Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires! We walked around lots, went out to eat delicious food and drink cheap wine, and generally enjoyed the good things in life.

Congreso de la Nación Argentina.

A lot of the streets look like this, but often with more trees!

Happily, when we first got to BA a couple other friends (yes you, Ben and Arden) were also vacationing there. We went out for good dinners (including one where we actually sat down to eat at a nice restaurant at 1:30 AM... crazy city...) and visited Tierra Santa, purportedly the world's only religious theme park. When Ross arrived we all met up in San Telmo, wandered the huge flea market (I think Arden almost fainted) and drank lots of beer!

Friends!

The day after my birthday was a bit of a slow one. We spent a while lounging in the big parks of Recoleta, and then decided we needed a choripan. Virginia and I had gotten one next to the zoo a few days earlier, and we knew it was just what was required. And Ross had to try one of course. The choripan (chorizo + pan, ie sausage and bread) is the South American equivalent of the hot dog, except with a lot more gristle and more like a sandwich. After some wandering (and asking) a friendly security guard gave us excellent directions to a small parilla that might satisfy our needs.

Open up! Please!

It looked closed up, but with a bit of pestering, Ross managed to get the owner to open for us! Hurrah!

Mmm choripan.

Choripan completo: with onions, lettuce, tomato and a fried egg.

We also took a walk around the Recoleta cemetary, where lots of the Argentine rich and famous are buried. Although the two photos below look kind of empty, it was fairly packed with tourists and stray cats.

On our last night in BA, we took the metro out to a neighbourhood called Belgrano. We had read about an outdoor tango dance in a park near here, and we (or at least I) wanted to see some tango before we left. I thought we might have a chance to learn a few moves and try it ourselves, but once things got going it was clear we were out of our league. Still, it was great watching couples,  young and old, casual and dressed up, spin around the floor.

Tango in the gazebo.