Buenos Aires: Days 1 & 2, Fùtbol Frenzy, Construction Site Controversy, and a Guerilla War Fight
- Courtney Comstock
- Nov 7, 2017
- 4 min read
Standard Buenos Aires breakfast: Tostadas, which here in BA means toast with a white spreadable cheese queso crema (kinda like a slightly bitter and more nutty cream cheese), and marmalade. I'm really into it and it is cheap! The cafe/restaurant version is delicious fresh bread (blanco o negro, I go negro), delicious fresh queso crema, and good marmalade. Most places have all-in-one deals that include coffee and a small juice too, for about $5.
Hotel: BET Hotel. Super basic hostel. My hostel can be summed up by the version of the standard BA breakfast it offers: coffee con leche (not bad), 2 pieces of Wonderbread (basically) toast, and small pre-packaged cheese and marmalade. The first day I sat there for a while wondering if anything else was coming but then I went out for more breakfast and discovered this is the standard. So I've been getting it twice because the cafe version is greattt. And cheap.
Pics from first 2 days:
In the San Telmo Market, a fun place to walk around and check out the butchers, fruit and vegetable vendors, bakeries, and other little shops. It's also a good spot to get lunch or breakfast, which I did, at Coffee Town, pictured in the background. I thought this man was funny. Is that a nipple twist or "whaat did you say??" You decide.
Just outside, there was an antique car show going on.
Later, I went to Lumioso, a bar I found with a very nice bartender and great deals on draft beer. I also had some bruschetta which was quite tasty. Buenos Aires seems to eat dinner and go out very late in the evening (many bars and dinner restaurants don't even open until 8pm), so not many people were here between 6-8pm. But 8pm is my curfew if I'm solo so... time to find some Tinder dates!
Outside Lumioso
Day 2 I walked around a lott. Buenos Aires is huge. A couple street views below.
Impressive dwelling for a street shandy, isn't this?
I'm here in November, spring time in Buenos Aires, and the locarunda trees are blooming everywhere. There are so many purple trees its quite stunning.
Rowing crew under the Puente del la Mujer. The "bridge of the woman" was modeled after a couple dancing tango, with the sharp point representing the man and the bridge, which curves over the Rio de la Plata, the woman. The center part detaches at both ends and swings 90 degrees to let ships pass. It's a footbridge and the architect was Santiago Calatrava.
Near the Plaza del Mayo, an impressive Ministry of Defense building. The stairs leading to the entrance have cannons on either side. En guarde!
I came upon this sculpture, below, in front of the Kirchner Cultural Center and was taken aback. It's very tall I felt like this massive man was bearing down on me with a machete. There was no placard and it looked like it had just been installed so I had to google. WELL it turns out this is a woman, Juana Azurduy, guerilla war fighter of Spanish (father) and indigenous (mother) heritage who fought for South American independence. My mistake in gender stereotyping!
It also turns out, there is a fair bit of controversy surrounding both this monument and its location. More on this later but in brief, she originally replaced a statue of Cristobal Colón in a more prominent location in the Plaza del Mayo behind the government palace, a decision that was at first made by Cristina Kirchner and then halted by the city government, but not before Colón had been dismantled and lay in pieces on the lawn. Eventually he was moved and she took his place, but only for two years. The whole Plaza is being remodeled, currently there is a bunch of construction and barren land, some of which you will see below, and she was moved to this new spot where I found her.
The back of the statue (a cluster of much smaller natives).
Construction. I love construction sights. Cool machinery. Raw materials. Landscapes always changing, fun to watch. The smell of dirt and sweat and money. Love em!
Last night I heard loud cheers coming from so many bars and restaurants, so I ate dinner in one to figure out the action. Go figure: a fútbol game was on. At least one person was always outside craning their head to get a free view. You can see one of them here in the left part of the closest window. This restaurant was half River Plate and half Boca Juniors fans, two Argentinian teams in the Primera Division de Argentina, which made it quite fun. People were always cheering, always swearing. It strikes me that soccer might be more popular in the U.S. if we had more teams. Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Northwest teams - I would totally watch! Boca Juniors had just scored to break tie 2-1 when I left, and they ended up winning with that score. The guy at my front desk was happy.
Commentaires