Buenos Aires, Argentina - The Food

The food in Buenos Aires is incredible. This news is coming from a steak and wine guy so you'd think you should take it with a grain of salt, as you should, the salty steaks are the best. Everywhere we ate had some of the freshest and most tender cuts of meats I've ever had and it was impossible to order a wine that wasn't worth downing to quench your thirst from the delicious salty meats. Bottom of the wine barrel in Buenos Aires is closer to middle of the road here in Peru. If you love Malbec, you can't go wrong. And in case you are not full after all that delicious steak and smooth wine, you can eat dulce de leche (milky caramel) in the form of ice cream. Dulce de leche is incredible and is a staple breakfast on bread.

Sarah's birthday dinner at Pinuccio & Figli

As excited as I was to eat every steak in the city Ron Swanson style, we were somewhat on a budget, as we are English teachers in Peru. However, we had a chance to go out for two nice dinners during our one week stay in Buenos Aires. The first was to celebrate Sarah's birthday at Pinuccio and Figli on Avenida Honduras in Palermo. We originally had our hopes set on an Indian restaurant that ended up being closed. Good thing for us, Palermo has no shortage of restaurants. We wandered the streets and debated until we settled on this stereotypical looking Italian restaurant after taking a look at the menu.

There was nothing stereotypical about this place. First of all, there was a cold appetizer bar where you paid per gram of two dozen or so dishes at a buffet table. If you guessed the weight correctly, the would give it to you for free. None of us guessed correctly but we still enjoyed the idea.

The steak here was out of this world. I ordered a Lomo Fino that was cooked perfectly and incredibly tender. There was a homemade yellow sauce with chives that I made sure to mop up with their ridiculous potatoes. They were crispy on the outside and almost mashed on the inside. Each plate was around $15 US and well worth it. I highly recommended going here for their steaks if you find yourself in Palermo.

As an old and upscale side of the city, Palermo is full of great food and delicious parillas (grills). None more famous than La Cabrera. It's popularity has tourists and locals alike booking days in advance at two different locations a couple blocks apart. I had multiple friends who have been to Buenos Aires recommend going to La Cabrera. We were told it's a little expensive but we should make reservations because it's worth it. So we went online to choose a time to find out that it was closed the whole week we were there. Fortunately for us, we decided to stop in on our last night around 6 PM and found them open and preparing for a busy night. We were just early enough for them to seat us before the nightly reservations would fill all the seats in the restaurant. We were incredibly lucky. Let the fancy meat feast begin.

Overwhelmed by steaks and side dishes

The food was great. They served countless condiments and side dishes from spicy sauces, to mac and cheese to miniature pickles for no extra cost. The massive chunks of steak we got were deliciously salty cuts (although slightly under-spiced for my liking). I will also say that the service was lacking if not borderline rude, however, I do appreciate they let us in without a reservation. I can definitely see why people recommend this place for the true Buenos Aires parilla experience and ambiance. It was a fun experience with all the condiments to experiment with and combine into new flavors. Whereas, the steak at Pinuccio and Figli was simply served as it was with one sauce and for less money.

I'd still recommend going to La Cabrera as it's worth the experience and the cuts of steak are pure and rich. Even the fat melted in your mouth. However, I think Pinuccio and Figli is an overlooked gem and the better value in Palermo. I think what it comes down to is that you can't go wrong ordering a steak in a restaurant in Palermo. Even the less known places stand a chance to serve you one of the best steaks you've ever savored.

One of our cuts at La Cabrera

San Felipe - our favorite decently priced Malbec

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve

The central eastern edge of Buenos Aires is home to an ecological reserve, called Costanera Sur, located between the city and the Rio De La Plata. This location is incredible for such a vast, peaceful, safe-haven for both animals and your city-tested sanity alike. We weren't in Buenos Aires long enough to really need such a retreat or reboot but this place was still great enough for us to visit twice during our one week stay in the city. There are over 8 kilometers of paths, much of which are along the coast and the Rio De La Plata. Being within a 20-30 minute walk of the center of the city, you can be completely isolated in nature. We saw 3 large lizards (I believe Argentine Black and White Tegus) and a lot of cute rodents (that I think were Azara's Agouti). It'd be easy to forget you were in the 2nd largest metropolis area in all of South America yet the towers of Puerto Maderno occasionally peak through to remind you from a distance of the city's proximity.

You can easily spend an afternoon walking the perimeter of the the reserve as we did. We also rode bikes through the reserve while on an afternoon bike tour that took us through various parts of the city and lasted for about 3 hours. 

The Argentine Black and White Tegu 

Another Argentine Black and White Tegu. We saw 3 just chillin' in the sun!

I believe this is an Azara's Agouti. We saw a bunch of these two hanging out by the path. Shy little guys!

Concrete Jungle

The Loop, The Afternoon

Buenos Aires, Argentina - La Boca

La Boca is an old immigrant neighborhood by the docks in Buenos Aires. It is known for its bright colors, souvenirs, art, and tango. Immigrants from Europe found their way to La Boca from Italy, Germany, Spain and France. These immigrants didn't have much and many families lived under the same roof. The houses were sectioned off with makeshift walls of wood or roofing sheet metal to provide a small room for each family.







Just steps away from La Boca are the docks where massive ships would come to port. It is said that the people of La Boca would take the leftover scraps of paint from the docks and use what was left to decorate their houses. Donations have been made over the years to keep the neighborhood brightly painted and attractive to tourists. Statues and murals have also been contracted through donations to bring an exaggeration of creativity to this small neighborhood. The colors, art and expression all come to a head on the main walking street that is aptly named Caminito (little way). This is the center of this artistic neighborhood and many tourists gather on the famous corner of this street to peruse the artists works and try and get a glimpse of a tango performance. Caminito is also the name of a typical Argentinian tango.




Tango is the other popular attraction in La Boca. There are dancers performing in the streets, mostly at restaurants where tourists pay for a meal and a free show. This makes the food somewhat expensive here compared to other parts of the city but it's not crazy. There are also tango dancers walking the streets offering to take a picture with you, as well as cardboard cutouts of tango dancers that you can stick your face in and snap a picture for a small fee. We sadly didn't take any of these hilarious pictures, but I did manage to get this picture of a tango performance.

The famous corner of Caminito

The soccer stadium in La Boca (La Bombonera) is home of the Boca Juniors, a world famous soccer team that usually ranks among the top 25 club teams in the world and is one of the most dominant teams in all of South America. Another claim to fame is that it was the home stadium of Diego Maradona. This stadium is designed with more vertical seating than most stadiums which gives fans a closer feel to the field and louder than normal acoustics. In addition to the structural advantages, the fans here are known to be die-hard and crazy. The working class fans and the stadium itself provide one of the best atmospheres in the game. 

La Bombonera

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Los Calles

The colorful streets of Palermo

The streets of Buenos Aires are full of parks, life and color. Murals awaken the streets in a style somewhere between graffiti and contracted works of art. It gives the impression that this place is so full of creativity that color just exploded everywhere. Each neighborhood seems to pride itself on the color and creativity of its streets as well as the quantity of public green space. I've never seen a city with so many parks! Living in a city with so few parks (Arequipa, Peru) really makes you appreciate a city that almost overdoes it.

Each park has green grass without any signs restricting you from getting comfortable. Each park is well planned and sprinkled with statues. There are bronze men atop bronze horses around every corner commemorating heroes past. The history is so rich here with various european influences that you can almost feel it from one neighborhood to another. We stayed in the old neighborhood of Palermo, which is known for its high end fashion and upscale restaurants. It's the nicest of the older neighborhoods and has a somewhat similar feel to parts of lower Manhattan. However, the most colorful neighborhood in Buenos Aires (and most touristy) is La Boca.

The streets were massive through this city. This street to the right is just a part of Avenida 9 de Julio and it's 7 lanes wide! Not only is this the the widest street in the city, it's the widest in the world! Despite this, there are still traffic jams during rush hour if that gives you an idea of the scale of this city. Buenos Aires is the 2nd largest city in South America (after Sao Paulo, Brazil) with over 13 million people. This is another reason why there is an increasing demand on the Subte and why Porteños are pushing for it's expansion. Why we crossed this road isn't the question, it's how long it took.

Ferry to Buenos Aires, Argentina

It was finally time for the main course of our two week Christmas Vacation in South America. In this case: steak and Malbec (Buenos Aires, Argentina). We hopped on a bus in Montevideo and traveled for 2 hours to Colonia, Uruguay. From there we boarded a small ferry (we had one ticket for the bus and ferry through Colonial Express). The Ferry was fast and the trip across the Rio de la Plata (River of Silver) from Uruguay to Buenos Aires only took about an hour and a half.



This may sound like a long, high speed trip across a river, however, this is apparently the widest river in the world at the mouth before it dumps into the Atlantic Ocean. Colonia is the closest land in Uruguay to Buenos Aires with still an incredible 30 miles between the two ports. The widest part of the mouth of Rio de la Plata is 140 miles across!

It was a windy afternoon so some pretty rough seas managed to accumulate on the Rio de la Plata that day making for a somewhat shaky ride. However, all in all, this was a pretty fun way to enter a country for the first time. It also saved us some money because there is a $131 charge for americans to enter the country via plane yet there is no charge to enter via ferry. Buenvenidos a Buenos Aires, Argentina! Disfruta!

Riverboat casino docked in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Subte

The Subte is Buenos Aires' underground transportation system. It is the first of which that I have seen in my limited travels in South America and I'm definitely a fan. The Subte has many trains running on 6 different lines and does a decent job of connecting the various neighborhoods of the city. However, there are still landmarks of the city that can only be reached with public transportation via bus. The Subte project is expanding, although some may argue not fast enough due to the growing needs of the city.

The Subte is a colorful way to see a lot of the city efficiently. The trains are all vibrantly painted with graffiti and run constantly. We never had to wait more than 3 minutes and the ride was often free. On a couple of occasions the turnstiles were open and there was no need to buy a fare card. On one of our rides there were two percussionists putting on a show for each car in turn. I couldn't help but think of the NYC subways.

There were many stain-glass windows inside the stations

The percussionists rocking out. In case you are wondering, that is a transvestite in the belly-shirt to the left. Buenos Aires is pretty liberal as well as fashion forward for South America.