Argentina (and a day trip to Uruguay)

I flew from the Iguazu airport to Buenos Aires on October 23, 2024. My flight was in the morning, so by the time I arrived at my hostel and dropped off my bags, I still had most of the day ahead of me. I set off to grab some lunch and explore a little bit.

My first stop was the Galería Güemes, which was close to my hostel and is known for having a beautiful view of the city (and it's free, so you can't beat the price!).

I ended up in Plaza de Mayo, which is the main square of the city, and it's basically surrounded on all sides by beautiful and famous buildings. The one pictured above, the Casa Rosada, was the sight of where Eva Perón gave her famous "Don't cry for me, Argentina" speech. She was on the balcony under the clock.

I had wandered around for awhile before this point, taking my time, but by the time I got to the Plaza de Mayo, what had been a drizzle picked up in earnest and it really started to rain. I hailed a taxi and went back to my hostel, where I had a quiet night hiding from the bad weather.

The following morning was overcast, but thankfully dry, because I had a city tour booked that day. Our first stop was to visit the Recoleta neighborhood.

Floralis Genérica is a 75 foot high, 18-ton, stainless steel and aluminum flower sculpture. When it was built in 2002, it was the first public sculpture controlled by hydraulics and photosensors, because the petals used to close at night and reopen when they were hit by the sun. It's been damaged by storms so it doesn't move anymore, but it's still a landmark in Buenos Aires.

María Eva Duarte de Perón Monument, aka the Evita Monument. For anyone who, like me, didn't know much about her (aside from the musical starring Madonna), Eva Perón was the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until 1952, when he husband Juan Perón was the president (During her time as First Lady, she also ran the Ministries of Labor and Health). Their tenure in office, like most politicians, has elements of both good and bad, but Evita is still remembered very fondly in Argentina for her beliefs in labor rights, women's suffrage, and running a successful charitable foundation in her name. She died from cancer when she was only 33 years old.

Our tour took us down a street informally known as Embassy Row, where most of the foreign embassies are in the same neighborhood and it's one beautiful mansion after another. I couldn't resist the photo above of the Embassy of the Vatican.

Back at Plaza de Mayo when it wasn't raining. You can see the Casa Rosada in the distance. The monument in the middle represents the May Revolution (and is also the Plaza's namesake), which was the catalyst of the Argentine War of Independence from Spain.

Despite its unusual façade, this is actually the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires. Like many old churches, this one was rebuilt and renovated multiple times since the 1600s; the façade was added in the 1860s.

Inside the cathedral are the remains of General José Francisco de San Martín. According to his Wikipedia page, "nicknamed 'the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru,' San Martín was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and central parts of South America's successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire."

The Obelisk of Buenos Aires was erected in 1936 to commemorate the city's 400th birthday.

I had heard before I visited Buenos Aires that it was very well-known for it's European-style architecture, even among other European-colonized South American cities. When you see some of the photos but especially the one above, which is the Teatro Colón opera house, that photo looks to me like it could've easily been taken in Paris or Madrid.

This is the headquarters of one of the beloved Argentine football clubs, Boca Juniors, who play in the Argentine Premier League. Admittedly this doesn't mean anything to me (Even the reference to the Premier League I only understand because of the TV show Ted Lasso), but soccer is a way of life in so much of the world, including Buenos Aires!

According to Wikipedia, El Caminito is an "open-air museum and pedestrian street in the La Boca, Buenos Aires. Known for its brightly colored tenement houses, it represents the immigrant history of the area." An artist named Benito Quinquela Martín regenerated the area in the 1950s after it was abandoned.

Lionel Messi, who is one of the best known soccer players in the world, is from Argentina but he has played for his whole professional career on teams in Europe. However, when he helped Argentina win the World Cup in 2022, he came back to La Boca and held the championship trophy above the crowds of adoring fans celebrating in the streets. To commemorate the moment, they recreated a statue of him celebrating on the upper balcony of this restaurant in La Boca.

Mafalda was a very popular comic strip published in Argentina in the 1960s and '70s. She found a lot of popularity even outside of Argentina, so much so that she had two different animated cartoon series on TV. Mafalda is everywhere in Buenos Aires!

My city tour finished in La Boca, so I was walking back to my hostel and discovered the Palace of the Argentine National Congress was right down the street from where I was staying.

My hostel also hosted a yerba mate tasting. I had to look this one up on Wikipedia as well: "Yerba mate is a popular, highly caffeinated, tea-like drink from South America made by steeping dried leaves of the yerba mate plant in hot water. Known for a robust, earthy, and bitter flavor, it offers a powerful energy boost similar to coffee but is traditionally shared socially in a hollowed-out gourd with a metal straw called a bombilla." As a person who doesn't even care for matcha, yerba mate was even grassier in my opinion, so I did not start drinking this instead of coffee (but I'm glad I tried it!).

One of the things I really wanted to do while I was in Argentina was visit an estancia. An estancia is the Argentine version of a cattle ranch. They've been an important cultural touchstone in Argentina since the 1500s, especially because gauchos (Argentine cowboys) are still around to this day. I signed up for a tour that went to an estancia in San Antonio de Areco in the Pampas for the following day.

Our first stop was in the town of San Antonio de Areco, where our tour guide showed us some of the craftspeople who make traditional handicrafts. Silversmithing is still valued in Argentina, and some of the masters can make extremely detailed objects, like you can see above.

Alpargatas, aka the shoes that look like Toms, are the traditional shoe of gauchos, or Argentine cowboys. I loved the visual of all of these (handmade, of course) shoes stacked up for sale!

Once we got to the ranch, we could smell lunch cooking immediately. Our hosts were treating us to a traditional asado, or a barbecue.

Views of the property

The big house, where the ranch owners lived. There would be smaller dwellings on the property to house the gauchos, since many of them also took seasonal work and would travel from one ranch to another.

Went for a ride and was terrified that I would fall off for most of it. No regrets but probably won't do it again any time soon!

By no fault of my trusty steed Maceta, whose name translates to "Flowerpot"!

The visit to the estancia was everything I hoped it would be. I really appreciated getting out of the city and seeing the Pampas region, my scary horseback ride notwithstanding. When I got back to the city that evening, I went to see a tango performance, so it was a 10/10 day.

If you look at Buenos Aires on a map, you can see that you can draw a straight, very short line to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, just across the Río de la Plata. Note: this confused me a little bit, because "río" means river, so it's a bit of a misnomer because it's actually an estuary. But the ferry only takes an hour and 15 minutes, so sign me up!

This drawbridge over a moat was built in 1745 as the only entrance to Colonia del Sacramento when it was a walled city. Now, it leads to the historic quarter, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I took a walking tour of the historic quarter but I have to be honest, I didn't retain that much of it. I mostly spent the afternoon strolling around and taking pictures of flowers.

It was a delightful day trip!

The Río de la Plata estuary

The following day was my last in Buenos Aires, so I checked off the last couple sights that I wanted to see before I hit the road.

Visiting El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a bookstore in a converted theater, was high on my list of priorities, because they're nothing I love more than a beautiful bookstore or library. Getting to see them on my travels is a special kind of privilege. I went well out of my way to get here and it was absolutely worth it!

I also wanted to visit the beautiful La Recoleta Cemetery. I had read that it was considered one of the world's most beautiful cemeteries, and it did not disappoint. It's brimming with artistically designed mausoleums and beautiful statues.

The Recoleta Cemetery is also the final resting place of Evita. Her maiden name was Duarte, so her grave is with her parents.

That evening, I boarded an overnight bus that would take me to Mendoza, aka wine country! I arrived the following morning around 9am, dropped my bags off at my hostel, and I was promptly picked up for an afternoon wine tour at 2pm.

Sampling a glass of Malbec

My favorite thing about going to wineries isn't the wine, it's actually the scenery. It doesn't get much prettier than this!

My time in Argentina was about to come to a close, but during my brief time there, I was taking on all sorts of scary activities (for me). First, riding a horse and trying not to fall off, and on my last day in Mendoza/Argentina, I went whitewater rafting. Full transparency, I would never, ever choose to go whitewater rafting, as I am a weak swimmer and anything in rough water scares the heck out of me. But it was included in my South America tour, and the only other time I went whitewater rafting was with my family when I was about 14 (and I hated it then, in case you were wondering), so I figured I'd give it a shot.

The area where we went rafting was undeniably beautiful, so that was my reward

The English-speaking boat was me, the guide, and a bros trip from the Netherlands (I agree, I've never looked better).

Fighting for my life and also not to be swallowed by my life jacket

I think I'll have to wait another 15+ years before I give it another try.

Having survived the rafting trip, the following day, it was onto the next: Santiago, Chile!