Backpacking South America

The benefit of global warming – winter days that are 35 degrees above the normal temperature.

Our second weekend in Buenos Aires was about 40 degrees warmer than the first. Gone were the sweatshirts, long underwear and gloves. It was time to enjoy summer.

We decided to visit Tigre, a summertime hotspot for porteños. Just a short train ride from the city, Tigre is sometimes called the Venice of Argentina by locals. While that is disputable, it is pretty nice.

During peak season (or unseasonably warm winter days), people flee the city for the quaint, but busy, town of Tigre. There is a small amusement park, casino, art museum and numerous outdoor activities.

Tigre is where a small part of the Delta divides into many canals that can been enjoyed by a peaceful boat ride along the river. For the locals, it´s their mode of transportation to their cottage. For tourists, they use the boats to take them to their summer rentals or upriver to a restaurant or park for a day-long picnic and parrilla (barbeque with lots and lots and lots of meat).

We started our trip to Tigre early Saturday morning.

“I don’t want to walk home today, it’s over 2 miles. I wish we had enough coins to take the bus. I mean, it’s only AR $2.40 for both us (that’s about $0.65 US), but we never seem to have enough coins. It shouldn’t be this difficult to ride the bus.” This routine day after day has definitely been the bane of our existence as well as a game we are learning to master.

The colectivos (buses) in Buenos Aires, only take coins. As we mentioned in our First Impressions post , it’s a racket. Everybody uses the colectivos to get around, to go to school, to go to work or run errands. They are always full, all the time. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I have actually gotten a seat.

People rely on coins to catch the bus to take them where they need to go. In fact, they hoard their coins so they can ride the colectivos, and the government doesn’t seem to create enough of them to meet the demand.  As a result, the colectivos get all the coins, while merchants and people alike refuse to part with their coins.

San Telmo is one of the original barrios of Buenos Aires. It is filled with buildings and houses in the colonial style with cobblestone streets. Located just off the center of town, San Telmo is known for its antiques shops. On our first foray into the neighborhood, we wandered through the streets and into large buildings and mansions that used to accommodate the wealthy porteños, but are now used for large indoor markets. We wandered into one market and it was so large that we found ourselves getting a bit disoriented. We were both amazed by the shear volume of old stuff this city seems to have collected. The main antique district takes up about a half mile on the main street with smaller shops down the side streets. It seems that every storefront on the street and inside the massive markets are all filled with antiques dealers.

However, a weekday in San Telmo is tranquil compared to Sunday’s madness.

Learning how to get around Buenos Aires was no easy task. Our first foray into public transportation was on our first full day in the city. We had successfully coordinated to meet up with our friend Emily at Plaza Italia in Palermo. Now the struggle was, how do we get to Palermo?

There are many methods of transportation in Buenos Aires, so at the hostel, we decided to ask the front desk their recommendation and they said that we could take the colectivo (bus) or a taxi. The colectivo would only cost 2.50 pesos (about $0.80 for the both of us) or if we decided to take a taxi, it  would cost 25 pesos (about $8.30). We opted for the colectivo, after all, we are on a budget. We had heard that the colectivo only takes coins and that coins are difficult to come by and we did not have that many coins yet. So, nervous about the pending experience, we confirmed with the attendant at the hostel that it was okay if we have the exact amount, just not all in coins.

This is the bus we take every day

Somewhere, something was lost in translation.

So after a leisurely morning in the hostel, we caught the Subte (subway), which is much easier than the buses.  We exited the Subte to the bustle of Recoleta, mostly stores serving the upper middle to upper class neighborhood filled with wide boulevards and tree lined streets.  The first stop on our walking tour was Cemetario de la Recoleta.  This exclusive cemetery is the final resting place for some of Buenos Aires most famous, powerful and wealthy people. 

The cemetery looks and feels a lot like a densely populated city – broad boulevards, narrow streets and towering buildings.  The only difference is that those towering buildings are filled with dead people. 

Perhaps the most famous and beloved resident of the cemetery is Evita Peron,  who isn’t buried with her husband Juan Peron, but in the mausoleum of the Duarte family.  On the day we visited, it was the anniversary of the day she declined the nomination for Vice President of Argentina so she could continue focusing on her efforts on social programs for the people.