After a nightmare bus ride from Uyuni to the Bolivia-Argentina border (think 10 hours in an old, overheated bus on unpaved roads hurtling through the Bolivian desert with a box of baby chickens sitting above our heads) we arrived in Salta. We spent a few days recovering from the journey, as well as watching the All Blacks versus Pumas rugby match and partying at Loki’s first birthday party for its Salta hostel (there are some crazy photos from this night but I have, perhaps luckily, misplaced them).
Then it was on to Buenos Aires! Only a short 24-hour bus ride later, of course. Buenos Aires is like no other South American city I have visited – it feels more European than anything, like a cross between Barcelona and Paris. We stayed at the Milhouse Avenue, which has some of the most impressive hostel facilities I have seen in all of South America. We spent our first few days getting our bearings in the centro area with a little sightseeing of some of Buenos Aires’ political and historical monuments. Buenos Aires also meant two of my favourite South American gastronomic delights – red wine and empanadas!
My birthday coincided with our Buenos Aires visit. We spent the day exploring the San Telmo area, which has beautiful cobbled stoned streets, boutique shops and lots of alfresco cafes where people dance tango on the street. I also found the most legit flat white I’ve had since Melbourne at the excellent Coffee Town in the San Telmo Market.
That evening we headed to the Palermo district to meet up with our friends, Mike and Sarah, who we had met in La Paz. Mike and Sarah had rented a great 11th floor studio apartment through AirBnb so it was pre-drinks there with their friends, Karina and Neil. Our plan had been to dine at the famous La Cabrera, one of Buenos Aires’ top steak houses that offer a happy hour between 7pm and 8pm where you get 50% off the entire bill. Unfortunately the restaurant was full by the time we arrived so we wandered along Calle Thames until we came across Romano’s. From there it was huge steaks on the asado and bottle after bottle of Argentinian malbec. The girls were lovely and organised an impromptu birthday cake and bottle of bubbles to celebrate my birthday. The evening was topped off by more wine and some large chunks of stilton back at the apartment.
We didn’t achieve much else in Buenos Aires, partly due to our red wine hangovers but also due to a lack of funds. I would love the opportunity to go back to check out La Boca and Le Tigre, as well as further explore Palermo.
Chasing the Cheese 