Pushing Pesos: Buenos Aires- Palermo

Top Travel Tips for Buenos Aires

Argentina's current economical situation means that withdrawing cash from the ATM is very costly. Bring lots of dollars instead and exchange them at the ´Cambios´ on the street. We hadn't realised this, making the first leg of our trip in Argentina very, very expensive.
Use the local colectivo to get around the city as Taxis are very expensive. Find out what numbers you need by asking locals on the street and hop on. Bare in mind they don't except notes so bring plenty of change!
Visit ´La Cabrera´ steak house in Palermo before 7pm to avoid the que and get a cheaper deal.
For a unique dining experience, eat at a closed-door restaurant (in spanish it is called Puertas Cerradas). I would recommend Colectivo Felix, the chef Diego is a fantastic cook. Make a reservation with them by emailing them at info@colectivofelix.com, you wont regret it!
Read this blog for more information on the areas to visit while in Buenos Aires.

From the airport we jump into a taxi, windows wide open as there is not a cloud in sight and its HOOTTT! Jo is already laughing at me with the sweating am doing. The taxi took about an hour, one hour of crazy driving. Horn beeping, cars swerving and cutting each other up without a signal in sight, eeek! So we could see the roads in Buenos Aires are mental, there are lanes but no one uses them. Almost just a free for all, if you can get through, just go for it. The long ride did have its advantages as it was nice to see the surrounding neighbourhoods to Palermo Hollywood where we were staying.

Jo had actually surprised me on the plane to inform me that we were not staying at our hostel just yet, she had booked us in a chic boutique hotel called ´Rendezvous´ for 2 nights with its own Jacuzzi terrace. Sweet! I said that is amazing! No mixed dorm sharing for 2 more days, GREAT!

We were told we could not check in till 3pm so we had 3 hours to kill, which we didn't mind as surprisingly we were not tired. We walked around Palermo, heading to Plaza Cortarzar, lovely streets lined with huge trees giving shade that is vital to not dying! We stopped of at a trendy bar where locals are sipping on beers (Cerveza). We decide to have a beer too, our first in BA, cheers we say - here´s to many more!

We take in the sights, stop off at the local parks and have a go on the swings, its nice to actually go to a park without gangs of chavs hanging around. Already, I can feel my arms burning. Its so hot! Jo already fits in with the locals as shes tanning already. Ill fit in once I get passed the lobster stage.

Were starting to get hungry now, the beers we had earlier are staring to have a bit of an effect. We stop off at a bustling stall/food place selling tacos. We try to order in Spanish with success (It was called Chez Juanitos) The food was very nice, quick and cheap, around 20 pesos a taco and 20 pesos for a coke. Coke actually cost as much as the food!

Back at the hotel we are ready to check in, but run into our first complications ( minus the system on the plane.) They booked us into the wrong room, a standard room without a terrace jacuzzi. I went down to reception and after much pleading they apologised for the double booking and allowed us into the room after all. Once in the room we then found out there was not hot water to run the jacuzzi bath, this was enough to send us into a frenzy. I then when down to reception and announced we were leaving, they had not delivered as planned. The lady then said, it should be working now. We headed back up stairs and it was starting to work, so we though heck, whatever its working lets stay. We didn't fancy trailing around BA looking for a place to stay.

So we settled in, had a nap and decided to head out in the evening to a place recommended to us by a friend who has also travelled to BA recently. The place was called ´La Cabrera´, an Argentina steak house. We were warned about the wait so we arrived around 9 pm and but still had to put out name down to wait. The lady said 30 minutes, at that point we had realised that in BA if they say a time, double and that usual when it will actually happen. So 1 hour later we were shown to our seats. This placed in packed and had a lovely atmosphere, quite posh. The decor was eclectic, it was like sitting in an antique jumble shop with plates and strange ornaments all over the walls and ceiling, they even had mobile with air planes spinning around the fans.

As soon as we sat down we both felt tired, I think we under estimated how tired we actually were due to the excitement but now it was really hitting us. We ordered a sirloin steak each with chips to share, our waiter was called Ariel, very camp and with drawn on eyebrows which arched as Michael said, "can we have the wine please, the cheapest bottle." haha. We waited so long for our food to arrive, even the family behind us who sat down after us were tucking in. Michael even convinced himself that the man on the table next to us was the actor out of Scarface, no Michael I really don't think that's him...wheres the food!!!!

When the food finally came, my god! We where literally full just looking at it, we could have just shared one steak. Michael was starting already, "you better eat this Jo!" We gave it a good go, but by the time it had came we were both tired and pass eating. I had a couple of mouth fulls and was not impressed, the meat was really chunky and my god it was chewy, not tender at all. We felt bad as we could hardly eat all this meat, Michael suggested I put some in my bag. I discreetly started chopping up this meat and casually wrapping it up in tissue and putting in my bag, By the time I was finished it looked like we had eaten at least half of it. We asked for the bill and hurried out of there. We left sadly, unimpressed, the cheap taco tasted better!

We headed back to the hotel, BA is planned out in a grid system, like America they have blocks. It made it easy to follow a map earlier in the day, we had worked out that Palermo Hollywood where we were was divided by train tracks. Once we found the train tracks we knew exactly where we were. So we crossed these tracks, and as we pass by a side streets we hear these drums. Street drums, banging loud and constant. We follow the beat and found locals having a mini party dancing in the streets, kids doing dance routines and the men on the drums. It was great to watch, we stood watching for a long time. It was a shame we couldn't speak good enough Spanish to ask what was going. We watched for a while then moved on, it was great to see and really lifted us up from our disastrous restaurant experience. Also, I soon remembered I had meat in my bag, that's why the stray dogs were following me. I quickly ditched the meat in the bin haha. Back at the hotel it was lights out, me and Michael passed out before you could say, buenos noches!