Buenos Aires, Argentina: Cooking Class and Tango Show

On the evening of May 10th we had a cooking class where we learned how to make traditional Argentinian empanadas. Empanadas are a baked pastry that is stuffed with meat, cheese or vegetables (or a combination of them).

Empanadas are shaped differently depending on the stuffing:

We were taught how much stuffing to put inside, and how to seal the empanada shut, and twist the outer edges into a nice pattern. Here’s me with my empanada (before it was cooked):

After making empanadas (and eating them) we had a delicious steak dinner (cooked by the chefs at the restaurant). I had heard so much about Argentinian steak, and I had friends tell me that the steak in Argentina is the best steak I will ever eat. So I had pretty high standards going into the dinner. My steak was pretty good, but honestly I’m not sure if I found it better than the steak we make back at home on the BBQ!

After dinner we got to try some authentic Argentinean tea called Mate. In Argentina there is a whole culture around Mate, and it is not like the teas we drink at home. You drink it from a special cup, out of a small metal straw. The tea leaves are poured directly into the cup (before pouring water). You then cover the top of the cup with your hand and shake the cup. By doing this you separate the powder (and fine dust) from the leaves, and you can then blow the excess powder off your hands and from around the top of the cup. The straw is then placed into the leaves, and the cup is filled with hot water (but the tea is not stirred). The tea is drank through the straw (the straw has a little strainer at the end to block the leaves). Traditionally the mate cup is shared between a group of people, all passing it around and drinking from the same straw. I was surprised how common it was around here! I saw people on the street and in stores with their mate cups and straws, and even our bus driver had a mate cup in his cup holder so he could drink mate tea while driving!

While in Buenos Aires we also went to a Tango show! The Tango originated along the border between Argentina and Uruguay in the mid 1800s, in lower-class districts of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Montevideo (Uruguay). The show we watched was at a dinner theatre, where we first ate dinner (I had steak again), and then we were given a 1 hour tango lesson, and finally we watched a tango show. The tango lesson was an interesting experience, I didn’t realize how much coordination it takes to tango! After my lesson I was given a certificate for completion.

The Tango Show performance was great! I had never watched a tango show before, and I really enjoyed the performance. I think I also appreciated it much more after having the tango lesson, so I could fully understand the complexity of the moves!  The dance moves they taught us in the lesson were no where near how complex the ones they performed were!

This was our last night in Buenos Aires, and I was sad to leave! I had such a great time in Buenos Aires! I loved the culture, the architecture and the feel of the city, and I hope to visit it again.

Buenos Aires, Argentina: City sights

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!

Iguassu Falls, Brazil and Argentina

On the morning of May 8 we flew from Rio de Janeiro to Iguassu falls (the Brazil side). Iguassu falls are a collection of water 275 waterfalls on the border of Brazil and Argentina, and they were recently announced as one of the New 7 Natural Wonders of the World. Of the 275 waterfalls, 75% fall on the Argentinian side and 25% fall on the Brazilian side. Apparently, after visiting Iguassu Falls Eleanor Roosevelt exclaimed “Poor Niagara!”, and I tend to agree with her. Iguassu Falls are absolutely incredible, and in comparison Niagara looks much less impressive!

I had heard from some people that the Brazil side was better, and then from other people that the Argentina side was better, and there seemed to be no consensus to which was the better side, so I thought I would just decide for myself after seeing both. We spent May 8th exploring the Brazilian side and May 9th exploring the Argentinian side. Below is a map of the falls, on the left is the Brazil side and on the right is Argentina.

Iguassu Falls from Brazil: We started off on the Brazil side by taking a walk along the Iguazu river to get to the famous Devil’s Throat waterfall. Along the path we could see a number of amazing waterfalls leading up to Devil’s Throat. 

As we approached Devil’s Throat we could see more and more rainbows in the waterfalls! In the background you can see the Devil’s Throat.

As we approached we could see the bridge and balcony to take us up close to Devil’s Throat:

When we finally got to the balcony we had an amazing view of the Devil’s Throat waterfall, along with a beautiful rainbow:

The waterfalls were just breathtaking! I had also never seen so many rainbows! The Brazil side gave us stunning views of the falls, and we got amazing photos. Since we saw the falls from a bit of a distance we had the chance to take in the full glory of them. After seeing this I wondered how Argentina could possibly beat this view!

Iguassu Falls from Argentina: The following day we explored Iguassu Falls from the Argentina side, and it was a whole different experience! We were able to get right up close to Devil’s Throat, close enough that we all got soaked by the mist coming from the falls. It was incredible to see the force of the falls and the volume of water so close!

We also had the opportunity to take a group photo of the whole Contiki group in front of Devil’s Throat:

From the Argentina side we walked along the paths to see the many different waterfalls, and the views were beautiful! There is so much vegetation, and we could see numerous rainbows.

One of the coolest things we did was taking a speed boat along the Iguazu river around and under the falls!

The boat went right under several of the waterfalls, and we were soaked to the core! It was a lot of fun and was well worth it because the views from the boat were awesome!

While exploring the park (on both the Brazil and Argentina side) we had a chance to see some amazing wildlife!

After seeing both sides of the falls I can completely understand why there is a debate about which side is better. Both sides were amazing, but for different reasons. The Brazil side had incredible views. You had the chance to see the falls from amazing angles and since you were a bit farther back you could take in the whole picture of the falls at once. So, in Brazil you could see the falls, but in Argentina you could feel the falls. You could feel their intensity, hear their power, and go underneath them by boat. Choosing a side that is better is very difficult, but if I had to pick just one side I would pick Brazil. Being able to see the falls from the Brazilian angles was breathtaking. The whole experience was awesome, and I’m so glad I got the full experience of Iguassu Falls!