The second week of winter break, we flew to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. The flight from Santiago to Buenos Aires was incredible in itself, as you immediately get to fly over the Andes. It's hard to see in this first photo, but the mountains, particularly the ridge right at the bottom of the photo, really weren't that far below us. Eek!
Our first full day in Buenos Aires was a Sunday, so we did some sightseeing things. We started off in La Boca ("The Mouth") which is called that because it is at the mouth of a river. It is also historically one of the first landing places for many Italian immigrants to Buenos Aires. Nowadays it's a tourist destination because it has lots of brightly painted buildings, bars, and restaurants. It's also the place where Lionel Messi hoisted the World Cup Trophy after Argentina won in 2022. You can actually see a statue of him doing just this in the pic below. To say he is a god here is an understatement.
La Boca is also home to the Club Atlético Boca Juniors, which is one of the most popular professional men's soccer teams in Argentina. The name is misleading; it's not a Juniors team, it's a men's team. Apparently when they were originally creating the team name, they threw on "Juniors" to make it sound British because the British rail workers were the ones who introduced soccer to Argentina. Even though Messi gear was sold everywhere throughout La Boca, Messi didn't actually play for CABJ. The team colors were obviously blue and gold, so we felt right at home. Jajaja One of these days we'll have to go see a soccer game, but hooliganism is a thing, so we'll have to be choosy on the game.
After La Boca, we went to the San Telmo Fair. There is a Central Market building that is open every day, that has both fresh and prepared food. But on Sundays, an entire nearby street is closed down for an additional antiques street fair. You've never seen such an amount of stuff! Fun atmosphere.
There are also lots of nooks and crannies to explore, like this very French looking building with an open air courtyard in the middle.
One of my favorite parts of the Fair was a pair of tango dancers that put on a show in the middle of a courtyard. Going to a tango show at a club is a pretty normal tourist thing to do here, but most of them didn't even start until 9pm, so we weren't about to stay up for one of those, especially with the kids, so seeing a tango demonstration in the streets was our only hope of seeing it at all. This couple didn't disappoint. They weren't young, probably 55 and 65, but they moved with a fluidity and grace that was impressive to watch. The boys were enthralled. Drew believes their legs were made of rubber.
We went to the San Telmo Market building itself, and it did not disappoint. It was PACKED and for good reason. So many good looking restaurants.
One obvious theme of the trip was seeing an impressive amount of meat being cooked on the grill.
At the San Telmo market, we had our first introduction to the infamous Choripan, which is essentially a chorizo sandwich. A couple of things make it super delicious. Obviously the chorizo itself is the best chorizo you've ever had in your life. The second is the bread. We aren't talking puny hotdog buns here, but gourmet bread with a nice crust. It's often grilled along with the chorizo. Finally, some acid is added with a topping of either chimichurri, our new favorite salsa for all meats, or salsa criolla, which is peppers and onions picked in vinegar.
We also got to try Provoleta, which is cheese either cooked in a cast iron skillet or put directly on the grill. It's a variant of provolone cheese, but it's more firm and can hold it's shape when grilled. Also as delicious as it sounds.
As we were exploring, we passed by a bus stop sign that had a remnant of the Kirchner government, the "Centro Cultural Kirchner." However, if you google this building name, it's replaced by the new name of "Centro Cultural Domingo Faustino Sarmiento." So clearly, the Kirchner name is on the outs here, the sign was simply outdated. In late June, Cristina Kirchner did get placed under house arrest for 6 YEARS for corruption. So maybe less on the outs and more on the "ins." Jajaja. My American mind immediately asked why does she get to serve her sentence at home instead of in jail, like any good criminal? Apparently she is such a public figure that it would have been impossible to keep her safe in a prison. Tell that to Martha Stewart!
One of my favorite parts of the city is the amount of statues they have decorating the city. And I'm not talking little life sized statues. I'm talking HUGE, colossal statues celebrating any and every notable figure in Argentinian history. They were gorgeous, and every park had one.
Every park, and I mean every single one, also had one gigantic tree right in the middle. These trees must have been hundreds of years old and provide incredible shade in the summer time. To me, they looked like live oak trees, but I need an arborist's expert eye to weigh in here.
Every single park also had an epic, appropriately themed playground. Because this was the Plaza Republica de Chile, which was right next to the Chilean Embassy, the playground was themed like the Andes mountains. Every playground had a different theme, and we had fun trying them all out throughout the week.
Last but not least, we ended this amazing day with a dinner out with our friends, the Argentinians who live in our building here in Santiago. They had traveled home to Buenos Aires for the entire break and were the inspiration for this trip. They were staying in another Airbnb a couple blocks away from ours, so we got to see them quite alot. We went to dinner at La Colorada, very apropos. We ordered a "Tabla," which is essentially a giant board of meats and sides. Also as delicious as it looks. We ordered this tabla, wine, 3 desserts, and a side of fries for the kids, and got out of there for $50 a family. Not too shabby. There are definitely more expensive steak places in the city than this one, but the value for money was pretty high here.
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