Dispatches from Buenos Aires: Part III (Final entry from BA)

A BA City Bus... yes, we're leaving...

04/25:Saturday: We ventured out to see some of the City’s free museums, which are not huge, but definitely worth a visit to. The museum of Bellas Artes has a decent modern collection, with a Van Gogh, as well as some other heavy hitters. The BA cultural center features some great, yet small, exhibits by BA artists. (With the exception of a Martin Par exhibit.) After the museums, we meandered through surrounding vendor stalls set-up every Saturday, where local artisans sell their goods. As is typical, much of the items are tourist grade. However, there are a few artists who have items worthy of purchase. From the museums, we took a taxi over to the Japanese Gardens for some Sushi. It was a peaceful place, and, they had coy, but not on the menu. After the gardens, we headed back to our apartment and relaxed on the patio for a bit. For dinner, we went to a spectacular Italian restaurant. We too a very romantic private balcony seat overlooking the street and park. The food was on par with any of the best Italian food I’ve ever had. We washed it down with a very good Malbec that was worth paying the extra pesos for. After dinner, we made our way over to a martini bar for a night cap and desert. The place had a 30’s type feel, and was actually quiet. The owner worked the bar and we chatted them up for an hour or so. From there, we dragged ourselves home, exhausted!

04/26 Sunday: Flea Market day! The market that is set-up on Sunday was back, so we did a walk through. It was the same dealers, same stuff, and still over priced. The real deals are in the San Telmo Mercado, which has been going since 1897. There, it’s easier to deal and the items turnover faster. Also, the prices are MUCH better. After a few visits, we got to know some of the dealers. So, every time I walked through, they’d have new memorial photos for me! After scouting around over the last 10 days, I now have 10-15 memorial pieces from BA, and much more! I’ll post some scans upon my return. Andrea finally found a giant vintage wall map of BA! (Which is on sticks, so took me a ton of time to package!). Note: while I packed the map, Andrea found time to shop a boutique next door, of course. Having spent much of the day digging through antiques again, we went back to our apartment, only to find cold water! The water heater broke, so, cold showers…. We found a quaint little restaurant off the beaten path, where we had some more traditional Argentinean dishes. We had this place to ourselves as well. Sometimes it’s crazy here, and other times, it’s dead? It’s random, and changes with the day. Some of the local owners have told us it’s the economy? Who knows?

04/27: Monday: Our last day: In the mourning, we had our famously long coffee and breakfast. I returned to the apartment to pack, and Andrea went for what I think is a very fine haircut… only AR $30 (pesos). After packing, we picked up a custom house sign we had made, and taxied to La Boca, an old historic district of BA. It was SUPER touristy, and not much to do. Nevertheless, worth an hour just to see. And somehow, I managed to leave even that neighborhood with some vintage photographs! On the way back, the taxi driver tried to run some kind of scam on us, but we held our own and had none of it. We had a brief argument, but basically walked away unscathed. You can’t mess with us! (We’ve heard reports about crooked taxis in BA, but this was the only negative encounter. The majority of drivers have been nice, and efficient, even if they drive like lunatics.). With the clock ticking down, we grabbed an early dinner and came back to hot water.

All packed and ready to go, we’ll be departing for the airport in about an hour. Door to door, something like 17-20hrs! Therefore, this will be my last dispatch from BA. I suspect I’ll have more ruminations and photos to post upon my return, but for now… this is Adios, Sayonara, Arrivederci, Ciao, Buenos Aires!! It has truly been a great and memorable experience. - A fantastic city, for which I‘m a little sad to depart!