Our night bus arrived at 6:00am, marking the completion of our last night bus of the entire World Trip, woo hoo! They weren’t too bad for me as I would curl up in my sleeping bag and fall asleep each ride. Nick on the other hand wouldn’t get much sleep at all so I think he was probably happier than me that we were done with those. We walked about 1 hour from the bus station past many parks and tree lined avenues. My first impression of Buenos Aires was that it was clean, green, and pedestrian friendly. Many of the trees had purple flowers and the walkways were littered with flower peddles. Breakfast was a cookie for Nick, and passion fruit smoothie, ham and cheese sandwich for me. After that we were able to check in to our apartment and have a much needed nap. The rest of the day was boring stuff: being productive and planning how we’d spend the rest of the time in this beautiful city. Argentinian style pizza is supposedly a notable thing to try so we got that for lunch at Güerrín. To me it didn’t seem unique enough to be it’s own style, but it was good.

Earlier in the trip, in Peru, a hiker scared me (by accident) at 4:00am (pitch black outside), which led to me dropping my phone. One of my cameras cracked, which has led to slow photo capture time, occasionally blurry photos, and if the lighting is right there will be white lines in the photo following the crack pattern. I was really hoping I would be able to get it fixed in Buenos Aires at an apple repair shop so our first stop was to visit one of those. Unfortunately, they did not have the piece they needed for that so Nick’s phone will continue being the default camera for now. On a small bright side we did see a funny advertisement on the walk near there that we both thought sounded like a Kajsa trap.

After the failed iphone fixing attempt we got some ice cream. Apparently, Buenos Aires has a notable artisanal gelato scene which we were both happy to try out. We went to Rapanui, which ended up being my favorite spot we tried in the city (one of two). Nick got brownie and pistachio, and I got tiramisu and dulce de leche with chocolate mousse and italian meringue (heavenly). The pistachio one was a very concentrated pistachio, so Nick liked the brownie one more. My tiramisu one I did not eat at all since it had cognac in it, which is not my favorite.

The real activity for the day was exploring Recoleta Cemetery, a large cemetery filled with family crypts of various levels of elaborateness where we spent about 1 hour walking around. Some looked more run down and others seemed to be more actively maintained. Inside the crypts (peaking in from the gated entrances) we could see that they were very deep, sometimes with over a dozen layers of coffins beneath the main floor stacked on top of each other. It seemed like the newest family members coffin would be at ground level and then a grate would expose the other coffins below. There were many beautiful sculptures, engravings and stained glass windows.

After the successful cemetery visit we walked over to Plaza Naciones Unidas, where we saw a flower sculpture. The city had many green spaces lined with golden lamp posts, they were gorgeous. After that we tried to visit the nearby Japanese garden and rose garden. The first one cost money so we decided to skip that and the second one was closed even though it was a Saturday and it should’ve been open. So that was too bad.

On our way back to get an empanada lunch we saw more gorgeous walkways with purple flowering trees and an open air market. Lunch was empanadas from La Cocina, and they were super delicious. We tried chicken, meat, onion and cheese, and one called a pikachu, which Nick had a hard time identifying the ingredients for. It was a great first full day exploring the city. The day ended with watching a beautiful rainbow from our apartment window.

The day started off by visiting the San Telmo Fair, which only happens on Sundays. It was blocks and blocks of stalls. There were many kinds of souvenirs available, including belts, hand-knit items, paintings, jewelry, and wood carvings. There were other types, too, but after about 1 hour of walking up and down the full main street they started to get repetitive. After the market we walked around Plaza de Mayo. There was a large flag, a cool red building, and some benches.

Once we felt satisfied by our visit to the square (which happened quickly due to my hunger levels) we walked over to Cafe Tortoni for fika. We got coffee with milk, hot chocolate, churros stuffed with dulce de leche, chocolate soufflé cake with Chantilly cream, a flan, and a brownie. Us Ralston’s definitely have a sweet tooth. Everything was good, but nothing blew us away, which is to be expected from a touristy spot like that. The building itself was cool and very old so that was the highlight of the experience.

In the evening it was time to do the quintessential Buenos Aires tourist activity, a tango show. We were picked up at 6:30pm and made it inside the theatre at 7:00pm. The theatre had a warm energy with all the dark wood features. The tables were for 4 people so we were seated with another American couple who were very nice. Our table was also right up front by the left corner of the stage, which was fantastic. Each couple got a bottle of wine; I tried the white and the other couple had red, both from Argentina. Nick and I chose the caprese salad for the appetizer and the steak for the main course. Both of which were surprisingly delicious for an included dinner at a touristy attraction. Nick got the poached pear for dessert and I got a delicious ice cream sundae with meringue and fresh fruit. Our photo together was a bit blurry but I was just thankful the couple across from us offered to take one in the first place.

Once we were on to our desserts the show began. There was a live band with a stand up bass, guitar, piano, and accordion. They were engaging and fun to watch. The show lasted over an hour and was several performances. There were 4 couples who did various tango dancing choreographies. In between dances a male singer would come out and deliver breathtaking vocals. He must have been singing Argentinian classics because several tables were singing along passionately. One of the older dance pairs also did drumming, flamenco snapping, and some sort of rope swinging with beads hitting the floor to a fun rhythm.

After a lively night we were happy to have a relaxed start to the next day. Our stroll around town started in the late morning with another gelato, this time from Cadore Gelato. I got the dulce de leche and chocolate mousse, and Nick got the chocolate mousse and vanilla. We were both very happy with our choices and that place was Nick’s favorite gelato spot in the city. The servings were super generous. It was the perfect snack to hold me over for our long walk to lunch.

Post ice cream we walked over to lunch which was at La Cabrera. There we shared a caesar salad and each got our own dry aged steak. I had been curious to try the caesar salad since we had seen it advertised all over the city. It was a good salad, but didn’t have the iconic garlicy, lemony caesar flavors we are used to in the USA. A common trend getting the salad abroad is that it looks like a caesar but doesn’t taste like one. The steak came with several small side dishes including mashed sweet potato, mashed potato, scalloped potato, confit garlic, apple sauce, garlic mayo, and creamed corn. The corn was the star of the entire lunch, it was so yummy. We were not sure if our steaks were just not good cuts of meat or what, but the steak was very tough and bland, not what you would expect from a dry aged steak. I definitely got a sore arm trying to cut the steak, but the sauce, sides, and salt helped. We couldn’t help but leave disappointed. Our budget didn’t allow for multiple steak meals so it was our one shot. With it being both expensive and not great, that was a bummer. Thankfully we had been super lucky with good food in Argentina up until then, so it was easier to take the loss.

After the let down at lunch we made our way to El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore. The bookstore used to be a theatre and was later converted. It was stunning. We could walk along each level of the theatre and instead of seats there were bookshelves. In the basement were vinyls and CDs. The box seating was converted to cozy reading nooks, too. After the bookstore we walked around the outside of Colón theatre. The shows were all sold out for the week we were there, unfortunately, and we didn’t feel like a guided tour just to see the inside was worth it. We’ll have to plan ahead better to catch a show then next time we’re in town so we can see the inside. The outside was nice, though, with large pillars and beautiful lamp posts.

I added a photo of my favorite building we walked past everyday. I thought it looked like a woman eating a cheeseburger and Nick (probably correct) thought it was a microphone. I also convinced Nick to get a second round of ice cream from the spot we went to in the morning. That time we both got super dulce de leche (the same one as before but with swirls of the caramel inside too), and pistachio. It was nice to end on a food high after the failed steakhouse attempt.

The next day started off with lunch at El Refuerzo where we shared pickled beans, baked camembert cheese with roasted vegetables, and a roast with vegetables. Everything was delicious, but the whole process was over 2 hours even though we ordered right away. I often forget the dining culture is no rush in South America. Nick also got the flan, which came with huge dollops of dulce de leche on the side. Originally we were going to explore La Boca, a colorful neighborhood, but we had other time sensitive plans for the afternoon so we had to skip it.

Instead, we walked to Como en Casa, a cute cafe with outdoor seating where we met my old classmate, Kevin, and his fiance. We did our bachelor’s together in Sweden and hadn’t seen each other since 2015 when we graduated! It was super nice getting to catch up after so long. Time really does fly by the older you get. We got lemonade and Nick and I shared a milhojas (a pastry traditionally served at baptisms apparently). On our way home we stopped at Rapnui. Kevin and I agreed that the Italians may have introduced gelato, but the people of Buenos Aires mastered it. That time I had the dulce de leche with chocolate mousse and italian meringue (my favorite one from last time), and a scoop of dubai chocolate. It was much better than my cognac one. Unfortunately, I did not realize I was also in our last ice cream photo so please enjoy my ice cream mug shot. Guilty as charged of blowing the budget on ice cream. It was a great way to end our time in such a beautiful city.