Journeys with Sonia

My Travels Around the World

Tag: Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Part 6 – More food, more tango

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On October 12, 2018

In Argentina

Monday, October 23, 2017

Today was our food tour day.  We met Mariana, our 25 year-old guide, in the lobby of our hotel. She works for craft beer company, working with the brew master when she is not acting as a guide. She had set up a mate brewing station as that would be our first lesion and taste.

Mate

Mate (pronounced MAH-tay) is in your face aggressive when you first drink it, that’s how strong it is. But in BA, everyone, EVERYONE drinks it all the time.  They drink it on the street. They drink it in the subway. They drink it on the bus. They walk around everywhere carrying their thermos and other mate paraphernalia. And they share it with all their friends, so it is also a very social drink.

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Buenos Aires Part 5 -San Telmo

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On October 12, 2018

In Argentina

Sunday, October 22, 2017

San Telmo

Since today was Sunday, it was time to visit San Telmo and the famous Sunday market. Our new friends, David and Judi, from New Zealand, who we had met at Iguazu Falls and who happened to be staying at the Sofitel, joined us. We shared an Uber over to the San Telmo area. Street musicians were filling the air with their music. It was a sea of people, both locals and tourists, and both sides of the street (streets) were lined with craft stalls selling souvenirs, homemade art, freshly squeezed orange juice and antiques.

We walked around the stalls, slowing, looking at the antiques, the souvenirs, the junk, but mostly the people. Tourists. Locals. Families with children. Shopping. Bargaining. Cafes and restaurants with outdoor tables. It was spring. Winter was over and everyone was enjoying being outdoors.

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Buenos Aires Part 4 – Tigre

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On October 12, 2018

In Argentina

October 21, 2017

Tigre

Today was the day to head up the river to the Tigre. Tigre is a town just north of Buenos Aires (BA), right on the Parana Delta. In fact, it is considered the gateway to the rivers and wetlands of the vast Parana Delta. The delta consists of several small islands, together known as the Islas de Parana. The delta covers about 200 miles but is only anywhere from 11 to 37 miles wide. And it the only river delta in the world that is not in contact with the sea but rather with another river. And thus the Parana River is the third largest on the American continent, after the Mississippi and the Amazon.

We were part of a small group of tourists. Our guide, Juliet, picked us up and after several stops to pick up others, we headed to the Puerto Madero, the port. We embarked on the boat, the Sturla Viejes, which had a deck on top, but inside looked like an airplane with three seats on each side and a narrow aisle. We were asked to stay in our seats until we were out on the water, at which point we could go up to the deck.

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Buenos Aires Part 3 – La Boca

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On October 12, 2018

In Argentina

October 17, 2017

La Boca

We approached the La Boca neighborhood, known as the barrio of Buenos Aires. As with most of Buenos Aires, it has a strong European flavor as many of the early residents were from Italy, specifically, Genoa, as well as from Spain, France, England, Ireland and other eastern European countries. While most people think it is called La Boca (the mouth) because the neighborhood sits at the mouth of the Matanza-Riachuelo River, another theory is that it was named after the Genoese neighborhood of  Boccadasse (or Bocadaze in Genoese dialect).

Football

The first thing we saw was murals on the walls of the apartment buildings, of the most important things in Argentina – tango and football (ie, soccer).

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Buenos Aires Part 2 – So much Jewish history

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On October 12, 2018

In Argentina

Oct 17, 2017

Jewish Buenos Aires

This morning, after breakfast, our guide, Jessica Cymerman, and our driver met us. I don’t usually use last names in my blog, to protect people’s privacy. But Jessica was such a terrific guide, and she is listed on TripAdvisor, so I want to give her a shout out. Jessica grew up in Buenos Aires (BA) and was going to take us on primarily a Jewish tour of the city. There is a lot of Jewish history here.

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Buenos Aires Part 1 – So much to do, see and eat

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On October 12, 2018

In Argentina

Monday, October 16, 2017

Arriving in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, which means “fair winds” or ‘good airs,” is one of the largest cities in Latin America. The locals are called portenos, people from the port, implying that most of them are immigrants in one way or another. And this was our destination and would be our home for the next week.

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