Thinking about my recent posts, it dawned on me that there was so much more to Buenos Aires than I wrote about and that surely I hadn’t been so lax. I hadn’t! I’d merely sequestered a file in a strange place. So here it is…
Neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, Part 1
Buenos Aires is made up of many small neighbourhoods known as ‘barrios’, each with its own history and characteristics. I wrote about San Telmo earlier, but here’s a little about some of the other barriors.
Recoleta.
The fanciest and wealthiest barrio, Evita once declared that Recoleta should be bombed, which is ironic given it’s where she’s now burried. Home to a large cemetery that is the last home of many well known people, Recoleta is Buenos Aires’ cultural centre. Here you will find the opera house, art galleries and theatres, along with brew houses, Western style restaurants and a mega-cinema complex. It looks very European.
Evita’s final resting place.
It’s a bit of a walk from the nearest subway so compared to other barrios it’s not that easy to get to. We saw Fuerza Bruta in one of Recoleta’s theatre spaces; quite honestly the most unique and entertaining show I’ve ever been to. It’s touring, so check out their website if you like drums, acrobatics, aerial, dj’s, water and dancing.
Palermo.
Palermo is split into two barrios, Hollywood and SoHo. Unsurprisingly, it’s where many American ex-pats live and is probably the second wealthiest area. A give away is all the dog walkers! There are American themed bars, an Irish pub, some great Argentinian restuarants and funky clothes stores. Our spanish class was in Palermo, a short walk from the subway and past delicious looking bakeries.
Class was was also close to the nicest, tiniest bar/ cafe I found in Buenos Aires. I really enjoyed working on Spanish homework or my bog there while I waited for Tristan to finish his class (we took them separately as he’s at a much higher level than me). As well as a cafe, it’s a deli that serves food on wooden plates and red wine in (full) Stella Artois glasses. It could be a challenge to finish in an hour though, especially when I was busy writing.
At $7 for a glass and a large baguette with proscuito, smoked mushrooms and two kinds of cheese, I was set. I’m not sure that drinking wine immediately after class was conducive to retaining the Spanish learnt in the previous hour though… Sadly I never quite found out the name. It’s ‘Nueva’ something and on a corner of Calle Ministerio Carranza, a few blocks up from the main street the subway is on.
Florida
Buenos Aires’ main commercial strip is in Florida. It’s pedestrian road worth a short visit on your way to something else. Stop by Galleria Pacifico for artwork that’s more befitting a church than a shopping centre, and browse the stores for generic clothes and souveneirs. I walked through part of Florida on the way to work for Family #2 and we went a couple of times to exchange money.
Everywhere we went before Argentina, people were telling us to exchange US dollars at unofficial places as the rate is much higher. The problem was that in January, the government put a stop to withdrawing US dollars from ATMs as it was screwing over workers and the economy. This meant that after exchanging a couple hundred dollars when we arrived, we had nothing left to exchange and couldn’t take advantage of the much better rate of 10 pesos for $1 rather than 7.5 for $1.
It was a shame, especially as dividing by 10 is much easier than dividing by 7.5! When we exchanged the US dollars we withdrew in Uruguay we even got 11 pesos for $1. It was annoying as many places assume gringos or even slightly well-off people could magically obtain US dollars and get the good rate, so prices were high. Even my yoga place charged accordingly. How people got hold of dollars remains a mystery, and one the postal service may want to look into…
Los viajes de Bianca. 