Buenos Aires

Paty and I made it safely to Buenos Aires (BA from now on), Argentina via United Airlines.  Seattle > San Fransisco > Washington DC > 10 hours to BA made for a long trip.  And really United Airlines now charges for wine/beer on international flights.  We used Airline miles to get to Argentina and then we checked in at the Hilton BA in the Puerto Madero district for four nights utilizing all of Paty's Hilton points for the hotel.  (As an aside, ALWAYS sign up for the rewards program.  It costs you nothing and eventually the miles/points will add up.)  Here is a view from the pool area on the 8th floor of the Hilton towards the city:

Left to Right: Women's Bridge, Goverment Buildings, Pink House (Argentina White House) & huge Argentina flag.

 To get situated the next morning we took a city tour.  Here are some highlights.

Starbucks are everywhere.

Boca Juniors Stadium, La Bonbonera. Notice the Coca Cola advertising is black and not red.  Red and White is the Color of River Plate, Boca's historic rival.

El Caminito Street, La Boca District. Deserted as our tour started at 9:30 AM

Yes, that is Maradona on the Balcony.  Fat Maradona.

My First Argentina Beer, Quilmes.  It might have only been 10:30 but my body clock had me at about 5 PM.

A big steel flower, even folds up at night like a real flower.  Lockheed Martin donated all the material for some reason that was never made clear.

There is a big Obelisk in the middle of the city.  This is where Argentina people congregate to celebrate.  The avenue is BA’s homage to the Champs-Élysées in France.  It is 14 lanes wide and bisects the city.

This is the Plaza de Mayo or the May Plaza.  The pink house in the background.  Only a week later the president, Christina Fernandez, second inauguration was here.  The entire square was filled to capacity and most of the city was out to celebrate.  It is a bit strange being in the Southern Hemisphere two weeks before Christmas. 

Christmas in Summer

 The pink house again.  The balcony made famous by Madonna depicting Evita Peron in the movie Evita.

Inside the Pink house, you can go in after going through just a cursory metal detector.  Paty with the guards.  There were tours as well, but they were in Spanish so we just looked through the very pretty lobby for a bit and took this picture with the guards.

Argentina's version of the Secret Service?

This is the area we stayed at, Puerto Madero.  It is a kind of river walk/reclaimed warehouse district that is lined with restaurants and shops.  All the streets in this area are named after women and that is the Women’s Bridge.

In the background is a new area of Buenos Aires, it could just as well be from Vancouver, BC as it looks exactly like Yaletown.

The lobby of the Hilton is in the Christmas spirit.  The Hilton Buenos Aires was one of our favorite hotels ever.

Overall Buenos Aires is a nice city.  You could see most of it in a few days or get to know it and spend a month.  It is designed mostly like a lot of European cities and feels familiar even though this was my first trip.  Prices were very reasonable, this is most likely due to the Argentina Peso being in danger of collapsing, but $1 = 4.30 ARG pesos.  A beer in any bar outside of the tourist traps cost as little as 10 Pesos.

I could talk at length about the food.  So I think I will make a separate post for that as the food was very excellent.  Argentina has more cows than it’s population of 40 Million.  And all the cows are grass fed.  Most of Argentina’s population are immigrants from Europe, specifically Southern Europe.  The Italian influence is everywhere in the food and that is a good thing.