Puerto Madero

Lazy Sunday today. I slept late... last night was another very late one so I enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in. In the afternoon Chris and I took a stroll around Puerto Madero. We got a bus to Plaza del Congreso and took a look at the impressive Congress Nacional. The Plaza is also very impressive but does provide access to some of the more poverty-based aesthetic element s to the city. Homeless families galore. We browsed a kind of flee market and bought some incense from one or the stalls.

Then a short stroll down Avenida de Mayo, which is a very impressive street, quite swanky and full of old hotels. It was very quiet, it being Sunday so it was relaxing. Past the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada and on to Puerto Madero.

Puerto Madero is a generic dockside regeneration project boasting sleek modern offices, hotels and restaurants. It was interesting to see but really (for me at least) doesn’t say Buenos Aires. It’s clinical and cold and it felt like we could be in any city that has chosen to develop on old docklands. I’ve been reading that the apartments in the area are mucho expensive and can attract rents comparable to New York or central London. The foreign property market is very much the target market.

We ate down there. I had a humungous steak. Now I’m feeling somewhat full. We got the Subte back. I am thoroughly impressed with the public transport in this city. Things move fast and efficiently. Busses and taxis zoom around town, the one way streets and the grid system make ensure the traffic is always moving. The Subte is cheap (really cheap), clean, organised and reliable. Very impressive.

Quiet night in tonight.