Buenos Aires, Argentina - Beef and Tango

Buenos Aires, Argentina Slide Show 

Buenos Aires! The name alone sounds exciting. We had two different stays in Buenos Aires, two nights before and two nights after going to Iguazu Falls. We stayed in the same place, Hotel Marbella in the city center, but had 2 different experiences. It seems silly that weather would play such a role in our view of a city, but it did and continues to wherever we visit. The first 2 days it drizzled most of the time and the skies were cloudy. After those two days, we looked at Buenos Aires as a big, dreary city. The last two days there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we looked at Buenos Aires as a bright, fun city.
Buenos Aires is a mix of old historic buildings and 21st century technology and architecture. With almost 13 million people in the city, there are people from every socioeconomic background. Despite all the warnings we received about dishonest cab drivers and theft, the people we encountered were very fun loving and helpful.
Noah's camera died and was buried in Buenos Aires. As long as we are on that subject, the losses (all self inflicted - nothing stolen) to date include: 2 lost hats, 1 dead camera, 1 lost baseball, 1 lost book, 1 broken toe, 3 lost pens, an intermittent working PSP, and much to Jennifer's dismay, a dead Kindle. For those of you that know Jennifer's affection for reading and her Kindle, you can understand what an impact this has had on her. Thanks to Amazon, a replacement is on it's way.
I just want to have whoever invented spray paint come to Buenos Aires and see what it has done to the historic buildings. It is very sad. I assume that due to the volatile Argentina politics and economics over the years, people have expressed their angst by spray painting their political thoughts on the buildings.
For us, Buenos Aires was a chance to catch up on work, email, phone calls, texting friends, laundry and planning for Africa. As a result, we didn't do as much sightseeing as in other places, but we did get a chance to thoroughly enjoy the beef and tango. The picture above of the three of us was after splurging a little on two filets and 1 strip steak. They were as tender and tasty as anything we have ever had.
Next up was a night of tango and music at El Viejo Almacen in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It was an incredible evening. I can't imagine how many hours Jennifer and I would need to put in to get to the point of being able to tango like they tango in Buenos Aires. We walked many neighborhoods in the city trying to get a feel for the city. We stopped at an antique fair in San Telmo, walked along the pedestrian shopping area of Avenida de Florida, and visited cathedrals and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Art). All three of us enjoyed the impressionist paintings and modern Argentina art at the museum.
One of the most interesting stops during our walks was at the Cementerio de la Recoleta. The cemetery is like walking through a city of miniature buildings. The buildings are actually tombs of famous Argentine people and families. One crypt that "housed" a family was a $3 million dollar gold-laden structure. Some of these crypts are big enough to house their own chapels for past presidents, military heroes, politicians, and other extremely wealthy families. We were given a tour by a retired history professor that knew about every crypt in the cemetery. He even showed us the burial site of Eva "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" Peron.
Buenos Argentina was the last stop on our tour of South America. We leave with mixed emotions since we thoroughly enjoyed Argentina but are also looking forward to continuing our travels in Africa.
*** Final Thoughts and Observations About Argentina ***
It has been difficult to leave each of the three countries that we have visited so far for different reasons, but here we go with our thoughts on Argentina.

• Argentina, like Chile is a country of extreme geographical diversity. If you travel there, you will find deserts, vineyards, beaches, lakes, volcanoes, forests, fjords, granite peaks, a large city (Buenos Aires) and glaciers. The marine life, including whales, penguins, and sea lions is fascinating.
• Argentina has had a volatile economy over the years, experiencing a crash in the 2001 - 2002 time period. They have recovered to a point where it is now more expensive to travel in Argentina than it is in Peru or Chile.
• Argentina charges tourists more for entrance fees to National Parks and flights than they do for their own residents. For example, a domestic flight in Argentina costs foreigners almost 3 times as much as an Argentina resident.
• Argentina is a very well developed country that has only 30% of their roads paved. Part of this might have to do with the many remote regions of Patagonia. I don't know how to explain the rest.
• The people are a friendly, helpful, proud sort that reminds us of Italians. The other thing that reminds us of Italy is the Argentineans love of pizza and pasta. Most restaurants from inexpensive cafes to expensive steak houses offer up many pizza and pasta dishes. Noah is the resident expert on pizza ratings in Argentina.
• Some interesting facts about Argentina include: adult literacy rate of 97%, population below the poverty line of 51%, and the number of psychologists per person is the highest in the world.
• Argentina has a lot to offer if you are willing to invest the time and geography to experience the diversity from parrots to penguins, from north to south.

To view our slide show of Buenos Aires, click on the following link ==> Buenos Aires, Argentina Slide Show.