April 9 to 16- Our trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina

At 9AM on Saturday April 9 we were on our way to yet another vacation-this time to exciting Buenos Airies in Argentina. Yes, I know, I know, we are retired -permanently on vacation- and living on the beach in beautiful Salinas, Ecuador. But Uwe and I love travelling and though we had spent time throughout Ecuador visiting and living in many other interesting places we had yet to visit other countries in South America.

So it was time to start!

Our flight went through Santiago, Chile and after a short layover- enough time to hit the Duty-Free- onwards to Buenos Aires. The entire trip was as long as our returns to Canada- almost 8 hours! We arrived late into the evening ( Buenos Aires in 2 hours ahead of the Ecuador time zone) and hired a Remi taxi to take us to our hotel. You can pay for these in the airport and use your visa. We had heard many disturbing accounts of tourists being given counterfeit money as change from the taxi drivers- better safe than sorry!

Our hotel, Design Suites, was an RCI timeshare exchange and was very nice and in an excellent area of Buenos Aires    http://www.designsuites.com/en/hoteles/hotel-en-buenos-aires.php

                          Our suite was quite large- nice living room

                                         Kitchnette

                                      And separate bedroom

                     The next morning, a free breakfast buffet was included.

We were off to our first day of exploration. Since we loved walking, we checked our map and decided which way to go to visit the famous Recoleta Cemetery. Buenos Aires is a truly beautiful city- very clean, scenic and very European.

                 Flower kiosks at almost every corner

                           Quiet treed streets

                      Finally we arrived at the Entrance to the cemetery

                                    Lots & Lots of mausoleums

As well, all around the area were many kiosks selling leather goods, souvenirs, paintings etc

For lunch we found a Brew Pub- yes, there are Brew Pubs in Buenos Aires- WOOHOO!

On Day 2, we walked towards the river this time passing by the famous Obelisk

Many of the streets in this area are pedestrian only, great for those of us who love walking.

Next we walked to the 'Casa Rosada' the Pink House, USA has it's White House where the president lives, Well, Argentina has the Casa Rosada!

For lunch on this day and more exploring we went to the Puerto Madero- a river walk with many restaurants, shops, condos all along a scenic river front. We spent a few hours here exploring, a very interesting  place.

                     Lots of big boats including some several hundred years old

 

And then a delicious lunch of pizza and Argentinian Malbec wine! Delicioso

On Day 3, we took the long walk to the Malba Museum- well worth the effort! We decided that we must have walked at least 30,000 steps every day (for my step counting friends LOL).

We walked past a park with this weird sculpture

For lunch on this day, we decided it was finally time for one of those delicious Argentinian steaks we had heard so much about. We had passed this interesting Steak House the day before that was open for lunch. Argentinians eat dinner VERY late, so we had decided to have our big meal for lunch as often as possible.

                                            Our steak restaurant

Uwe's awesome steak- and yes, these are the best we have ever tasted!

Day 4 started very rainy so we thought we would try some rainy day things. First we walked to this very interesting library converted from an old opera house. Three beautiful stories high!

Next, since it was still raining, we walked to one of Buenos Aires very upscale Malls, on Florida St.,

a little beyond our pocket book!

And then, surprise, another steak lunch!

Day 5 came bright, warm and sunny- a treat as it was after all fall in Argentina. We took another long 2 hour walk to the Japanese gardens- very pretty.

From there we walked to where we believed was yet another Brew Pub. This time in Palermo Soho, another neighborhood we wanted to visit. We walked along some mayor streets past many parks.

                            and many statues- this is Italia Plaza

Our good luck deserted us when we did find the Brew Pub BUT it was only open for dinner- damn!

We consoled ourselves with lunch at an Irish Pub.

That evening we did go out for dinner at an excellent Indian restaurant. I LOVE Indian food.

We were there when the doors opened for dinner at 7:30PM and had an awesome meal.

Our last full day in Buenos Aires started with huge thunder boomers and flooding rains.

What to do! We decided to take the subway to the Horse race track 'Hippodrome'. Even if the horses didn't run there was a casino where we could while away a couple of hours.

The subway was much like Toronto's- older but very safe

After a reasonable walk in much lighter rain we arrived at a wonderful racing facility. Nice paddock area where, if the horses had been running, we could have gotten close enough to touch them.

                              And a very large grandstand

After a couple of hours and lunch in the casino- it was huge, 3 floors- reminded us very much of Las Vegas, we took a taxi back to our hotel.

We did go out for dinner that night for- yup, you guessed it- more steak and that delicious and inexpensive Malbec wine.

The next morning after breakfast, we checked out and took a taxi to the airport and took off for home.

We were almost descending for our landing in Guayaquil when the captain came on and said ' We are being diverted to Quito airport ( another 45 minutes away) because the Guayaquil airport is closed due to an EARTHQUAKE'.