Jan-2014
The ever drizzling city of Buenos Aires
Breakfast in Kilca Hostel
Rise and shine! it’s still early in the morning I don’t want to wake up all the other people sleeping in the dorm of the hostel so I try to wake up as quietly as I can.
I take my bag after having brushed my teeth and look for some breakfast. The hostel prepares coffee and some bread every morning, so I can eat something right away. They have some marmalade and something that looks like a very sweet peanut butter to me but here it seems to be called “dulce de leche”. Muy rico!
dirty weather
Rainy, very rainy day!
It’s time to walk to the meeting point of the bike tour from Biking Buenos Aires, because today I will do the 7 hours during tour through entire Buenos Aires. At least that’s what I thought I would be doing today, but with this rainy weather I am not so sure if we will really be able to do the tour. As I am walking through the rain I feel the dirt splashing up against my bare feet and legs. Why did I put on flip-flops today? I should have just put on some sneakers! The air conditioning seems to be leaking everywhere on the street too. It’s not just the rain, but even if it is sunny you would feel the drizzling air conditioning of each and every building hanging above the sidewalk. You always have to mind your step on the sidewalks or you’ll get wet.
We meet up with 3 other tourists and a very friendly guide. We decide to all put on the ponchos the bike tour company provided us and to definitely wear the helmets for more safety. Unfortunately the rain does not stop and the streets are full of water by now.
Rainy day! I look prepared but I’m still on flip-flops, whoops!
We decide to leave the meeting point with the bikes and to start the tour, but after having cycled for about ten minutes we figure that it’s rather unsafe to keep on going with this bad weather. Our guide decides to stop the tour and to head back and that is a wise decision. The cars driving in Buenos Aires won’t be more careful with this bad weather, so you are quite harmful cycling around in the rain over here. We can do the cycling tour again tomorrow when the weather will be better, but everybody is telling me that here in Buenos Aires you can actually not predict the rain.
caffeine to the limit
The other three persons who are on the tour and I decide to go for coffee together. It will be raining for a while anyway. The first most nearby cafe is not open yet. It’s already about 11 o’clock but maybe it’s just to early for the Argentinian places to open their doors. Luckily we find another cafe a few hundred meters away from the first place.
For now the four of us are friends of destiny with a lot of coffee to be ordered.
After about an hour or two, maybe even three, we figure that we could stay and drink coffee all day long or just go to some museum and enjoy the rest of the afternoon with some kind of sightseeing. The couple (a woman from the U.S. and a guy from Brazil) decide to go to the Plaza de Mayo and I agree with Sai (a guy representing India and living in San Francisco) to go to a couple of museums in the Recoleta neighborhood.
La casa Rosada where Evita did her famous speech
from sunburn to hail storm
The weather really seems to be unpredictable. The sun comes out and the day is becoming better and better, but it does not last for long. All out of a sudden bad weather arrives again and I am just stunned by the fact that I was burning my shoulders half an hour ago and that now I have to seek shelter from an actual hail storm.
A bookworm’s city
A bookstore which used to be a theater. Pretty cool right?
After the storm has passed we make our way for an unique bookstore. The place is gigantic and looks extremely well taken care off. The name of the bookstore is El Ateneo Grand Splendid and it’s probably one of the most amazing bookstores in the world. So yeah, if you’re in town and you’re a bit of a bookworm, visit it!
Playtime in the neighborhood of Recoleta!
Sai who’s traveling from the U.S. is chilling out in the giant roots of a tree
Evita’s final resting place
The cemetery of Recoleta is totally worth a visit. For some it might sound really weird to go and visit a cemetery just like that, but for this visit you’ll want to bring your camera. The weird thing is that the grave of Evita is not easy to find.
La Recoleta cemetery where Evita has her final resting place
You would expect a lot of signs pointing to her grave, but they actually made it difficult for you to find it. The confusing thing is that other graves, such as the ones in the entrance of the cemetery are way more impressive and so a lot of people figure that the grave in the entrance is Evita’s grave. The government at the time did not like Evita and they did not want to give her a big impressive memorial. They decided to bring her – 26 years after her death – to the Duarte family grave in Recoleta, but to do it quietly and without a lot of media.
Evita’s grave
Basilica Nuestra Señora del Pilar next to the cemetery
About Renate Rigters
Ever since I left my home country I felt at home at any other place I went to. I enjoy getting to know more cultures by talking to strangers and hearing their philosophy about life. Speaking with gestures when you can not find a shared language, finding places only the locals go to and learn about their customs and values. Hanging out with local people makes me happy. The experience of every new place is a step out of your comfort zone where I like to wander around until it feels like a second home.
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Nice! Thanks for the mentions and I still am shocked by the hail storm because it was so hot there and of course I loved the rain.
Yes, that was crazy right? Who’d expect a hail storm in B.A.?