Buenos Aires, Argentina

 Impressions: The city feels very Western European in a lot of ways. There is a lot of French and Italian influence and I could definitely feel the pomp/self importance that’s stereotypical of French people, but I still met a lot of very kind and friendly people. The architecture is very European, so if you’re into that, it’s a beautiful city! I don’t really care for most Western European architecture so it wasn’t my favorite, but Tyler really enjoyed it (he visited a couple weeks after me). The city’s parks and greenery are amazing - that was definitely the aspect that I enjoyed most, and overall it was a great place to relax after a long travel journey. My Spanish was out of practice but I got back into it quickly and felt very at home in that aspect. The mental block I had had since Malaysia went away quickly too. I found transit costs were affordable but food was the same or more than US prices, especially in grocery stores. The cuisine wasn’t appealing enough to me at that price point to eat out more than once :/

Safety: BA doesn’t have the bestttt reputation in terms of safety, and after my experiences in Malaysia I was feeling like I didn’t want to be risky so I researched the safe/unsafe areas of the city pretty thoroughly and stuck to the safe areas and didn’t go out after dark. The city definitely is very pocket-y with great and not so great areas right next to each other, but I felt very safe overall during my entire time there. I would say if you take pickpocketing prevention measures, don’t flaunt wealth, and mind your business, the city is very safe!


Transit: the Sube (metro) is amazing but has a very limited network. I found that bus stops and schedules were incorrect and transfer options weren’t great, especially to and from the airport (I had to take 5 forms of public transit to get into the city from the airport). You NEED a Sube card if taking public transit (cannot buy individual tickets in cash) so make sure to grab one at the airport before leaving…I did not do this…


Recommendations: 

El Ateneo Gran Splendid - theatre turned (pricey) bookstore

Museo Nactional de Bellas Artes - not super big but nice artwork, free

La Cocina - known for picante empanada

Recoleta - very green, safe neighborhood, great place to stay

Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays - beautiful, free garden

Don Niceto for affordable aside - a local place so you kinda have to know what you’re doing















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