colorful street El Caminito gets crowded with tourists every day.

Start of El Caminito in La Boca

Colorful lanterns in La Boca

Mural in La Boca

Murals in La Boca

What is interesting about Buenos Aires overall, is that the neighborhoods in the city feel and look remarkably different. With every trip, we could experience a new side of the city. There are classical European buildings in Recoleta, high-rises in Puerto Madero and lively streets filled with bars and restaurants in Palermo, where we had our apartment.

Skyscrapers of Puerto Madero

Puerto Madero seen from Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur

Bird in the Japanese Garden

Parque 3 de Febrero

Statue of former president Juan Perón

Around the Plaza de Mayo in front of the president’s palace (Casa Rosada), there were some demonstrations happening on most days. Every Thursday, for example, a group of grandmothers called the Madres de Plaza de Mayo demonstrate for a thorough investigation into the disappearance of their children during the last dictatorship. They do this since 41 years and sadly, there are not many left to demonstrate these days.

Casa Rosada

Demonstration of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo

Demonstration near Plaza de Mayo

Buenos Aires also has a great food scene and we ate very well in our two weeks there. We had to adjust our daily schedule a bit though, since the Argentinians are very much a late-night society. Most restaurants open for dinner only at 8pm and most locals don’t show up before 10pm. Accordingly, the milongas usually start around midnight. On our last weekend, we were invited for an asado by a couple that we met while wine tasting in Mendoza. Asados in Argentina are similar to a barbecue, but they last longer and you are usually served several rounds of different cuts of beef.