Buenos Aires, Argentina - Day 3

Monday, March 6, 2023

Day by day, we’re adjusting to the lifestyle of late nights and sleepy mornings in Argentina. We typically eat dinner around 9:00pm now since it’s hard to find places open for meal service before then, and we’ve been letting Tory and Aden stay awake until 11:00pm so they can talk to their friends on FaceTime. That sounds late, but it really isn’t — 11:00pm in Argentina is 8:00pm in Wisconsin. Therefore, our mornings are kicking off much later than usual these days.

Andi invited Aden to have breakfast with him this morning, so they boys walked to a restaurant in our Palermo neighborhood called Ninina. Meanwhile, Tory slept in until 9:30am and I got a workout in at the gym in our condo building. It’s been several weeks since I did any proper exercise and it felt really good for my mind & body.

Andi brought me back an omelet and salad from the restaurant which was very thoughtful, so I had a nutrient-rich, savory breakfast after my workout.

It was already 90 degrees outside by 11:00am — too hot to drag the family on a city adventure — so Andi and I decided to hang around our air-conditioned apartment until late afternoon. The kids and I did some school in the living room of our airbnb while Andi worked on booking flights and lodging for the remaining month of our trip. He has done such a great job of trip planning for us, piecing together all the logistics of traveling across the country. We’d ideally like to book accommodations as we go to allow for flexibility, but it hasn’t been easy to do that in Argentina. Lodging seems to book up quickly, especially over 4-day weekends like the upcoming Easter holiday.

Tory and Aden decided to build a fort in the living room of our apartment, so they used blankets, books, and chairs to fashion themselves a hide-out. Normally, this type of mess would stress me out at home, but here it doesn’t bother me at all. It entertained the kids for quite a long time fixing their fort to be just so.

Around 4:00pm, we took a taxi to the Botanical Gardens in the Palermo neighborhood about a 10 minute drive from our apartment. The playground and the dog park were busy with local porteños. Aden and Tory begged to play on the playground equipment, but Andi and I wanted to keep walking through the neighboring gardens. Except, when we got to the gate we realized the Botanical Gardens are closed on Mondays. Bummer!

We walked a bit further to the much-hyped Eco-Park and it was closed, too. What the heck?! Nowhere did I see hours to the parks during my research of the city, nor did I guess that a public park would be closed one day of the week.

Andi looked up the city’s Japanese Gardens nearby and they were also closed on Mondays. That was our entire plan for the evening. Time to pivot— While Andi searched his phone for nearby attractions, a nice woman approached us and asked if we needed help. We didn’t, but we thanked her for asking. We continued walking to the Bosque de Palermo (the park we’d visited on Sunday with our tour guide, Victoria) which was still open.

The Bosque de Palermo was packed with locals recreating. Buenos Aires is a very fit community — there are people running, biking, roller blading, and working out at all times of the day, all over the city. Tonight was no different. We saw lots of group fitness classes happening in the city park. What a beautiful place to move your body with the sun setting over the lake.

The four of us continued walking toward a food promenade called Arcos del Rosedal near Bosque de Palermo. Of course, most of the restaurants were also closed on a Monday night. Andi and I didn’t feel like greasy burgers which was about the only place open, so we kept walking. The farther we walked from the park, the more residential the neighborhood became and the less food options we encountered.

We were really striking out tonight! Andi and I decided to cab back to our Palermo neighborhood for dinner. It took us a while to catch a taxi, but we eventually made it back to the vicinity of our airbnb.

Of course, the neighborhood where our airbnb is located was hoppin’! Figures.

Andi picked a restaurant called Chori for dinner. I remember seeing this place on the Netflix show, Somebody Feed Phil. Choripan is a traditional Argentinian street food; the name literally translates to “sausage bread” and that’s exactly what it is. At Chori, the grilled sausage on a bun is kicked up a notch with all sorts of condiment choices. We ordered three Chori de Canchas served with chimichurri sauce, and one choripan called ‘matrimony’ served with peppers and onions. The sandwiches were really tasty! Served on crusty French bread rolls, the sausage were perfectly cooked with a crunchy outside.

We were all so hot & sticky from walking around the city in the humidity. At 9:00pm, it was still 88 degrees outside with very little breeze. At dinner, we were thankful for cold bottles of water and a quick meal.

The Palermo neighborhood is known for having a lot of street art, and the alleyways around Chori were tagged with some colorful pieces.

On our walk back to our apartment, we stopped for gelato at Lucciano’s. I was too stuffed to eat any, but Tory, Aden, and Andi all ordered a treat. Tory picked dulce de leche, of course. Aden wanted a paleta (ice cream bar), mostly because it was shaped like a puppy’s foot. Andi ordered a combination of pistachio and mandarin.

Today’s adventure in the city might not have gone exactly as planned, but that’s the way travel goes sometimes. We still enjoyed wandering around the streets of Buenos Aires.