Though we are moving to the other side of the world and Argentina will soon be a place of the past, I thought I’d recall some more of the things I left out about what we did in Buenos Aires. We didn’t just sit around for a month, you know. From wandering the Japanese gardens to biking through the Ecological Preserve at Puerto Madero, we constantly kept ourselves happy and busy.
Tigre:
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Just an hour-long train ride North of the city is Tigre, a small town surrounded by a series of canals coming off of the Parana Delta. These canals are lined with vacation cottages and beaches and boats. Think Venice, but with a jungle book feel and dirtier water. Regardless of the mucky trash-filled waters though, there are still plenty of people jumping off the boat docks and swimming next to the beaches. Tigre is a large tourist attraction, and where many BA locals find themselves on long weekends or during the summer for a short vacation. It is common to take 3 or 4 hour long cruises (offered for a hefty price) down the Parana Delta and through some of the main canals. Or, you could opt for the Porreca family cop out, and take the local water taxi to the last stop, get off and walk around a bit, and get back on, for about 6 dollars a person, round-trip. Personally, I think I enjoyed this experience more than a “river cruise” anyways. We even got a chance to make friends with a stray dog, and wander through Tres Ojos, a subsection of the canals with nothing more than a little café to set it apart from anywhere else.
Recoleta Cemetery:
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Even after living one block away from the Recoleta Cemetery for an entire month, I have only been inside three times, and never saw more than half of it. What I have seen is eerily beautiful though. It’s difficult to fight the urge to snap a photo of every last mausoleum. For those who don’t know, the cemetery is also home to the deceased Evita Peron and her husband and family. Obviously the most crowded of the structures, but in my opinion, the least fascinating. I along with what I assume to be many other people, found myself drawn to the vaults that looked long abandoned and broken into. We were informed at one point, that because each mausoleum is private property, once the family stops taking care of the space, it is illegal to make any repairs even once the roof starts to fall in. This certainly adds character and a visible sense of history to the cemetery, but also seems to ensure that some of these glorious structures will soon be in crumbles.
Japanese gardens:
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We spent about forty dollars and one hour in the Japanese gardens in Buenos Aires. Overpriced? Just…a lot. For how much money is brought into this place at $10 a head, a little more of a secluded feel would have been nice. But that’s not the easiest thing to accomplish in a place where you can only take up so much space as one block located in the center of a city with a population over 3,000,000. Walkways and bridges weaved over and around a few lakes and ponds filled with coy fish, which little kids were feeding with bread crumbs that were available for purchase at the front (as if the entrance fee wasn’t enough). We made sure to cross every single bridge, and look at the fish for a long time to get our money’s worth before leaving. It made for a pleasant yet entertaining afternoon on a hot day.
Ecological Preserve:
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We picked one of the hottest, most humid days in Buenos Aires, to bike around the Ecological Preserve at Puerto Madero. My parents love their road bikes, and my brother lives for mountain biking; I on the other hand, prefer a bike with a motor and a big seat. But as you can guess, I didn’t have much say in the matter, and figured a bike would at least provide an extra wind current to dry some of the sweat off. I was pleased to realize how leisurely the ride was, and started to enjoy pedaling around all afternoon. The path gave us a chance to see some more greenery and get a view of the water as well as some of the city from the outside. It was very enjoyable. That is, until we got off the bikes. Then the heat, and the sweat, and the lack of water kicked in. But naturally, this is nothing that can’t be solved by a giant bottle of water, and some oversized street cart chorripan!
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Though each of those places deserves their own individual posts, I can only write so much so often. After all, I have the whole world to see, and not much time to do it!
PS–I no longer get a good internet connection, so uploading pictures is difficult. They seem to load faster onto my tumblr, so I will let you know when I put a bunch up! Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Keep your eye out!Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
