The tale of two tours

Today was our regular city tour of Buenos Aires, led by the fastest talking guide known to man. He had both Spanish and English speaking guests so as the bus moved around the city, he gave his heavily accented talk in both languages, sometimes switching back and forth in the middle of sentences. To be honest I only got about 30% of what he was saying so forgive any inaccuracies. But he had a great sense of humour and I learned a few things along the way.  It wasn’t my favourite-ever tour, for sure.

I apologize for the derth and poor quality of the pictures, but we had only 3 stops in the 3 hour tour so it was impossible to get good shots. In an ideal world, after this overview tour we’d have several days to explore, however, we leave Buenos Aires tomorrow.   

We headed north from our hotel in one of the oldest neighbourhoods of San Telmo towards the Recolleta and Palermo Barrios. This was the route that many settlers in the city moved from San Telmo and La Boca in 1871 when a yellow fever outbreak forced them to look for cleaner and more open areas of the city.     

On our way, we passed through Retiro, which is the financial area, where the guide pointed out what used to be called the England Tower, but because of the war with England in the Falklands in 1982 it was renamed the Monumental Tower. (Sorry no picture) There were several 4 star hotels in this neighbourhood and we passed by the Train station, opened in 1930.  

We zigzagged through the neighbourhood of Palermo and the guide pointed out many embassies that have taken over huge original single family homes. There is very little land associated with each of the properties which must be a security nightmare.  We passed a statue of General San Martin whose tomb we had seen in the Cathedral of Buenos Aires yesterday. He is nicknamed as the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru, and was a central character in the struggle for Argentina’s independence.  The Order of the Liberator General San Martin, created in his honour, is the highest decoration conferred by the Argentine government. 

Next it was on to Recoleta Barrio and an avenue, Alvear Avenue, which is one of the most wealthy in BA and all of Argentina.  Along the way we saw a statue of Evita Peron in a beautiful park, but didn’t have a stop.  

There are two 5 star hotels, and the 2nd oldest church (1732) the oldest bar in the city, La Biela, and a renown cemetery started in 1842. We had a short Kodak Moment here and unfortunately not enough time to see the cemetery which is apparently quite something.  

Next we made our way to the Plaza de Mayo, for another short stop.  Since Nanci and I had explored this area over the last couple of days we enjoyed some chocolate samples and sat on a concrete bench, heated by the sun, in the Plaza.  

The final destination was the oldest area of the city, built up around the first port area from 1860 – 1950, called La Boca.There is another football stadium there, and the guide gave us some information about the history of football and the football clubs here in Buenos Aires, to which I honestly tuned out. But a Brit on the bus was particularly interested as his club had been defeated by the club here in La Boca at one time. (There was disagreement as to whether it was in the World Cup or another league play, to which I really tuned out).

The area is old and made up of many tenements, and on some streets they have been brightly coloured and turned in to tourist traps and restaurants. We stopped in one of these to try a “famous local sandwich” called a choripan.  It was actually really tasty, a pork and beef sausage grilled and placed on a really fresh bun with Chimichurri sauce. I have to say I’ve been enjoying it all afternoon. 

One street, called Caminito, has been turned in to an outdoor street museum. To me it looked like they had brightly painted the buildings along it to attract visitors so that local artisan could sell their wares.  But perhaps something got lost in translation. This street was the inspiration for a famous tango song of the same name.  

On the way out of the area and back to our hotel we travelled through a really poor area, and I’m reminded that we did see a huge area of “barrio pobre” or poor neighbourhoods yesterday too. The one yesterday was a huge area of 5 – 10 story small hovels build on top of and beside others in an unruly grid which looked so unsafe. Built next to the freeway, we got a good look at them from above and the electrical poles were masses of wires and there were no proper streets between them for first responders. There have been people on the streets begging, but honestly not as many as I see at home in Ottawa or other Canadian cities. 

Next it was back to the hotel for nap time and to get ready for our foodie tour this evening!  It was the exact opposite of our city tour this morning. It was fabulous, with an articulate, passionate woman as our excellent guide. I will do tour that as a separate post tomorrow sometime. Here’s a sneak preview…..

For now it’s off to bed as we have to be in the lobby by 6:30 am tomorrow for our flight to El Calafate in Patagonia. And yes I am going to be coming home exhausted… but happy.