Buenos Aires - Part III: Recoleta & Senor Tango

Recoleta's 'El Cemiterio'

Alvear Palace Hotel:

Wearing the red flower necklace from my previous post, that I bought in San Telmo, with my Akira blue silk/cotton dress. We had a lovely high tea to celebrate hubby's birthday at Alvear Palace Hotel's L'Orangerie (this hotel is Buenos Aires' Waldorf Astoria, it was gorgeous!). For 90 pesos (it was about US$30) you get a beautiful high-tea (the Alvear blend of tea was unreal, and I'm not that big on teas ) with a delightful Kir Royal (subtract 10 pesos if you don't want this beautiful glass of champagne with sirop de cassis)

Senor Tango:

This isn't Recoleta, but I had to show you my sister wearing one of the silk reversible wrap skirts/dresses I bought from Puntos en el Espacio,the pop of blue from my sister's 'dress' is the 'other' side of the silk skirt/dress (the pink side has a beautiful tie-dye effect, and the blue side has a subtle print that isn't shown in the picture).

Senor Tango is 'the most amazing Tango show in Buenos Aires' (or so some locals confirmed this recommendation from someone we met at a restaurant). It was absolutely spectacular! US$100 gets you dinner & show, but we just went for the Tango show for US$30, and the music, the orchestra, the dancing, the singing...just amazing! I highly recommend it, so if you go to Buenos Aires, be sure to check them out at www.senortango.com.ar. Shame the picture is so blurry, or you could see the feather headband I bought in Buzios, RJ (Brazil), as well as the single-flower blue-version of the red flower necklace from San Telmo from my previous post.

Buenos Aires - Part II: San Telmo

On the weekends, the main square of San Telmo, Plaza Dorrego, hosts an amazing antiques fair, and the whole area is filled with music, people, beautiful antiques and street performers (inc. some tango). The guy below is an icon of San Telmo, and it was so hard to take a photo of him with the multitudes around me, so I didn't manage a 'The Sartorialist' shot, but I had to take a picture of him and his amazing outfit:

From old gramophones, to old silk slips, antique jewellery, the San Telmo fair had everything:

Hubby fell in love with this incredibly battered antique leather travel bag, full of character and battle-scars, it came 'home' with us:

I'm not quite sure what this place was, but it was too cute, so I had to photograph it (through the grates of the front gate):

San Telmo was our favourite area in Buenos Aires, it has everything: shopping, tango, music, food, beautiful & old arquitecture, history...not just in the Plaza, but also along Defensa street and the surrounding streets as well.

Our favourite:

Restaurant: El Desnivel, an immensely popular & affordable parilla restaurant on Defensa 855 (for both locals & tourists). I love my steaks rare, and learnt how to order my steak 'blue' ('vuelta y vuelta', ie. seared) or just 'rare' (poco cozido), and the 'bife de lomo' (tenderloin) here was like butter melting in your mouth.

Stores:

• Vicki Otero - funky store with local/Argentinian designers (with another store in Palermo). Hubby bought some shorts & tops by Hermanos Estebecorena and Felix.
• Puntos en el Espacio, Peru 979, San Telmo - a store for rising young local designers. I bought 3 beautiful reversible silk wrap skirts that can be worn in so many different ways...I kept one for myself, and gave one each to my sisters. The idea is not novel, but the print and fabric were so beautiful, I could not just keep one for myself. I later bought this necklace below, in the sister-store on Defensa esq Independencia (and a smaller version with one sole blue flower, and darker 'beads'), and some funky leather wristbands. The ring to the left I bought on the streets of Palermo (it goes perfectly with the bracelet on the right which I've had for years).

• Tacones Lejanos (same name as a Pedro Almodavar movie), Bethlehem 423 and another store on Defensa. Sadly the ladies shoes were not of interest to me, but the mens shoes! Incredibly soft leather and gorgeously funky designs, hubby snapped 3 pairs (encouraged by me, of course, and I also later brought my brother-in-law who bought a more subdued, yet still funky, pair for work). Highly recommend checking this store out! (Juan+, hope this tip is not too late for you. I can't remember when you were off to BA).

There were many more stores in San Telmo, but these were the ones I happened to 'stumble across' that I liked (I didn't specifically search for stores, as shopping is not my main objective when travelling overseas...)

Buenos Aires - Pt I: La Boca/ El Caminito

I am happy to report that I accomplished most (if not all) I intended to do whilst in Buenos Aires as I posted in "Buenos Aires - Here we Come". One of the highlights of my trip to Buenos Aires was El Caminito, in La Boca. I am glad we went early to avoid the crowds, which allowed us to soak in the gorgeous happy colours and architecture of this old area. Later in the morning the La Boca markets started, with jewellery, leather and craft stalls attracting the many tourists.

I heard La Boca was quite an unsafe area, and in most parts of Buenos Aires I had my Chloe Ava bag slung across my body. I looked absolutely silly, but oh well, better safe than sorry I suppose...

Quilmes was our favourite beer in Argentina, and I'm not even a huge beer drinker! It was refreshing and 'clean' and crazily, cheaper than water! You could get a 1l bottle for $3 to $4 pesos!

There were some crazy porteños (Buenos Aires residents) checking us out from their window sills.

I'm back! And already suffering from post-holiday blues...

Alas, my 4-week holiday to South America has come to an end, and I am back home.  It went by so so quickly, and was just amazing.  Particularly spending it with my two sisters, brother-in-law and my parents, we haven't been together like that in two years!   

Thank you so much to everyone who still checked up on my scheduled posts (I'm afraid I did not have time to make any unscheduled posts), and especially for those who left such lovely comments! And OMG! I could not believe it when I read a comment left by Altamira NYC! Is it incredibly pathetic to be blogger-struck?

In order to get over my post-holiday blues I plan to share some of my holiday experiences with you all, so watch this space!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!