Buenos Aires Part I

Javier and I got a week off of school in February (because of the end of the semester).  We decided a little visit to Argentina would do nicely and, lucky for us, Emma and Bobby decided the same!!  Our break was somewhat awkward (Wednesday to Wednesday) so we got into Buenos Aires a bit before our friends and had a day or two to enjoy on our own.

We started our trip with an interesting introduction to the city: our Airbnb apartment.  Javier and I have booked spots on Airbnb before and been super happy so far.  It's nice to have a bit more space when you're staying for a while so we like the whole apartment option.  We booked with Lucas and were super happy with the place.  The apartment was in the neighborhood called Palmero, filled with tree lined streets and tons of restaurants.  It was really Emma and Bobby that picked the neighborhood, but we were SO happy with the selection.  The location made it super convenient for late night dinners and drinks and easy walks back to bed....which for us was in an apartment full of fun and unique decorations which gave the place a quirky, vacationesque feel. 

pineapples and lots of Buenos Aires books

comfy bed

I loved some of the wall art - especially one that had 'somewhere' printed over a rainbow (see what they did there....)

cute little kitchen that we didn't really use...although we had the best of intentions

I loved these decals on the bathroom door

We showered after our overnight travel and went on a graffiti tour in the afternoon.  We booked the tour with Graffitimundo who says their tours: 'reveal the extraordinary history of the city’s vibrant urban art culture, from its fiery political origins, to the modern context in which Buenos Aires has become one of the world’s most exciting cities for street art.'  We thought the tour would be a fun way to get to know a few neighborhoods and see a different side of the city.  I was super pleased with the tour.  Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and we learned about aspects of the city that we would not have on a regular ole tour.  Looking back at the pictures I took made we remember how cool some of the art was!  

This was the first wall we looked at.  The artist lived in the building at the time and simply had some friends go out and add their work to his wall after a barbecue.  I included the building next door in the picture so you could see the juxtaposition. 

whale blimps

both of these were painted during a street art festival.  The piece on the right was done by a local artist named Jaz who often investigates local issues through animals in combat.

The white scarves on the wall are in homage to the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.  During a period of military dictatorship in Argentina, many young people who were against the ruling government disappeared.  The mothers of those that disappeared wore white scarfs as a sign that they had a missing child.  They would wear the scarf and march in circles in Plaza de Mayo hoping for information from others who might know of their child's whereabouts.  Even today women march each Thursday asking for the return of their children and possible grandchildren, as now they are the grandmothers of the disappeared children.

Here is our guide and a wall by Cabaio who typically uses stencils in his work.  Interestingly, artists that use stencils do not typically sign their work since it may not be construed as original.

Here we are in front of Cabaio.

This is a collaborative piece.  We saw several of these and I thought they were pretty cool.  Several street artists come together to make one combined work.

This, too, was another collaborative work.  (The two combatting bears are Jaz's contribution)

On our first night in Buenos Aires we went to a Thai restaurant because we've been missing Thai food that much.  It was DELICIOUS!

On day two we decided to cross the water into Uruguay.  Javier knew there was a small colonial town called Colonia del Sacramento where we could spend some slow down time away from the big city.  I'm sure it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but we really enjoyed it.

Fresh off the boat we used this map to realize that we could walk....everywhere.

First priority was lunch: chivito.  These steak sandwiches were so large we could have ordered one and split it to be full.  We also tried some Uruguayan beer, Patricia, to wash it all down with.

After lunch, we started with the old gate of the city.

Most of the old city wall was preserved in the old town.

The town was colonized by the Portuguese who used gorgeous tile to mark their streets and buildings.  Many of the tiles were still in place throughout the old streets. 

This is the oldest street in town!

The lighthouse and surrounding ruins were beautiful.

it was such a sunny and beautiful day.

I did not want to, but my husband did...so we climbed to the top of the lighthouse.  It was a narrow, spiral staircase up, but the view was worth it.

We could see the Iglesia Matriz from the top!

Here is the tile inside that tells you all sorts of stuff about the lighthouse.

This was a breathtaking map of the original colonial town.  (Every tile we saw was super beautiful.  Javier's grandmother, Grandma Pat, gifted us with these lovely Portuguese appetizer plates for our wedding and the tiles continually reminded us of them.)

Here is the inside of Iglesia Matriz.  It was quiet and cool inside, a nice respite from the hot and sunny day. 

Everywhere we went we saw beautiful scenery 

Our day in Uruguay had to include a big scoop of helado.

We decided to spend the evening with a bottle of wine on the beach.  (Local wine...not our favorite...)

Time on the beach allowed us to see a magnificent sunset on the harbor.

A perfect way to end our day.

We ran back to old town in time to see the sun drop into the ocean.

It was a truly relaxing and beautiful day.  I was so happy that we decided to spend some time discovering Colonia.  Unfortunately our boat ride back was not as pleasant as the trip to Colonia.  We should have known what we were in for when the attendants on the boat started handing out sick bags before we were even moving....needless to say.... I was not feeling up for dinner and went straight to bed when we got home.  I was a little bummed that it meant we missed a dinner in Buenos Aires, but we more than made up for it the next night!