Living in Buenos Aires

 I woke up this morning and could hardly believe that in 9 short hours I will be leaving Buenos Aires (*tear!!).  While I didn't take the path I had planned before coming (i.e. job, real life, be here for 1 or 2 years, etc...), my past 8 months living in Buenos Aires have been such an incredible experience. I was lucky to have so many friends come down to check out this great city where I live and also to travel and explore new locations with. Thanks to them I have had the chance to travel all around Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, Cusco/Machu Picchu and Antarctica as well as go back to my favorite city Rio (twice!).  I have met some of the most amazing people while living here and on my travels.  Though I only knew them for a short bit, I know some of these people will be in my life forever.

I think it only appropriate that I do a blog about tips/suggestions for Buenos Aires.  

Places to stay:
Bait Hostel: After befriending Melvin and Pablo while staying here in August, this hostel was like my second home in Buenos Aires. It is a smaller hostel that offers not as large of a party scene (though with Melvin there's always a party) but rather a "welcome home" feeling.  The beds are comfortable, kitchen is well equipped and staff is incredible!

Millhouse:  Attracting a younger backpacking crowd (think people on their gap year or just finishing college), this place is a non-stop party. Located in the micro-centro, they have two locations but try to stay on the one on Av. de Mayo.

Kaixo Hostel Central: Located closer to the centro, this is an adorable hostel hidden off a small side street.  My friend Kelsey stayed here several times and became really close with the staff. 

Those are the only three hostels I have personally experienced.  I can't really suggest hotels as most of my friends either stayed with me or at Bait but good parts of town to look would be Palermo, Recoleta, Las Canitas and Barrio Norte.  Like most cities, the downtown area becomes a lot less populated during the nights and weekends, therefor I wouldn't necessarily recommend staying in the centro.  It is close to the tourist attractions but not as many restaurants and bars.

Places to eat:

La Cabrera in Palermo Shoho is a must go for anyone visiting Buenos Aires.  There is a reason this place has become such a tourist favorite - the amazing food.  If you can try to make a reservation as you could end up waiting for a table for over an hour.  Make sure to split the steak as the servings are HUGE

Don Julio in Palermo Shoho is one of my favorites!  They have really good steak and a little less touristy atmosphere.

Miranda in Palermo Hollywood is my personal favorite.  In addition to having great steaks they have an amazing variety of salads and cocktails!  Order the Miranda: vodka based drink with fresh maracuyá (passionfruit) and mint.

The same owner has several restaurants around town that are typical parrilla (steak houses).  Despite having similar menus I highly recommend every one as the ambiance of each place is so unique!  If you are looking for a place to go with great food at a decent price check any of these places out:
La Cholita in Recoletta (literally next door to Cumana)
Las Cholas or Las Cabritas in Las Cañitas
Las Cabras in Palermo Hollywood

Cumana in Recoletta is a a great restaurant to get lunch or dinner.  Owned by the same owner as the four above, this place serves moretraditional  northern Argentine cuisine.  They have of the best empanadas in town as well as amazing cazuelas (casserole type dishes), pizzas, huge calzones, etc... 

La Brigada in San Telmo is one of the oldest and best parrillas in town. The food is incredible!

Cabaña las Lilas on Puerto Madero is supposedly the nicest steak house in all of Argentina.  It is very pricey on Argentine standards (think good steak house in New York pricing) but VERY good food if you can make it.  I was lucky enough to go when Kristine's mom was in town visiting. 

Milion located between Centro and Recoletta is a great place to go for drinks, tapas or even dinner.  It is a gorgeous old mansion converted into a bar/resturant.

Oui Oui in Palermo Hollywood is a great place for breakfast or lunch on the weekend.

Bars: 
- Plaza Serrano in Palermo – Many bars and restaurants, but rather touristy. A good meeting up place.
- Baez Street in Las Canitas – This is a great street with many good bars and restaurants to choose from. Some good bars: Von Konning, Jackie O’s, SuperSoul, and a newer one across the street from SuperSoul. Great place to start the night with good restaurants and fun bars.
- The Alamo in Recoleta: 1175 Uruguay - Great ex-patriot bar. You can watch NFL, MLB, NBA, drink beer, and eat pizza.
- Sugar in Palermo - another great ex-pat bar to watch sporting events
- Tazz in Palermo – Cool bar with lots of pool tables. There’s one in Plaza Serrano and another new one on Gurruchaga (I think). The new one is much nicer.
- Carnal in Palermo Hollywood – a great place with a wonderful terrace upstairs. Lounge-like but very popular. 
- Sugar in Palermo - more of a late-night bar this place starts hopping at 3 or 4am (you can typically find Melvin and crew here most Saturdays)

Nightclubs aka "Boliches":
I much prefer the bar scene, but everyonce in a while it's fun to go out and dance.  Here are some I checked out.
- Crobar in Palermo in los bosques de Palermo – Great spot, 2 big rooms, fun Thurs and Fri
- Terrazas del Este and Pacha in Costanera Norte
- Niceto Club in Palermo – Turns into Club 69 on Thursday nights, go if you like drag shows
- El Living located in Retiro, this place plays 80s, 90s and current music while showing the music videos on screens

Shopping:
- The best leather store is Doma, however it is very pricey.
- Palermo Soho has great stores to walk around and is where I did most of my shopping.
- Recoletta is more high end brands though there are many smaller stores offering clothing at "cheaper" prices.
- "Outlets" are located mainly on Calle Armenia closer to Cordoba, however they are spread throughout the city.  While offering discounts to the normal prices, they are not as good of deals as the American outlets!
- My favorite stores are Rapsodia and Complot.
**Note: clothing is not cheap in Argentina.  

Touristy Must-dos:

- Buenos Aires bus tour – yes, somewhat cheesy but it's fantastic way to get around town to see the sights.  Buy tickets and start the tour right outside of the Catedral Subte stop at the end of Calle Flordia.  The bus is open air and yellow, so you can’t miss it.  Sometimes there is a big line so try to go early as they give you a time slot. I have done the bus tour 5 times (probably one or two too many)
- Recoleta Cemetery / Recoleta Market on Satudays & Sundays right outside of the cemetery
- San Telmo market on Sundays along Avineda Defensa (probably my favorite thing in Buenos Aires)
- La Boca/Caminito - cheesy and very touristy, but fun nonetheless and a good spot to pick up some original art from some great street artists
- Calle Florida - For all of your tourist shopping needs (souvenirs, leather, Havanna dulce de leche, wine, etc). A bit overpriced, but convenient nonetheless.

Side trips:
- La Colonia, Uruguay – it’s a good day trip from BsAs.  Take the Buquebus 1 hr ferry over and back.  You can leave on the noon and return at the 6 and should be able to take it all in.  Round trip
express ferries (45min-1hr) are only about $65USD.
- Montevideo, Uruguay (3hrs by boat/bus)
- Punta del Este, Uruguay (5hrs)
- Mar del Plata (5hrs)
- Iguazu (18hrs)
- Mendoza (14 hrs)
-  Local estancia (Argentine ranch) 

Things to know about living (or traveling) in Buenos Aires:
Buenos Aires is a late city.  Expect to find restaurants empty any time before 9pm, in fact it is typical to be at dinner at midnight and find the place completely full.  You will usually start pre-partying aka "la previa" around midnight as bars and clubs won't start getting full until 2am at the earliest!  It is easyt to stay out until 6, 7 or even 8am!

Argentina’s money is the Argentine peso. Pesos come in denominations of two, five, 10, 20, 50 and 100-peso notes.  Larger bills are rarely accepted in small stores, taxis and even sometimes in larger venues.  SO to break those $100 peso bills that the ATM dispenses as often as possible.

Beware of counterfeit money. Unfortunately, counterfeit money is relatively common in Argentina. The most common places to receive fake bills are taxis and night clubs or bars, however I have known people to receive fake bills straight out of an ATM.  Generally larger bills will be forged. Counterfeit bills feel papery and don’t have the more flexible, textured feel of real money.  Holding it up to the light to look for watermarks can be a sign, but some fakes have watermarks and the shiny thread running through the “fiber.”  Fortunately, it is easy to get rid of these bills at busy places with high turn over.  Do not try to pay a cab driver with a fake bill as he will almost always notice. 

Coins aka "monedas" come in five, 10, 25 and 50 centavos as well as one peso.  Monedas are like gold - NEVER use them to pay for anything but the bus "collectivos" (where only coins are accepted).  It is nearly impossible to find monedas in this city (unless at street markets sold as jewelery).  I kid you not they are sold on the black market for more than their value.  Often times when at a store if you don't have exact change they will do one of two things:  (1) If it's a small amount that you owe, they will round down so for example if you owe $8.10 they will just ask for $8.  On the other hand, (2) if it's a higher amount and they owe you the 10 cents, they will give you candy instead of change.

Hand signals for calling a taxi are different from calling a "collectivo" (bus).  What we as Americans consider the universal taxi calling (hang held high up in the air) will often time result in free taxi's passing without stopping.  It took me several weeks (filled with much frustration and cursing at cabs) to understand why this was happening. One day, a taxi driver told me what I was doing wrong.  That is the hand signal to stop a collectivo.  As cabs and collectivos share many main streets, you need to differentiate your hang signals.  To hail a cab you place your hand out vertically from your body. 

Tipping aka "Propina": It is customary to tip 10% at restaurants and bars.  You do not need to tip taxi drivers.  In fact it is often uncommon to round up to the nearest peso (this is due to the need for monedas). 










Lonely Planet’s Rules for Living like a Local (All SOO true!)

• Never give out you loose change to anybody. Guard it with your life!
• Always complain about the weather – ‘too cold in winter, too hot in summer’
• Put your cell phone on speaker and use it like it’s a walkie-talkie on the streets
• Never go out before 2am on a Friday night, and never come home before 4am
• Don’t ask why the electricity and water are out; just accept it with a shrug and go take a walk until services return!