ARGENTINA – BUENOS AIRES

ARGENTICA – BUENOS AIRES FEDERAL DISTRICT

Day 19 April 10
BUENOS AIRES
Ariived at Buenos Aires Retiro Omnibus Station. Uber to Perla Hostal.
ON Perla Hostel 14,500/night. A young bar scene on the terrace.

Day 20 Fri April 11
A big walkabout day in BA. I exchanged money on Florida St 1310.
Cafe Tortoni. 1857. Beautiful, big, art and stained glass ceilings.
El Imparcial. Restaurant from 1860. More formal dining, art.
Los Billiares. A normal cafe with two snooker tables under covers.
Palacio Barolo. A grand marble facade, central high dome, small kiosks with lovely stained glass roofs, and a small restaurant.
Club del Progreso Restaurant. 1852. Two levels, nice social scene in the Theatre District.
Pizzería Güerrín. 1932. Outside seating, neon “Salon Familiar” 1er piso.
El Gato Negro. 1928. Wine, coffee, simple food, and spices.
Beatle Museum. The Guinness Book of World Records collection with 8,550 in the collection and 2,500 on display. Clothes, memorabilia, and to present. 1000
Savoy Hotel. 1910, a high-end hotel that would not let me enter the door.
Congresso de la Nacion. Huge grand palace that is a government office, many columns, huge dome with a green roof.
Cafe de Los Angelitos. Tango shows, small, many photos. Date of origin?
Le Perla Española. A small restaurant that I had lunch at – Ravioli Siciliano. A huge portion that I finished for breakfast.
Museo Casa Carlos Gardel. A singer and songwriter of tango. Photos, not so interesting. Free
Abasto de Buenos Aires. Shopping mall, older 5-story, arched dome, glass roof.
Buenos Aires Synagogue (Gran Templo). It is never open to visitors. 4-story white stone building.
Museo del Agua y d la Historia Sanitaria. A water pumping station with palatial design using 308,000 terra cotta tiles, pipes, valves, toilets, 4.5 m diameter pipes. Free
El Ateneo Grand Splendid book store. In a converted theatre (the stage is a restaurant), 3 floors of books, vinyl, CDS, huge fresco ceiling.
Museo Libertad, Jewish museum. Pushed buzzer several times and finally allowed between locked doors, handed passport and entered. Requested donation of 10,000!! and gave 4,000. A large gallery of Oct 7 victims as large photographs. Gorgeous synagogue. Very old leather Iraqi Torah.
Teatro Colon. The guided tours in English were sold out – supposedly, the groups are so large, it is too many to hear the guide. 25,000
Obelisk. White four-sided obelisk in the centre of Avenida 9 de Julio, the busiest street in BA (also the widest street in the world with 10 lanes and 4 sets of lights). Built in 1936, it is made of white stone from Cordoba,
Confitería Ideal. Elaborate and expensive 1912, gilt designs, and ceilings.
Museo Mitre. President Bartholome Mitra (1821-1906), books, paintings, bedrooms, office, billiard room, and living room.
Kirchner Cultural Centre Building. A grand stone palace. I went inside but hard to figure out. Palacio Libertad.
Puerto Modero. The entire rejuvenated port with large side walkways, rejuvenated red brick buildings, now mostly steak restaurants.
ARA Uruguay. A 3-masted sailing ship dating from 1874. Artifacts, lots of reading. 500
Alas Building is a Rationalist residential and office building and is 141 metres (463 ft) high with 41 floors. Alas was the tallest building in Buenos Aires between 1955 and 1995, when it was surpassed by the Le Parc tower. It has long been part of the skyline of Buenos Aires. As of 2009, it was the 20th-tallest building in Argentina.
A skyscraper with hundreds of telecommunication masts on the roof. Primarily an apartment building, it has a stepped design.
Colección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat. Andy Warhol’s picture of the patron. Many masters, impressionists, Rodins, Egyptian art, and the lowest floor, all Argentine art (of which I have seen nothing I like yet). Two Dalis. All below ground along port. 4000, 2000 reduced.
Repsol-YPF tower is a corporate high-rise building designed by internationally recognized architect César Pelli and is the headquarters of Argentine national oil company YPF. Construction was from 2005-2008. The building is 160 metres (520 ft) tall and has 44 floors. It was, upon completion in 2008, the tallest office building in Argentina, and the third tallest overall.
On May 25, 2012, 21 days after the nationalization of YPF by the government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the YPF Tower was lit in the colours of the Argentine flag as a political statement to commemorate 202 years of self-governance.
As of 2021, following years of hardship, YPF was seeking US$400 million for its sale.
Puente de la Muzer. A lovely pedestrian bridge with a swooping support of the cable-stayed bridge.
ARA Presidente Sarmiento.  3-masted steel boat. 1899-38, it had 37 voyages around the world. Stuffed mascot dog. 500
La Puerto Rica. A small restaurant close to my hostel. Many old photos. It was very busy at a late hour.
ON Perla Hostel for the second night.

Day 21 Sat April 12
Another big walkabout day, along with several Ubers
La Posada de 1820. Formal dining room, bar and many photos.
Galerias Pacifico. Shopping mall with only two floors, and large glass roof.
El Federal. Closed but reopening as a pastry, coffee shop. Still in renovation but got to step inside.
Kavanaugh Building. A 1936 Art Deco building, formerly the highest skyscraper in Latin America. Reinforced concrete.
Plaza Hotel. Temporarily closed and under renovation. Grand stone facade.
Palacio Paz Hotel. 3-story elegant but couldn’t enter the door.
Monument San Martin. Another equestrian statue on a brown marble plinth in corner of a park.
Parque de la Memoria. Monument to the Fallen Maldivians. A red granit wall with plack plaques. 625 names. In the opposite corner of the park from San Martin.
I then went to the Retiro Station to enquire about buses to Uruguay.
National Railway Museum. Many station artifacts, a steam locomotive. 5000
Bella Arts. Degas, many Monets, Sisly, many small bronzes, silver mate cups, fans. A busy museum. Free
Flores Generica (Steel Flower). A big stainless steel flower in the middle of a park.
MARQ. Museum of Architecture and Design. Some furniture, blueprints. Free
Parque Tres de Febrero. Has the Japanese Garden (just OK) and Paseo El Rosedal (garden of roses and busts of several famous poets). a large lake and many trails.
Alto Palermo. Shopping mall with a double glass ceiling and a large food court.
Museo Evita. Eva Peron. Photos, art, history of life, personal artifacts, clothes, and car. 9000
Botanical Garden. Big Trees, few flowering trees, no flower beds. Free
Ecoparque. Formally a zoo, it is a huge place with free roaming and enclosed animals, many pavilions, lakes, and landscaping. Free
King Fahd Islamic Cultural Centre. 2 square minarets but only open to Muslims.
One of my many Uber moto taxis.
ESMA Site Museum – Former Clandestine Centre of Detention, Torture, and Extermination WHS. A huge complex of 2-story white buildings covered in enlarged photos and vignettes of prisoners. Visit the museum in the one corner to see the Officers Club, the site of torture. Free
Museo Malvinas e Islas del Atlántico Sur. In the corner of the same park, I don’t think they need to commemorate this foolish war. An “explanation” and record of all the men who died needlessly. Free
Bario Chino. Many restaurants, street food, souvenir shops and very busy on a Saturday afternoon.
Museo Casa Yrurtia. A sculptor, he has many of his pieces, personal furniture, including the equipment he used to produce the pieces. Free
Sarmiento Historic Museum. Lovely house, photographs, furniture. Free
Museo Lacreto. Spanish art, mostly religious, in a lovely house. Inlaid floors, brocade wallpaper. Free
Dinner at a Burger King for the third night in a row.

Bus BA to Fray Bentos, Uruguay, on its way to Montevideo. Cauvi Buslines @21:30 – 02:00+1. I slept in the bus station down some stairs in a nice private area.

Day 22 Sunday April 13
FRAY BENTOS INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE WHS, Fray Bentos, Uruguay.
Up at 07:30, I bought the return ticket to BA @01:10-04:30 (the bus doesn’t stop in FB unless a ticket has been purchased), exchanged some money to pay for the bus (4,270 Uruguan pesos for 100US$ with official rate 3490, cash only).
I read till about noon and then started to walk to the WHS, about 3.5 km. Through town then crossed onto a peninsula, watched some football, and finally passed social clubs. Pass several abandoned ruins of large industrial buildings with faded photos of assembly lines to the museum – the upper floor is the office with many desks with typewriters and adding machines. Downstairs is the museum proper, 1878-1979. Originally started by Justus Liebig (1824-1873), it produced a beef extract that was the start of OXO (initially OX, an employee put another “eye” and made the cow’s nose an X). It was a staple of the trenches of WWI (100 million servings) along with 200 million cans of corned beef. A smokeless charcoal tablet was developed to heat water, and was also developed and supplied by LEMCO (Liebig Extract of Meat Company).
Eventually, they produced almost every kind of canned food possible – concentrated soup, vegetables, fruit, pork, mutton, chorizo, pate, ducks, and chickens. There were social clubs and a golf club, including many homes for workers on the grounds. Free

I walked down to the water and the small dock and loading crane, and then followed the road around the entire complex back to town. Fray Bentos has a lovely walkway along the water.
Solari Museum. Closed earlier, it was open by 5 pm when I walked by. Fray Bentos’ most famous citizen, this artist had a large exhibit in his old house. Odd with animal heads on large papier mache humans and a series of paintings of paired babies. Nothing very exciting. Free.

Unfortunately, all restaurants closed at 4 pm. I eventually had a bag of churros, a hot dog and some cake for dinner. I returned to the bus station at 6 and slept till 12:30, when I packed up and waited for the bus. It arrived at 01:10 to return to BA.

Upon arrival at 5 am, I forgot my phone on the bus!!. I went up to the ticket office, which didn’t open till 6, and I was able to communicate with the agent. The bus cleaners were not scheduled until 8, so I sat and read. By 8:20, they had the phone, and I took a 25,000 taxi to the bus garage to claim my phone. Then an Uber moto taxi back to the hostel, shower, pack and leave at 11 am to finish seeing the bits of BA missed to date. 

Day 23 Mon April 14
Another walkabout/Uber moto taxi day. Many museums are closed on Monday, or I would have seen much more than these.

SAN TELMO
Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity. 5 blue domes (one large central). Closed. Large mosaic mural on the side. Stained glass windows.
Museo Art Modern. A contemporary art museum with not much of interest as expected. Good English subtitles. Free if over 65.
Parroquia de San Pedro González Telmo. Beige stone, with 3 great stained glass windows on the facade. Two three-step bell towers. Closed at noon.
Prison Museum Antonio Ballvé. 1980-1990. A Federal Penitentiary on a normal suburban street. Not so interesting. 1000
Dorrego Bar. Original bar from 1880.
San Telmo Market. Many eateries (steak was popular). I had an enormous pork schnitzel. Busy. Some produce, meat, and fish.
Monument de Trabaji. Large bronze with many people pulling a huge rock – led by a 2 children in front of their parents.
Mulieris towers are two residential skyscrapers in the Puerto Madero neighbourhood, each tower rises 161 metres and has 45 floors. Completed in 2009, it became the fourth-tallest building in Argentina. The project’s name comes from the Latin mulieris, meaning ‘women’.
Alvear Tower is a residential and hotel skyscraper, the tallest building in Argentina. The 54-story building includes 175 condominiums and a five-star hotel. The building’s residential floor plans are notable for their variety, ranging from 100 m (330 ft) to 500 m (1,600 ft), as well as their 3.3 m (11 ft) ceilings.
An Uber moto taxi. 
Monument Simon Bolivar. Equestrian statue framed by a stone square arch.
Sanctuary Diego Armando Maradona. A collection of all the gifts he received over his career. A bizarre collection of you name it. In the lower grandstand of the stadium.
Casa de Dios. Brought for his family by Argentia Juniors in the 70s in his first professional contract. Decorated as when he lived here – jerseys, photos, trophies etc. This is the last place they lived together as a family. Picture of the Last Supper with Maradona playing JC. 10,000
Chacarita Cemetery. A mammoth cemetery with many chapels, mausoleums, and grand monuments, many not in great condition. Easy to get lost.
Mercado de las Puglas. Mostly furniture in a large covered flea market. Antiques.

Long Uber back to the hostel, claimed my gear and took the bus to the airport – Buenos Aires – Ezeiza (EZE).
Fly. COPA. EZE-CUR via Panama @02:20-12:10. Bus from airport into city 1.5 hours (2$ vs $40), Met a Chilean fellow who travels just like me (sort of) and we walked the 10 minutes from the bus depot to the hostel – The Ritz Hostel & Resort.
ON Ritz. One bunk bed per room, I was alone for the first two nights and had a mate for the last. US$30/night x 3 nights. Fair restaurant. Great bathrooms, sitting areas, kitchen, and wonderful sculpture.