On May 10th we left Iguassu Falls (Brazil) to go to Buenos Aires (Argentina). Instead of flying from Brazil to Argentina, we took the bus over the border to Argentina and then flew from Argentina. The border between Argentina and Brazil is along a river, and the border falls right in the middle of a bridge, where the Argentina side of the bridge is painted blue and white (for the Argentinian flag) and the Brazil side is painted green and yellow for the Brazilian flag. In the photo below I’m sitting right on the border between Brazil and Argentina on the bridge.
After arriving in Buenos Aires I noticed that it has a completely different feel than Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While touring Rio I thought I really liked it, but once I was in Buenos Aires I realized how much more I preferred Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires has a more European feel, and to some it is called the “Paris of South America”. Many of the buildings have a European look to them, and there are lots of cafes with tables out on the street like you would find in many European cities. I also felt a lot more comfortable walking around in Buenos Aires in compared to walking around in Brazil. Maybe it was the fact that I can finally understand and speak the language (Spanish), while in Brazil I was struggling with the Portuguese. Maybe it also had to do with the fact that the poverty and inequality in Argentina was not nearly as visible as in Brazil.
I spent May 11 and May 12 touring around the city by bus, walking and by bike. Instead of going through all the places I went, I’ll highlight some of the places I liked in the city and things I noticed.
One of the first places we visited was the famous Recoleta Cemetery, which is a large cemetery containing 4691 vaults. It is unlike any cemetery I had ever been to! As we walked around we saw rows and rows of tombs and mausoleums, some decorated with statues, and others less elaborate. Walking around was really interesting, each tomb was very different from the next, some were newly renovated, some were much older, some were well kept with fresh flowers and plants, and others were neglected and had broken glass doors and spider webs.
The famous Evita is also buried in this cemetery in her family’s tomb. This was the busiest tomb in the cemetery, and was covered in flowers.
Our guide explained that there is a bustling real estate market in tombs in the cemetery, and families will sell their plot, the old coffins removed, and the new owners would use the plot as-is or do renovations before turning it into a family mausoleum.
Buenos Aires reminded me of a mix between New York City and European cities. There are many theatres and large billboard signs along the street, and there are lots of cafes with tables outdoors on the street
Below is a photo of the 9th of July Avenue (Av. 9 de Julio), which is the widest avenue in the world and it is extremely busy. In the center of the avenue stands the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, which is a national historic monument commemorating the 4th centenary of the 1st foundation of the city.
My favourite area of the city was El Caminito. This area is a street museum, and is located in the area of the city called La Boca. The area is famous for the multi-coloured buildings and walls. Our tour guide explained that as ships passed the residents would ask the ships if they had any extra paint on board, and so they would get a little bit of extra coloured paint, and paint just one wall in that colour, and then when another boat came through the locals would pick up another colour of paint and paint another wall in that colour until all the walls were painted different colours. There was so much life walking around the area, there were cafes and restaurants all along the street, with tables outside.
Another area that we visited was the Plaza de Mayo, which is a main square, with a monument in the middle commemorating the revolution on May 25th, 1810 that led to Argentina`s independence. At one side of the square stands the Casa Rosada (The Pink House), which is the office of the President of Argentina.
Another really cool area of the city is Puerto Madero, which is the area along the waterfront, and extends into a man-made island. The area is one of the wealthiest areas of the city, with new condo buildings and parks. Exploring that area made me almost forget I was still in South America! The condos look like condos I would find in Toronto! There are also nice (and expensive!) restaurants and cafes in that area.
I loved the architecture of the buildings around Buenos Aires and the monuments that are scattered around the city:
Buenos Aires is such an amazing city! Very very different from the rest of South America so far!
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