The Paris of the South

Buenos Aires is known around the world as "The Paris of the South," and the nickname couldn't be more true. The city is such a change after four months across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. Buenos Aires was once a thriving port city that welcomed many European immigrants. During its glory days, it was home to many affluent people and beautiful European style architecture. Today it is a bustling city that has still managed to hold onto its charm. And that's just what it is...charming. The city is really big into the Paris-like cafe culture. Everywhere you turn there's a quaint little cafe always full of Porteños (residents of Buenos Aires) enjoying a cappachino or espresso. The downtown center still maintains a big city feel, which reminds us of New York. Rio just didn't have this aspect, although it is bigger than Buenos Aires. I think that we just like how European B.A. seems, and somehow it makes us feel more at home. The architecture here is just beautiful, many of the old buildings are beautiful tributes to Buenos Aires' once glorious past. From the churches and old monuments to simple apartments, the old buildings definitely stand in deep contrast to the practical new office buildings.

A Casa Rosada--government house

Another thing we really enjoy about Beunos Aires is the price. The Argentine economy collapsed in 2001 making our exchange rate from the U.S. dollar mighty pretty. We thought that we were getting a great deal in Rio at a 1 to 2 exhange (that's one U.S. dollar for 2 reais). In Argentina, we get 1 U.S. dollar to 3 pesos. Marvelous! So we have been enjoying the city on the cheap...which we definitely need at the end of the trip. We can go out to dinner and really do it up: apps, huge steaks (Argentina prides itself on it's high quality beef), desserts, and lots of wine for about 10 U.S. dollars per person. Argentina is a wine country and one can buy a very nice bottle at any local restaurant or shop for about 12 or 15 pesos (that's less than 5 bucks guys ;) ) So as you can imagine, we've been enjoying ourselves thoroughly.

The nightlife in Buenos Aires is also something not to miss. The Portenos are night owls, late to rise, VERY late to bed. Just going out to dinner, the restaurants don't fill up until at least 10:30 p.m. A simple dinner can easily last until 1:00 in the morning! One night Stefan and I, our Kiwi friends Angela and Silas, and our friend Elaine from Australia, all decided to make our own pub crawl around a huge square of nothing but pubs and restauarnts in an area called Palermo. We actually made it to 8 bars then ended up at some super crowded dance club unable to move. That kind of put an end to the night, but we figured 8 bars and a club is definitley an accomplishment :).

Bar number six...I think ;)

One thing everyone should see in Buenos Aires is some tango. Tango has made a huge comeback in the city, and there are tons of restuarants and cafes that offer a Tango show with dinner. In fact, B.A. has a whole area of the city dedicated to Tango. La Boca, a small, dingy suburb of B.A., located near the river has an old area called Caminito. Walking into Caminito is like stepping into another world. In an effort to save money on paint, the original residents of the area would simply paint their houses with the leftovers from painting their boats. The area is full of brightly colored buildings mostly made from sheet metal (more leftover boat materials, I believe). The name "Caminito"comes from a famous Tango dance, and the area is just brimming with markets selling all kinds of Tango paraphenalia.

Stefan's new friend...a HUGE guy in Caminito dressed as a gaucho (cowboy). He'd let you take a pic with him for one peso. We think he might actually be taller than Zach :)

Two tango dancers giving a show at a restaurant last night.

For our last afternoon in Buenos Aires, we checked out the Matederos Fair, which takes place every Sunday. It was a huge area full of vedors selling all kinds of handmade Argentine goods. For children, there were Shetland pony and even Llama rides, and lots of traditional music and dancing. For lunch, there was fresh grilled meats, churros with chocolate and homemade wine. Tons of fun!

And now, here we are sitting in our hostel, waiting for our ride to the airport. Hard to believe our trip is finally at an end. :( But we are sooo excited to be going home! And we are looking forward to some nice warm weather! It's winter here and COLD!! It's been in the upper 40's and we were not prepared! For those of you that look at our blog, I'll be putting up some more pics this week that never made their way to the blog before...if you guys are interested. There are lots of great ones that we never did actually write about.

So, we will be home tomorrow afternoon!! Look forward to seeing everyone!