Menus Boards La Boca Buenos Aires

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Typical Menu Boards of La Boca, Buenos Aires

Video of Tango Music being played

As we were wandering around the streets of La Boca, a traditional part (or should I say touristy part) of Buenos Aires in Argentina, we came across this guy playing tango music on his accordian. The little stage he was playing on was hidden away in one of the many alleyways that frequent the neighbourhood.

Take a look at all the Tango memorabilia around him, cool stuff.

Galeria Pacifico Shopping Mall Mural

Galería Pacífico Shopping Mall Mural

Even though I’m not a fan of visiting malls when I travel, I do actually recommend that you visit The Galería Pacífico Shopping Mall on the Buenos Aires downtown pedestrian street called Florida. The building itself is historic, dating back to around 1890 and fills up an entire block with 4 levels for shopaholics. But makes it worthy of a visit is the mural of the central cupola that was painted by five famous artists in 1945. Some time later the building was abandoned but in 1989 it was declared a national monument and then restored to its former glory. The photo below will give you an idea of how beautiful the dome’s mural is, pretty much on a par with the best churches in Europe:



You may want to check out their site in Spanish and English: www.galeriaspacifico.com.ar

Videos of Plaza Italia Buenos Aires

These are a couple of short videos we took of Plaza Italia in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This first one is a 360º panoramic view of the square and surrounding areas:

The following video zooms in on the the statue for a closer look at the details:

If you would like more information about the square visit our following page: Plaza Italia.

How to get from Buenos Aires to Colonia (Uruguay)

How to get from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay

Uruguay is just a stone’s throw from Buenos Aires and one of the quickest and easiest ways to do it is across the Río de la Plata (River Plate). The two main entrance points via ferry are Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, and a small city called Colonia del Sacramento, commonly called Colonia.

To get to Colonia, which is the closest Uruguayan city to Buenos Aires, there are two options:
an express ferry that takes an hour to get there and another that takes 3 hours. The 3-hour one is of course a lot cheaper, in fact almost half the price, but you will find it eats into your day and there isn’t much to see from the boat other than lots of water. Most people take the 1-hour ride.

We hadn’t reserved any tickets beforehand, just turned up an hour and a half before the ship was due to leave and we managed to get return tickets for that day without a problem. Not bad considering it was a long weekend. By the way, same day return tickets are cheaper than staying the night and coming back the next day. There are some special offers of return tickets plus a tour and lunch thrown in but unless you like being herded along like sheep, I found the tour not to be necessary. The old part of Colonia is relatively small and can easily done by yourself at your own pace and with time to spare. We came back on the last boat just after 8pm so had time to relax on a patch of lawn and what the sunset over the harbour.



For more information about how to get from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento via the ferry, including photos of the terminal and where to purchase your tickets once there, check out: Buquebus Ferry. You’ll even see what it’s like inside the boats before you go!

This day trip is well worth doing!

Steel Flower of Buenos Aires Video

One of the latest icons of Buenos Aires is the gigantic steel flower called Floralis Generica. Created in 2002 and weighing in at 18 tonnes its petals are open during the day and then close again at night. Since this work of art now appears on many postcards to do with the city, you may want to put it on your Must Visit List while in the city.

For photos and more information about Floralis Generica, including the 4 special nights its petals are open, check out: The Steel Flower of Buenos Aires.

Meanwhile here is the video I took as we walked around the entire sculpture to give you an idea of the size of it and also the surrounding areas in the background.

La Recoleta Cemetery Buenos Aires

One place you will probably end up visiting when you are in Buenos Aires is the Recoleta Cemetery. Basically it’s the last resting place of the once rich and famous of Argentina and what makes it such a tourist magnet are the incredible mausoleums that were like a competition between high society to see who could build the most elaborate and awe-inspiring one.

One of the most visited sites is that of Maria Eva Duarte de Perón - more commonly known as Evita. What is interesting is that she hasn’t always been there since her death. There is a whole story of political intrigue behind the disappearance of her body and subsequent return.





No, I didn’t clamber over someone’s tomb for this shot. It was taken from the church next to the cemetery.

And what’s with all those cats roaming around? Find out on our La Recoleta Cemetery page.

Investigative trip to Buenos Aires and Colonia

I have been travelling a lot the last month both inside of Chile and in neighbouring countries both for work and pleasure, and then a bit more work.

On Monday my wife and I got back from a 5-day investigative trip of Buenos Aires, the sprawling capital of Argentina. We had already been there in 2006 with a group of friends to watch an international rugby match, unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side that time. This time we had blue skies the entire time and since there was only the two of us, we could get a lot more done instead of having to do group consultations every half hour about the next move.

Buenos Aires is huge with so many things to keep you entertained and where you can easily get into a lot of trouble (in a good sense). In 5 days we took 648 photos so expect to see some appearing on this blog but mainly in the pages that we will be creating about What to see and do in Buenos Aires.

Here is one for starters:


On the way back from Buenos Aires we heard that Santiago had been hit by heavy rain and cloaked in cold the whole time we were away... great timing!

Chile legally has to celebrate Argentina’s National Day

This post is now at: www.southamerica.me/chile-celebrate-argentina-national-day

Argentinian Newspapers

Just created a page containing Newspapers in Argentina with links to the online versions of the most popular papers. Of course they are almost all in Spanish though it's a great way to catch up with the news in Argentina if you know the language.

It was quite interesting investigating the background history of them, and some of the more interesting tidbits were added to give a little spice to the page instead of just a page with links (always boring!). I did get a bit too sidetracked into this research and will need to go back and add a lot more of the regional newspapers, but at least the main ones are there.

Dakar 2009 Rally Argentina Chile

Today was the Start of the Dakar 2009 Rally that for the first time in race history has gone out of the African continent and is being held in Argentina and Chile in South America. The 6000+km race started today in Buenos Aires and will end back in the same city on the 17th of January.

The provinces being traveled through in Argentina:
Buenos Aires - Federal capital, Buenos Aires province, La Pampa, Rio Negro, Chubut, Neuquén,
Mendoza, Catamarca, La Rioja, Cordoba, Santa Fe.

The provinces being traveled through in Chile:
Valparaiso, Coquimbo, Atacama.

Did you know there was no rally in 2008. It was cancelled on the eve of the race after strong recommendation by the French Foreign Ministry that there was to a terrorist risk which proved true 3 weeks later…

Probably one of the reasons that shifted the race to another continent this year.

Aerolineas Argentinas Story

Maybe the lightning striking the plane was a sign not to continue flying with them. Even the Gods don't seem to be happy with them. Such was the start of the trip of my sister from New Zealand to visit her nephews (not us, their parents) in Santiago, coming via Buenos Aires.

The weather was bad in Auckland, NZ with the wind howling and lightning flashing across the sky, but why was it that the Aerolineas plane was the one that got hit? What's it made of that makes it attract lightning? Recycled bicycle parts? Ok, so it does happen every now but the plane was then delayed a mere 38 HOURS!!! (Maybe they had to ship in some extra bicycles parts from China or something to get it going again). And this was only the beginning, the 14-hour flight afterwards to Buenos had no movies, no games, just grumpy airhostesses wanting to get back home. They hadn't changed the plane or anything, just repaired it. They don't seem to do movies on that one and don't expect to see the nice tv screens in the back of the seat in front of you (you know, with the choice of movies and music). Make sure you take a book on that flight.

Now having arrived to Buenos Aires and not getting on the next plane to Santiago as promised but instead having to wait an additional 7 hours isn't the best thing to be told after a long sleepless flight. But what can you do? Nothing. But the fun doesn't stop there. Imagine arriving to your destination after such a long traumatic experience to find that they have lost your luggage. There was only one suitcase, a brand new one at that, but they still managed to lose it. The thing is it didn't turn up until another 36 hours later, with the locks ripped off, along with a couple of the zips and personal items were missing out of it, oh and the newly acquired scratches and dents were an added bonus. The problem is when you call to complain they just say that we have to physically go to the airport to complain there, not the office in the city where they are????? Talk about passing the buck!!! The problem now is that she has to return back the same way she came. Not the most fun thing to look forward to after a holiday in Chile.

I personally have flown on Aerolineas Argentinas a number of times and it is not something I intend on doing again (if I can absolutely avoid it). If I had to choose between getting to Buenos Aires on Aerolineas Argentinas or getting there via a saddleless ride on a limping three-legged llama across the Andes mountains in the middle of winter, well, you can guess which one I'd take.
They are USELESS!!! And I'm not the only one with that opinion.

Feel free to add your own stories about Aerolineas Argentinas, here both good or bad.

Saludos

National Anthems

It took a while to do put it's now ready... we have just finished writing about the national anthems of the South American countries along with their translation in English.
Oh, and we have thrown in a bit of history about them too.
Check them out:

National Anthems of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Iguazu Falls and Emeralds

And a couple more pages for you.

Something that you have to put on your Must Do List is a visit to the Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina. There are literally kilometres of wallfalls and cascades with an incredible range of wildlife and perfect photo shoots around every corner. Keep an eye out for the brightly beaked Tucan birds flying around. If you are a nature lover and can only come to one place in South America, this definitely has to be it!

Information about Iguazu Falls.


And on a totally different note...

Not exactly something on the Backpacker's souvenir list though interesting nonetheless is our page about Emeralds. The best emeralds in the world can be found in Colombia, South America so we thought we would include it anyway, especially since you can sometimes visit the old Emerald mines.

Food and Drink of Argentina

We have started a guide to typical Argentinian Food and Drink.

Argentina FOOD Guide including the classic Dulce de Leche which is everywhere and in everything.

Argentina DRINK Guide including Mate that you can see Argentinians drinking and sharing almost everywhere too!

We know that it needs a little more information so if anyone knows of any food or drink that is typical of Argentina that we haven't written yet, please let us know.

Puerto Iguazu Argentina

One place that you just HAVE TO visit is the Iguazú Falls that border Argentina and Brazil. They are truly amazing and should be on the top of any To Do List of South America.
Since there are two sides of the fall (the Paraguayan border isn't too far away either) one alternative is stay on the Argentinian side at Puerto Iguazú.

If you would like more information about this town including where to stay (interesting note about the showers) and how to get to the falls from there, just visit our newly created page about...

Puerto Iguazú in Argentina

If there's anything else that you think should be added, just let us know.

Mendoza Argentina

We have created a page full of useful information about Mendoza in Argentina.
It's a town well-known for its wine, chocolate and shopping and also as the place to go when you need to renew your 90-day tourist visa from Chile.

Mendoza - Argentina

Look out for the tips about the all-you-can-eat "Tenedor Libre" restaurants and some of the best hostels to stay out.

If you have any other information about Mendoza that you think others may find useful, just let us know.

The 'Mendoza Run' Border Closed

The pass known as Paso Internacional Los Libertadores in the Andes Mountains that connects Chile (Santiago) with Argentina (Mendoza) was closed today (22 July) from 3pm due to intense snow conditions.

Another cold front will hit the central area of Chile tomorrow bringing further rain and cold conditions making it uncertain as to when it will reopen.

This route between Santiago and Mendoza is frequently used to transport freight between the two countries but is also well know by foreigners who don't have the appropriate visa to stay in Chile for long periods since they often have to make this trek across the mountains every 90 days. Unfortunately many do the 'Mendoza Run' on the weekend so hopefully not too many got trapped over the other side as a result of today's weather conditions.

Bariloche Argentina

We finally have a new page about Bariloche in Southern Argentina.

This city feels like you have suddenly been transported to somewhere in the middle of the Swiss Alps (including the amazing chocolate they have). It's a great place to go skiing and it is also the base camp to start exploring Patagonia.

Argentina - San Carlos de Bariloche

Hope you find it useful.

Saludos.

Snow in Buenos Aires Argentina

For the first time since 1918 it snowed in Buenos Aires, Argentina just after midday yesterday.
In fact the weather guys had an idea that it might snow but of course didn't mention it for fear of ridicule.

How did it come about? Well a polar front blowing up from antartica hit a low front coming down from the Andes and thus snowflakes started falling. Strangely, the temperature was above zero though it didn't stop the capital city from being lightly blanketed in white.

Here's a video of it for those that are interested:
Video - Snowing in Buenos Aires

Saludos

Five Different Countries in South America

Our long awaited South America website is now going along quite well. A lot of the spaces have now been filled though we still have to resize and post photos.

In the last couple of days we have managed to put the following information online for everyone:

Colombia -Cartagena - The city on the Caribbean Sea
Brazil - Rio de Janeiro - The land of Beaches and the Mega Carnival
Peru - Lima - Museums - The most interesting museums to see while you're in Lima, Peru.
Peru - Cusco - The city that's on every backpackers route. If you are on your way to Machu Picchu this is THE stop to make on the way
Ecuador - Quito - The center of the world where Northern & Southern Hemisphere meet.
Argentina - Buenos Aires - Huge city with SOOOO much to do!

Hope you enjoy them!