Chile/Argentina - Buenos Aires Revisited

It was a short flight from El Chalten to Buenos Aires and since we thought we only have one morning in the city we had not planned anything.  But then we learned at the last minute that Air Canada had cancelled our flight home and we have an extra day in this city that I had visited for several days in 2017.  My travel companion had not really seen the city so we took a Hop-on Hop-off tour of the city.  Although we only really hopped off at La Boca we did get a quick tour of a good part of the city.  

I wasn't going to write a post on this because I thought I had covered a lot of ground in my first visit and had some leisurely intimate experiences at ground level, including a dance at a tango club.  But this time around, the bus tour gave me a bird's eye view that I didn't get when I walked the city in 2017, so there were not a lot of duplication other than in La Boca.  I was also able to dig up a lot of background on the images I took, thanks to Google  AI.  Technically this should be Buenos Aires 3.  I highly recommend that you check out the other two earlier posts:       https://travelswithrarecat.blogspot.com/search?q=buenos+aires

One thing I noted on the bus tour was the large number of corner buildings in the city.  Many of these are historical buildings.  I practically have a collection of them but only showing a few here - you can see the wide variety of architectural styles.  While I captured images of tango dancers in La Boca the last time I visited, this time we missed that as we visited in late afternoon and most of the tourists were gone - but I got a local kid playing basketball...😀  We were tired and eager to go home after 3 weeks on the road, but the extra day was still a treat in such a vibrant, colourful city.  

Monument of Julio Roca, former president

1926 building Edificio Sud America - Neo-Louis XVI style, austere lines and minimal decoration

Edificio Banco Comafi, formerly Palacio Italia America.  Venetian Neo-gothic by renowned architect Francesco Gianotti

An iconic art deco building - Edificio La Equitativa del Plata 1930s architectural landmark

Art nouveau landmark from 1916 also designed by Francesco Gianotti

SOMISA building - first building in the world constructed entirely of folded steel plate 1966-77

Obelisco de Buenos Aires

Ministry of Public Works with massive iron
mural of Eva Peron

Another historical building neo-classical and art deco blend by French Architect Eduardo Le Monnier 1928

Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral with a distinctive neoclassical face columns that resemble a Greek temple rather than a traditional church, no spire, no dome - rather unusual

Casa Rosada - office of the President

Don Quixote sculpture - a gift from Spain for
Buenos Aires' 400th Anniversary

 We saw these all over the city - they look
like comfy benches but in fact are very hard
metal or concrete

Blue jacaranda tree with violet flowers

National Congress in a Neo-classical building

The stunning swing bridge Puente de la Mujer (Woman's Bridge) by architect Santiago Calatrava

     This is in the Puerto Madero district, with other contemporary buildings like the ones below

The historic ansporter bridge inaugurated in 1914 in the La Boca neighbourhood

La Bombonera stadium - homeground for the Boca Juniors football team

The corner buildings coninued in La Boca - below, the famous Caminitto Street area

Murals abound

This mural is on a public works pump station buildin with esgraffito (scratched relief).  The title etched on it "the neighbourhood I love" by artist Jose Palmiotti, Lalo Sussi.  This mural was referred to in the La Boca Museum

Typical La Boca buildings in vibrant colours

Three key figures depicted here - Eva Peron, in various poses with Charles Gardel, King of Tango  and Diego Maradona, legendary football player

First stop for tourists in La Boca - they all want to pose at the door!

A historical ting on the wall just on the street - Martin's Work day (at the docks)

Neighbourhood art

Lucky to catch this young player practicsing

This dazzling pasth takes you to a mix of shops and tenements

Argentina's 2022 FIFA World Cup victory memorialized 
in this mural of Lionel Messi kissing the trophy

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Caricature of Juan Carlos Altavista, famous Argentinian actor 

Immigrants at the docks - local history depicted by artist collective in La Boca

From the wilds of La Boca, we returned to downtown Buenos Aires and couldn't resist going into the Galerias Pacifico, just round the corner from our hotel.  The glitzy interior was a nice change after the urban grit of La Boca.

This wraps up our 3 week Patagonian Roadtrip.  It was exhausting but the variety of experiences we encountered was thoroughly worth it!  Thank you for coming along for the ride.

Chile/Argentina - Puerto Natales

Other than being the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park, there is nothing special about Puerto Natales.  But since it is our last stop before the wilderness, I thought I'd devote a post to it and explore what it's like in a small Chilean town.  This is also where we picked up our rental car delivered to us at the airport.  

Driving into town, we noticed an old pier with nothing but pilings left at the waterfront .  This turned out to be our destination for sunset and sunrise.  There wasn't much of a sunset (it rained) but the sunrise was breathtaking.  The bonus was it was within walking distance from where we were staying.

The town is small enough to walk to wherever we needed to, so we walked to dinner at a restaurant - in a shipping container nonetheless!   And it served the sought after black cod or Patagonian sablefish!  After dinner we walked to the grocery store to stock up on necessities for the following week. Interesting that the supermarket allowed small vendors selling local fruits and shopping bags at competitive prices just outside the door.  

You will see below snapshots of the town, and random things we came across.  We left for Torres del Paine right after breakfast.  It wasn't far but part of it is on gravel roads and it took us a couple of hours to get there.  One important note, there are no gas stations after Puerto Natales so we were very conscious about conserving gas throughout the five days we were in the area.  The one tank of gas would have to last us until we cross the border into Argentina.

The old pier at dusk

Santolla - restaurant in a shipping container (outside and inside)

Delicious Patagonian sablefish

Riding the skatepark

An expressive mural on a house fence

Wooden statue of Mylodon, an extinct giant ground sloth - town landmark and mascot

Local church

Interesting abodes

Ready made cart for street vendor

Dried peppers and what looked like smoked mussels or oysters

Matcha cups in all shapes and sizes

Monument commemorating renowned Patagonian explorer Alberto De Agostini, Salesian missionary, photographer and cartographer (beside an indigenous person, symbolizing his respectful approach to the local cultures)

Just before sunrise at the pier

A dazzling sunrise with double rainbows

Rock shags ready to sun themselves at the end of the pier

Two vista points before we got to Torres del Paine - a foretaste of vistas to come