Day 2: Buenos Aires; San Telmo, La Boca, Recoleta

On my second day I moved to a new hotel in the neighborhood San Telmo. San Telmo is a cool bohemian-type neighborhood, a little rough around the edges. It has cobblestone streets and on Sunday there were crafts vendors everywhere you looked. I stayed in the only hotel I could find which was both a reasonable price and had available rooms. Here is the place I found, and some pictures of San Telmo:

For lunch, I had an amazing squash and goat cheese sandwich, with all-natural purple dressing, and ginger lemonade:

From San Telmo, I visited other points of interest using the public bus and subway (which is called Subte in Buenos Aires). This is what they look like:

Every major city has a former port which is now a horrible tourist attraction, and Buenos Aires is no exception. Doing my duty as a tourist, I headed over to La Boca. The place has an interesting history, but fits into the standard former port turned tourist site mold:

Benito Quinquela Martín is an amazing painter who was born and raised in La Boca. After he achieved great success, he gave back to his community and built schools and art institutions to try and raise La Boca out of poverty:

Next I hopped on the bus to La Recoleta, an incredible neighborhood, ritzy compared to the other places I had been, seemed a little like Chicago to me perhaps. First stop was the famous cemetery, which was filled to the brim with interesting and elaborate graves, it was quite pleasant for a place filled with dead people:

When I left the cemetery I was shocked to find a lawn filled with a young hip crowd. A reggae band was playing. I bought a beer from a pedestrian vendor and mingled with the locals for hours while the sun set. The main group of people I spoke to gave me "mate" (ma-tay) to try. It is a metal or clay cup filled with herbs and hot water, and then drank through a straw which is part of the cup. Essentially, it is a cool way to drink tea, and it is very popular here in Buenos Aires. It was the perfect way to cap off a tiring day:

After a rest at home, I went out near my hotel to Plaza Dorrego, where folks were enjoying a fun time. Drums beating loudly, a throng of people dancing, jugglers juggling, people chatting on the periphery, a scene that kept going until the wee hours of the morn, and the likes of which would certainly not be permitted in the States. Noise violation would be an understatement. Since no one cares if you drink in public here, groups would make frequent trips to the local bodega to buy liters of beer. Bring your empty and you don't have to pay recycling deposit.

It was a sketchy, diverse, exuberant, very fun scene.

Here are some more pictures from the day: