Buenos Aires is a great city, but Argentina is a great country, and it would be a shame if you lived here and didn’t see all that it has to offer. And so without further ado, here are 8 places in Argentina you absolutely must visit.

Iguazú Falls

People come from all over the world to see what is perhaps Argentina’s star natural attraction: the mighty Iguazú Falls. Made up of some 275 individual waterfalls and cascades, the park in which they’re located has an amazingly comprehensive and well-maintained set of catwalks that allow you get right up close and personal with the vast sprays of water.

At the heart of the site is a semicircular waterfall called ‘the Devil’s Throat.’ These falls are 80 meters high and a massive 2,700 meters in diameter, and because of the excellent catwalks, you can stand right over their edge in perfect safety.

Iguazú Falls receive about 1 million visitors a year and have been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1984.

Awesome. So where are they? The falls are located in the far north of Argentina, right on Argentina’s border with Brazil. The nearest town to the falls, Puerto Iguazú, is a short flight or a very long bus ride from Buenos Aires.

But wait, there’s more. If you have the time, a trip across the border to the Brazilian side of the falls is highly recommended. Why? Well firstly because the falls themselves are so impressive that it’s worth getting a different perspective on them. While you feel the falls better from the Argentine side, where you can literally reach out and touch them, you see the falls better from Brazil, because from there you can see the entire panorama at once.

Another reason to cross the border is to visit the fabulous Bird Park, located right across the road from the entrance to the Brazilian side of the falls. For more information, see here.

If you decide that you want to go to the Brazilian side of the falls keep in mind though that while it’s only a short and inexpensive shuttle ride from Puerto Iguazú, some people need a visa to enter Brazil, and this includes citizens of the United States and of Australia. Getting a one-day-only Brazilian visa in Puerto Iguazú is fast – they can do it overnight – but it will cost you (check the amount online as it’s subject to change).

Perito Moreno Glacier

From one water-based attraction to another! This one is frozen, but still there are some similarities with Iguazú Falls because like the falls, Perito Moreno glacier in Los Glaciares National Park is very well served by an extensive system of catwalks that allow you to get very close to the face of this breathtakingly massive river of ice. Clearly catwalks are something that Argentina does very well!

Perito Moreno glacier is located in Southern Patagonia. It’s a chunk of ice 250 km2 (97 sq mi) in area and 30 km (19 mi) in length. It’s one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field in the Andes, which (by the way) holds in its icy grasp the world’s third-largest store of fresh water.

There isn’t a whole lot to do at Perito Moreno glacier except walk around and get different angles on the ice, but it’s such an impressive sight that doing so is actually a fun way to spend half a day or so. If you’re lucky and patient you might see the glacier calving, which is very cool, and there are also short boat trips out into the lake that the glacier flows into if you want to get even closer to it.

Perito Moreno glacier is a short shuttle ride from the city of El Calafate, itself about a three hour flight from Buenos Aires. El Calafate is a nice enough place, on a windswept hillside beside a lake, but it doesn’t really offer much beyond its proximity to Perito Moreno. However from El Calafate it’s possible to get a bus 220 km north to the village of El Chaltén, which you can read more about…right now!

El Chaltén

El Chaltén is one of Argentina’s lesser-known tourism spots. That’s probably because it’s fairly inaccessible – it has no airport, and the fastest way to get there is a slow 3½ hr bus ride on unsealed roads from El Calafate.

El Chaltén was built in 1985 as a way of helping to secure a disputed border with Chile. Today however it’s raison d’être is solely tourism: it’s located at the northern end of Los Glaciares National Park near the mountains Cerro Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, making it a hotspot for hikers, climbers, mountaineers and anyone who just wants to enjoy the ridiculously amazing scenery.

The most popular thing to do in the El Chaltén area is hike or climb Cerro Fitz Roy, but there are more hiking opportunities than you can shake a stick at, so bring your walking boots (and poles, don’t forget the poles). Some say that the mountains and glaciers here are the equal of those in Torres del Paine national park across the border in Chile, plus they’re more accessible, and having been to both I have to agree.

There are plenty of places to stay in El Chaltén (and more being built all the time), but it can be pricey, so do your homework and book ahead if you’re on a budget.

Oh, one last thing: DO NOT spend time in El Chaltén without devoting at least one night to dinner and a sampling of the in-house beers at La Cerveceria Brew Pub & Resto. Some of the best beer in Argentina and the food is spectacular too!

Mendoza Province

Mendoza = wine. The very dry, very sunny Mendoza region is close to perfect for wine cultivation, particularly as the Río Mendoza (formed in the Andes) provides all the necessary water for irrigation.

Unsurprisingly then, the best thing to do in Mendoza Province is tour the many excellent wineries, some of which are world-famous. Organized bus tours are readily available, but the best way to do it is to hire a private car with a knowledgeable driver and get a personalized itinerary. The region is most famous for its Malbec, but other wines produced in Mendoza Province include Torrontes, Semillon, Syrah and Tempranillo.

So that’s the Mendoza region. What about the city of Mendoza? Argentina’s fourth largest city is a pleasant town with broad, tree-lined avenues and a very nice central plaza. Should you tire of wine, it’s a good base camp for skiing at Los Penitentes, Los Molles and Las Leñas, for rafting on the Río Mendoza, and for hiking or climbing nearby Aconcagua, which is the highest mountain in the Andes and indeed the highest mountain in the world outside Asia.

Bariloche

They do make it easy for you in Argentina: Mendoza is where you go for wine, and San Carlos de Bariloche (much more commonly known as just Bariloche) is where you go for snow. Another Patagonian destination, it’s a beautiful Argentine town with a Swiss-German twist.

First the skiing: Catedral Alta Patagonia is a ski resort located about an hour from Bariloche (you can get a cheap bus there). It has 40 lifts and over 100 km of marked trails for your carving pleasure. Look up and you’ll be rewarded with stunning views and the odd Andean Condor as well. From 15 September until 15 October is generally regarded as the best time to go.

And if you don’t want to ski, or you’re there at another time of the year? Never fear, because Bariloche brings you not only skiing but also mind-blowing Swiss chocolate, rafting, camping, climbing and hiking, with a side order of sailing, swimming and fantastic fishing in the nearby lake.

Also, should you tire of all of that, there’s the famous Road of the Seven Lakes. This is the popular name given to Route 234, the road between San Martín de los Andes and Villa La Angostura in Neuquén Province. It’s a 107 km dirt road that crosses two national parks and brings you beautiful views over several lakes. Hire a car and drive it from end to end or take a tour bus from Bariloche; either way it’s unmissable.

Quebrada de Humahuaca

Places like Iguazú Falls, Perito Moreno glacier, Bariloche and Mendoza are firmly on the tourist radar in Argentina. But here’s somewhere equally fabulous that’s not: the Quebrada de Humahuaca in the far north-west of the country, in the Province of Jujuy.

So what is a ‘quebrada’ anyway? Good question. A quebrada is a ravine, and the Quebrada de Humahuaca is a ravine 150 km long and over two thousand meters above sea level, located not far from Argentina’s border with its northern neighbor, Bolivia. It is spectacular due to its rock formations and its incredible multicolored hills, which truly must be seen to be believed.

The largest city and main jumping-off point for exploring this area is Salta. Salta boasts some good hostels, plenty of tourist and car rental agencies and a nice central plaza, but it’s not a place you should plan to stay for more than a couple of nights. The real gems are the small towns located near Salta (such as Tilcara, Cachi, Cafayate and Humahuaca) and the landscapes in and around them. They’re best explored by car, but if you don’t have a car and don’t want to hire one, stay in Cafayate and do a tour of the nearby viewpoints from there.

The one absolutely unmissable sight in the area is the Cerro de los Siete Colores (Hill of the Seven Colors) which provides a backdrop of amazing beauty for the little village of Purmamarca. The seven colors are: light orange (composed of red clay, mud and sand); white (lime rock); brown, purple and violet (lead and calcium); red (clay and iron); green (copper oxide); brown (rock and manganese), and yellow (sulfur).

Puerto Madryn

Puerto Madryn is yet another tourism destination in Argentine Patagonia. Its three draw cards are: watching Southern Right Whale in the Gulfo Nuevo (best in September and October); trips 180 km south to see the Magellanic penguin colony in the Punta Tombo Natural Protected Area, and excursions onto Península Valdés, a wildlife sanctuary for birds and marine species.

Puerto Madryn was originally settled by Welsh colonists, and the area retains some links with Wales. This is best seen in Gaiman, the nearby ‘Welsh town’ which conserves the architecture, traditions and (somewhat bizarrely) language of the Welsh settlers. The main thing to do there is to visit a tea house for a famous ‘Welsh Tea’ (tea + scones, cakes etc.).

Puerto Madryn is located either a short flight or an ass-crippling, mind-numbing 17 hr bus ride from Buenos Aires.

El Bolsón

El Bolsón is a very likeable town of about 15,000 people that’s located about 2 hrs south of Bariloche. It’s surrounded by snowcapped mountains and, like Bariloche, offers plenty of outdoors activities, such as fishing, trekking, rafting, climbing and skiing.

So: mountains and outdoor activities. Are they why you should visit El Bolsón? No! The real reason to visit El Bolsón is that it’s Argentina’s hippy HQ! It is staunchly non-nuclear (unlike Bariloche, which has an atomic energy center) and is currently fighting the establishment of a gold mine that has been proposed for a nearby site. Then there are the drum circles, naked children frolicking in the grass, organic jams and preserves, folk music, incense (hmm or is that marijuana?) and lots of local produce like cheese, smoked trout, ice cream and chocolate.

Best of all is the outdoor artisanal fair held in El Bolsón’s central plaza not once, not twice, but three times per week (on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays). It’s the most famous artisanal fair in the entire country and a great place to buy local handicrafts and locally produced food.

Conclusion

So there you are. Eight unmissable locations in easy striking distance of where you’re living right now. What are you waiting for?

Related posts:

1. An Introductory Guide to the Wine of Argentina
2. Hacking Argentine Air Travel: Fly For Cheap
3. Estancias of Argentina: Get Your Wild West On

Greetings folks. I am excited to announce that I will be starting a weekly newsletter for A Gringo in Buenos Aires! The plan is as follows:

The plan will be to release a new newsletter once a week. I have subscribed to many email lists in the past and I have found myself unsubscribing to more than I have followed. Usually this was due to newsletters invading my inbox every single day with pointless information. My goal is to make this newsletter something that you will look forward to every week and to provide you with information that is actually useful.

The goal of the Gringo in Buenos Aires Newsletter is to provide you with a weekly dose of Buenos Aires news, tips, events, restaurant deals and specials and much more.

The Gringo in Buenos Aires newsletter will keep you up to date with what is going on in Buenos Aires, tips and insights into making your life or vacation here much more enjoyable and basically anything I find that will be worthwhile for other Gringos/Gringas in Buenos Aires.

The concept will be as follows:

News: A round up of Buenos Aires news that has happened over the past week.

Events: A round up of cool events that are happening in Buenos Aires in the upcoming week. Concerts, Clubs, Peñas, Milongas, theatre, etc.

Deals: A round up of Restaurant, Bar and Club specials and deals for the week.

Recommendation: A weekly recommendation of a great restaurant, bar, club or really anything that you might enjoy in Buenos Aires.

Much More!: Any other useful information I have for you, whether it by a great Spanish tutor to try out or a great Estancia to visit over the weekend, I will keep you informed.

I hate spam just as much as the next person, so I will never share your email with anybody else. If you end up thinking the newsletter is mierda, there is an easy unsubscribe link at the bottom of each letter!

So with that said, give it a try! After a couple weeks I will welcome your feedback with any suggestions you have for the newsletter, so shoot me a message!

Sign up below!:

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2. Niceto Club, Buenos Aires: Club Spotlight
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When you move to a new country there are a lot of things you need to do to get yourself established. Find a place to live, get a job, make new friends, learn the language, learn to sidestep the dog poo and holes in the pavement and so on. It’s not surprising that things like exercise and playing sport take a back seat.

On the other hand, look at it this way: if you’re living in Buenos Aires, you’re already on an Atkins diet, why not go the whole hog and exercise as well? When you go home, either for a visit or for good, your trim, muscular physique will be the envy of all your friends.

What are the options for endeavors of a sporting nature in Buenos Aires though? Let’s take a look at four of them.

#1: Yoga and Pilates

Alright these are not exactly sports, but yoga and Pilates are very good for you AND a lot cheaper here than they would be back home (…probably, depending on where home is exactly).

If you’ve ever walked through Palermo (and it would be very strange if you hadn’t), you’ll have noticed that there are a lot of Pilates and yoga studios there. They’re well and truly established in Buenos Aires and if you want to give them a try you’ll find no shortage of options.

For yoga, you might try Buena Onda Yoga. They do classes in Belgrano, Palermo, Recoleta and San Telmo and are constantly well-reviewed by participants. The classes are given by expat women who teach in Spanish and English.

For Pilates, Corporea is a good outfit with many studios. Their classes have a maximum of four people and they have English-speaking instructors. They charge ARG$100 per month for one class a week with machines.

#2: Baseball

Baseball? In Buenos Aires? Believe it or not, it does exist – there are numerous local weekend tournaments, for example the Liga Metro de Beisball, which is run out near the Ezeiza airport.

As for getting yourself into a team, you could a lot worse than checking out Shankees Baseball which is, as you probably guessed, an expat baseball team. They meet in Plaza Italia every Saturday afternoon, and go by shuttle bus to the various baseball fields in Buenos Aires to do battle with local teams.

#3: Polo

Polo is of course stupidly huge in Argentina. Maybe you’ve already been to a match or bought a Kevingston shirt, but that doesn’t really compare to actually trying to learn to play this sport of kings…and sheikhs, princes, millionaires and every other kind of modern royalty.

To get your start in polo if you’ve never played before, you might want to visit an estancia (ranch) outside of Buenos Aires for an intensive crash course. A good choice is La Escondida , which has a polo club that has been running for 20 years. Contact them for further details via the website.

You might also check out the information posted here by a user on the Buenos Aires Expats message boards about a polo club in Cañuelas. It certainly sounds like a good option if you decide you like polo and want to play regularly without paying too much.

#4: Football (soccer)

Why football? Well it IS the unofficial national sport of Argentina, adored by millions of people here and hundreds upon hundreds of millions more worldwide. They can’t all be wrong!

If you decide you want to strap on a pair of boots and hit the cancha (field) but don’t know where to find a team, your best bet may be Buenos Aires Fútbol Amigos (BAFA). And who or what are they? BAFA is a group of local and expat football-lovers. They organize games (and asados) and everyone is welcome to come and play, whether they’re a rank beginner or the next Messi. One blogger describes BAFA as “the oddest assortment of characters since the Cantina scene in Star Wars,” and that’s entirely accurate! Games are played games on Tuesdays and Thursdays in San Telmo and on Saturdays in Palermo (check the website for exact details).

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1. Watching the World Cup 2010 in Buenos Aires: Your Complete Guide
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It’s possible to divide the countries of the world into two categories: those that have pay-by-the-hour hotels, and those that don’t. It’s not a big concept in Australia or the United States, for example. But in Japan, they’re ubiquitous. In Mexico and Guatemala, it’s the same. And in Argentina too, they abound: there are 150+ pay-by-the-hour hotels in the Capital Federal district alone.

All about telos

The Argentine variety of pay-by-the-hour hotels are known as telos. The name is lunfardo (that is, Rio Platenese argot) for ‘hotel’: in lunfardo, the order of the syllables in words is often reversed, and of course the ‘h’ is silent in Spanish.

In case you were in any doubt, telos in Buenos Aires are unambiguously places to go for sex. Private, anonymous, discreet and open 24/7, they feature such things as their own branded condoms, porn on the TVs and strategically situated mirrors. Room service is usually very comprehensive, and in most telos there’s a hole in the wall with an airlock system so that you’re not disturbed when the champagne arrives.

Not all telos are so well-appointed though – at the lower end they can be pretty nasty/tacky, but you get what you pay for. Move up the chain and they’re very clean and pleasant, and some even have stuff like Jacuzzis, costumes for role-playing, cameras for recording your exploits, themed rooms and so on.

So why do they exist?

It’s not difficult to work out why there are so many telos in Buenos Aires. Couples need ‘alone time’ now and again (…for sex), and when it’s culturally the norm to live with your parents until you’re 28 and/or married, for young people at least it’s pretty hard to get that alone time where you live.

Of course telos aren’t just for young people though. Do they also fuel a culture of infidelity among the older set? Who knows, but let’s just say they’re probably an enabler! Apparently there’s a big difference between the people who visit telos at night (mostly young couples) and those who visit during the day and particularly at lunchtime (older married people who are having an affair with a workmate).

Be that as it may, telos are a fact of Porteño life, and if you go to one you’ll certainly have an interesting story for the folks back home!

Finding a telo

Telos are often hard to spot, so if you want to visit one (purely for research purposes of course) you should consult the website at www.alberguestransitorios.com first – you’ll find no shortage of options.

Here are three to get you started:

Rampa Car

A red sign saying ‘Telo’ at the front of Rampa Car is the only indication that you’re about to enter a den of iniquity. From the outside it looks like a giant parking garage, but there is a good reason for this as you park your car directly outside of your room. How convenient?! Feel free to bang in a space ship, a Roman temple or an Egyptian pyramid as Rampa Car offers many different “themed rooms.” There are jacuzzis as well.

Los Jardines de Babilonia

Perhaps best described by the word ‘überkitsch,’ Los Jardines de Babilonia is an upscale/fantasy telo with theme rooms including The Emperor’s Enclave and the Temple of Ishtar. Check out their website for details.

Hotel Pink

With 25 differently-themed rooms in five price/quality categories, Hotel Pink has something for every discerning horny person. The more expensive rooms have things like Jacuzzis and double-size showers. An hour (really, that should be long enough) in one of their best rooms mid-week is only ARG$75. Bargain!

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Feel like getting your Wild West on? You’ve come to the right country. Argentina’s answer to the North American Midwest, the Pampas, is a vast plain that stretches to the south and west of Buenos Aires and covers some 800,000 square miles. It’s one of the largest fertile plains in the entire world. And as far as the culture goes, switch ranch for estancia and cowboy for gaucho and you’re already a long way to understanding this region. Maybe that’s because cattle and sheep are cattle and sheep no matter where you are in the world…

History of the gauchos

Cows were first introduced to Argentina in 1538, and soon began to flourish on the Pampas. Gauchos first appeared during the 1600s, though they weren’t called that until many years later. They would wander the Pampas living off the land and sometimes working in the massive estancias. Gauchos were a tough, nomadic group who were excellent horsemen, had their own code of conduct and generally shunned social interactions with non-gauchos.

During the 1700s, cattle in Argentina were slaughtered for their leather rather than their meat, and so the gauchos took to cooking the unwanted remains over an open fire. In time this custom of barbecuing meat turned into a national obsession, the asado.

Gauchos had a distinctive outfit. They wore a round wide-brimmed hat, a poncho (which doubles as a blanket for sleeping) and a loose pair of trousers called bombachas, which were either belted or worn with something called a chiripá, which is a piece of clothed tied like a diaper. They famously carried a long knife called a facón at the small of the back; it was used for eating and for self-defense. For hunting they used boleodores – essentially three rocks tied to long leather straps and joined at a common point—which were thrown at the legs of running animals.

Today gauchos still exist, though they’re just as likely to wear overalls as traditional dress. They work on estancias and display their skills at horse shows called bordilleros. Like mate and tango, gauchos are an important national symbol for Argentina and are revered and celebrated just like the North American cowboy.

Estancias to visit

Many estancias offer accommodation for tourists who want some time away from it all. Here are some good ones:

Dos Talas Estancia

This beautiful estancia is about 2 hours from Buenos Aires. The hosts speak English and are very welcoming. The house was built in the 1890s and is gorgeous (check out the photos on the website). There’s not much to do except swim in the freshwater pool, ride, read and relax, but then that’s par for the course with estancias. All food is included and it’s very good: excellent meat; delicious puddings, and lots of wine. There’s also a maid service, so you shouldn’t have to lift a finger.

La Margarita

La Margarita is distinguished by the fact that it has the option of staying in a self-catered apartment as opposed to the main house. That cuts the price down significantly, and you can still order an asado if you don’t feel like cooking (it costs extra but is inexpensive). The self-catered apartments have the full complement of appliances: cooker; fridge, and microwave. La Margarita dates from 1870, but it’s currently owned and operated by an Englishman, David Cummings. It has a swimming pool, bikes, two friendly dogs, ping pong and foosball tables, horses to ride (of course) and the freedom to wander wherever you like. Overall, it’s tranquil and serene experience.

Estancia El Rosario de Areco

This estancia is located close to the town of San Antonio de Areco. It offers riding and polo lessons, has a swimming pool, beautiful grounds and warm and friendly staff. There are 16 bedrooms along with a living room and verandah (perfect for doing nothing on!). You can do trips into town to check out the museums, the historic church and local artisans like silversmiths. The colonial style main house was built in 1892 and is atmospheric but comfortable.

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Every expat in Buenos Aires needs a checklist for entertaining guests when they’re in town – say perhaps a bottle of Malbec at El Federal, dinner at Desnivel, next day a stroll along Avenida de Mayo stopping for a coffee at Café Tortoni. Do you have yours yet? If not, here are some things that you might want to consider including:

1. El Ateneo

Wondering what to do with that beautiful old theatre that is now surplus to requirements? Why not put a bookshop in it! Obvious, really. And that’s exactly what they did with what was once the Teatro Gran Splendid on Avenida Santa Fe. The interior is gorgeous, making it quite probably a worthy recipient of the No.2 spot in The Guardian’s list of the world’s best bookshops (not having been to any of the others, it’s hard for me to say). The café and reading area on the old stage at El Ateneo is a particularly nice touch. There aren’t many books in English, but leafing through a coffee-table book is a nice way to pass half an hour or so over a…coffee (what else would you drink with a coffee-table book?).

2. Recoleta Cemetery

Particularly if your guest or guests have never seen a mausoleum-style cemetery, the famous Recoleta Cemetery is truly impressive and well worth a visit. The opulence on display makes it obvious that the people interred here were extremely wealthy, as no expense was spared on their final resting places.

One oddity about Recoleta Cemetery is the 40 or so very well-fed looking cats that inhabit the place. Are they sneaking into mausoleums and feasting on human remains? One can only guess.

To make your Recoleta Cemetery visit really special, why not play tomb photo scavenger hunt? It works like this: everyone takes a digital camera (a phone camera will do) and gets a list of five different famous people who are interred in the cemetery (there’s a full list here). First one who makes it back to the entrance with photos of all of their mausoleums wins!

3. Museo de Arte Latinoamerica de Buenos Aires

‘MALBA’ is the premier modern art institution in Buenos Aires. The building itself is stunning: all acute angles on the outside, and inside there’s a beautiful light-filled atrium with an escalator connecting the three floors. Art-wise the permanent collection features work by people like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Xul Solar and Tarsila do Amaral, among others.

Also great is something called Enredamaderas, by Pablo Reinoso, which is essentially two wooden slat benches on different floors of the museum connected by long strands of wooden spaghetti (!). It’s at the museum until December 2010.

You can comfortably get around MALBA in about two hours, and there’s a nice café on the ground floor where you can get a post-art sandwich.

So there you go: three places that your out-of-town guests will no doubt enjoy. Throw in a steak dinner and maybe a tango show and you’ll be looking like a Buenos Aires expert in no time!

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While Brazil is the most well known for its Carnival celebrations, a lighter form of Carnival still exists in Buenos Aires.

This past Saturday night my Porteña friend called me up and asked, “hey, do you want to go to a Corso?” “Whats a Corso?” I asked. “You will see. Its Carnival! You might want to wear clothes that you don’t mind getting wet.”

After having some hamburguesas on the asado at my Porteña friend’s house in the barrio of Flores, we headed to the Corso around midnight 3 blocks away. Since my Porteño friends had told me that there was going to be lots of espuma (foam) at this fiesta , the first thing that crossed my mind was some type of techno fueled foam party at a nightclub. “Hey, it is Carnival right? Its not Brazil, but we are still in South America. A crazy foam party could be on the horizon, no?” Well, a crazy foam party was on the horizon, but not the kind you would expect….

The Corso(Corso is another way of saying Carnaval) took place on a blocked off section of the street, similar to your typical neighborhood ‘block party’. Instead of a techno fueled foam disco party, the foam that took place here was a result of “foam battles” between the children of the neighborhood. The street was filled with kids running around spraying each other with aerosol cans of foam bought for 7 pesos.

A kid smears another kid's face with foam.

I quickly realized why my friend had told me to wear clothes that I didn’t mind getting wet. While if you aren’t engaging in the battle of foam and don’t have a can in your hand, you most likely will stay dry. The army of foam kids will leave you alone. But after my friend ambushed me and spray me directly in the face with foam, it made me a target.

My face covered with foam!!

Once you have some foam on your body or a foam can in your hands, the kids will realize you are part of the game and will ambush you. After my friend sprayed me which resulted in kids spraying me with even more foam, I bought a can of my own and the battle was on.

Kids engage is a full out foam battle.

While we engaged in a foam battle of our own and were probably the only people over the age of 12 running around with foam cans and spraying each other, another aspect of the corso was taking place; the Murga group…

The Murga group performing on the street.

Murga is a form of musical theater that is performed primerly in Uruguay during Carnival season, but also is widely common in Buenos Aires as well. The Argentinian style of Murga puts more focus on dancing as opposed to vocals. The Murga groups have extravagant costumes with a portion of the group performing dances and another playing percussion instruments, primary bass drums and cymbals. The group performed a dance and percussion routine before some members reached a stage where they began to sing.

A member of the Murga Group sings on stage.

All in all, the Corso I attended in the barrio of Flores was all about community. This was an event where families went and brought their kids to have some fun, watch the Murga groups and most importantly, spray each other with loads of foam!

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that some of life’s frustrations can only be properly alleviated by taking up arms and attempting to mow down your friends (ideally in a non-lethal way). And that’s exactly what paintball offers, so the appeal is pretty obvious!

With the above in mind, I recently went with about 10 amiguitos, both Argentinean and expat, to TEGBall Paintball’s field of battle in Palermo, at Avenida Roldan 4440 (near the Planetario).

What is paintball anyway?

First a quick description of what paintball is, for those who don’t know. Paintball is a live-action war simulation game played with compressed-air guns (euphemistically they’re called ‘markers’) that fire balls of paint which burst on impact. Players divide into teams and play one or more rounds where the idea is to eliminate all the members of the other team or complete some other objective, such as capturing a flag and returning it to your team’s base. Get hit by a paintball, and you’re ‘dead,’ and therefore out for the rest of the round.

Without wanting to scare anyone, I have to say that in paintball the balls fly fast, meaning that at closer ranges they hit hard and leave a significant bruise. Personally, I like that, partly because the balls need to hit hard enough to burst – I’ve played paintball before with underpowered markers and sometimes the balls would bounce off people without bursting – but mostly because I want to be a little scared of getting hit. After all, this is war, and it definitely adds to the realism. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

Also note that while face-masks are supplied, head coverings are not, meaning that the top and the back of your head remain exposed. Get hit with a paintball in those locations and you’ll know it, so take an old scarf or bandanna to wrap around your noggin before putting on your mask. Comfortable shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty are another essential.

The TEGBall experience

At TEGBall they charge AR$50 per person to play. The fee includes 100 balls, but that’s not enough for more than a round or two, so expect to have to recharge a few times (at AR$15 per 100 balls). Because playing for longer = more balls fired and more money spent, you can play as many rounds as you like. We only stopped because it was getting dark and we were getting tired.

For their field of battle, TEGBall use the center of what appears to be a long-disused velodrome, which they’ve artfully strewn with bits of ‘cover’ (in the military sense) constructed out of old pallets and other junk. There’s just one field, running on the long axis of the velodrome, but it can be divided in half for small groups. In this case the teams start on opposite sides of the short axis. It all has an industrial decay/post-apocalyptic-future sort of feel to it, which is nicely suitable.

Before our group headed out onto the field there was the inevitable safety talk. It’s given in Spanish, so take someone who’s fluent to avoid complications; first-timers won’t want to miss out on hearing how it all works. After the safety talk it’s time to don masks and stinky, paint-splattered overalls, get a marker and a hopper full of balls, and head out onto the field of play. We were divided into two teams of about five each and spent the next few hours running around, doing commando-rolls and trying to ‘cap’ each other (in the gangster sense).

The final verdict? Paintball in Buenos Aires is adrenaline-pumping, occasionally scary, riotous fun…and as an added bonus, very good exercise! Check out the links below for more information.

Endnotes:
TEGBall’s website is www.tegball.com.ar. The other options for paintball in and around Buenos Aires can be found by pointing your browser at www.juegosdeguerra.com.ar, www.urbanpaintball.com.ar, www.bairespaintball.com.ar, and www.ciudadpaintball.com.ar.

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Most people are well aware of Tigre as a great day trip from Buenos Aires. I would take it a step further and say it is the perfect weekend trip. Either a two day/two night or two day/one night trip. I can’t think of a better way to escape the city and feel like you are in a whole other world while being only an hour away. The idea is to rent a Cabaña in the river delta, preferably as secluded as possible. While there are many options to choose from, a lot of Cabañas are located on some of the main river channels, busy with boats, less clean water and more people. Try to find something that is as far away from the town of Tigre as possible. The Via Tigre website provides the location of each Cabaña complex it lists. I chose to stay at Perikos because it appeared to be the farthest away from the city as possible. I was right.

After taking the train from Retiro into Tigre on a Friday evening, my Lady friend and I had 2 hours to kill in the town of Tigre before we boarded our boat to take us to Perikos. The first stop we made was to the Casino. With only 15 minutes to spare, I hit up a blackjack table and put down 100 pesos. After 15 minutes I was up 350 pesos which would pay for more than half of our trip (man, if could only give myself a time limit every time I went to a casino). After the casino, we went to a small store to buy some food and drinks for the weekend and also to a Carniceria to buy some Meat. Depending on where you stay, there might by a place to buy food or there might not. At Perikos, there is a family that will sell you Beer, drinks, snacks, etc, but other than that, you are on your own. It is suggested that you buy everything you will need for the weekend in the town of Tigre if you are going to a place more remote.

Sunset in the town of Tigre:

We arrived at Perikos at 11 at night after an hour and 45 minute boat ride. It was literally the last stop on the boat. When we got off, we were greeted by the friendly owner of Perikos who led us to our Cabaña. The Cabaña was nice and cozy with a bedroom, living room with a kitchen and a bathroom. Perfect for two.

The next day we woke up and went for a walk through some trails. It really in beautiful and makes you think you are further away from the city than you really are.

Walking thru the trails:

The rest of the afternoon we spent relaxing on the beach, swimming in the river, playing cards and drinking Quilmes. I can’t describe a more relaxing way to spend a day! Perikos really is more secluded than a lot of the other options in Tigre. The river is not as wide, much cleaner and a boat passes by only once and a while.

The Beach:

Drinking Quilmes in the River:

Carving a Stick:

That night we spent having an asado on our grill next to our Cabaña, playing cards and drinking Fernet & colas.

Asado:

On Sunday we were quite content doing the exact same thing as the day before. Sunbathing on the beach, swimming in the river, playing cards and drinking Quilmes.

For two days and two nights at Perikos, it cost us $500 pesos in total for two people. The majority of places I saw were charging around 400 pesos per person for only one night. I can’t say the reason those places cost more, but at Perikos, the cabins were nice, the environment beautiful and the vibe secluded.

Get out of the city for a weekend and head to Tigre!!

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