Argentina: More Buenos Aires

After our time in Puento Del Este, we headed back to Buenos Aires via a 3-hour ferry from Montevideo, Uruguay. Saturday, a bright, sunny, summer day, we strolled through Reserva Ecologica, a large area of reclaimed green land east of the city center. Along the Rio de la Plata, Reserva Ecologica is home to wide, flat walking and biking trails and seems to be a haven for birdwatchers, mountain bikers and those out for a break from BA‘s thickly polluted air. Afterwards, we headed to the suburb La Boca, home to the one of Argentina’s most famous football teams, the Boca Juniors, and their crazy, passionate fans. The Caminito, where we spent a couple of hours wandering, watching tango performers and shopping at the small open-air market, is a small area in La Boca of brightly colored buildings on a the Riachuelo River. A tourist trap for certain, but entertaining and colorful nonetheless.

That night, we bid a sad farewell to Leslie, and began a short, two-day wait for our next visitors, Scott’s sister Danielle and cousin Nicole. We spent these two days exploring Buenos Aires further, including catching some rays in nice parks in the residential Palermo area, and strolling along the main streets of hip Palermo Hollywood.

Danielle and Nicole arrived from Boston to much fanfare on Tuesday morning, and thus began our whirlwind tour of Buenos Aires with them. Highlights include a visit to one of the city’s most famous attractions, Recoleta Cemetery, an amazing city block of huge mausoleums where some of Argentina’s most famous people rest, including the cemetery’s most visited resident, Evita Peron. Recoleta Cemetary, in a nice, quieter neighborhood in the city, is quite a site, and not nearly as creepy as it sounds. We also sipped the famous caffeinated drink of Argentina, mate, at a mate bar, and dined on delicious empanadas in a friendly restaurant in the cool Palermo Soho neighborhood.

While our touring of Buenos Aires was sunny and busy, the four of us had important matters to attend to inland, waaaaay inland. Specifically, we were off to Mendoza, the heart of Argentina’s wine country and site of the country’s biggest wine festival, Fiesta de la Vendimia. Details on that next.