In October 2023, three days before leaving for Argentina, I had a sudden and harrowing medical event that forced Erin and me to cancel our travel plans. Copa Airlines allowed me to rebook the ticket and a little over a year later, we set off on our first journey to South America.
The plan was to spend most of our time in Bueno Aires, but halfway through the trip, we would fly to Iguazu to see the Iguazu Falls.
Buenos Aires
Duque Hotel
We stayed in the charming little Duque Boutique Hotel.
El Club De La Milanesa
As soon as we dropped our bags, we walked through the neighborhood in search of currency exchange and some local food. We found both, the latter at El Club De La Milanesa, where we shared a delicious Milanese Caprese, but more importantly, had our first Frenet and Colas, which is now our new favorite thing.
Cuervo Café
After lunch and a couple of drinks, we needed some dessert and a pick-me-up, all of which we found at Cuervo Café, where we had a couple of pastries and two perfect flat whites.
Confiteria Ideal
One of the most beautiful restaurants we visited was Confiteria Ideal, where we enjoyed delicious confections inspired by Alice in Wonderland.
Plaza de la República and Downtown
After our delightful snack, we wandered down to the Plaza de la República to see the Obelisco de Buenos Aires and the huge mural of Eva Perón on the Ministry of Public Works building.
We walked around the Plaza de la República and around the downtown area. We saw the primary government house, Casa Rosada, which serves as the office of the President. We also saw the Teatro Colón opera house, but there was an event and we were unable to go inside.
Pizzeria Güerrín
After wandering downtown, we were starving and we wanted to try Argentinian-style pizza, so we made our way to Pizzería Güerrín. We arrived and saw that the crowd to get in was spilling out into the street. It was after 9 pm. On a Tuesday. I thought it must be a small place.
Many in the crowd were people just walking around with hot slices, so we found a hostess and she walked us past the packed front dining area and to a second dining room in back. There were stairs to a second-floor balcony (they would say first-floor balcony), but the hostess pointed us to a small table that was miraculously available. As we were beginning to sit down, there was some confusion between the front-of-house staff and we were then directed to a small, nondescript doorway and I thought I heard the word basement. We went though the doorway and down a few stairs, finding ourselves in what appeared to be a long, dark service tunnel. We walked down the tunnel for longer than I would have thought to still be able to remain within the border of the property, at least as I imagined it. And then to our surprise, we emerged into a massive dining room, even larger than the ones we had passed through, and packed to the rafters with patrons.
The busy chefs could be seen through the pass of the open kitchen as they worked a wood-fired pizza oven (that looked like it was from Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times”) and scrambled to feed hundreds of hungry tummies.
We were sat and the waiter arrived to take our drink order. There seemed to be more confusion, this time around my sangria order, but he was soon off, only to return a few minutes later with Erin’s reasonably sized drink and my pitcher of sangria!
As for the pizza, we were interested in trying the classic Argentine-style pizza – fugazza, which is basically thick pizza dough piled high with onions, but as much as I’m willing to try local cuisine, pizza isn’t pizza without cheese. So we went for a fugazza variant called fugazzeta, which is cuartirolo (cheese) baked between two pizza crusts, with onions piled on top.
El Ateneo Grand Splendid Bookstore
El Ateneo Grande Splendid Bookstore lives up to its name. It is surely one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world.
La Boca
Ultimate Asada
The first part of the event was a cooking class where we learned how to make empanadas.
After the empanadas training course, we moved on to making Choripán, which is grilled chorizo sausage served in a crusty, baguette-style bread roll and topped with chimichurri sauce.
I was absolutely stuffed, but these were just the starters! We were asked to sit down inside the hotel dining room for the main course, which was a small salad and a generous selection of classic cuts of meat.
We were joined by couples from the UK, Australia, Austria, and Germany.
Iguazu
The highlight of the trip was a two-day excursion to see the Iguazu Falls, which are group of waterfalls that span over two kilometers and are widely acknowledged as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.
James Bond Location!
The Iguazu Falls were featured in Moonraker (1979) as Bond hunts for Hugo Drax. After a brief boat chase, Bond escapes by launching a hang glider from his boat, just as it plummets over the falls. He flies over the falls to safety and after landing, follows one of the “Drax Girls” sent to lure him to Drax, with the Iguazu Falls seen in the background.
This required a domestic flight from Buenos Aires to Iguazu. The plan was then to see the falls from the Brazilian side on the first day and the Argentinian side the second.
La Aldea de la Selva Lodge
Iguazu Falls, Brazil
And then we got into a helicopter!
Iguazu Falls
La Rueda 1975
La Rueda 1975
Iguazu Falls, Argentina
Iguazu Falls
And then we got on a boat!
AQVA
AQVA
Bar El Federal
Bar El Federal
Palacio Barolo
Our wonderful tour guide at the Palacio Barolo.
Dante Bar
After seeing a building designed to reflect The Divine Comedy, it seemed only fitting to refresh ourselves with a drink from the Dante Bar, located in the Michelangelo Legend restaurant.
Puerto Cristal
Puerto Cristal
Last Day
Silvia y Mario
Cafe Tortoni
Next time: Uruguay, and more flora, more fauna!
