See the best of South America without breaking your travel budget
The Guiat is the most important thing you can buy if you are staying in or backpacking through Buenos Aires. It contains maps of all the neighborhoods as well as which buses you can catch from where. The Subte is basically useless unless you are going downtown, so for less the $5 ar this little book will save your life.
Located in Palermo this park reflects the upper-class, yuppy, population that lives there. One of the most family friendly parks in the city it has a lake, a nice whitewashed bridge, and a track running around it. You can rent little paddle boats and cruise around the lake or rent roller blades and cruise around the track. It is also home to the Rose Gardens where you can see, when in bloom, over 12,000 different examples of various types. The great thing about this park is that every weekend there is something going on, be it a dance show, a gymnast clown, or a man in drag on roller blades lipsynching to Diana Ross there is no end to the eye/ear candy. Also, if you have a boat, you can watch the shows from the lake. So after an ardous day of traveling or backpacking find a place to stay then come chill in the greenery of Tres Febrero.
Looking for a way to spend a lazy Sunday and not spend any money? The parks of Buenos Aires are the place to be. If it’s a sunny day you will find many an Argentinian lying about drinking mate and chatting with friends and family. Spread out a blanket or sarong and join in. Many of the parks have different types of dance or music shows going on too. One of my personal favorites is Parque Tres de Febrero in Palermo. This park has a rose garden, a pond, and a track running around it on which you can rollerblade or bike.
Looking for a place to stay? Book your hostel on minihostels.com
Whether your broke, crazily busy, or just plain hate the classroom environment Spanglish could be your solution. Envision speed-dating with the aim of learning a language instead of hooking up. Participants spend 10 minutes with each partner speaking 5 minutes in English and 5 in Spanish. You can talk about whatever you want and it’s a great way to meet people. At $15 ar for 2 hours (and it includes a drink to loosen you up!) it’s way cheaper than anything else you’ll find. It’s also great because you can come as often or as little as you like, so if you’re a backpacker staying in a hostel or a more permanent resident it can fit into your schedule. Spanglish meets in multiple locations across the city. Monday it is in the Centro from 7-9, Wednesday San Telmo 7-9 and Thursday Palermo 7-9. Check it out.
So you’ve dropped your backpack at one of them many hostels of Buenos Aires and it’s 30 degrees outside. What to do? Tigre, which is an hour train ride from the Retiro train station, is your best bet. It is located on the Parana Delta and is home to probably the only swimable beach in Buenos Aires. The roundtrip boat ride and entry to the beach cost $30 ar and for this you get 100 meters of decent sand accompanied by a bountiful amount of brown water. The water is brown due to sediments floating in it, and if it’s hot enough it’s definitely swimmable. The portenos seem to have no problem with it and dive right in. The beach also has asado pits and a bar/restaurant with decent food at good prices. If the ‘beach’ isn’t your thing Tigre also has the famed ‘Mercado de Frutos’ which is actually a craft market. Or, for the more daring soul, there is an amusement park complete with cotton candy and candy apple vendors.
Ever notice that when you try to purchase airline tickets in Argentina for domestic flights, it asks you if you are an Argentine National? If you say “no” and use the website for your respective country, the prices are nearly double! Also, if you try to book the ticket on the Argentine site with your foreign credit card, it just won’t work. It’s because Argentina has a law to give cheaper fares to nationals. Want to beat the system?
Book your tickets through the Argentine website, and at the end of your booking, choose to pay for the tickets via something other than credit card. A popular way to pay (on Lan or Aerolineas) is through RapiPago or PagoFacil (the way you pay your bills at all the farmacies) or you can also pay for your ticket at most banks, like Banco Comafi or Banco Galicia. With all the money you saved, you can book the private room at the hostel where you’re staying!
If you love music and are looking for some indoors action this weekend, walk on over to an Atlas Cine where they are hosting a music documentary film festival. You can watch kurt cobain, the clash, the beatles and a number of other iconic musicians with some behind the scenes action. Plays until the 8th.
If you’re one of the many travelers heading to Uruguay’s beaches then the best way to get there is via buquebus. Buquebus is located downtown, just off Cordoba, and will take you almost every hour into Uruguay. Colonia, Montevideo, Punte del Este and more are just a few of the more popular destinations. There are plenty of hostels in Uruguay to stay at in each of these locations. But, during the summer – book ahead of time!
Inflation in Buenos Aires is taking its toll. Prices everywhere are rising and salaries are not budging an inch. On top of that people are worried that their jobs are in danger and that they won’t be able to afford even the cheapest things. While Cristina Kirchner promises that jobs are safe, there is definitely tension in the air as the surroudning economy pushes people beyond thier financial comfort zone. Add Argentina’s unofficial inflation rate of 25% and things are getting sticky.
Though it is often forgotten, Montevideo, Uruguay is the perfect travel destination. Many travelers overlook Uruguay for her neighbors, Brazil and Argentina. However, Montevideo has become the beach getaway for Brazilian and Argentine city dwellers. Among the many activities in Montevideo, tourists should visit the Ciudad Vieja for a look into Uruguay’s past. The sexual diversity monument is also a must see in Montevideo. The Uruguayans were among the first in South America to praise sexual diversity. The Natural History Museum and the Palacio Salvo are worth visits as well.
