Our last 24 hours in South America was spent in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires (or "BA," as Kelvin has called it for at least a decade). In 2009, on a trip to South America (starting with a medical trip) to which Kelvin invited himself and Chamreun along to join Mindy and me, we started in Peru and while the girls went on to Bolivia, K and C spent a few days in Buenos Aires. Ever since then, he´s called Buenos Aires "BA," to which I´d always reply "I really don't think people call it that! It's not LA!"; however, I admit that I may have been wrong these many years (as I realized when I saw some giant letters a stone's throw from our hotel). In any case, I´m thankful that K was willing to stop back in the city on our way home from Southern Argentina, as I'd never been.
"BA" was about a 3-hour flight to Buenos Aires from El Calafate in "La Tierra de los Glacieres."
We had a little bit of time to take some pictures in the microcenter near our hotel, which has a picturesque obelisk by the huge letters, the famous Teatro Colón, acoustically one of the finest opera houses in the world, and Avenida Florida, a pedestrian shopping street.
On our first evening, we took in a nice dinner and then a tango show at El Viejo Almacén, which has been a hub of tango in the San Telmo district since 1969. We enjoyed the food and included Malbec wine as well as the super talented tango dancers, musicians, and traditional instrumentalists. The pianist and accordion players were phenomenal and we had a surprise vocal performance by Hugo Marcel who has been entertaining audiences since the 1970s. Even though the timing of evening activities in BA (dinner around 9pm and returning from the show near midnight) don't really suit my normal schedule, it was worth it for the unique experience!
The next morning, we joined BA (yes...) bike tours for a cycling tour of the northern circuit of the city. The northern part is the more modern/well-to-do and "European" side of the city, modeled in the 19th century Parisian-Italian style (in comparison to the southern, historic working-class Caminito district and La Boca). Our tour guide, Gaston, told us that Buenos Aires is sometimes referred to as the Paris of South America.
It was a pretty good challenge to bike in the busy downtown streets (even with two-way bike lanes).
We parked our bikes outside El Cementerio de Recoleta, (Recoleta Cemetary), where Eva Perón, famous first lady of mid-century Argentina, among other prominent Argentinians, is buried after her premature death from cancer in 1952. In fact, she (originally Eva Duarte before she married Juan Domingo Perón, who served as president of Argentina from 1946-1955) was of humble roots and was originally buried at a ministerial building downtown, one which bears her face, smiling towards the southern part of city and holding a microphone when facing the north. When the dictator Aramburu succeeded Juan Perón, because he hated the family (and what they stood for) so severely, he stole her corpse and moved it overseas to Milan, where it was kept for 15 years before HE was assassinated and Eva's body was returned back to Argentina's capital to be buried in Recoleta (protected under layers of locked gates). (Interestingly, Aramburu's burial site is not far away in the same cemetary!).
The last stop on our tour was at the Plaza de Congreso, whose building very much resembles the U.S. Capitol building and in which a plaque marks "Km 0" for the Argentinian highway system.
On our own, K and I hung out some in the Plaza de Mayo and viewed La Casa Rosada, the ornate and pretty presidential palace whose famous balcony featured Eva and Juan as they addressed supporters below.
Kelvin loves to try Asian (specifically Vietnamese food) in countries he visits, and we sampled tasty eats at Saigon, a noodle bar in San Telmo.
We only had a short 24 hours in BA, as the main reason for our trip down south was for Patagonia hiking. We had a truly wonderful trip! We enjoyed the outdoors a ton and the pace was just right, with lots of time for reading and relaxing. The food and weather were spectacular (not a drop of rain, which is rare for Patagonia!) and it was so easy to get around, with my ability to communicate in Spanish taking away a lot of stress. We found everything really affordable (and really had to change a very minimal amount of US dollars, as many places took or preferred dollars to pesos and we could use credit cards in the larger cities). The people were warm and engaging, and I loved learning about two more South American countries.
While I understand that many parents don´t feel comfortable leaving their children for more than a week to go on an adults-only trip, I realize that for me (us), periodic getaways like these are critical to be able to recharge and have the energy to compassionately and adequately parent our children (particularly the spirited one). I (ever the introvert) have found it so challenging over the past give years to be able to recharge as a working parent, and I do realize that, without the daily and minute-to-minute burden of parenting (or patient care!), I felt so light and free on this trip, able to enjoy being a traveler/hiker/reader/learner/uninterrupted conversationalist and more than just a mother, wife, or doctor and truly let go of the burden of near-constant worry and the need to be productive. I am so thankful I have such amazing in-laws who took such good care of our boys in our absence (and who I hope aren't too exhausted or traumatized to consider spending undivided time with them in the future). A huge thanks also to Kelly and Matt who watched our pup Pepper at home.
Ciao, or "Chau" (as is written in Argentina) for now, Sudamérica!
"BA" was about a 3-hour flight to Buenos Aires from El Calafate in "La Tierra de los Glacieres."
We had a little bit of time to take some pictures in the microcenter near our hotel, which has a picturesque obelisk by the huge letters, the famous Teatro Colón, acoustically one of the finest opera houses in the world, and Avenida Florida, a pedestrian shopping street.
On our first evening, we took in a nice dinner and then a tango show at El Viejo Almacén, which has been a hub of tango in the San Telmo district since 1969. We enjoyed the food and included Malbec wine as well as the super talented tango dancers, musicians, and traditional instrumentalists. The pianist and accordion players were phenomenal and we had a surprise vocal performance by Hugo Marcel who has been entertaining audiences since the 1970s. Even though the timing of evening activities in BA (dinner around 9pm and returning from the show near midnight) don't really suit my normal schedule, it was worth it for the unique experience!
The next morning, we joined BA (yes...) bike tours for a cycling tour of the northern circuit of the city. The northern part is the more modern/well-to-do and "European" side of the city, modeled in the 19th century Parisian-Italian style (in comparison to the southern, historic working-class Caminito district and La Boca). Our tour guide, Gaston, told us that Buenos Aires is sometimes referred to as the Paris of South America.
It was a pretty good challenge to bike in the busy downtown streets (even with two-way bike lanes).
We got a refresher in Argentinian history including the important dates, and therefore road names, such as the main avenues of the 25th of Mayo (date in 1810 which marked the start of the revolution against the Spanish crown) and the 9 of Julio (date in 1816 which granted Argentina independence). The latter, at 140m across, is one of if not the widest street in South America, and takes two full turns of the traffic lights to cross! We saw the square named after general José de San Martín, leader of the revolution and saw some nice green parts of the "retiro" part of the city (weekend escape for the rich folks) including Palermo Chico and la Plaza Naciones Unidas (United Nations plaza) with a large picturesque statue of Floralis Genérica.
midday dog-walkers
We parked our bikes outside El Cementerio de Recoleta, (Recoleta Cemetary), where Eva Perón, famous first lady of mid-century Argentina, among other prominent Argentinians, is buried after her premature death from cancer in 1952. In fact, she (originally Eva Duarte before she married Juan Domingo Perón, who served as president of Argentina from 1946-1955) was of humble roots and was originally buried at a ministerial building downtown, one which bears her face, smiling towards the southern part of city and holding a microphone when facing the north. When the dictator Aramburu succeeded Juan Perón, because he hated the family (and what they stood for) so severely, he stole her corpse and moved it overseas to Milan, where it was kept for 15 years before HE was assassinated and Eva's body was returned back to Argentina's capital to be buried in Recoleta (protected under layers of locked gates). (Interestingly, Aramburu's burial site is not far away in the same cemetary!).
The last stop on our tour was at the Plaza de Congreso, whose building very much resembles the U.S. Capitol building and in which a plaque marks "Km 0" for the Argentinian highway system.
On our own, K and I hung out some in the Plaza de Mayo and viewed La Casa Rosada, the ornate and pretty presidential palace whose famous balcony featured Eva and Juan as they addressed supporters below.
We only had a short 24 hours in BA, as the main reason for our trip down south was for Patagonia hiking. We had a truly wonderful trip! We enjoyed the outdoors a ton and the pace was just right, with lots of time for reading and relaxing. The food and weather were spectacular (not a drop of rain, which is rare for Patagonia!) and it was so easy to get around, with my ability to communicate in Spanish taking away a lot of stress. We found everything really affordable (and really had to change a very minimal amount of US dollars, as many places took or preferred dollars to pesos and we could use credit cards in the larger cities). The people were warm and engaging, and I loved learning about two more South American countries.
(I still don't know how stores can be open 25 hours, though, nor can I get used to Argentinian meal times!)
While I understand that many parents don´t feel comfortable leaving their children for more than a week to go on an adults-only trip, I realize that for me (us), periodic getaways like these are critical to be able to recharge and have the energy to compassionately and adequately parent our children (particularly the spirited one). I (ever the introvert) have found it so challenging over the past give years to be able to recharge as a working parent, and I do realize that, without the daily and minute-to-minute burden of parenting (or patient care!), I felt so light and free on this trip, able to enjoy being a traveler/hiker/reader/learner/uninterrupted conversationalist and more than just a mother, wife, or doctor and truly let go of the burden of near-constant worry and the need to be productive. I am so thankful I have such amazing in-laws who took such good care of our boys in our absence (and who I hope aren't too exhausted or traumatized to consider spending undivided time with them in the future). A huge thanks also to Kelly and Matt who watched our pup Pepper at home.
Ciao, or "Chau" (as is written in Argentina) for now, Sudamérica!
