Cemetery Cats

Check out what we´ve been up to the last two weeks.

• La Transtienda. Our first Monday here, we went to la Transtienda, a local music club, to see the Datsuns. Not a band I would normally listen to, but it was fun to be out, watching live music again. Lucky for us, San Telmo houses most of the local music clubs...so we´re hoping for more.
• Downtown (Avenida 9 de Julio , Calle Florida y Calle Lavalle). Downtown is alive! It´s pumped full with traffic, people, cafes, stores, businesses and plazas. The 2 pedestrian streets intersect, reminding me a bit of Mannheim. And there´s a giant obelisk (Washington Monument lookalike) always reminding you which direction you want to go.
• Av Corrientes. A large crowded street with some tacky theaters and used bookstores. It´s also home to 1 of the top pizza places in Buenos Aires: Guerrin (Av. Corrientes 1368). Yummy! The cheese oozes over the sides on their pizzas. We have yet to browse all the used bookstores on Corrientes. But just off Corrientes, on Talcahuano, is music street. Music store after music store after music store. Funny how you bump into these things.
• Plaza de Mayo. The political center of Buenos Aires. It´s where the government sits and regular demonstrations occur. Royally facing the plaza is Casa Rosada, currently home of the executive branch of the federal government. But more famously, this is where Eva Peron (Evita) rallied the Argentine people. We´re hoping to get a tour of the building next week, but aren´t sure it´s possible. I would love to stand on the balcony Evita did many years before. On Thursday afternoons at 3:30, the mothers of the disappeared march every week in the plaza, then give a speech in front of Casa Rosada.
• Plaza San Martin a large, shady park in the heart of the city, located at the end of Calle Florida. Lee and I spent a couple hours at a cafe here before heading to the old train station.
• Old Train Station. Cool old building with lots of cheap food inside and around.
• Recoleta. The rich neighborhood of Buenos Aires. We walked through it last Sunday and it seemed everything cost 3x as much here. If you´re looking for exclusive international designer stores, this is the place for you.
• Recoleta Cemetery While in Recoleta, we visited the famous Recoleta Cemetery. It is surprisingly big....in fact there are whole tree-lined "streets" in it. It´s known for housing Evita´s grave and the elaborate marble mausoleums. It was quite interesting to wonder the streets in the cemetery. Majority of them are quite large, having space for 2 coffins on the first floor and 6+ in the basement. But they were all personalized with statues, church replications, angels, etc...But like the real estate market, there seemed to only be 3 types, single family homes, townhouses or condos. All depending on your status and money.
• Subte A line. Linea A is the only line in the city that still has the old wooden cars. It feels like another era, being in the old subte stations, boarding and jumping off while the train is still moving, sitting on park bench type seats. We rode out to Estacion Castro Barros where we visited Las Violetas (Rivadavia 3899), an old world cafe. We both ordered classics, Cafe con leche y tres medialunas. Cappuccino y tres fracturas.
• Food. What´s more important? Choripans (chorizo on a roll), Lomo sandwiches (steak sandwich), fresh Sorrentinos (like ravioli only larger), Carne and Pollo Milanesa (flat breaded meat, like Schnitzel) and lots of Aflajores (awesome chocolate, caramel snack).