seekingmygreaterperhaps

Something unexpected about Buenos Aires, Argentina? The pizza by the slice and cup of wine. But let me start at the beginning.

Originally, I was going to have 2 full days in Buenos Aires before I went to Patagonia. However, an unfortunate series of travel events occurred, and I didn’t get to BA until about 3 am on Sunday. I went to my hostel, slept a few hours, and put my explorer hat on and hit the city.

The first thing I did was go and find a somewhat sketchy place to trade my US dollars into Argentinian pesos. Argentina’s economy is unstable right now, so many people want to put their savings in other currencies. This creates a “blue rate” of currency exchange. It’s about 3x the official exchange rate, so people want to change their USD or BRL at the blue rate, which makes traveling in Argentina much cheaper. I read about it on the internet, that people down a specific street (Florida St. if I’m not wrong…) will just shout “Cambio” which means “exchange.”

Once you find a rate that you can jive with, you follow that guy into a weird small room. I went up an elevator, and then he hands you off to another guy who speaks to you through a tiny window, counts your money, and then gives you your pesos. You count them there, then the exchange is done and they drop you back out on the street. Now I’m walking around feeling like a baller because I have a big fat stack of cash. (It ran out much quicker than I thought because everything was “so cheap…” Oops.)

With cash in hand, I set out into the blazing Buenos Aires sun and took myself on a baby tour. My first stop was Casa Rosada.

I strolled around the little square in front of Casa Rosada, and tried not to melt. I felt my pale skin getting sunburned, so I found a pharmacy and bought some sunscreen (and deodorant because the airlines keep seizing my aerosol… but Brazil only sells aerosol, so I find myself constantly in a pickle.) Exciting tales, those of a solo traveler.

The next stop on my adventure was the San Telmo market. I was headed there on a Sunday for lunch, but on the way from Casa Rosada to the San Telmo area- I stumbled upon city blocks worth of an artisan market. I love a good handicraft, and as an artist/crafter myself, I love seeing how creative people can be. Well, this was a happy surprise, and I spent hour(s) walking towards the San Telmo market and stopping to admire what people were selling. I was traveling with only a carry-on backpack, which severely limits what I could buy. I did end up buying one mixed media art of a tango dancer from a super cool gal. I’m not sure if the picture above does it justice, but these vendors went on for what seemed like forever.

I sweat. A lot. All the time. When it’s hot, I sweat even more. While I try not to let this interfere too much with what I want to do, sometimes being hot and sweaty is just no fun. By the time I made it to the San Telmo market, I was hungry and hot, and overtired from a long travel night. Thankfully I found a spot at this delicious place seen above, and I asked the waitress what was light and cold. She suggested the perfect meal for me, and I was delighted. I walked around the market a little bit after lunch, but it was kind of stuffy in there. On my way out, I had a Dulce de Leche popsicle, which hit the spot.

I love the architecture of cities. I love noticing small details, and I love trying to paint them later in watercolor. I was fortunate to make it some historic buildings right at golden hour, and I got to really soak in some city vibes. Buenos Aires appears very much like a European city of South America. (If you ask Brazilians, the people from BA are very arrogant about the fact that they are not really like the rest of the continent.) While walking around, I couldn’t help but compare it to my travels in Europe, and it really does look similar.

Now, let’s get to the P.I.Z.Z.A.

Buenos Aires is a port city, and not too long ago, a bunch of Italian immigrants make Buenos Aires their home. Due to this, there are a ton of pizza places very close to each other, that compe”te for the title of best slice of pizza in Buenos Aires. The Argentinian way is to order a slice of pizza and a “copo de tinto” which is a cup of local house wine. I do mean cup, not glass. As I was planning out my evening, I thought, “why not take myself on a self-guided pizza crawl?”

First stop: Guerin. It was a fabulous first stop, and I ordered the classic pizza- which includes a pitted green olive. Why have something on top of a pizza that is not 100% edible? I do not understand. Overall, very tasty, and the wine was delightful. Also, look at the cup of wine. You might see it better in my second stop’s picture, but they really fill that cup of wine up to the very tippy top of the cup.

Second stop: Banchero’s. I ordered a “fugazza” with cheese, which is a very traditional thing apparently- it’s caramelized onions, and it was very tasty. I liked the crust at this place.

Third stop: Las Cuartetas. Straight cheese, and I need to be honest, I was pretty tipsy by this point, so I gobbled up that pizza slice in about 5 seconds and bounced. I basically drank a bottle of wine, so I couldn’t have any at my third stop.

As a general rule I have for myself when I am traveling solo, I don’t drink, and when I do it’s not very much. Buenos Aires’ pizza joints got me turnt. I stumbled my way back to my hostel and prepared for my trip to Patagonia in the morning. If I don’t really drink while traveling alone, I definitely don’t stumble around in the dark alone, so I put myself to bed. Haha!

(You can read about my adventures in Patagonia on a separate blog post.)

After I made it back from Patagonia, I had one night in Buenos Aires, and I went to a tango show!

It was very touristy, but dinner and drinks were included, and it was very tasty. I was very impressed with the dancers, and it made me want to tango and wear swirly dresses. I couldn’t go to Buenos Aires and not see a tango show, so now I’ve crossed that off my bucket list!

After the tango show, I spilled into the streets with the rest of Buenos Aires and celebrated the Argentinian win of the world cup. I did not get to spend as much time in BA as I would like, and since it’s pretty close to Brazil, I hope to come back one day!