Buenos Aires, Argentina: A more aesthetically pleasing city...

Buenos Dias Todos,

 

We have arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  We arrived this past Monday evening.  We are staying for two weeks.  This will be our longest stint in one location so far, but we felt this would be a good place to pass some time.  We also splurged a little bit and have rented a private studio apartment for the duration.  It works out to about $21 per night for each of us so it isn't ridiculous and isn't that much more than we have paid for a private double room in some of the hostels we have stayed.  It is nice and in between two good neighborhoods- Barrio Norte and Recoleta.

 

Buenos Aires (BA for short) is the most aesthetically pleasing city we have visited so far.  It has a combination of narrow streets and broad Avenidas.  It has green spaces and plazas sprinkled throughout.  The buildings are a mixture of modern and 18th Century European.  They are, of course, the dilapidated structures also but not nearly as many as the other cities.  Admittedly, we have not been to the poorer neighborhoods yet.  But we also have not been to Palermo which is the parque/park and yuppie district.  We have only been here two and half days so we have only explored Recoleta and now the Centro neighborhoods.  I went to a great museum yesterday- Museum de Belle Artes- which every city seems to have one.  This was by far the best of them.  It had a wide range of art mediums and periods.  Sculptures, paintings, tapestries, porcelain, silver, photography from the 1300's thru modern day.  They had a pretty impressive collection of both Argentine art and the Dutch and French master painters including: Rubens, Rembrandt, Gauguin, Lutrecht, Monet, Manet, and others.  They also had Picassos and a great collection of Rodin sculptures.  My apologies if I misspelled those names.  I am not an art expert.

 

The first full day we were in town we explored the Recoleta neighborhood and walked through the famous cemetery there.  This is a wealthy district, and the cemetery is where all of the 'old rich' of BA build monuments and mausoleums to themselves.  Impressive and pretty, but also petty, egoistical, and wasteful.  Most of the well to do families have tombs there including the founding fathers, generals, and Eva Duarte's Peron "Evita".

 

Today, I walked around the Centro district.  It is where most of the pedestrian areas, shopping malls, monuments, and government buildings are located.  Check out the pictures.  Well, I need to exchange the laundry.  I know that Ozell is writing a lengthy message or messages to get got up on his perspectives.  He is including some information that I have left out of my previous posts.

 

I will write more when I can.  I just wanted to let everyone know we are safe in Buenos Aires. 

 

Ciao,

 

Sean  :)