This was it – the final leg of our journey. We said goodbye to El Calafate, it’s remoteness, daily power outages, and to the natural beauty of Patagonia, the Andes, and the glaciers, and arrived in Buenos Aires mid-afternoon on Saturday. A bit of a mixup with our AirBnB host, and we had to find cash (up until now, we’d been using Chilean Pesos) and grab a cab to our apartment. Remember, it was early February and 80+ degrees – roll down the windows in the cab to get the full effect. Ahhh, nice!
Buenos Aires apartment
The apartment was a cute place – 2 bedroom, a slightly funky kitchen layout, easily 12′ ceilings, and most importantly, it had a roof deck – definitely check that out later… A now familiar pattern – drop our gear, wash off some of the travel grime, and out the door to explore. We headed toward the Recoleta Cemetery, famous for some inhabitants, including Evita, but it was already closed for the day. Buenos Aires having deep European origins, we did the european thing and found a outdoor cafe for an afternoon appetizer.
San Telmo market
Sunday, the weather held, and we’d planned for the San Telmo street fair. Depending on what you read, it was located near Plaza Dorrego in the San Telmo barrio (duh!). So we decided to explore the Buenos Aires subway system. Eventually figuring our way around, we arrived at Avenue De Mayo, and figured out that the San Telmo market wasn’t just in the plaza Dorrego, this had to be a mile of street vendors lining both sides of Avenue Defensa.
Down and back, it seems we spent nearly 5 hours wandering the streets, though before returning to our apartment, we made our way over to Cafe Tortoni – a must-see recommendation from Andrea, our friend who grew up in Buenos Aires.
The gold room, for those extra special occasions
First balcony in the Opera house
The following day, it probably all caught up to us. We’d planned to head out of Buenos Aires to the Tigre district, though instead decided to stay local for a more-relaxed day of additional exploring. Another recommendation had been to tour the Teatro Colon (the Opera house), one of the truly great venues in the world. So, again onto the subway and off to the opera house – we were able to catch an english tour and were treated to some amazing architecture and a building that belied the European-influenced opulence of yesteryear.
Don Julios Parilla – a classic Argentinean steakhouse
Leaving the Teatro, we headed to the cemetery and got lost for a bit in search of Evita’s resting place. Eventually finding her, we paid respects and made our way back to the apartment for an afternoon siesta. Dinner that evening was at one of the top restaurants – as it happens, close to our little slice of Buenos Aires – Don Julios Parilla. Still on US time and eating habits (seems that the locals don’t really even think about eating much before 9pm!), we arrived at 7 – barely opening time – and were able to snag an outside table without reservations.
The night was young, and certainly warm, so on returning to the apartment, we grabbed a bottle of wine and headed up to the roof deck for a glass under the moonlight. ahh, definitely a nice memory!
Our flight home didn’t leave until late on Tuesday, so on our final day in Buenos Aires, we decided on the National Museum of Art. Perhaps not quite on par with the Louve or the Musee de Orsay, we did catch a glimpse of a few Degas and a few other great works.
Thankfully, our return trip home was uneventful, though with honorable mention to the 100+ tween girls, all dressed with the same t-shirts headed for their (probably first) trip to Disney. Just imagine a plane load! Soon enough though, we were asleep and headed back to Miami, then Boston, and much colder weather!
A very memorable journey overall, one I’m certainly blessed to have shared with Jeanne (and with you also!)…
Planning It had been more than a year and a half in planning… And as has been our custom, it started with a comment from Jeanne – how about Machu Pichu? We were looking for something off the beaten path, and that certainly sounded like it fit the bill… But then, a bit of research, and some of the buzz on the net suggested that it was pretty crowded area, and even so, once you see the sites, what then?
First, our “W”, we mostly followed the ‘traditional’ “W” circuit – starting on the western branch and heading eastward. When traveling from Ref. Paine Grande to Ref. Cuernos, we did the central leg, following the path through to the Mirador Britanico. And we followed the shortcut when trekking from Ref. Cuernos to Ref. el Chileno. Unfortunately, our plan had been to visit the Mirador Torres del Paine on the morning of 4-Feb, but the morning broke with clouds over
Having finished the planning and with travel day finally upon us, we loaded up our packs and decided on public transportation to the airport, figuring no time like the present to get accustomed to carrying our gear. While seeing people walk around with full hiking gear in Boston is a bit unusual, as we’d come to experience at the other end of our journey, it was almost 100% the opposite at the other end of the earth, where it
The “W” trek – Ref. Paine Grande to Ref. Grey and back This was it – the real beginning of our trekking journey, so after saying goodbye to Rodrigo and Gloria, our gracious hosts at Keoken B&B, we took a short ride to the bus station and were off our trip into the park! Heading northward, we got our first real taste of the vastness that is southern Patagonia. After 2+ hours of mostly nothing but grassy steppe, dust, and some periodic views of
The “W” trek – Refugio Paine Grande to Refugio Los Cuernos via the French Valley We knew this section was going to be a kicker – a bit over 28km (17.5 miles). This was the middle leg of the “W” (the blue sections on the map) and it was going to be a long day. Beginning at Ref. Paine Grande, tracing a path to Campamento Italiano (orange on the map), with a branch northward into the French Valley – a 7.5km stretch,
The “W” trek – Ref. Los Cuernos to Refugio El Chileno We’d expected this section to be a bit of a breather after the massive 17+ miles the day before. Though the unknown was the “shortcut” – various posts about the “W” had talked about a shortcut, but none of the trail maps showed the shortcut as a trail alternate. No problem, the total distance, sans shortcut, was a bit less than 20Km (maybe 10 miles) – a bit day,
The “W” trek – to Hotel Las Torres The buzz around the dinner table last night had been who’s waking up at 3:30am to go view the Towers – the signature photo op for the entire park. Troll the internet and you’ll see many a photo, some perhaps photoshopped, to show a vibrant red during sunrise on the towers. For us, after our tough day the day before, we knew we weren’t getting up that early. We like our panoramic
Argentina and the Perito Moreno Glacier It was time to say goodbye to the “W” and the trekking portion of our adventure and switch to the more traditional tourista aspects – an excursion to Perito Moreno Glacier and a few days in Buenos Aires. They say that getting there is half the fun – the trip from Hotel Las Torres to El Calafate, Argentina was no exception. After our relaxing day at the hotel and our day hike, we boarded the
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