Steak, malbec, ice-cream… welcome to Argentina!

I was quite excited to get to Buenos Aires. Partly because we would be able to stock up on a few essentials that were running low, but mostly because I haven’t had any red meat in three weeks (who could deny all the amazing fresh fish up until now!). But we were ready for Argentinian steak.

Our flight from Santiago was fantastic, since we crossed the Andes during the first half an hour. The mountain range is 7000km long and extends over most of South America, but is only about 200km wide, which means you could almost see both sides simultaneously. Aconcagua, at almost 7000m tall, is the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas and appeared proudly in the background. Then, as dramatically as it rose up, the crumpled mountain range settled into the wide Argentinian plains.

Buenos Aires was a bit of a shock to the system. After the peace and tranquillity of Antarctica, the quiet walks of Torres del Paine and the remoteness of Easter Island, we were back in city life. Neither of us liked it! Buenos Aires is an exciting city, but we were secretly pleased it didn’t have a long list of must-sees. We wanted to use our time here to catch up on sleep, do laundry and just chill with a coffee or beer while people-watching.

During the afternoon we found a great spot under a 225-year old tree and enjoyed a couple of local beers before heading out to dinner. Our hotel recommended a restaurant only a few blocks away, but we ignored all the suggestions and reviews that advised us not to even dare turn up before 9.30pm. It was 8pm and I was starving!! Needless to say, we were the only people in the restaurant for our entire meal… Apparently Argentinians only eat after 10pm.

We had the biggest T-bone steak I had ever seen with enormous side portions. But what excited me even more was the beautiful Malbec we ordered. A very enjoyable meal and fine start to Argentina.

Of course I woke up with a hangover. We haven’t had much wine up until now and I think I pretty much downed the beers and wine… I never learn.

After we dropped our clothes off at a laundromat, we went in search of a coffee shop. That is something else I have been looking forward to – a decent coffee. We found a beautiful little coffee shop with some of the most amazing cakes, desserts and hundreds of other sweet things. What a shame I was still full from last night!! We spent a couple of hours drinking coffee and updating our blog and photos.

We also managed to at least wonder around Recoleta Cemetery – the burial place of Evita Peron. We normally find walking around a cemetery a strange thing to do, as it is not exactly a tourist attraction. However, this one was quite different. It is the final resting place of the rich and famous families of Buenos Aires. The size and grandeur of the shrine normally indicated the wealth of the family so it felt as if you were walking down the streets of an affluent neighbourhood, admiring all the beautiful houses. The only difference was that these residents were, well, dead. This fact brought you straight back to earth every time you caught a glimpse of a coffin or casket lying at rest.

Buried under her maiden name of Duarte, the family’s plot is very understated. Both of us knew parts of the Evita Peron story, but mostly things we could recall from the film. We also wondered whether she actually looked like Madonna. So during the afternoon we read up about Evita’s legacy and how much she had done for Argentina and women’s suffrage in her time. Apparently there is still much love for her to this day and there are claims she “has never left the collective consciousness of Argentina”. We felt embarrassed we didn’t know more about her before.

Two days later, after our trip to Iguazu, we were back in Buenos Aires. We had one full day left and had made a long list of things to do; at the top of which was ice-cream!

But first we wanted to walk to Playa de Mayo, a square in the centre of the city that has witnessed the best and worst of Argentina’s history. Even to this day, it is still the spiritual home of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) – women whose grown-up children “disappeared” during the Military Dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.Together, the women created a dynamic and unexpected force, which existed in opposition to traditional limitations on women and motherhood in Latin America.

They marched in the plaza, opposite the presidential palace, every week for over 30 years demanding information about their children’s whereabouts. Today, most in their seventies and eighties, these mothers continue to come to the plaza every Thursday in silent protest.

Their legacy and subsequent progress have been successful and today the Mothers are persistently engaged in the struggle for human, political, and civil rights in Latin America and elsewhere. In honour of these women, the white scarf of the Mothers has been painted on the ground in the square.

We headed to the famous Avenida 9 de Julio (with sixteen very busy lanes!), which claims to be the world’s widest avenue. On the intersection with avenues Corrientes is the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, a national historic monument and icon of the city that was erected in 1936 to commemorate the fourth centenary of the first foundation of Buenos Aires.

Then, ice-cream time!! I think I spent about two hours reading up on the best ice-cream places in the city and whittled it down to this place: Cadore. Cadore was started by an Italian family at the end of the nineteenth century in the North of Italy. They moved to Argentina in 1957 and have since operated from the same shop making the family’s secret recipes. Apparently they are an institution in Buenos Aires.

There were 48 flavours to choose from. Oh the agony of this first world problem!!! The only silver lining was that we could select two. I eventually opted for chocolate mousse (tasted exactly like creamy, silky chocolate mousse) and raspberry. If I could have another go, I would pick the chocolate mousse again (it was to die for!), but perhaps have black cream caramel as my second choice. Or the Russian Cream. Or the Chai Cream!! Or the brown chestnut!! ARGGGHHHH!!!! Derek had Pistachio and Cookies & Cream – two brilliant choices and he seemed pleased.

At this point, Derek’s toe was getting very angry and was throbbing with pain (actually, his foot was almost double in size!) following his fire ant confrontation in Iguazu, so we headed back to our hotel. We had to get his foot elevated and could also do with an afternoon nap after the ice-cream and before the second steak dinner. Needless to say, our waistlines were not a consideration in Argentina. In fact, it hasn’t been at all which is slightly concerning.

For dinner we headed to a restaurant called La Cabrera – a recommendation from one of our guides in Antarctica. He could not fully articulate just how incredible this restaurant was, so our expectations were naturally sky-high. Always a problem… although it’s hard to criticise steak and red wine in Argentina. Not a bad evening and a great way to end our time in Buenos Aires.