Visited: Dec 2022.
“Paris of South America” – I didn’t come up with this, it is the nickname of Buenos Aires. Seriously, when I first landed there I thought this place is in Europe. The architecture, the food, the people even (a lot more white population).
Argentina is the second country in my 2022 year end backpacking trip. It was freaking amazing to say the least.
Is Buenos Aires worth going?
I think Buenos Aires quickly became my favourite city of this trip. It is a little bad for me to say this but inflation was really bad when I went there, so I could afford a lot more. And they have killer steaks. Argentine steak is amazing quality and Argentine wine (Malbec) is so affordable and good ($2 from supermarkets). It is a bit of a hassle to change money though to get the “blue dollar rate”, you gotta exchange money with locals and not official money exchange.
First of all, Architecture
Food – Or should I say, Steak?
Throwing all the photos of steaks I ate in Bueno Aires
Food – Others
Food here is more than just steak, here’s some other highlights:
Puerto Madero
Probably the most developed/high class neighbourhood in Bueno Aires. Great waterfront, good restaurants/bars on the pricer side.
El Ateneo Grand Splendid
Very amazing looking bookstore in an old theatre. It is interesting to make a trip down!
La Recoleta Cemetery
I have a habit of exploring some very old Cemeteries whenever I am at a new place. Kind of reminds me of the shortness of life. Anyway, this cemetery is actually very cool. Lots of famous people rests here and I even saw a new tomb being built and the whole family was there.
Argentina although has very bad economy now, but it has very strong nationalist pride, maybe less now but decades ago citizens were proud to be Argentine. I felt that this Cemetery reminds people of that.
Eva Perón’s tomb has the most flowers. She is remembered for her advocacy for labor rights, women’s suffrage, and her work with the poor. She passed away at age 33 in 1952. Shortness of life, but a legacy to be remembered.
Random photos
Couple of random photos that I like.
Thoughts
I rate Bueno Aires as top city of my South America trip in 2022. Great architecture, history, food, and cost. I know inflation was very bad and I had to exchange money on the streets (very normal thing to do, even if I don’t speak Spanish). There was surprisingly a lot of China companies there too. So there’s some Chinese population and I did get called Chino a few times. I guess racism is everywhere but most people I met are very nice.
1 incident was that I didn’t bring my keys to airbnb out (you need keys to enter the building). And it was Christmas eve, the host was out, and every restaurant (even McDonald’s was closed), I thought I would spend the night on the streets lol. Then the host called the building management who luckily was around to help me get into the building. I tipped him even though he was not expecting it.
I do feel kinda sad that he had to spend Christmas by himself (like me). I hope Argentina’s economy improves.
