Tourist questions : Cash for three weeks in BA?

[MercyRego]

6th Day Observations:

Day tripping to Lujan:

1. I visited Lujan 8 years ago. It's a beautiful church and a great place for a day trip. Now when I say day trip... I would say plan out two things for your visit... the Church and finding some Parilla. Here's the church...
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Here's the second part of the visit ... the meat. Btw there is an amusement park and "skycar", that you can visit. However, the place doesn't look like it has been taken care of since I visited 8 years ago. Your mileage may vary on that visit.
   
   
3. Specifically, after the church it was on to a very hole in the wall Parilla (Parilla Lo De Sandra). Here's a screenshot of the map and if you're looking for notes or an updated travel map : List of places I've visited in Buenos Aires
   
   View attachment 8155
   - It's one of the these wonderful local places, like you would see in Trinidad. There was no English involved... so my rudimentary Spanish combined with the Google translate app really worked magic here.
   - The house menu for the all you can eat Parilla : Chorizo sausage, Blood Sausage, Cow's intestine (Fried), Kidney, Beef Short Rib, Roast Pork along with Fries, Bread and Dessert.
   
   
   
   - Now i'm not a big organ meat kinda person. I have to really know a place before I eat that stuff. I didn't take pictures of all the meat. However it was primarily sausage, short rib and pork ... 2 hours later. I could barely move and we had to get back to the city for some drinking at Floreria.
   
   

Floreria Atlantico drinking session:

1. I visited this bar twice, 8 years ago before they were actually a big time bar.
2. Drink: Viedma - carmen de patagones $830
   Ingredients: Pomace, ratafia, cut wood, salt, tomatoes.
   My notes: Reminscent of a regular Manhattan. Smoky elements but incomplete drink. Would not repeat.
   
   
3. Drink: Colonia Lujan 830
   Ingredients: Homemade Sake, Príncipe de los Apóstoles,kombucha with ginger and honey and flower honey,mandarin.
   My notes: Fantastic drink made by Rosario (I think) Repeated multiple times this night. Service for this first drink was excellent,my drink appeared in less than 3 mins. Then she disappeared and Lissandro took over and the whole service experience went to shit from there.
   
   
4. Drink: Moises Ville 832 pesos
   Ingredients: El Profeta, Pan Vodka, Arak, pickled cucumbers.
   My notes: This tasted like a cross of a pickleback martini and aniseed. Interesting and dry. Would not repeat but I think it is a decent concept drink. This drink took 25 mins to from Lissandro
   
   
5. Drink: Margarita Belén $850
   Ingredients: Brandy Cocchi americano, mead, organic cotton
   My notes: Thistasted like a Negroni Sbagliato. So I did quite like this one, however I could not discern the purpose of the "organic cotton" nor could Lissandro explain why the cotton was there or whether it was edible (It was not). This organic cotton was the source of much laughter and consternation on the sourcing of said cotton.
   
   
6. Im getting lazy now ... but we did taste all of the Negronis but some of these ingredients like "Water from the Atlantic Ocean" ... like what?
   View attachment 8156

Overall it was fantastic day but a note on the Floreria service. A poorly trained service mixologist can ruin a really good place. My first 2 visits there in 2014 were phenomenal (Floreria from 2014).
Our visit last night was simply poor because of crappy service from a short staffed and poorly trained bartender. He was unable to prioritize, figure out service, communicate with his other bar tender, had a short temper and didn't seem to know the menu or the food. I did speak to William (manager) there and communicated all of this to him and he implored me to come back but I'm a tourist with lots of things to see. However, the drinks are fantastic!

Next time you visit Luján dont miss this restaurant (it is also known as the nuns' restaurant:

L'eau Vive de Argentina

 

[Rishiray]

Here's a whole day plan in Palermo:

1. Morning
Japanese Garden, JardinJapones.org.ar., Casares 3450 in Palermo. Authentic Japanese garden experience. Enjoy an hour or more strolling the grounds. There's a Japanese restaurant with lunch for US$5 to $10. Food is OK for the price. Sake is on the menu, but didn't try it.

2. Check out some of the special cafes around town: https://www.laguiadebuenosaires.com/cafes-de-especialidad-en-buenos-aires/

3. Late afternoon meal or dinner:
An alternative to premium-priced Don Julio, is "La Payuca" at Arenales 3443, near the Alto Palermo mall. Open noon to late night. Lunch set menu (small steak, fries, drink) from noon to 4pm, less than USD$10. I prefer the bigger steaks on the regular menu, which go for about half the price of Don Julio. We ordered 300g steaks from the regular menu, and with a glass of house wine, less than $30 for two. Excellent. For parents, they offer a kids play floor upstairs.

4. Dessert
Next door to Don Julio, the famous steak restaurant, is possibly the best made-from-scratch cake cafe in town, "Kajue Cafe" at Guatemala 4665, Palermo Soho. Specializing in several varieties of cheesecake, carrot cake and others. The young owner went to cake school in Colombia, and speaks good English. Friendly staff.

5. Bar:
Don't miss the Alcatraz prison-themed speakeasy bar, "The Hole", in Palermo Soho, at Armenia 1743, half a block from Costa Rica, open until 3am. Even has a vintage car from Prohibition era, and fake guns. Sushi is on the menu. It can be hard to get in on the weekend, as a long que forms even before they open at 8pm, so a weekday night may be best.

7th day observations

1. The Japanese Garden on a weekend had a crazy line. I suspect that beautiful weather will contribute to that. It was about a 500 peso cab ride from Puerto Madera. While not as ornate and refined as something you would find in Japan... this is still a wonderful place to go a picnic or hang out in the sun and people watch. Definitely worth 2 hours of your time to relax. The restaurant had a 40 min wait time when I got there (Sunny Sunday afternoon)
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. After the garden, I was starving ... a lot of places were full and also had long lines. In the end, we sat at Romario's empanada and pizza.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. After Romario's ... it was on to some world class drinking at Tres Monos. I worked through the menu.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

[Rishiray]

My first blog post

Don Julio – Buenos Aires : An honest opinion - Ah Trini Travelogue

Coming to Buenos Aires for the 5th time was a measured decision. This is a city that I love for the

www.rishiray.com

 

[Ries]

this is not a criticism, merely a reflection on the truth of how "everybody is different"-- reading your travelogue, it appears to me that you drink as much in a day as I drink in six months. No wonder my meals are cheaper. It looks like you are having a great time.

 

[Rishiray]

Thanks Ries,

I am having a wonderful time in the city. We can discuss different economic forces at play. That being said, I am privileged to get to eat and drink like a king here in Buenos Aires. Nothing is forever.

For now, tourists like me can enjoy a bargain. It won't be so forever. If I can spread the word on other travel blogs and travellers to come visit BsAs, it will be a good thing.

The global post COVID landscape is pretty garbage. I apologize if my writing style comes off an entitled douchebag ...but I simply work super hard and I try to play harder.

 

[steveinbsas]

I am having a wonderful time in the city. We can discuss different economic forces at play. That being said, I am privileged to get to eat and drink like a king here in Buenos Aires. Nothing is forever.

For now, tourists like me can enjoy a bargain. It won't be so forever. If I can spread the word on other travel blogs and travellers to come visit BsAs, it will be a good thing.

The global post COVID landscape is pretty garbage. I apologize if my writing style comes off an entitled douchebag ...but I simply work super hard and I try to play harder.

One week into a three week visit to Buenos Aires, the posts suddenly stopped.

The trip as originally planned would be ending about now.

Does anyone know if sometning happened to Rishray, other than the fact that he stoppped `posting on March 31st and was "last seen" here on April 6th?

 

[Rishiray]

Hey team
Thanks for the check in.
Well I got a couple comments on the tone of my posts and how I seemed pretty entitled. I didn't want to go into anything or call people out... so I just stopped and started putting the notes on my blog at rishiray.com

 

[chris]

Hello everyone,
I'll detail my experiences in town while I'm here.

First day observations:

1. Entry into Argentina:
   Got into EZE at about 1pm. It took about an hour to get my luggage and clear customs. No issues at all. I was prepped with my Antigen test, triple vaccination and travel insurance. I was pleasantly surprised by the ease of things. The airport also has had a significant upgrade since my last visit in 2016.
2. Getting a phone:
   Getting SIM cards. This was 75 mins of my life that I will never get back. Why it takes two women to figure this out in a stall at the airport is incredible. However, after all was and said and done ... the 800 peso package for 3 Gigs of data and unlimited Whatsapp is pretty decent.
3. Taking a taxi from the airport to downtown:
   Getting from EZE to my place in Puerto Madero was also super simple. I did pay a bit of a tourist rate to get a taxi. The official fare is 37$ USD which is ludicrous. Once I walked outside, then the ticket prices were around 25$USD to which I still had issues, so then some walking outside, I was able to negotiate a fare of 15$ USD downtown. When a fare in local taxi is about 800 pesos from Puerto Madero to Palermo, this still seems like a crazy rip off, but friends of mine who are here were confident in me able to negotiate the brown discount
4. Getting into my building:
   This is a secure building. 4 security guards at the front here on Azopardo. ID for everything to get into the building. It's annoying when you're walking in and out, but these guys will get to know me while I'm here. My guest last night had to show her ID to stay. I have a really nice view.
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5. Shopping at Jumbo Madero:
   This was phenomenal. The prices for aperitifs, wine and beverages is ridiculously low with the exchange. The quantity of fresh produce was shocking small, but I'm assuming I'm shopping in a mercado in Puerto Madero. So that's with a grain of salt. I enjoyed my walk back to the building although carrying 4 shopping bags when I could have spent 2USD on a taxi wasn't an efficient use of time.
6. Dining out at Osaka:
   - Dinner and a drink was at Osaka Puerto Madero (https://www.osakanikkei.com/es/local/buenos-aires)
   - Massively overpriced: I got hit with the cubierto. Unavoidable
   - I asked for a Sake list. They had none and the waitress couldn't give me a price for the Sake. I didn't follow up and I got hit with a ridiculous price for Sake. I will always ask the prices from now on.
   - Service was brutally slow, poor, inexperienced and then she demanded a tip. LOL... I handled that shit. I would have been happier with Choripan at Retiro.
   - Food quality was absolute garbage for a high end "Japanese" place here. This was not even All you can eat sushi quality in Toronto, Canada. BTW : If you ever want a sushi bargain, in Toronto - our AYCE places are amazing for 20$ CDN
   -View attachment 8138

After dinner, easy taxi ride back to my place. So all in all ... a good, safe night with shitty food. Talk tomorrow.

Do they require a TRIPLE vaccination?

 

[Rishiray]

Hello everyone
I'm back. Just for a week.
Intend to have another phenomenal time here again. Then I'm off to Qatar for the world cup
My passage through customs was super smooth.

The higher exchange is even more phenomenal for me, but I'm sure it's just gotten worse for locals in the last 6 months.

I will say, the engagement on this board was phenomenal and a large part in helping me be comfortable quickly

I have my usual bars to hit but if anyone has a new recommendation, please let me know

 

[sts7049]

welcome back. the only thing that's changed is everything probably costs 50% more than when you were here last