With my journey through Uruguay now complete, it was time to begin making my way up towards Guatemala. While I had previously booked my ticket to Guatemala, it originated from Sao Paulo, Brazil (GRU airport), which allowed me the flexibility of flying from Montevideo or Buenos Aires, depending on where my travels took me. Buenos Aires was calling me from the weather gods, so I decided to spend two nights there and fly from there to GRU. More on that experience later…. first getting to Buenos Aires via ferry.
Boarding the ferry to Buenos Aires requires one to pass through immigration and security at the port. The lines were a bit long but relatively easy with no hassles and soon I was in my seat on the ferry and on my way to Argentina. The ferry itself is huge with two floors of seating, including two cafes and a shop. The passage was very smooth and because it was during the night I almost could not tell the boat was moving! I booked a business class ticket for $10 USD extra and while the seats were only slightly bigger than the cheaper ‘tourist class’ and the seating area a bit more private, the upgrade was a huge bonus because we got to get off the boat first and avoided the huge crowds at exit and baggage claim, worth every penny in my opinion for the convenience. As it was almost 10pm when I arrived, rather than walk the streets with my backpack, I caught an Uber to my hotel and checked in….which also proved to be quite interesting with a just-in- time lesson on the current Argentinian economy.
Once I decided on Buenos Aires as my next city, I began searching for hotels, which, to my shock, proved to be incredibly difficult as almost every hotel, hostel, Airbnb, etc. was completely booked and what was not occupied was over $1,000 USD! per night! After 3 hours of frantic searching, I finally found 2 hostels (one for each night) that had openings. Unbeknownst to me, Taylor Swift was in concert along with some other artists that weekend and had taken over the city’s accommodations. I booked both hostels via Booking.com and while the terms indicated payment due at the hotel, this was common as hotels typically charge your credit card upon arrival. My first hostel was $115 USD / night, which was a bit expensive, but I had little to no choice and honestly happy to have a bed to lay my head on. After giving my check in details, the host at reception asked if I would be paying with cash for the room balance and I indicated that credit would be the form of payment. She then proceeded to tell me that if I did that I would pay double the price in Argentinian pesos and it was best to pay in cash. As I do not travel with hundreds of dollars on hand, I did not have enough cash and it was too late for money exchanges and ATMs to be open, so there was no option but to pay via credit card. After much discussion with the reception desk we figured out how to charge the agreed price in USD to my card even though it would’ve been half the price to pay directly in pesos. Needless to say, priority on my list the next day would be to get USD cash and exchange it into pesos. But first, a little sleep….
The consensus in Uruguay was that I needed to be careful in Buenos Aires, but I was excited about exploring a new city. After checking out of my first hostel and checking in at my second one, getting and exchanging some cash I was off! First stop was a random side street grill cart for the famous Choripan – let me tell you folks, it was absolutely delicious, topped with spicy chimichurri, pickles jalapeños, tomatoes and onions. Worth every cent of the $1.50 it cost me! My hands were a sloppy happy mess but I ate the entire thing!
Plastic tables and one cook at the stove means it has to be good!
When I travel, the first thing I like to do in a new city is get out and walk, while trying to getting ‘lost’ (of course with Google maps downloaded), as I find it the best way to feel the vibe and discover cool things not often found in research. From the minute I walked out of my hostel, I knew I would fall in love with Buenos Aires. I could sense the culture and beauty solely from the architecture, décor, restaurants, and music. My hostel was based just outside of Palermo, a lovely district filled with shops and restaurants and after a mere 10 minutes of walking I stumbled upon a free zoo – right in the middle of the city! The zoo itself was located within a park and besides the lovely foliage, the zoo featured small animal exhibits and even a giraffe and buffalo! After an hour or so taking snaps of animals and enjoying the zoo’s park scenery, I continued exploring the city, in its abundance of greenery, architecture, street art and people watching for another 5 hours! My feet were definitely hurting by dinnertime!
One cannot visit Buenos Aires without a tango experience, and I was determined to put that under my belt, but I didn’t want to simply see a ‘show’ with dinner and the usual tourist activities. My Outlaw research found a self-entitled ‘Underground Tango Experience‘ through Airbnb, which included visiting 3-4 local tango music locations, with wine and empanadas for $38 USD. After a little dinner snack of street tacos, I hopped in an Uber to the tour meeting location – a quick 8 minutes away. The host then proceeded to guide us to 3 tango locations/bars within walking distance of the meeting spot. The first two were local performers singing famous tango songs in their own voices – both places I definitely would have never found on my own! The first was a woman singer with her guitarist and the second featured two men playing guitars, each performer showcasing a very different style. The woman was probably my favorite with her intense passion. The two men were much more mellow, almost a sing along style, but still fantastic. The third place was a large dance hall, decorated in true Argentinian style – with little random antique nick knacks everywhere. Locals were dancing the tango to recorded music – not performing – and oh what an experience! Even though my understanding of the lyrics was limited, it was still incredibly powerful – tango music is such an emotional genre! It was a bit of a crazy night with the number of locals participating at random levels of inebriation, but it proved to be one of the best and most unique travel experiences I’ve had so far – a top 10 rating!
The evening ended a bit late – at 1am the party was still going but it was bedtime for me as sadly, with Taylor Swift in town and the weather gods abandoning me, I had to head off the next day to GRU (Sao Paulo, Brazil).
I found a decently cheap flight to GRU from Buenos Aires’s local international airport (AEP) rather than the larger (EZE) airport in Buenos Aires and I figured it would be easier and closer to get to, so why not? Much to my surprise, while only a few miles from my hotel, it took almost 40 minutes to get to AEP with traffic and the puzzling roundabout route (get it together Buenos Aires)! At the advice of my hostel, I arrived 2 hours earlier than my flight. At the airport, I was met with throngs of people, and was glad my hostel advised me to arrive early. However, I quickly discovered that 90% of the people were checking in for domestic flights! With no bags to check, all I had to do was head upstairs, pass through immigration and security – I was through in no more than 10 minutes! The international terminal of AEP was actually quite small with only a 2 cafes, no lounge and one kiosk store, so I was a bit disenchanted that I had arrived so early. With hours to spare and nothing to do, I worked on my blog and then….the rain started! For 3 hours it poured rain, with severe lightning and thunder, grounding all flights in/out (thank goodness I scheduled my GRU flight to leave the following evening); just as I started to think I might be holing up in the airport overnight, the rain finally cleared, we boarded our plane and I settled in my surprisingly comfy ‘premium economy’ (essentially business class) Aerolinas Argentina flight for a quick 2.5 hr trip to GRU.
Final verdict – how did Buenos Aires rate on the ‘Outlaw scale’?
FOOD: YUM!!! Everything I had was so delicious and soooo cheap in Buenos Aires (the strength of the USD paper money is real) – I spent $15 total for two days!
SAFETY: Everyone I encountered was very friendly, but they also told me to be careful in the city by myself. While I didn’t encounter anything dangerous or intimidating one should use general street smarts while exploring the city.
LANGUAGE: Spanish, Portuguese and English is spoken in various places, I found that English was easier to find near the upscale and touristy areas of the city.
THINGS TO DO: So many! I couldn’t even do all the things I wanted to! Next time more tango, more gaucho, more everything…
TRANSPORTATION: I used Uber to get around the city mostly, as it was very cheap and easy.
MONEY: As per my story on the current (Nov 2023) economic situation in Argentia, USD bills are king, especially $50 and $100 bills. Credit cards are somewhat accepted in various venues but you will get a low value for your money.
VALUE: Outside of a freak Taylor Swift concert weekend, Buenos Aires is a fantastic value for the money!
OVERALL: Buenos Aires, you captured my heart – I fell in love with your culture, passion and beauty – top marks!
TRAVEL MILE COUNT: From Uruguay to Buenos Aires = 39, around Buenos Aires = 20
TRAVEL METHOD COUNT: 1 boat, 4 Ubers, 1 bicycle
TRAVEL CASUALITIES (Items lost): 0
UP NEXT: I’ve visited Brazil a few times in the past as well as Sao Paulo and with it being only an overnight stopover what would I get into? Stay tuned….