Birthplace of Tango: BUENOS AIRES

"Finally... we made it"! 

"Ant Man"

There was a sense of relief when we arrive back to Buenos Aires for the last time. We were done with long bus journeys, spending full evenings scouring the net for our next hostel, staying in hostels, sharing bathrooms, robbing shampoo sachets, booking buses, bus stations, Europeans, repacking our bags every couple of days, the constant need to keep loo roll in our bag/pockets, searching for the nearest supermarket, unexpected weather, mosquitos, deet, and the antsy-ness of being on the  all the time. 

Enjoying an espresso at a typical corner cafe

This was our time to wind down before returning home - back to reality after our 3 months of adventure.

We were booked back into the fabulous (gay) Axle Hotel in the San Telmo neighbourhood, which we had stayed in on our first brief visit here. Even though we had only spent 2 days here the last time we made sure to explore the city as much as we could - finally deciding that we were in what we considered to be the nicest area with alot of culture and pretty streets - as you imagine Buenos Aires would be full of. The hotel was fabulous as well - spotless, great staff & service, and as they say themselves "hetero friendly"! 

Buenos Aires is a fabulous city with so much so see and do. It's massive, with about 48 neighbourhoods in total, so we decided the only way to see it all was to take a city bus tour.

Before coming here alot of people who had been or lived here compared it to some European cities like Madrid, Paris or Rome due to the huge European community here.

We didn't see the resemblance with any city we had been in - apart from some of the architecture which is unmistakably Spanish and probably where the Madrid comparison comes from. When you've seen all or most of the city it really is out there as it's own! Some of the neighbourhoods are so different to each other that they could even be separate mini cities.There's so much going on in Buenos Aires that you'd have to be here for a few weeks to really see it all and take in everything it has to offer.



Some districts have characteristic cobblestone streets - like San Telmo where we were based; some have tree-lined streets hooded by majestic Spanish buildings; one district ('La Boca') is well known for it's colourful buildings and street tango; some areas are more metropolitan looking with huge squares and high rise buildings.

The 'Palermo' district

Colourful 'La Boca'

As well as having a huge park, botanical gardens, a zoo, a successful polo team, and tango on the streets, Buenos Aires is home to one of the world's most famous and successful football teams - Boca Juniors.
 This team is famous for the well known footballers it has produced such as Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Roman Riquelme, and most notably Diego Maradona. Of course we did the tourist on it - visited the stadium, bought some t shirts, and took alot of pics!

All local shops and houses are painted in the yellow & blue of Boca Juniors

The tickets for a match usually cost about e20 but if you're a tourist the tickets for the separate enclosed tourist seats are e120! This is because it's much too dangerous to go to a game and sit in the fans section - even if you're supporting their team! This is also apparently a dangerous area of town to be after dark - after taking our few photos we skedaddled out of there!

Waiting for a shower to pass in a cafe

For our mere week in Buenos Aires - and considering it rained for most of the time we were there - we did quite a bit of sight seeing. It was hard to leave the comfort of the hotel for the rain, but we always found it rewarding.

Between the absolutely necessary traditional cafe visits and steak dinners at night, we visited the park and botanical gardens; shopped on the higher end streets; browsed through the casual street markets; took the subway; visited the famous massive cemetery; wandered around in the rain/ got lost in the sun; admired Christmas decorations (still not the same as home!); and spent a day in the bag of Skittles that is 'La Boca'!

Botanical gardens

One of his best steaks!

                                            Negotiating our way around the subway in Spanish!

 Buenos Aires Cemetery

The first Christmas tree we saw in South America

 La Boca - Tango central

 All in all Buenos Aires had a fantastic buzz about it - even though there were more gaps between the buzz than we expected.
I guess we had romantic visions of cobblestone streets covering most of the city, old men sipping espressos on every street corner, and randomly placed tango that you stumble upon while getting lost in the rain! 

Buenos Aires has all of this but it's alot more rare than we expected. Apart from La Boca and a weekly outdoor show in San Telmo, there were no parts of town with free street tango. Instead we found alot of old vintage tango bars that ran dinner and dance shows that cost a small fortune (which we didn't attend!). 

We were lucky enough to be staying in the more romantic looking part of town with it's sometimes cobblestone streets and hard to find cute cafes with it's old chatty men and coffee - San Telmo. The rest or most of the city was very modern with 6 lane traffic running through the streets, and massive greens with monuments as a centre piece.

San Telmo - if you were in the right place at the right time - could be pretty magical! It's Sunday Market which stretches to a length of about 10 blocks, had a lovely relaxed hippy sort of vibe, with alot of cool souvenirs, leathers, antiques and elaborate Latino jewellery (too big for my small Irish ears!).

Lezama Square - Weekly free outdoor tango show

Our first time there we strolled up the same street at night looking for the square which turns into a tango dance hall at the weekend, only to get caught in a traffic jam of bongo parades!
We stumbled upon a similar parade the night before we left when on the way out for our "last supper". It was so magical we were both emotional - but maybe that's cause it was the last night of our 3 month adventure! We followed one of the groups, with their loud energetic drums, colourful costumes, flags, and latino dancers. Unfortunately, we decided to leave the cameras in the hotel that night (I know - typical!), but we did get some shots the previous weekend during a more casual parade.

Yes... that's me dancing with the locals!

Tango Bar on the Square

 It was a perfect finish to our time in South America. After a magical energetic display of drums, colour, and dancing through the streets; we sat down to dinner outdoors in the square, with a free tango show in front of us, while reflecting and reminiscing about the three months gone by. We talked about what we'd miss as well as what we wouldn't, and what we looked forward to at home.

We'd miss the general adventure of being on the move every few days; the challenges of getting around where the only language spoken for the most part is Spanish; funny enough - the long bus journeys; meeting new and interesting people all the time - especially good friends we had made along the way; each other's company and the fun we had together; and being constantly pushed outside our comfort zones whether it was dealing with a fear of heights and mountain biking down a steep gravel road with up to 500 foot drops or more - swimming in the Amazon - or taking a boat trip into the roar of one of the biggest waterfalls in the world (it was mostly me though who was pushed - Niall was always "hard core"!).

Departures...Buenos Aires

So, "adiós" to South America and to our trip of a lifetime! 

We've only realised since being home for a few weeks & looking back on our photos, how much of an adventure it really was and how lucky we were to have experienced it all. At the same time we agreed that it made us feel lucky with what we have at home - family, jobs and a home to return to, and a great little country full of amazing scenery, nature and people!

A little surprise for us to arrive home to - thanks Niamh & Mark!