Buenas tardes folks. Today marks my last full day in BA. I have covered a lot of ground, visted all the major barrios, and have taken in almost all of what I wanted to see. I decided that today I would return to San Telmo, if you recall it is the oldest barrio in the city. The guidebook talks up this area quite a bit, and I felt as if I was missing something. The first time I visited I didn't find anything eye-popping or incredibly interesting, so I thought I would give it another try.
I made my way to La Defensa, the long street that essentially serves as an entrance to the barrio. Being a Sunday, the street was now closed to traffic, and craftspeople had their food stalls, tables and blankets full of souvenirs out all along the street, and the tourists were out in force. I arrived in BA a week ago today, and walked La Defensa that day as well, but his time I would take it even further down. I slowly made my way down the the crowded street, noticing many of the sellers were the same. Street musicians banging away on bongos or strumming away on guitars lent to the already noisy atmosphere. I eventually got to a point that I knew I had not crossed last Sunday, and this seem to be the end of the street that had more activitiy. There were still people selling food and all kinds of trinkets, but now street performers had joined their ranks, amongst them a puppeteer. One of the buildings along the street was named the "San Telmo Mercado", and it turned out to be a huge indoor flea market, but also containing some food stalls. After emerging from the mercado, I kept on down La Defensa, eventually coming to Plaza Dorrengo at the end of the street. When I first came to Dorrengo, it was on Monday, and it was quiet with only a handful of people hanging around and the surrounding cafe's only setting up their tables. Today, you couldn't even see the plaza. Stalls filled with flea market items and other junk had set up shop in the plaza, creating a large flea market crammed with tourists and locals all milling about looking at the dusty and rusty stuff that was available.
I made a point of wandering some of the quieter side streets that were void of tourists. I still didn't find San Telmo to be quite as charming as Lonely Planet did, but it does have a much different feel from the rest of the city. San Telmo feels more, well, South American I suppose. The buildings are for the most part low-lying, many are old and pretty poor condition. After a couple of hours of exploring this barrio, I decided to head back for a rest.
Despite pretty much running out of options, after I rested up I bit I thought I would see what Puerto Madero was like on a Sunday evening.
Great idea. I am so glad I did. I got down to Madero near the Puerte de Mujer and the sidewalks were already beginning to fill with couples and families out for a stroll in the cool weather before the beginning of of the work week. I parked myself on a bench to perform a favored past time of The Four Corners: people watching. After several moments of watching Portenos in relaxation mode, I decided to move on. There is a huge ecological reserve running adjacent to Puerto Madero, and I headed in that direction. Again, glad I did. I found a long promenade on the outskirst of the nature reserve, and all along the promenade were stalls selling the best of Argentinian grilled foods. I treated myself to a fantastic steak sandwhich, at the same time promising to diet upon my return to the US. After finishing up I made my way down the promenade, passing by even more food stalls and Portenos out enjoying the nice evening. Some sort of peformance was taking place along the walk involving a Michael Jackson look-a-like which I watched for a few moments, but gave up due to reasons of not understanding what the hell was being said.
I slowly made my way back in the direction from whence I came, passing through a huge, covered flea market (I had had enough of flea markets, I didn't really check this one out) eventually coming to a large green area. Here couples sat on blankets and chatted, dogs ran around, and a group of kids had a football game going. As I stood taking in the whole scene a couple of teenagers came up to me and asked to take their photo with me, for what reason I am still wondering. Yeah, I am pretty big in Buenos Aires.
Dusk had already fallen and I exited Puerto Madero and made for the subte. It was a great way to spend my last evening in BA, walking amongst Portenos as they used up their remaining free time before going into high gear again tomorrow.
I have a late flight tomorrow, we don't touch off until nine at night, but I will be getting to the airport a couple hours ahead of time. If I have the opportunity, I will report anything of interesting should it occur. Otherwise, next contact will be made from the Estados Unidos.
Adam Kwiat, Buenos Aires, The Four Corners.
I made my way to La Defensa, the long street that essentially serves as an entrance to the barrio. Being a Sunday, the street was now closed to traffic, and craftspeople had their food stalls, tables and blankets full of souvenirs out all along the street, and the tourists were out in force. I arrived in BA a week ago today, and walked La Defensa that day as well, but his time I would take it even further down. I slowly made my way down the the crowded street, noticing many of the sellers were the same. Street musicians banging away on bongos or strumming away on guitars lent to the already noisy atmosphere. I eventually got to a point that I knew I had not crossed last Sunday, and this seem to be the end of the street that had more activitiy. There were still people selling food and all kinds of trinkets, but now street performers had joined their ranks, amongst them a puppeteer. One of the buildings along the street was named the "San Telmo Mercado", and it turned out to be a huge indoor flea market, but also containing some food stalls. After emerging from the mercado, I kept on down La Defensa, eventually coming to Plaza Dorrengo at the end of the street. When I first came to Dorrengo, it was on Monday, and it was quiet with only a handful of people hanging around and the surrounding cafe's only setting up their tables. Today, you couldn't even see the plaza. Stalls filled with flea market items and other junk had set up shop in the plaza, creating a large flea market crammed with tourists and locals all milling about looking at the dusty and rusty stuff that was available.
I made a point of wandering some of the quieter side streets that were void of tourists. I still didn't find San Telmo to be quite as charming as Lonely Planet did, but it does have a much different feel from the rest of the city. San Telmo feels more, well, South American I suppose. The buildings are for the most part low-lying, many are old and pretty poor condition. After a couple of hours of exploring this barrio, I decided to head back for a rest.
Despite pretty much running out of options, after I rested up I bit I thought I would see what Puerto Madero was like on a Sunday evening.
Great idea. I am so glad I did. I got down to Madero near the Puerte de Mujer and the sidewalks were already beginning to fill with couples and families out for a stroll in the cool weather before the beginning of of the work week. I parked myself on a bench to perform a favored past time of The Four Corners: people watching. After several moments of watching Portenos in relaxation mode, I decided to move on. There is a huge ecological reserve running adjacent to Puerto Madero, and I headed in that direction. Again, glad I did. I found a long promenade on the outskirst of the nature reserve, and all along the promenade were stalls selling the best of Argentinian grilled foods. I treated myself to a fantastic steak sandwhich, at the same time promising to diet upon my return to the US. After finishing up I made my way down the promenade, passing by even more food stalls and Portenos out enjoying the nice evening. Some sort of peformance was taking place along the walk involving a Michael Jackson look-a-like which I watched for a few moments, but gave up due to reasons of not understanding what the hell was being said.
I slowly made my way back in the direction from whence I came, passing through a huge, covered flea market (I had had enough of flea markets, I didn't really check this one out) eventually coming to a large green area. Here couples sat on blankets and chatted, dogs ran around, and a group of kids had a football game going. As I stood taking in the whole scene a couple of teenagers came up to me and asked to take their photo with me, for what reason I am still wondering. Yeah, I am pretty big in Buenos Aires.
Dusk had already fallen and I exited Puerto Madero and made for the subte. It was a great way to spend my last evening in BA, walking amongst Portenos as they used up their remaining free time before going into high gear again tomorrow.
I have a late flight tomorrow, we don't touch off until nine at night, but I will be getting to the airport a couple hours ahead of time. If I have the opportunity, I will report anything of interesting should it occur. Otherwise, next contact will be made from the Estados Unidos.
Adam Kwiat, Buenos Aires, The Four Corners.
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