Beyond Museums and Markets, our return to Buenos Aires included an opera, a soccer match, and a tango show. All of these were major events and required advanced planning, but totally worth it.
La Boca
Buenos Aires sits on a very wide spot on the Rio Plata, so wide it seems more like a bay. The La Boca barrio is on the south side, where the mouth of the Matanza River flows into the Rio Plata. Historically, it’s where new, poor immigrants settled upon their arrival to Buenos Aires.
La Boca is presently a tourist attraction during the day and a dodgy place at night. There are colorful and artistic spots, but the vibe is rough. Residents have always felt like outsiders, so much so that they have attempted secession from Argentina several times. They succeeded in a manner in 1986, achieving “micronation” status, although it appears meaningless to the casual observer in this barrio covering 1.3 square miles. Still, it’s worth a visit during daylight hours. Some pics of our visit to La Boca are in a prior post, in case you want a look.
Boca Juniors Game in La Bombadera
The only draw for us to visit La Boca at night was to attend a Boca Juniors football “soccer” match in La Bombadera stadium. La Bombadera is arguably the most famous of football stadium in Argentina. It is right in the middle of La Boca and is painted bright blue and yellow. Frankly, attending a game in person was quite an experience. The local fans sang the entire game. Fortunately, they didn’t need to stand in order to do it. But the noise level was incredible and they didn’t need any encouragement. Diana and I smiled and laughed all through the game at the show being put on in the stands. Definitely catch a match there if can when in town.
The Juniors had a win-or-stay-home game to make the playoffs and the atmosphere was pretty electric. To avoid violence, no opposition fans were allowed. Of course, that can be completely policed, but everyone there knows who to root for if they care for their health. So, everyone went home happy and safe when the Juniors won 1-0.
It’s worth mentioning scoring tickets wasn’t easy or cheap. Diana found a ticket service that included dinner downtown, transfer to/from the game, and tickets. All seats for Boca Juniors are season tickets and are accompanied by the holder’s team-issued card. This meant we were given the cards with the explicit requirement that we had to return them at the end of the game. As such, we didn’t even know if we had seats until shortly before the match. Advance work is required if you want to see a match. That said, we heard that there were 21 soccer clubs and stadiums in Buenos Aires. Tickets somewhere should be available if anyone is playing.
Noche de Tango
Another night, we got to see a wonderful tango show at La Ventana. Presented in an old dance hall, we were treated to an hour-long production of music and dance. I really enjoyed the performances and would probably go again, even though it was a bit spendy. The dinner provided before the show was decent and huge. Diana’s fish filet was very good and probably over a pound.
There was one downside. We had purchased the show as a part of a package that included a hotel transfer. Unfortunately, we were the first pick-up of a mid-size bus and Buenos Aires is comprised mostly of one-way streets. We spent an hour riding in circles, passing the same buildings repeatedly, while the bus positioned itself precisely to pick up guests. Diana complained to the tour agency while we were at the show and they provided a private car for our return to the hotel. It only took us about 10 minutes to get back.
A Night At The Opera
We also got a chance to catch an opera at the magnificent and historic Teatro Colon, which has been operating since 1908. Considered to have the world’s best acoustics for opera, it has hosted every top performer as well as many pop-music artists. The interior is gorgeous and I must say the acoustics were fabulous.
Given the exchange rate, we managed to snag a couple of seats on short notice in the President’s Box for not much dough. Our seats were within arm’s length of where Evita would have been. Our straight-on view was certainly a plus.
We caught a performance of Ariadne auf Naxos, a comedy by Richard Strauss. It has an unusual show-within-a-show format, which can be quite confusing. Worse yet for us, it is sung in German and was presented with Spanish subtitles. It’s a good thing we read the synopsis before the show, otherwise we would have been hopelessly lost. Still, I enjoyed the performance and would definitely recommend a visit if a show of interest to you is available.
Politics In Argentina
Politically, there has been much turmoil in Argentina, even before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. More recently, the leftist and repressive Peronist movement of the 1950s was followed by the rightist, repressive, and brutal military junta in the 1970s. Many dissidents were disappeared during this time.
As the junta did a crappy job of governing, unrest was mounting in 1982. The junta decided to invade the Falkland Islands (aka Malvinas Islands) to distract the people from their plight. As we know, Argentina swiftly lost the war and the attempt by the junta ultimately backfired, with their removal from power and prosecution in 1983. To this day, however, there are many signs all over Argentina declaring their right to the Malvinas Islands. It’s not a good place to be sporting a Union Jack.
Last December, with mounting pressure from rampant inflation, the Peronist party lost their control of the government to rightist Javier Milei, a flamboyant wild-card candidate. Many Argentine people are fed up with the status quo and are hoping for radical change. Whatever else you might say, it’s not boring.
Getting Used To The Local Dialect
As with any country, Argentina has developed some of its own words and sounds varying from the Spanish I’m used to. Probably the hardest for me was the pronunciation of “y” and “ll” (double ell). In Mexico, they both sound like the beginning of “yeah”. So, pollo (chicken) is poy-yoh, and playa (beach) is ply-yah.
In Argentina, “y” and “ll” have a sh sound. So, Pollo is poh-show and Playa is plah-shah. It was quite confusing at first as I would point to a chicken dish on the menu and the waiter would say “Ah, you want some poh-show“. Me: “What? No, I want chicken, you know poy-yoh“. I finally acclimated to the dialect and I now notice when I have Argentinian servers in other Spanish-speaking countries. Just another nuance to be managed.
Favorite Buenos Aires Local Foods
Of course, we hit some restaurants in town. Good, well-prepared steak was cheap and ubiquitous. Nearly every restaurant had a parilla (pah-ree-sha) grill for cooking steaks over a wood flame. And down the street was inevitably a decent empanada shop. I did my best to sample both repeatedly. But Diana doesn’t usually eat beef and she developed an aversion to empanadas so there wasn’t much about the food that appealed to her.
Milanesa (breaded cutlets), typically beef or pork, were also ubiquitous. While tasty, I found them frequently dry and had to request some sauce to go with. Finally, I should mention pizza. The night of the soccer match, we were taken to El Quartito, considered one of the best pizza spots in town. Regional pies have a somewhat unique style: medium thick, soft crust, a little sauce, and a ton of cheese. You really gotta like cheese to dig this style. Naturally, I did, although I would have preferred more sauce. The cheese was way too much for Diana to enjoy, so she mostly ate the crust.
One note about restaurant pricing. Generally, I look at restaurant menus using Google Maps. Rampant inflation made it hard to get an accurate idea of menu pricing that way. I had to pay attention to when the menu was posted to extrapolate the likely price today. I noticed prices at my local empanada shop went up 15% in the week that I stayed nearby.
Argentina Wrap Up
In total, we were in Argentina for a month. A little more than half in Buenos Aires, the remainder was spent touring the nether regions from borders with Brazil, the Andes to the west, and the extreme south in Ushuaia. Diana thinks we were there about 3-4 days too long, and I would have to agree. Perhaps Buenos Aires would have been more appealing if we were fluent in Spanish and could appreciate the culture a bit more. Diana would have enjoyed Buenos Aires more if there was more for her to eat.
I would have to indulge in a lot of cheap beef and wine to consider returning, especially when we have so many other corners of the world to explore. Still, I’m glad we went and were able to enjoy what Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls, and the southern glaciers had to offer. Certainly worth a visit, IMHO.
Where would you like to visit in South America?
