Buenos Aires: The Paris of South America

Currently checking in from a housesit in Uruguay after a five-day jaunt through Buenos Aires, Argentina last week. It’s been surprisingly challenging to find time for a blog update here with the upkeep required to run a small farm. This post is coming to you while my travel partners collect chicken eggs and tend to the fruit trees. I’ve somehow managed to avoid poultry duty but do dabble in some light gardening.

The long trip down to South America involved about 15 hours worth of plane travel and a short layover in Chile. Is it pronounced chill-ee or chill-ay? Either way, it was neat to see part of the Andean mountain range as we made a pit stop in Santiago.

I found a sense of familiarity in the architecture of Buenos Aires and wasn’t surprised to find that it’s often referred to as the Paris of South America. It turns out that much of the city’s landmarks were built in the golden era when Argentina was one of the wealthiest countries in the world, with rulers at that time looking to Europe for architectural inspiration.

Our Airbnb was within short walking distance of La Recoleta Cemetery, an enchantingly eery maze of endless corridors. The cemetery is perhaps best known as the final resting place of iconic first lady Eva Perón, idolized by the public until her death from cancer in 1952. After being confiscated by the then-military government, her body was hidden for more than 20 years before its eventual burial in Recoleta. She now lies in a crypt five metres underground, visited by adoring fans and chance passersby alike.

An unusual find in our barrio (neighbourhood) was the aesthetically distinctive Palace of Running Water, built in the 19th century to supply the city’s water after several cholera and typhoid epidemics. Occupying an entire city block, the “palace” features over 300,000 terracotta tiles and bricks shipped all the way from Europe. We never did figure out why so much effort was put into dolling up a water treatment plant.

We spent several hours on Sunday wandering the extensive San Telmo street market that’s famous both for its scale and eclectic goods. The market stretches along 13 blocks of cobblestone street and spills onto a few side roads, making for a cumbersome journey at best (we weren’t complaining about our feet at all). Visitors will pass stall upon stall laden with silverware, figurines, leather goods, military regalia, artwork, antiques, and more. We walked away with... six placemats and a T-shirt.

Our journey through the market led us back to the city centre and right through the doors of the main Catholic church. The Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, finished in 1827 after being rebuilt seven times, is where Jorge Bergoglio—now known as Pope Francis—served as Archbishop of Buenos Aires from 1998 to 2013. The Pope Francis Museum inside the church exhibits some of his personal effects.

La Boca, a delightfully colourful neighbourhood full of postcard-perfect shanties, is a tourist favourite in Buenos Aires. El Caminito is the barrio’s most famous street, full of art vendors, buskers, and tango dancers competing for your spare pesos. You can also find an association football stadium nearby that’s home to the Boca Juniors, our new favourite soccer team. We even have a jersey to prove it.

The highlight of our final day was the National Museum of Decorative Arts. Housed in a mansion built in the early 1900s, it was once the residence of a Chilean-Argentine aristocratic couple. The mansion is well worth a tour to drool over the Palace of Versailles-inspired ballroom and their other extravagant belongings.

Over the course of the week, we fuelled our non-stop walking with different kinds of empanadas and parrilla (grilled meat), the latter of which can be served in a sandwich with your choice of toppings, including a fried egg. We also enjoyed the helado (gelato) on offer, which is sold by the cup, cone, or kilo in many corner shops. We chose to forgo the kilo option.

Despite the mutual language barrier, we found the locals to be extremely helpful in time of need, particularly when trying to tackle the metro system (which we never really figured out). It’s a small miracle that we made it back to our Airbnb each day as the city is quite expansive. I’ve certainly noticed the foot complaining has reduced drastically around here the last few days.