Adventures, anecdotes and advice from three months exploring Buenos Aires
The neighborhood of Balvanera is so large that, when talking about it, residents usually split it up into a number of unofficial sub-barrios. There's Congreso and Abasto, but we spent a sunny Saturday exploring Once (OWN-say).
I can see why so many movies and advertisements are produced in Buenos Aires. Set up the camera in a certain angle and location and you can shoot scenes representing spots from all around the world. I would have never guessed that this ad supposedly shot during the La Tomatina in Buñol was actually filmed in San Telmo!
Occupying an old tobacco factory on Avendia San Juan, the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (MAMBA) is an awesome museum with a bright future ahead of it.
Make sure your mind is open and taste buds in fine working order before you sit down at La Vineria de Guaterio Bolivar, on Calle Bolivar in San Telmo. Dinner is a set menu, with sixteen highly creative dishes served over the course of three hours.
After watching a few barrel at breakneck speed down San Telmo's tiny cobblestone streets, more inclined to use their horns than breaks when approaching an intersection, we concluded that buses must be the fastest way to get around Buenos Aires. And funnest.
One of the best parts of moving to a new city is deciding upon your favorite new bar, the place you plan on haunting with a disturbingly constant presence. Buenos Aires has assisted newcomers on this all-important quest by honoring 60 bars and cafés with the distinction of Bar Notable.
On one of our first days in Buenos Aires, we approached the dour neo-classical building on the northwest corner of the Plaza de Mayo without having any idea what it could be. My best guess was a courthouse, with those massive stone columns that evoke the Parthenon, and I was surprised to discover a cathedral behind the facade.
We've been eating out a lot since we arrived, mainly at places which have come highly recommended by guidebooks or locals. Great parrillas, Peruvian cuisine, famous pizzerias. But that doesn't mean we're skipping the less well-known places entirely! This past week, after a long day of exploring the city, we sat down inside Pedro Telmo, on the western side of the San Telmo Market.
The US might have the White House, but Argentina has the Pink House. The Casa Rosada at the eastern extreme of the Plaza de Mayo is the seat of the country's government, where the President and her staff work. On weekends, you can tour the building for free.
No type of restaurant is more characteristic of Buenos Aires than the parrilla. Just around our neighborhood, there are at least six hundred thousand parrillas. Six thousand million restaurants with open barbecue pits where steaks, sausages and offal are grilled to perfection and served to the bloodthirsty meat-eaters of the city.