Bits n Bobs in BA

Yesterday we came to the end of our fun and indulgent week in the massive and lively Buenos Aires.

A snapshot of our week:

Much like New York, BA has many (48!) different neighbourhoods and we spent some time exploring some of them. We walked the cobbled streets of San Telmo, nosing around the numerous antique markets and visited the impressive graves of the rich dead at the Recoleta Cemetery, including the tomb of Evita Peron (though urban legend has it the body has been secretly moved). We spent a day soaking up classic and contemporary art, sipped espressos in the cafes of Palermo, admired the bright colours of the working-class La Boca neighbourhood (where we were greeted by a Maradona lookalike!) and watched the numerous ubiquitous protests and parades in the central Plaza de Mayo.

 

We watched a great jazz band over equally good wine and hung out at late night (for us, not them!) Milonga dances at one of the city's oldest Milonga institutions, the Confiteria Ideal. Its arched ceiling and columns give off the air of grandeur of days of old. A real highlight was going to see a Tango show in San Telmo; it was an incredibly impressive variety of tango, singing and live tango orchestra music in one of the oldest and most intimate tango venues, the Viejo Almacen.

 

After the meat-fest that Andy previously described, we detoxed with our gracious and gregarious host David at a superb vegetarian joint in our neighbourhood, after which David guided us through the intoxicating world of Persicco, one of the best ice cream parlous in BA. (They even had incredible sorbet for little old me). Thanks Dave!

 

We decided that a 5 hour flight, not a 5 day bus extravaganza would be in order to get to our final port of call: Lima. I think that decision has possibly been our best of the whole trip...