Buenos Aires Thunder
We arrived in Buenos Aires in the late summer, and as the season changed into fall, have seen some spectacular weather. The city is all cement and humanity, but the earth and skies never let you forget who's really in control.
We arrived in Buenos Aires in the late summer, and as the season changed into fall, have seen some spectacular weather. The city is all cement and humanity, but the earth and skies never let you forget who's really in control.
I'm not sure why a restaurant would want to call itself The Office: a word with horrendous connotations for most of humanity. When we lived in Valencia, Spain, there were two: The Office and La Oficina. And both were great! Almost as though they were trying extra-hard to prove that offices don't have to suck. Buenos Aires' The Office, in Palermo, adheres to that trend.
At lunchtime, an endless lineup of food carts grill sandwiches for the hungry workers from nearby offices. They all offer the same things, and it's hard to see much difference between the carts, but some enjoy long lines while others are disquietingly empty.
Going to a soccer match in a city filled to the brim with quality teams shouldn't be a difficult task. But finding a ticket for one of the top two clubs, River Plate and Boca Juniors, can be a miserable affair. We've already written about our frustrating experience at a Boca Juniors match, and now continue with the much better time we had at San Lorenzo.
River Plate, Veléz, Racing, Boca Juniors, Argentinos Juniors, Independiente, San Lorenzo, Tigre, Huracán, All Boys... if you want to check out a soccer match in Buenos Aires, there are more than enough opportunities. Foreigners typically flock to the Bombonera to watch Boca Juniors, or the Monumental: home of River Plate. These are by far the two biggest teams in terms of success and support and clashes between them, known as superclásicos, are the stuff of legend.
Ready for another random dump of pictures? These are some I took during the San Telmo fair, at the Museo Santo Domingo on Belgrano and Defensa, and other locations at times I found striking. Hope you like them!
The barrio of Mataderos, former home to Buenos Aires' slaughterhouses, has always been tightly linked to gaucho culture and the meat industry. In fact, the neighborhood is also known as "Nueva Chicago": a nickname the local football team still plays under.
Tierra Santa, found in Palermo's Parque Norte next to the Newbery Airport, is a Jesus-themed fun park. Though, calling it "fun" might be stretching the truth a bit.
Fleeing the yellow fever which was devastating the city's southern barrios at the beginning of the 20th century, Buenos Aires' most wealthy families established fabulous residences around Retiro's Plaza San Martín. None were more extravagant than the Palacio Paz.
Buenos Aires' trendiest residential neighborhood is probably its most bizarre. Even though it's physically close to the historic center, Puerto Madero almost feels like a completely different city.