Argentina, One Month Later
We spent eight days in Argentina at the end of July, most of it in Buenos Aires with an overnight trip to Iguazu Falls. Rollins does a lot to support faculty traveling abroad, and in looking into potential destinations Argentina quickly became the obvious choice. It was nice to get out of Florida in the middle of the summer. . . . Iguazu was warm (I haven’t really figured out the meteorology of that one, it was winter), but Buenos Aires was nice and cool, in the 50’s and low 60’s for most of the trip.
The strength of the dollar compared to the peso was another huge factor. The peso spends about like the dollar, but the exchange rate is three-to-one. The nicest boutique hotels in the city were around $120/night. A stunning meal for two ran 150 pesos including appetizers, dessert, and wine. As expected, the comparable meal in a major US city would be around $150. Coming back to a credit card statement with these $40-45 charges was very nice.
My mighty dollars also made it a great place to shop. Palermo, the neighborhood for our second stint in Buenos Aires, is a bohemian shopping district full of local designers. I ended up getting an amazing leather messenger bag for a fraction of what it would have cost in the US.
Buenos Aires felt very comfortable and western, and with our rusty Spanish we were able to get along ok. Our only real communication problems had to do with people expecting Castilian pronunciation: “Hon-dur-as” “Que?” “Hon-dur-as” blink-blink . . . we show written address “Ah, On-door-as.” Taxis were cheap and made it very easy to scoot around town, even for short trips.
Our two day trip to Iguazu turned into a one night plus one day trip after LAN airlines overbooked and booted us from our flight, leaving us to hang around the domestic airport for over four hours. In the end we arrived in time to enjoy caipirinhas on the patio of our bed and breakfast followed by a tour of the town (complete with views across into both Brazil and Paraguay) and a nice dinner out. We had a full day at the National Park / Falls, and that was plenty. We were able to cover all the network of trails and vantage points. It was absolutely stunning; Eleanor Roosevelt’s “Poor Niagara” quote definitely rang true.
I’ll make some recommendations for things to do and places to stay/eat, hopefully helping out any future Argentina travelers who might happen upon this:
Hotels:
Home Hotel: In Palermo, this boutique hotel was absolutely pitch perfect. An amazing complimentary breakfast, impeccable design, effortless service.
Art Hotel: In Recoleta, it was in a nice quiet location but was close to everything. A small room, but very cozy.
Secret Garden B&B: In Iguazu Falls. Comfortable rooms, John makes a mean caipirinha (or more accurately, three) and is happy to chat, dispense advice, or give you a tour of the town.
Restaurants:
La Cabrera: The steak was delicious and never-ending. An outstanding meal.
Cluny: Right in the shopping area of Palermo, we had a great prix fixe lunch here.
Gran Bar Danzon: It was a little hard to find at night, but the cooking was inventive and the wine selection was stellar. In a really nice room, too.
Un Altra Volta: Supposedly the best ice cream in Buenos Aires, it didn’t disappoint. We still dream of the dulce de leche ice cream.
Shopping:
Qara: This is where I bought my messenger bag, they had without a doubt the nicest leather goods in the city.
Papelera Palermo: As the name might suggest, they had a huge selection of very cool homemade paper goods.
