Steak Paradise!

With no real expectations other than a hope to find the greatest steak on the face of the earth we boarded an early morning flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

We arrived mid morning Sunday and were keen to check out a football match that day so we didn't miss out. Unfortunately we had arrived a week to late to see Boca Junior (Maradonnas old club) play River, which is one of the biggest rivalry's in the league. Instead we joined a tour to watch San Lorenzo vs Independiente at Estadio San Lorenzo. There are simply no words to describe the atmosphere with both sets of fans singing and playing music through the game and on afterwards even when it became clear the home team would lose!

Most of the time in BA was spent on foot checking out the local barrios (neighbourhoods), including the Microcentro, Recoletta (BA's Remuera and home to the grave of Eva Peron), San Telmo (crafts, antiques and restaurants), La Boca (the famous coloured houses, and home of the Boca Juniors Estadio) and Tigre on the outskirts of the city where we enjoyed an hour long river cruise.

We went to two very different steak restaurants. La Brigada in San Telmo should be on the list of attractions for any visitor to BA. For $50USD between us we sat down to what can only be considered the best steak ever, although it must be said we were jealous of the guy next to us with an eye fillet that was near 10cm thick!!!, just be aware though if you order steak all you get is steak - salad is extra. The next place was an all you can eat down on the waterfront and for $15USD each you got a drink (bottle of wine or jug of beer), unlimited meat, salad, papas fritas (fries) and a desert, while the steak wasn't up to the standard of the last place we certainly got our moneys worth.

Highlights were the football match, La Boca (although I don't recommend walking here because it didn't exactly feel safe), a cruise on the river in Tigre and a Tango Show we attended at Cafe Tortoni which is the oldest cafe in BA. The architecture in and around the city needs to be seen to be believed.

The city is beautiful and we would like to come back and go shopping here in the future and check out the San Telmo markets on a Sunday.

Knowing we need to carry our packs for the next two months with anything we buy along the way acts as a great deterrent in the shops and means more money for steak as we continue through Argentina...

Should you be looking for a hostel in BA, we highly recommend El Firulete which is on Maipu Ave but you will need earplugs as every bus in town uses this one way street...

Next Stop Iquazu Falls (after 16 hours on the bus),

That's it from carnivore heaven - take care,

Dave & Kim