BUENOS AIRES - City of Lost Bus Stops (and Dripping Condensation)

Accommodation

Our place. Actually very cool and modern WITH POOL, if it weren't for a few little things ;) Problem number one: the stove. Yuck. Luckily, the cleaning lady came and sorted out the problem. Number two: the water damage in the bathroom. After a power outage, the water in the toilet tank kept running and running. Suddenly, the whole bathroom was under water. We turned off the main water valve, and the plumber got rid of the problem. He was even so friendly that Pascal had a mate with him. Now to the sweet things: There was a balcony and air conditioning (angelic singing in the background please 👼). It was soooo hot in Buenos Aires that you could cool down the apartment from a max of 37 degrees Celsius to 23 degrees Celsius. A revelation. And the pool with a view of the city on the 10th floor was also not to be scoffed at :D

Sightseeings

Palermo District

• Parque El Rosedal (with very beautiful roses)
• Jardín Botánico
• Jardín Japonés (with great exhibition of Japanese paintings)
• Ecoparque (so special, a kind of zoo, where some animals are allowed to roam freely <3)
• Planetario Galileo Galilei (with a presentation about stars and cosmos)
• Plaza Alemania (here all federal coat of arms were chiseled in stone)
• Museo de Arte Latinoamericano
• Plaza Serrano (and its many stalls selling handmade items)
• Pasaje Russel Arts (with lots of street art)

Recoleta District

• Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
• Faculty of Derecho
• Generic Flora
• Centro and Puerto Madero (the motherly - harbor)
• Plaza de Mayo
• Casa Rosada (pink presidential palace, from whose balcony Evita Perón made a famous speech) and its museum
• Catedral Metropolitana de Buenos Aires
• Mausoleum of General José de San Martín (Argentine national hero, whose mausoleum is guarded by two "Granaderos", whom you can sometimes watch changing the guard)
• Old Town Hall called Museo Histórico Nacional del Cabildo y la Revolución del Mayo
• Plaza de Armas
• Puente de la Mujer (here I could watch a couple dancing the tango)
• Parque Mujeres Argentinas
• Paseo de la Gloria (A great street that transforms into a place selling art and handmade items on the weekend. Unfortunately, I fell victim and spent quite a lot of money... But if I (Anja) like it! What can you do...)
• Reserva Ecológica with its beach on the Rio de la Plata

San Telmo

• Plaza Dorrego
• Casa Ezeiza and our apartment:)
• In addition, we were still at Parque Lezama, where we were able to attend the performance of a carnival group on the evening before our departure.

La Boca

• Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de la Boca (very few exhibits)
• Museo Benito Quinquela Martín (great paintings)
• Caminito (Significant street with many stalls and shops)
• Cachafaz Caminito (Café with Messi statue)
• Fundación Proa (great art collection)
• La Vuelta de Rocha
• Colón Fábrica (Exhibition with costumes from the Teatro Colón - but like in the theater I wouldn't have gotten a student discount, because I don't study in Argentina; so I saved the money)

Varied

• Museo del Agua y de la Historia Sanitaria (with many exhibited toilet bowls;)
• Teatro Colón (super expensive - only domestic students get a juicy discount, how mean...)
• Plaza de la República with its famous Obelisk

Tigre

We made a daytrip to Tigre. Our first trip in South America by train! In Tigre we looked at the Puerto de Frutos, where we also had lunch. More about this under Food and Drink. Also, we were at Terminal Fluvial de Tigre, Plaza Daniel María Cazón and also at Museo de Arte. To get there there are two ways: By boat or on foot. We decided to invest the money in food and took the foot taxi. On the way to the museum came the surprise: the street is under water. Just like the bravest motorcycle and car drivers, we weren't deterred and waded through the Rio de la Plata's floods. A brown broth, really disgusting. And not really transparent, so you don't really see what you're wading through. As soon as we are at the museum (and we both really need to go to the bathroom) the next disappointment, the museum is closed. Well ok, it's really pretty from the outside too. This time we went back over the main road, which unlike the side roads on the way there was perfectly passable. When we were back in Buenos Aires, we ended the day relaxing in Parque Lezama.

Transportation

Bus, Uber, Subway, Train So the thing with the bus was such a thing. The fares were so incredibly cheap (approx. 50 pesos, so under 10 cents), but the search for the bus stops sometimes really tiring. I would have preferred to take the subway, but unfortunately the network was not that big and you couldn't really get around the bus. We then also took the train to the outskirts, to Tigre. First by bus to Retiro station and from there to the - endpoint of the Mitre line in Olivos (130 pesos) (Link to the fares)

• There we changed to the Tren de la Costa (61.56 Pesos) (Link to the fare)
• We had to hustle to get a seat on this tiny train. Compared to the almost empty train from before, this one was very crowded. We returned with the train, which goes directly to Retiro (208 Pesos).
• In Tigre we were offered three different boat trips: the small one for 8000 Pesos (only two stops incl. Museo de Arte), the medium one for 12000 and the large one for 16000 Pesos.

Food and Drinks

In addition to ice cream from Rapa Nui (we already know this ice cream parlor/chocolaterie from Bariloche) we also ate ice cream at the Heladería Massera (1/4 kg or 3 scoops for 3000 Pesos). Very delicious. Rapa Nui only unfortunately did not have as hoped the delicious chocolate and raspberry ice cream without sugar :( Despite the fact that we had a tip for a vegetarian restaurant from Anastasia (we met at Perito Moreno Glacier in El Calafate), it was still on my list. Delicious menu and cheap prices, but unfortunately, they opened at 12:00 PM instead of 10:00 AM as described on the internet. A pity, we just switched to the café next door. In "La Poesía", we had coffee, orange juice (freshly-made but unfortunately too warm, so we had to add ice cubes to cool it down), a sandwich, an eggplant schnitzel sandwich, and a very hard, very sweet, Mousse au Chocolat. All in all, good but could be improved. I went alone to Naturity Comida Natural where I enjoyed a very delicious sandwich and a very delicious orange juice for 2650 Pesos. Very good and very cheap. Lastly, we were at the PIBÄ Soho bar, where we had delicious drinks, beer, and a mini-burger with fries. The plan was to go to a club later. Out of money, we postponed it. And as it goes, when things get postponed: We didn't go to the club. A pity, as Anja was sad. In Tigre, we ate at the "Parilla del Puerto". After all, we cannot leave Argentina without trying the Asado. Therefore, Pascal had the Asado Costilla Entera and I had the Bondiola. As a side dish for our chunk of meat, we had a few scant fries. Delicious, but too meat-centric and too little garnish. Even the day after, we could still feast on our meaty meal.

Cafés and Restaurants

• Rapa Nui
• Heladería Massera
• La Poesía
• Naturity Comida Natural
• PIBÄ
• Parilla del Puerto

Plants and Animals

There were many animals in the Ecoparque: Guanaco, Andean Condor, Nandu, Elephant, Camel, Flamingo ... In the "wild", I also saw a huge black lizard with yellowish spots and green birds. I cannot determine precisely what they are...

Number of Germans in the City

Three nonsense talking people in the "La Rosada" museum, who were probably grilled by the sun and that's why they were saying such weird things.

Contact with locals

With the plumber and our Uber driver.

Expenses

At Paseo de la Gloria, I made a few purchases: I bought two big packs of tea, specifically Marigold and Cedarwood for 700 and 600 pesos respectively. So, so, so cheap. Then, I bought clothes for my sister and myself from the two women with the Instagram name LAS_DEL_SUR_.ARG: two crocheted tops for 3800 pesos each and a crocheted bikini with shells for 9000 Pesos. Very pretty and very cheap. Also, I could not say "No" to the Bombillas. Both at Paseo and at the "TODO MATES SOHO" store, I bought several of these straws needed for Mate tea. In the end, I also got stickers: at Plaza Dorrego (3 pieces for 2000 pesos) and while we were drinking at PIBÄ (5 pieces for 2500 pesos). Here, we were also offered flowers, and we could have also had our Tarot cards read. So if you ever have too much money - you know where to go ;)

Standard outlet offer

Crocheted tops (sold at stands throughout Buenos Aires), Oil paintings and watercolors (at the Paseo de las Artistas in the Recocleta district), Mate cups and Bombillas, sportswear.

Laundry

In our apartment, we were able to wash our clothes twice for free. Clothes also dried very quickly outside on the balcony because it was so hot.

Solvable Mysteries

Why are people in our neighborhood banging their pots and pans against their balcony railings on February 1st? The solution: Carnivaaal! <3

Ferry to Montevideo

We decided for the cheaper option in the form of a combination of a ferry and bus. We first took the boat to Colonia del Sacramento (struggled to get a seat), then proceeded by bus to Montevideo. We chose the Buquebus company and paid approximately 104,000 Pesos for two people. Everything in the terminal was just like at the airport, we checked our baggage (Anja 9.3 kg; Pascal 12.4 kg). Initially, we wanted to spend a day in Colonia, but the costs for the ferry+bus were the same as the price only for the ferry. We were gifted the bus so to speak, so we skipped the stopover in Colonia del Sacramento. The bus ride in Uruguay went very well. After our luggage was checked (it was delivered by the conveyor belt just like at the airport and we were already worried because you cannot bring plant and animal products into Uruguay), we boarded one of the many ready buses and saw mainly flat plains and a lot of agriculture during the trip.

Post Scriptum

Pictures can be found under https://hoenisch.eu/photo/mo/sharing/lMOLsAI4r.