Argentina Buenos Aires South America

Buenos Aires: Slight Return

So what do you do if you unexpectedly find yourself back for one last weekend in your favourite place on the entire continent?

We couldn’t quite believe we were back. As the taxi took us across town to Palermo I started to think about all the bonus stuff we were going to be able to do. The lovely little hotel we’d booked into at the last minute was on the corner of Carranza and Gorriti, which wouldn’t have been an ideal location for a first time visitor to the city, but was perfect for us–stumbling distance from all our favourite bars and restaurants, around the corner from Olsen and the No Brand shop, and a short walk across the tracks to Palermo Soho.

Of course we couldn’t leave BA again without revisiting La Cabrera, home of the finest steak in town, so one of our first tasks was to book in for dinner. We also booked in for Sunday brunch at Olsen, and I went back to the No Brand shop (where the girl behind the counter recognised us) to buy their El Che T-Shirt. It was like our own personal BA Greatest Hits compilation.

7th September 2008: El Che and Bife Chair, No Brand Shop, Palermo

We didn’t feel under any obligation to do any more tourist stuff, but did tick one final item off the list by visiting the Carlos Gardel museum over in Abasto. It was very interesting and, I thought at the time, very reasonably priced at just a peso. It was only much later that I looked at the tickets and spotted that we’d been charged the Entrada Residente, the price for locals, which made me very happy…

But all good things have to come to an end. And there is, after all, only so much steak you can eat and only so much Mendoza Malbec you can drink. And so our weekend came to an end and we left Buenos Aires for good on the night bus. We were heading 1200 kilometers north, where Iguazu falls, Brazil, and the last three weeks of our journey were waiting for us.