Many cafés, curly wrought-iron balconies on elegant stone buildings, shady parks with benches under pink-flowering trees – Buenos Aires was indeed as lovely, but not at all as scary, as we’d been led to think.
We had read about taxi drivers who cheat tourists, people who rob you at ATMs, people who drive by on motorcycles to grab purses, and how you shouldn’t wear any expensive jewelry, plus all the normal big-city warnings about walking in sketchy neighbourhoods. So, I spun the diamonds on my wedding ring to the palm side as we carefully began our explorations.
However, it didn’t take long for us to relax. During our two-and-a-half days in Buenos Aires, none of the dire predictions came true. Admittedly, that’s a short time, and we stayed mostly in the upscale Recoleta neighbourhood, but we felt comfortable and safe the entire time.
Buenos Aires has been called the Paris of Latin America and we instantly saw why. Wide streets with treed boulevards, mansard roofs on the stone apartments, plane trees, wrought iron street lamps, cafés everywhere with small bistro tables on the sidewalks – you can’t help but recall Paris.
The city was essentially a collection of small villages until the early 1900s, when city leaders began a grand rebuilding and looked to Europe for inspiration, explained Fernando. He led our excellent Free Walks Buenos Aires walking tour of Recoleta, starting in the Microcentro – the city centre – that features many historical buildings and museums. Fernando said the Teatro Colon, where our tour began, opened in 1908 and emulated the opera houses of Milan and Vienna. It’s said to be in the top five worldwide for acoustics, along with Carnegie Hall.
Fernando took us through parks where seniors did tai chi and children chased each other around the playgrounds. He explained why so many plazas and monuments and palaces and streets are named for San Martin. He’s a national hero who fought not only for Argentina’s independence but also for Chile and Peru.
We crossed the widest avenue in the world – Avenida 9 de Julio – built to commemorate the country’s independence from Spain on July 9, 1816. The width varies but when we were halfway across, I started counting: 16 lanes going one way, so presumably 32 in total! There are three tree-lined boulevards running the length where you can take refuge when the lights turn red when you’re partway across.
“If you want to make friends, ask about it,” advised Fernando. And be sure to oooh and aaaah when an Argentinian explains it’s the widest avenue in the world. “For you not to be impressed, it hurts!”
Fernando took us by a statue of the devil – Christopher Columbus – erected in 1992 to commemorate the explorer’s 500th anniversary.
“We realized he found the continent, not discovered it,” said Fernando, explaining that he’s depicted with horns because his explorations resulted in massive looting of gold and silver, plus the greatest loss of culture in history.
“It’s a dynamic history,” explained Fernando. “We can’t change what happened, but we can change how we talk about it.”
I’ve always been wary of people who try to rewrite history, but I liked Fernando’s explanation of changing our interpretation of historical events. It echoes what’s going on in Canada now as people try to acknowledge the impact colonization had on our indigenous people.
Another highlight amongst dozens of fascinating sights and stories was the Malvinas monument, which honours those who lost their lives in the 72-day conflict in 1982 between Argentina and Britain over ownership of the Malvinas Islands, aka the Falklands.
“They’re called the Malvinas,” Fernando stated categorically. Although Argentina lost the war, the country still claims ownership. It’s a sensitive topic.
Our time with Fernando ended in the neighbourhood of Recoleta, which he called “God’s waiting room” since it includes the famous Recoleta Cemetery where leading families built mausoleums and monuments to impress each other with their wealth. At the cemetery, we picked up another walking tour that was also excellent. (Although run by Free Walks Buenos Aires, the cemetery tour costs $10 US.)
The cemetery is one of the most popular places for visitors because it houses the remains of 25 presidents and 40 mayors, features Carrara marble statues and other outstanding art, and is a model of architecture styles through years, explained our tour guide, Loli. And of course, the most famous person buried there is Evita.
“There’s a lot of drama in here,” she said. “And we all love drama as long as it’s not ours!”
Saving Evita for last, Loli told us some of the drama-filled stories of people buried there, including a young girl who was reportedly buried alive (scratch marks on the coffin lid but otherwise no proof), famous nation-builders and independence leaders (although San Martin is buried in the cathedral), and the Carril family with a sculpture of the husband sitting imperiously in a chair. He had publicly shamed his shopaholic wife by taking out a newspaper ad asking shopkeepers to not sell her anything. After he died, she had a bust of herself added to the back of the monument, facing the other way; even in death, she would not forgive him.
The cemetery is a mini-city of criss-crossing streets, with mausoleums as the buildings. Some are in wonderful shape, while others are crumbling. The only way to be buried there now is if your family already owns a spot, or you buy one from a family that no longer maintains theirs. Just like buying a condo in Canada, you must pay taxes, utilities and maintenance fees.
We peeked in the windows of glass-fronted mausoleums to see photos, flowers and caskets, as well as trap doors and mini-staircases leading to lower levels where more family members are buried. It’s an intriguing place.
Finally, we came to Evita’s grave. Born Eva Duarte, she married Juan Peron and became Argentina’s first lady when he was president. To this day, she’s a controversial figure, since people either loved or hated her husband. When she died of cervical cancer in 1952, Peron had her body embalmed and planned to build a mausoleum taller than the Statue of Liberty to honour her, said Loli. However, a coup intervened and Peron was exiled. The grizzly tale of how her corpse was treated is horrifying. As just a brief summary: it was stolen and hidden in a cinema and a hospital, stolen again and put on display in an office where anti-Peron people trooped by to mock her. It was taken abroad to Milan, then Madrid. After Peron died, his second wife had Evita buried in the Duarte family mausoleum in Recoleta in 1976. Finally.
She never said, “Don’t cry for me, Argentina.”
Apart from our two walking tours, we simply wandered through neighbourhoods and parks. After the hot sun sets, people emerge to run, jog, cycle and skate through the parks while boot camps on the grass have people lifting weights and doing push-ups. Young kids ride their bikes while parents push baby strollers. Dog walkers are a common sight, with one person and up to 15 dogs on leashes.
El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore is a mecca for booklovers like me. Housed in the former Grand Splendid theatre and cinema, it opened in 2000 and is thrilling to explore. Framed by red velvet curtains, the stage now houses a café. Some of the box seats have comfy chairs for reading. Bookshelves line the balconies and main floor. You get a crick in your neck eyeing the sumptuous ceiling murals.
In 2019, National Geographic named El Ateneo the most beautiful bookstore in the world, but my heart still belongs to Livraria Lello, in Porto, Portugal, which inspired J.K. Rowling when she was writing the first Harry Potter book. (And besides, Lello had the better English book section.)
At the end of the day, figuratively and literally, food is always a highlight for us. We took Fernando’s advice for our lunch of wonderful empanadas at Cumen Cumen, near the Recoleta Cemetery, as well as his advice for a famous Argentinian steak. Parrilla Peña was a relatively inexpensive, informal, yet excellent choice.
Parrillas are traditional steakhouses and the word ‘parrilla’ refers to the simple iron grill over a fire. At Parrilla Peña, older career waiters with decades of experience served food and wine with a flourish. We ordered medium-cooked rib-eye steaks and they came medium-rare – just the way we’d hoped!
We finished our delicious dinner about 10 p.m. and decided to walk back to our apartment to work off some of those calories. Argentinians eat dinner very late, and we felt perfectly safe walking along busy Rodriguez Peña street amongst families with young children in strollers, runners with ear buds, young people on their cell phones and elderly people with canes.
Our conclusion? Take safety warnings with a grain of salt and a good helping of common sense.
Practical notes for getting around Buenos Aires:
Subway: We highly recommend using the clean, safe, efficient subway, called the Subte. You buy a Sube card (yes, they’re spelled differently) at any corner store and load it with the amount you want. You can share one card between two people. We put 300 pesos on it. Each ride is 19 pesos – about 45 cents Canadian. What a great deal!
Taxis, remises, Ubers: We tried all three. Remises fall somewhere between taxis and Ubers. A remis is a private car that’s usually pre-booked and cheaper than a taxi. Remis drivers don’t roam the city looking for fares like taxi drivers. We took a remis from the airport to our apartment, at a set cost of $35 US, which we prepaid at a stand in the airport. Easy and convenient. Our one attempt to use Uber (which is not legal in Buenos Aires but people still use it) failed because the car never showed up. That’s when we hailed an official black-and-yellow taxi on the street to go from our apartment to the long-distance bus station. The 15-minute ride through heavy, slow traffic cost 180 pesos (about $5 Canadian).
Walking: The Microcentro (city centre) and neighbourhoods of Recoleta and Retiro are highly walkable. For our two full days there, my Fitbit logged 17,377 and 20,622 steps! Wide sidewalks, stoplights with walk signals, boulevards and parks with lots of benches and shade trees, public water fountains with drinkable water – all these make strolling the city quite enjoyable. When we return to Buenos Aires in May, we’ll explore the neighbourhoods of San Telmo, La Boca, Palermo and Puerto Madero.
Marilyn and I love your stories especially the pictures ,keep them coming.
Thanks, Uncle Art!!