Argentina - Shopping and last minute walks

For those looking for the glamorous shops, look no further than Galerias Pacifico in Retiro. It's a modern shopping centre with a huge food hall and all the normal glamour brands sold worldwide!

Another street that is great for pedestrians is Florida. This pedestrian street has a " cambio" dealer every 5 steps! Just be careful of these money changers as the high exchange rate offered may bounce back in the form of false notes given!!

Av de Mayo is another good street to walk down and we took a tea break at the famous Cafe Tortoni. This world renowned coffee shop is beautiful inside with interesting decor and decent tables. Supposedly the oldest cafe in Argentina, it was established in 1858. Tea is served with tea leaves which makes quite a change in this era of teabags! Some of the waiters look pretty ancient as well!

Some observations:
Many smokers in the streets - horrible to inhale! Even worse than the vehicle fumes

McDonald's,  Burger King, Tupperware, Subway, Avon, Starbucks (everywhere!) and all the usual brand stores plus many Magazine/Flower Kiosks on the pavements

Kiosks selling chips, soft drinks and sweets are so tiny and there are often 2 or 3 right next to each other.

People are everywhere, dashing somewhere.

Traffic is relentless, fast but well behaved.
Buses go every which way and there are very many all day long.

Drivers are courteous to pedestrians and only seem to hoot occasionally

Architecture is a mixture of old, new or very decrepit!

Most pedestrians wait for the "white" man and when it starts flashing red, there is a second countdown so you know how fast to walk!

Motor bikes have parking permits in the Centre - pieces of paper flapping in the breeze.

Graffiti is everywhere - on every single garage type door  (closed kiosks ) and just on anything that can be scrawled upon.

Parking garages are everywhere - mostly just open plots where the cars are often double parked.

Loads of hawkers in Puerto Madera selling selfie sticks!

Homeless people sleeping in doorways

Bin diggers along the waterfront in Puerto Madera

© Judelle Drake

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradclinphotography

                For Accommodation Cape Town, South Africa

                                      www.bradclin.com

Argentina - Buenos Aires on the Open Top Bus

Buenos Aires

Today we braved the cold and rain to explore the city via the Hop on Hop off bus.

This tour gives one an overview of the city and takes about 3 hours if you stay on board for the duration.

Buenos Aires is a melting pot of old Colonial architecture, high rise apartments, horrid, decrepit areas that look very unsavoury plus the better, more expensive areas where one can spot the professional "dog walkers". Handling at least 6 dogs, all on individual leads must take some doing in the traffic of Buenos Aires!

This city has many statues and memorials plus very many museums. The dramatic change in the centre today, from Sunday, was the sheer volume of people scurrying about as if they are all late for a very important meeting. One has to wonder where all these locals are dashing to in their sombre outfits?

Traffic is also manic with everybody in a hurry to be somewhere important. For me, a slower pace of life is much better! Who wants to be chasing the rainbow either on foot or in a vehicle? It's no wonder that the city is deserted over week-ends as the locals take to Palermo parks or the long walk in Puerto Madera  where the vendors do such a roaring trade. Apartment living? Even upmarket?

With just a balcony pot plant as your garden? Nope, not for me.

Seeing some elderly folk walking gingerly along in the more down trodden areas of Buenos Aires makes one realise the great divide in the income and social brackets of this immense city.

However,  there are extremely beautiful areas further out of the city with palatial homes that even feature GARDENS!!!
This is where I would feel happier rather than in the concrete jungle, even the upmarket one in Puerto Madera!

Pope Francis hails from Buenos Aires and has recently visited Cuba and USA to promote peace and goodwill. Let's hope the message reaches worldwide!

Soccer is alive and well in the city with the Boca Juniors who play in blue and yellow plus the River Plate who play in red and white. Both stadiums can be toured.

The river Plate is the widest river on the world being 220 km at some point. It looks like a sea as one cannot see land on the other side! Only problem is that's it's brown. The river water is purified in Buenos Aires and makes up their water supply. The brown colour is due to clay from the upper regions of the river plus minerals. No swimming is allowed in this river although apparently some folk do ignore this rule during the heat of summer.

Argentina is made up of 24 provinces and each has their own government. So laws are different!

The main fuel stations in the country are YPF. Apparently, the government sold all the national assets in the 1990's but have now bought them all back again! 

Schooling in compulsory in Argentina and English is taught at all Government schools. It must be fairly rudimentary as not many citizens speak English.

Private schools are expensive but offer certificates from different countries for languages which assists those persons  looking to deal with tourists in Argentina.
Many of the private schools are Roman Catholic.

Subsides do exist in certain areas of the city on electricity and gas. But if you live in the more upmarket areas there are no subsides!

Taxes are also targeted at the rich with Property and Income Tax. Sales tax is currently 21% and affects all. Tax on higher end cars such as Audi and Mercedes Benz are also higher! 

A Presidential election is coming up soon - there are 6 candidates and the winner must have at least 45% with the next in line at about 35%. If there is no clear winner then there is a second round of voting featuring only the top 2. Seems a fair way to elect a president.

Motor bike riders are supposed to have their number plate numbers either on the helmet or jacket - however, not everybody abides by this rule!

A melting pot of many people and many things, this city!

© Judelle Drake

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradclinphotography

                For Accommodation Cape Town, South Africa

                                      www.bradclin.com

Argentina - Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires - Puerto Madera

Now for the big city! After visiting Cordoba, the 2nd largest city in Argentina and then into the countryside of Villa Angostura, we now look forward to the big BA.

Moremo Hotel will be our base for our stay. Art Deco architecture, large, modern rooms, wonderful old lifts with cage type doors  (these remind me of the old lifts in Garlicks, Cape Town!) and pleasant staff who speak English. The road outside of the hotel us pretty grotty though!

Puerto Madera, Buenos Aires

Our first outing was to Puerto Madera. Easily within walking distance from our hotel, there are numerous restaurants, very upmarket apartments and the Hilton hotel plus the famous dikes. Nothing is too cheap here but it it still thronged with locals over week-ends. Roller blading is very popular along the smoother side of the dikes as the opposite side is rather cobbled. Both sides have numerous eating spots with both inside and outside tables.

There are a number of crossings from one side to the other but the most outstanding is the Pentagon de La Mujer

Puerto Madera Buenos Aires

This white structure is supposed to represent a couple dancing the tango but to my eyes it is more like a harp! This bridge swings open for traffic and cost AR6million! 

It's a great spot for people watching!

San Telmo:
The famous feria  (street market) on Sundays turns Defensa street into a very long and busy flea market. All sorts of goods are on offer from the gorgeous to the silly. Buskers can be entertaining. This street gets very crowded and busy so take care with your possessions!

The market truly goes on forever and at the end it turns into an antique market with old cutlery, crockery and all sorts!

Buskers in San Telmo at the Sunday Market

It's very hard on the feet but worth it for the atmosphere of Buenos Aires on Sunday's!
Most of the shops lining the street are closed on Sundays, however some remain open with more upmarket goods and cool interiors.
Prices to match so take your credit card or lots of cash!

Plaza de Mayo

Our early morning walk was towards Plaza de Mayo where the Piramide de Mayo stands proud. This white obelisk was built to mark the 1st anniversary of BA's independence from Spain and the square is surrounded by beautiful buildings. The most well known is the Casa Rosada - the pink palace!

Unfortunately, we were caught by the "old mustard" trick. We were walking along when the "tourist" in front of us with his map and cell phone looked up and then started wiping his jacket. We walked past and then suddenly he called us to show us all the marks on our clothes! Offering a tissue to clean it off! Luckily it seemed there was only him. We took out our own tissues and thanked the bastard!  Further along a cop stopped us to ask if we were ok and if any of our belongings had been stolen. The cop spoke perfect English and warned us about this trick and advised us to get changed before heading any further. Thankfully,  all the mess washed out and we will be more aware in future.

This city is not the safest for tourists and it is the first time in all my travels that we have been molested like this. One cannot walk with a camera in full view which I have been doing all over for years - including in the slums of India with no problem. Anyway, thankfully nothing stolen!

© Judelle Drake

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradclinphotography

                For Accommodation Cape Town, South Africa

                                      www.bradclin.com

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