San Telmo - We started our first day by taking a taxi down to San Telmo, which was
recommended to us for a Sunday visit so we could see the market. It was easily one of the biggest street markets I've ever seen, much more than anything I've seen in the states. There
was great street art, but sadly there weren't many crafts that we were interested in buying. There were supposed to be Gaucho items for sale (the local "cowboys") but we didn't see any.
There were great street musicians, and a few churches, and an extremely small house appropriately named the
"casa minima". Pictured here is a small street orchestra that we saw on the outside fringes of the market.
La Boca
From there we walked down to a nearby neighborhood called "La Boca." Unfortunately, we decided to walk there on foot, and as we were trying to find our way down there, we read in the guidebook that it was not known as the greatest neighborhood in the area... Actually, there was a paragraph in the book that talked about the crime that it used to be known for, but the book claimed that it was undergoing a revitalization. Walking through it, we felt that there might still have been a little ways to go. Like some U.S. cities, it seemed that we could very easily cross over from good n
eighborhoods to bad neighborhoods by crossing the wrong street.
La Boca is known for its outdoor venues, specifically ones that offer live dancing. We had the pleasure of watching a pair of tango dancers while we sat down to lunch, and then we were able to tour the neighborhood, which was filled with outdoor art exhibits (largest outdoor art museum) and the houses looked like something our of key west.
Cementerio de Recoleta - We took a cab back up to the neighborhood where our apartment is (The "Recoleta") and walked over to the Recoleta Cemetery. It is the most famous cemetery in the nation, and it's beautiful. The crypts were all very impressive, and some of the country's most famous people were buried there, notably Eva Peron and the grave of a girl who was buried alive (famous story apparently involving her being in a coma when she was buried, and subsequently expiring in the grave.
Dinner - Dinner was going to be a stop based upon a recommendation from our guidebook, but after we walked the 30 minutes to get there, it was closed due to the staff being on vacation. It was not really close to any other places, so we wandered a bit before we were able to find a spot that was open (Scuzi). I had a rump steak "romana," which was an excellent preview of meals to come, as the steak was awesome. The chef paired it with a sauce that let it retain its flavor, and now I'm really excited to see what else Argentina has to offer.
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