Welcome to Buenos Aires

Welcome to Sid’s travel blog for trip 2 through South America! Just to recap, I took a solo trip through Colombia and Peru for trip 1 between October and November of 2022. This trip, I am accompanied by my good friend, Hunter, for the entirety of this trip. We have been planning to travel together in South America since sophomore year of college, and all those days dreaming of this trip have finally come to fruition. Even better, two more of my close friends (Calvin and Jaeson) have decided to join for 2-3 weeks of the trip. Altogether, us 4 will be traveling through a few cities/regions in Argentina while Hunter and I will continue on to Chile afterwards. Overall, trip 1 gave me the opportunity to reflect and grow while alone for those 2 months. I learned to be independent, find my way, and be comfortable with just myself for a long period of time. Now, with my close friends with me, this trip will serve a different purpose. I think it will be a more fun-filled experience overall because I will get to experience new places, activities, and cultures with familiar people. I am grateful to have the opportunity for another global trip. Here we go!

The four of us met at DIA around 8pm on January 18, 2023. We took an overnight flight to Panama City and then connected to Buenos Aires, landing around 9pm local time (4 hours ahead of Denver) on the 19th. We booked an airbnb apartment in a hip, young, modern neighborhood called Palermo right next to one of Buenos Aires’ airports. I mean, a city of 15 million people definitely needs more than one airport.

From an initial glance, after just 2 days, the city overall seems like a great place to live. Although it’s home to many residents, it’s spread out and doesn’t feel remotely as crowded as New York. It seems like everyone has cars to get around as the amount of motorcycles is like 10% of those in Bogota or Medellin. At least for our area, it seems very safe, clean, and friendly.

Our first morning here, we found a fancier breakfast place which served delicious food and coffee. Great first meal in Buenos Aires. After breakfast, we walked the city center, and made our way to the infamous “Florida Street” also colloquially known as the “Casa de Cambio.” Here you can essentially bring American dollars and exchange for local Argentinian Pesos at a significantly higher exchange rate than the current market value (as of 1/21/23 about 180-185 pesos per dollar). The higher the US bill denomination and the better the condition, the more you get for your dollar. We met a “cambio” man on the street and asked for the exchange rate. Astoundingly, he was offering 365 pesos per dollar (literally double the market value) if you had a crisp hundo bill with the blue tinted ink.

Later that evening (more like nighttime) we sat down for dinner around 11:30pm. The local Argentinian weekend schedule really does start late. Again, the food was delicious. From there, we found a local casino and a few nearby bars. At 3am, the bars seemed to just be filling up. We arrived home around 4am and finally got to sleep, only to wake up at 1:45pm today. Needless to say, this new schedule has taken a little getting used to.

We found a more American-themed burger collective for lunch and then made our way to the Japanese Gardens of Buenos Aires. The Japanese built the gardens as a symbol of friendship between Japan and Argentina in 1967. On the way back, we found an eco-park in the city center that housed many unique animals and even a few giraffes. Some of these animals looked like a mix of a deer and a rabbit, which was pretty neat. We chilled at the apartment for a bit, bought some fruit at a local market, and played cards while it rained. Tonight, we found a bar tour with a host named Carlos who will show us to different spots. On the way to our meeting point, we will stop for another round of Empanadas at this local shop we have already bought from, twice. These empanadas are just next level. It should be a fun night!