4 feet 2 mouths

Moving to Buenos Aires? (By Carmen)

4 feet 5 forks - we found these embedded in the sidewalk. Seemed appropriate :)

The question Nathan and I ask ourselves about every city is, “Could we live here?” BsAs has its pros and cons.  We´ve written about the highlights such as great markets, fanatic fútbol culture, tango, inexpensive transit and good food and wine (particularly pizza).  There are a couple other items we didn´t have time to cover:

Nightlife – A good night out isn´t hard to find in BsAs.  That is, as long as you can stay up late enough.  Things don´t really get started until 2am or so.

Antares Bar on a Friday night

One of our first outings was at Antares, a local microbrewery.  Because we were still jet lagged, the late night was easy! It wasn´t the best beer we´d ever had but the bar was hopping  and had a great atmosphere.

The marble bar at Million

Another night we went to Millon, an upscale bar in a beautiful setting and prices to match the name.  Friendly bar tenders, good cocktails, 2 for 1 happy hour.

La Bomba de Tiempo at the Konex Center

Every Monday there is an awesome drum show called La Bomba de Tiempo at the Konex Center.  This is one of the rare early nights in BsAs since the show is from 8-10pm.  It attracts a young crowd that jumps in rhythm to the 12 or so drums on stage.  You can´t help but want to dance.

La Peña de Colorado

On our final night we checked out the Peña de Colorado.  There we heard more traditional music with guitars, harmoicas and vocals.

Menu from the closed door restaurant

Blurry picture of me on the stage with my raffle winnings

Closed Door Restaurants – One of our favorite nights was at a closed door restaurant in the Almagro neighborhood. A classmate from the spanish school invited us to join in.  She actually lived in the house where the restaurant took place every Friday.  Her roomates were the chefs and the entertainment since their band also performed.  The food was great, the crowd was lively, the tunes were awesome.  I won the raffle too so I got a CD of their music!  After this night, I really started to feel comfortable in BsAs.

View of Plaza Congreso in Buenos Aires

Calle Florida

Architecture – Another great characteristic of BsAs is its elegant architecture.  This is probably what makes it feel most like Paris, the city it’s always compared to.  Beautiful buildings can be found on almost any street.

El Congreso

One of the landmark ones is the Congreso, where their national government meetings are held.  I highly recommend the tour of the inside.

Palacio de Aguas Corrientes

Another beauty was the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes (Palace of Running Water).  It was constructed to hold the city´s first water pumps.  Today it still has the pumps as well as a museum about plumbing.  Complete with old toilets.  Awesome.

So the question is, could we live here?  For me the answer is yes.  The city has totally charmed me.  There are definitely drawbacks.  For example, you can´t hurry an Argentinian.  You sit at restaurants for 20 minutes waiting for the bill you already asked for.  But at the same time, this pace of life forces you to relax.  And looking out the window of a cozy cafe in BsAs is a pretty great place to relax.  I’ll miss you BsAs!

Finally, just for the fun of it, here are a few more pics we couldn’t fit in elsewhere:

View from the river in Tigre, a cute town on the edge of BsAs

The Recoleta Cemetary was one of our favorite sights in the city and has one of the best weekend markets outside its gate

The seal of Argentina can be found everywhere

Pierinos again! Delicious ravioli