After having the best sleep of the entire trip in a nice big bed we, sadly, had to go and checkout of our lovely penthouse and go back downstairs to the dorm. After settling back in, we asked about the best way to go to the Caminito in the neighborhood of La Boca and the answer was to take the bus (there is no way to take the metro without having to walk a lot). The problem with the bus is that you either pay AR$5-something only in coins (which is almost impossible because no one wants to give you any) or you buy the SUBE card (metro card) for AR$15 and recharge it. The SUBE card can be used on the bus, metro, and train and gives you a cheaper price when used so it’s definitely worth it to buy and I suggest you buy it the day you arrive instead of the last day, like we did. It’s also a bit difficult to find where they sell the actual card because they are at obscure kioscos around the city (which is also where you will charge the card too). So you just have to ask around to find out where the closest place is. The nice thing is that you only need one per group, instead of per person, so AR$15 isn’t so much to spend if you use the public transport a lot.
We we took the bus to La Boca and got off at the Caminito. It’s a really cute little area about 4 blocks or so, with very colorful houses that have been turned into very touristy restaurants with “tango” dancers trying to lure you into paying for a very overpriced photo. Unless you go to eat there it will take you no more than 20 minutes to walk around and take pictures, because after the houses there is nothing but some sketchy areas ( La Boca isn’t exactly the safest area in B.A.).
After the Caminito, we hopped on the bus going towards downtown and got off at the Obelisco. We went to Teatro Colon to see about a tour which we had heard about. Turns out it costs AR$140 for foreigners with zero discounts, more than the national parks in Patagonia, so we decided to skip it because we felt it was too expensive. However, we did take pictures of the outside because it is a very beautiful building.
Next, we went to Café Tortoni, the most famous and still operating cafe in Buenos Aires, for a coffee and a submarino for me. It’s a very cute place and very old with a lot of tradition and the best part was that it’s not too overpriced (but very crowded!). You can also see a tango show there but the stage is very small so I don’t know how good it is.
Afterwards, we walked to Recoleta again because we really wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe, mostly because I’ve never been to one outside the United States (though I’ve passed a bunch of them). It’s located right behind the cemetery in a very nice mall and since it was like 3:30pm on a Monday no one was there and we got great service! The prices are about AR$100 a plate so it’s not very expensive and we definitely enjoyed ourselves!
After stuffing ourselves, we walked a couple more blocks towards the university and found Floralis Generica, the big metal flower sculpture that is famous in Buenos Aires. This sculpture is super cool because it closes at night and opens during the day! It is also located right in front of the fine arts museum, which was closed at the time we went but we heard it’s one of the best museums in B.A. and it’s free so you should check it out! It’s a giant pink building in Recoleta (not to be confused with Casa Rosada in downtown) so you can’t miss it!
After relaxing a bit by the flower, we took the bus back to San Telmo to meet up with some people from our hostel to go to Konex. Every Monday night for many, many years there is a huge drum concert at this open air club called Konex. It is very popular in B.A. so we decided to go and check it out. It was AR$70 per person, which is a bit high (apparently the price increases pretty rapidly so just try to find out the price on their website beforehand). The band is called La Bomba del Tiempo and they are awesome! They play these great songs with cool beats for about 3 hours and you just dance like a crazy person with a bunch of people (who may or may not be smoking weed) and lose yourself in the music. It was truly a great way to end our stay in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires!
###Numbers:
- AR$35 = Bus card + charge
- AR$45 = Coffee @ Cafe Tortoni
- AR$375 = Lunch @ Hard Rock Cafe
- AR$3.50 = Metro
- AR$12 = Water @ Konex
- AR$140 = Drum show @ Konex (AR$70/person)
- AR$20 = Beer @ Konex
- AR$20 = Taxi
- Total = AR$650