Hello lovely people: the fifth of my occasional blogs from Chile – Argentina – Chile

Buenos Aires

Wow, what a city. Andy and I came to Argentina in July 2007 for nearly three weeks, to meet up with Alison, Roberto and their children. We divided our time between BA, Bariloche and San Martín de los Andes – the latter two for skiing. We had an amazing time. It was of course winter then: days were short and cool (cold and extremely snowy in the mountains), nights cold. The city was subject to daily disruption from strikers and protesters. We remember great steak, great pizza, colourful buildings in La Bocca, a great art museum, a lot of walking. Lots of broken pavements requiring constant attention to avoid tripping. Everyone smoked, finding seating for seven in non smoking areas in restaurants was sometimes difficult.

We are slightly apprehensive about what we would find this time, the country is suffering rampant inflation (over the last 12 months 97% with a current prediction for the next 12 months of around 120%). Alison and Roberto did all of the research for this part of our trip and getting fixed prices for a rental car (in particular), hotels in the remoter regions, even the bus journeys was a challenge. We wondered if we would find a city paralysed by civil unrest and full of apprehension for the future. Well we find none of that! Admittedly we are staying in a smart part of town, La Recoleta. Our street, opposite the entrance to the famous cemetery is lined with bars, restaurants, clubs, busy until the early hours of the morning. Popular restaurants are full, the streets are clean, the pavements repaired and the people extremely friendly – although having a native with us clearly helps! And the parks are stunning. We do not remember BA being so green: but so many of the streets are tree-lined; parks and squares are filled with trees, the “silk floss tree”, a Ceiba, native to the region is in glorious flower everywhere and has trunks reminiscent of Baobs, particular favourites of mine and Alison M’s as you may remember from my Western Australia blogs and photos (there will be more).

We are here to help Roberto celebrate his 70th birthday, he has family and friends in the city, and he and Alison have lined up a week of socialising, eating and drinking to mark the occasion – what a glorious way it is for us to (re)discover the city. We eat and drink: dinner with cousins, lunch with brothers, dinner just the four of us, lunch with other cousins, grand afternoon tea and a speakeasy, drinks with friends, pizze and papilla – are you feeling full yet?

The weather is properly scorchio, between 30C and 38C all week and sunny. The humidity is high in the latter part of our week and somewhat sapping but we persevere, there is always a corner bar for some refreshment and shady respite. Between celebratory feasting we walk and walk, the pavements are fixed, public buildings have been restored, the architecture is fascinating and did I mention we love the parks and the trees? Apart from some of the feasting venues we live outside during waking hours, glad of the aircon at night as the temperature doesn’t drop below 24C.

Buenos Aires is, of course, the city of tango: we see it performed in squares and parks all over the city, dancers and musicians busking for their living. It is extremely atmospheric. Andy and I fit in a lesson at a milango – a club where mostly non-professionals go to practice and dance. Alison and Roberto did not join us so there is no photographic evidence of just how good we were (not!). It was fun but in a room without air conditioning and limited ventilation it was extremely hot and sweaty. The club, Le Catedrale, is cavernous, described (accurately) as bohemian, looks like it is a former warehouse, and in a less salubrious part of town. We felt adventurous, but also safe and enjoyed the experience. We resolve to seek lessons back home . . .

The city of course has its poor areas, and there is deprivation, and unrest but we are very blessed to experience it at its wonderful best. It is beautiful, leafy, sophisticated, fun and full of fabulous places to people watch.

Are you interested in how our money is working? If not skip to the photographs! The answer is it depends on the exchange rate. We are changing cash US$ for Argentinian pesos. We change US$ at our hotel or an official cambio (which are offering the same rate), not a bank, and we are getting at least twice as many pesos for our dollars than if we paid on credit/debit/prepaid credit card. The dual exchange rate is recognized by the government who publish an official and a “blue” or tourist dollar exchange rate. The cambios all seem to improve the official tourist rate. The disadvantage is having to carry cash. We brought US$ with us (at an exchange rate of $1.195 to £1.00); we are achieving an exchange rate of AR$ (Argentine pesos) of between 350 and 360 to US$1.00. We are working on an approximate conversion rate of £1.00 = AR$410. The mental arithmetic is interesting!! Some things are extremely cheap eg taxis where we seem to be able to travel across the city for half an hour for less than £5*; eating well is generally much cheaper than in the UK; wine prices vary from very low to comparable with the UK, depending on venue, beer is cheap, cocktails vary from venue to venue and are generally much cheaper than at home. But this would be a very different story if we were not enjoying the cambio “blue” rate. We are on alert when carrying our cash reserves – normal city rules apply – but really our experience has (so far) been absolutely fine.

One thing to consider when carrying cash is its bulk: the highest value AR$ note (currently) is 1,000 – approx £2.50. Bringing back a few days worth of cash from the Cambio doesn’t quite require a wheelbarrow but you get my point, especially when AR$1,000 notes run out and Ar$200 notes are given.

*except the one time where we were ripped off by a driver with a dodgy meter, but it was only our second ride after the airport fixed price taxi to our hotel, we learned from that lesson . . .

Until next time, when we move to Mendoza, adios amigos
ALISON