After 6 weeks here, it’s time to leave Buenos Aires and to see what else Argentina has in store. Here are some of my thoughts on what it’s been like to spend time in the city.
Final Thoughts on Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires has been an interesting stop on this trip for me. It’s been more of a real life experience rather than a travel or vacation experience. By that I mean that since I decided to take Spanish classes for 20 hours a week, I’ve been more focused on studying then doing other things; it’s been almost like having a part-time job. I’ve also spent quite a bit of time getting to know the ins and outs of dental practices in Buenos Aires, which was unfortunately, a necessary but fairly unenjoyable process. One root canal and one onlay later, two of my teeth are still recovering from that experience.
I’ve also had an interesting time dealing with the sheer number of people here. While I love the feeling of being in a big city, I’ve discovered that it can be incredibly exhausting for me. There are people everywhere and you constantly have to see them, hear them, walk around them, and brush against them. And that’s just walking through the streets. Taking public transportation here adds a whole new level to the idea of the lack of personal space. I have an image stamped into my brain of seeing a woman with her face practically smashed up against the glass door of the subway during rush hour with arms and hands pressed against the door in a way that would have seemed almost comical if it hadn’t been for real.
The tall buildings of Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires’ most modern neighborhood
That being said, Buenos Aires hasn’t been all bad and the people that I have met here have all been really nice. Although I’ve had my complaints, I still have to say that my best experience has been having a chance to spend so much time in a city this big. I’ve always wanted to live in a big city so being here has given me a chance to see what that’s like. And that part has been fun despite the masses of people.
Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires’ famous theater, is known for having wonderful acoustics. Although I didn’t get to see an opera here, I did get to check out a ballet performance.
There hasn’t been a lot that has completely awed me here, but the most memorable site for me was seeing the Obelisk lit up downtown at night. It’s right in the center of 9 de Julio Avenue, which Porteños like to claim is the widest avenue in the world. I love how the streets are alive at night here and I love seeing lots of people out walking around after dark with everything lit up.
My best food experience has to be the alfajores (amazingly sweet and incredibly addictive Argentine cookies) and the pizza. I’ll be sure to talk more about these in a future post on the food in Argentina, but for now I’ll say they’ve been my downfall in Buenos Aires. A couple more months here and I’m sure I would gain twenty pounds!
I think my favorite activity here was doing the street art tour in the Palermo neighborhood. Although you can see the art while walking around on your own, I found it had a lot more meaning for me after hearing the history of street art in Buenos Aires on the tour, which was definitely something I wouldn’t have learned about my own. If you missed my post on the tour you can check it out here.
The San Telmo street fair and adjacent market are the most famous in the city.
If I could have done things differently, I would have liked to meet more people. I think that since I didn’t have as much time here as I did in Seville, I could have focused more on finding quick and easy social activities in order to meet people. In reality, I spent more time on things like learning Spanish and finding a meditation group than on social activities, but in the end, it’s all a tradeoff. I’ll be more social the next place I end up!
The El Ateneo bookstore in Buenos Aires is one of the coolest around. It is inside an old theater building!
“What’s Up Next?”
I’m going to spend the next couple weeks traveling a bit through Argentina. It wasn’t really part of my plan, but after having so many people tell me I should see other parts of Argentina while I’m here, I feel like I have to at least check out a few more places!
So today I’m heading off on a flight to Iguazú so I can see the waterfalls. After that I’ll make a stop to explore the Salta area, and then down to Mendoza, which is wine country. After that, the tentative plan for now is to head to Chile. As always, you can look for updates to my itinerary on my homepage, which I try to keep as update to date as possible.
Girl Untethered 