27 Jul 2004

Buenos Aires in a nutshell

Memories of my Buenos Aires moments. A little says a lot about each neighborhood you visit….

Recoleta is the "Chelsea" of Buenos Aires. While strolling the streets alongside girls in Gucci, Prada and Armani you will stumble across beautiful parks, cozy cafes and boutique shops aplenty. In the park, filled with its vibrant market stalls at weekends you can also visit the Recoleta cemetery, where Evita rests in peace. The beautiful white church "Basílica Nuestra Señora del Pilar" is a simply must- a spot I often walked past in my many afternoon when living in BA.

Dog Walking around Recoleta
Trendy Palermo is an up and coming neighborhood popular amongst the young professionals and their families. Here you will absorb the true young Argentinean spirit. Palermo is split into 4 areas: Palermo Viejo, Palermo Hollywood, las Canitas and Palermo soho. Calle Baez is the home of cuisine with many restaurants to pick from at a pretty descent price. Cortada and a glass of vino. Check.

If Tango is what you’re after head to San Thelmo – a traditional neighborhood packed with antique stores and market stalls, re-hydrate with a drink at the plaza and enjoy the live open-air music and dancing. Noisy and packed this experience cannot be missed.

If river view and awesome steak is what you’re after visit Puerto Madero, port. Make sure you order the parilla of roasted vegetables too. A little pricey when compared to other places and quite touristy but definitely worth the visit. During my time living there, we often had dinner on the port and later followed onto Opera Bay club (it used to be called El Divino previously) A popular place for happy hour drinkies amongst the locals.

Centro, Obviously the dst centre of Buenos Aires, very industrial but worth popping over all the same. Not sure how much to add as only went there for work really.

Avenida de Mayo, has a famous cafe called cafe tortoni: it is one of the oldest cafes in BA and has really cool live music at night. jazz , tango, very diverse.

As for stating the obvious: usual museums, the Casa Rosada, Plaza de los dos congresos, Cabildo, Avenia de Julio (Obelisk), Plaza de Mayo, teatro Colon and the list goes on…

Enjoy the music, the European feel of this city, friendly people and drink all the red wine from Mendoza you can handle. Salud!

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Tips extra das amigas:
Tem um restaurante annniimmaaalll modernete (e garçons meio "blasé") em Palermo que chama TEGUI. Nao eh nada classy e mto menos tango-style, mas se vc quiser comer bem (comida meio fusion), eh uma pedida! Pensando bem, acho que vc tb ia curtir ir no Hotel Faena (do Philip Stark) que eh em Puerto Madero... tb eh bemmmm moderno, mas já um pouco mais classy - como vc!!! Maybe lá, por ser hotel, tenha um Tango Night. Da um check! Classic Tango rola nos restaurantes do Carlos Gardel - ai eh uma coisa meio velha... nao sei bem, maybe Aro knows!!  Bom, bjos e see u soon girlies!
Carola
Sugiro tb SUCRE restaurante mto bom!! Melhor fazer o tango depois do jantar re pq os lugares do tango + jantar não tem os melhores jantares... bjs Anisha

Doing South America.

A  few suggestions amongst millions of choices!

Brasil
Too many places I would suggest visiting but of course one simply must:
Rio de Janeiro (see link below for my top tips on Rio) - this is ever changing and I'm not great at keeping it updated but some are classic that never really change!
http://wings-unclipped.blogspot.com/2010/07/o-rio-de-janeiro-continua-lindo.html


Argentina
Buenos Aires (see link below for my top tips on BA)
http://wings-unclipped.blogspot.com/2010/07/buenos-aires-in-nutshell.html

Patagonia- go down to the south and see the glaciers

Get to Salta where it all gets very rural.. too brilliant for words. From here you get the bus and start travelling north!!! I definitely recommend a visit to the Andes- get on a raft and back in with nature.

Bolivia

Top tip: make sure you take altitude tablets. Badge got altitude sickness when we were out there and I tell you camping in a Bolivian hospital is the WORST experience in the world! The border is a dodgy place, you wouldn't want to get stuck there like I did.

Salt Lakes

La Paz

When in La Paz make sure you do the World's Most Dangerous bike ride with "gravity" http://www.gravitybolivia.com/index.php?mod=tempview1&id=1251406369
Whether you're a cycle nut or not it's worth every penny of this for the adrenaline you get and the view around you. 8 hours of biking down dirt tracks surrounded by jungle and cliffs. Stay the night in the hotel that you have dinner in- really lovely!

Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca- a suggestion is to hire an old motorbike and explore the lakes.Spend a night in Copacabana. Pop to the irish man's little place by the water, order his local delicatessen.

Spend some quality time with a Bolivian family - get with it, try there clothes, there food, no electricity. indulge on fresh air and live the simple life for a while. 

Visit isla del sol.

Peru - Machu Pitchu
Top tip: However tired you are you simply MUST MUST climb up to WAYNA PITCHU as the view from the top is by far the most incredible!!! People spend days getting to machu only to miss out on this extra climb. Dont let sore legs and lungs defeat you. climb. Cusco for a night out.




Are you a jungle lover. do the Amazon.
If time is limited... From Cusco buy a flight to Puerto Maldonado. Not something for the faint hearted - sleep in huts, wash amongst piranhas and alligators, you will see tarantulas everywhere- fish at dawn, go out in a canoe at night - explore. Silence. creepy crawlers. Amazing.