“They say if you come to Buenos Aires and you haven’t danced tango, then you haven’t been to Buenos Aires!”
Cheap car hire worldwide is accessible from single websites these days. You can choose from a long list. There are countries which you can expect not to be on there (Cambodia, for example) but many you wouldn’t have thought of are. There are some countries that beg to be explored by travel overland. Argentina is one of them.
Recoleta Cemetary
Fly into Buenos Aires and check into your hostel or hotel. Home Sweet Home hostel is highly recommended if you’re looking for a place to stay which feels like a home. It’s an apartment with a handful of bedrooms that have bunk beds in them and then one or two with double beds for couples. It’s located in the San Telmo district of the city. San Telmo is where tango was born. Cobbled streets and colonial architecture make it one of the most charming parts of the city to walk around.
Historic Buenos Aires
On a Sunday there is a market where you might find an old tango hat and pair of shoes. You can take them with you to one of the many tango classes you can attend in the city. San Telmo also has loads of fantastic bars, with wallpaper pasted tango posters and old South American celebrities on the walls.
But perhaps the best thing about the district is its parrillas (pronounced pareeyas) or steak houses. You can order a meat platter, which is a bit like being handed half a cow on a plate. Can you say moo? Or you can go for the best cut – the fillet steak (called ‘lomo’ here). If you’re a vegetarian you might have to stick to a side order of fries and vegetables. (Being a vegetarian isn’t very common in South America, and even somewhere as European-feeling as Argentina, particularly Buenos Aires.) There are a handful of vegetarian restaurants but you have to ask around to find them. If you don’t want meat, ask for your meal ‘sin carne.’
Also bear in mind that Argentineans eat late, very late. 10pm dinner is standard and rather than eating earlier alone, if you want to experience eating as the local do, change your dinner time and eat with them. Argentina is famous for its Malbec, as drinking it here is going to be five times cheaper than drinking it back home, order a bottle at the price you’d pay back home to get a truly spectacular bottle.
While in Buenos Aires you should check out Recoleta Cemetery, where Evita is buried, La Boca, where you can catch a Boca Juniors game or just walk around the brightly coloured corrugated iron fronted houses and MALBA, the museum of Latin American art, where amongst other greats, you’ll find a couple of Frida Kahlo’s.
When you’re done in the city , easily 5 or 10 days, go to the tourist office and get a road map. Jump in your rental car and go for a road trip. You could drive 300km north to Rosario and visit the house where Che Guevara spent his childhood or head off to Mendoza, Argentina’s Napa Valley for a couple days touring wineries and living the good life.
Mendoza in Fall
