First impressions of Buenos Aires was that it was a very organized city - after all, it was modelled after Paris, and there's even an equivalent of the Avenue des Champs-Elysee in the Avenida 9 de Julio (9th of July is the Independence Day of Argentina).
Anyway I hoped these pictures would give you a better idea of how Buenos Aires looks like from a (hopefully) different perspective!
After we landed, we headed straight for the hotel along the Avenida Julio de Roca, which is very close to the Casa Rosada (the Istana equivalent of Argentina), and we went for a walk along Calle Florida (translated as Florida Street). It is a huge flea market along this road that extended enough for a 20-minute walk with my dad (excluding the return trip).
The above picture is a picture of a painter painting using his feet, and I thought it was really quite amazing how these people do it with their feet considering my aptitude for Draw Something.
The income inequality within Argentina is pretty huge.
There's actually an interesting story behind this photo, which was me trying to take a photo of him discreetly, but obviously it isn't possible because a DSLR the D in DSLR goes nowhere close to Discreet. So he actually gestured for me to pay him for the photo after he saw me taking it, but I just walked on because I felt that his expectation to be paid by tourists for photos might be a wrong form of conditioning and reinforcement - i.e. other photographers may come by and he would expect payment from them too and i think that shouldn't be the case. but that's just me, so yeah. not to deny him of his source of income, but i think that it should be from his music rather than other people taking photos of him.
View of the Avenida Julio de Roca on the way back after the walk along Calle Florida. Sunset over there is pretty late, if I didn't remember wrongly it only happens at 8pm or even later.
View from the hotel corridor at dusk, and I felt that the colours were quite pretty so here this is!
The other side of the balcony along the corridor.
This is the antique flea market at San Telmo, where treasure hunters and people looking to uncover historical relics at a steal come to. It is a flea market where people take out what they have at home to sell, and usually a lot of family heirlooms make an appearance here. Some people running the stalls here used to belong to families that were rather well-to-do, but they are currently unemployed and running out of ideas, so they turn to selling whatever their family has left them from the past.
Women's Bridge, which rotates about a pivot in the middle to let ships past. It is located in the Puerto Madero sector of Buenos Aires, which is where the really rich people stay.
The view of the Rio de la Plata from the Women's Bridge. The Rio de la Plata runs between Uruguay and Argentina, and is loosely translated as Silver River (I forgot why though I didn't write it down in my travel diary). You can see the ARA Presidente Sarmiento which is now like a museum ship and historical relic, with the Argentinian Ministry of Defence in the background. (The grey imposing structure that the Argentinians known as the Edificio Libertador [Libertador Building])
Fishing and generally chilling in the parks in the afternoons is a favourite pastime of many Argentians - they get a tan, no one's rushing them, it's quiet, quite close to their idea of the enjoyable life.
When I saw this from far away I dashed closer to get a shot because I couldn't be bothered with changing lenses. This totally reminded me of the The Beatles crossing Abbey Road and the Threadless T-shirt that I didn't bring on this trip ):
In the El Rosedal (Rose Garden). Many different colours of roses within the Rose Garden it was so colourful haha. But I still think the traditional red rose still looks the prettiest. Oh well.
While waiting for the tour bus outside the El Rosedal, there was this procession with an army of Prince Charmings going somewhere, and here is one of them!
But I think that my favourite place in Buenos Aires has got to be the Recoleta Cemetery. I know it sounds really weird for my favourite place to be a cemetary of all places, but the tombs there are intricately designed and very elegant, and it also houses the tomb of Eva Peron. I was very surprised to discover that her tomb is actually located in a side alley and occupies a very small space as she was buried with her father's family, and not in a lavish one as her status as a national hero would have suggested.
Reflection off a crypt.
After a while it just becomes a really exciting foray into ancient architecture, because other than the names you don't really remember actively that it's a cemetary. No bones, no incense, just really pretty sculptures.
After we left the cemetary, we headed back into the area close to the hotel, which incidentally happened to be the place where Cristina Kirchner was about to give her speech. So we couldn't really get back to the hotel because the whole perimeter of the area was blocked off and there were lots and lots of police everywhere. We only really got back to the hotel after the whole thing was over in the afternoon.
The typical flyer you all see at rallies.
Poor cleaner in the aftermath of the speech. The protestors and supporters all left their fair share of rubbish behind, and this was taken in front of the Argentinian National Congress building (their equivalent of the Parliament House).
This was taken on the day of the speech on the 11th, with the helicopter hovering in the sky on standby - not too sure if it's for broadcast or security purposes. The spire of the church is the one near our hotel, if you look at the photo I took at dusk the previous day of my hotel surroundings.
That about sums up my post, the typical touristy shots can be found on my Facebook page, go check them out if you haven't or just want to see more.
Have a great weekend!
Very nice! Like the post haha, lots of different perspective, and not too long-winded heh
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