I love markets. When researching Buenos Aires one of the first things that caught my eye was the antique market that occurs in San Telmo (another barrio of BA) every Sunday. We were there.
Wanting to avoid the sheer foot pain we had bestowed upon ourselves (whose idea was that again…) the first two days of our stay we did the unthinkable: cabbed it TO our destination. How nice to arrive at our first sight within 15 minutes of leaving and having fresh legs for sight seeing. As opposed to our typical schlep it there with an hour long walk, schlep it around and then schlep it on back for another hour long walk.
Cabbing it there was a winning decision.
The market is huge, stretching down the main street for almost 2 km, not to mention the plaza which is full of the antique stuff. Music is playing, food is being peddled, and people are everywhere. THIS is what I love about markets.
We wandered around looking through all the random assortment of goods, a popular item seemed to be old fashioned glass soda bottles (to create the dreaded fizzy water) and such an abundance of old keys, jewelry and fur. It was surprising that in a city renowned for its leather goods, we saw very few vendors selling leather jackets.
Farther up the street are more tourist-trap type items, interspersed with some genuinely cool unique, hand-made stuff. We saw miniature working stoves, metal shapes, hand painted glass coasters etc. It was definitely a fun and lively atmosphere to be a part of.
Determined to take it easy we stopped for a long lunch on a balcony overlooking the main square. The sun even obliged us with a momentary glimpse of sunlight. Very momentary.
San Telmo is an older area of Buenos Aires and, outside of the market streets it really shows. La Boca, however, is an even older section of town named “The Mouth” as it sits right where the river enters Buenos Aires from the sea. We ventured out to La Boca to take in the admittedly touristy Camanitos – brightly colored buildings and plazas.
Sometimes it is nice to get somewhere and get exactly what you expected. The buildings were bright. The area was touristy. But it was very enjoyable and pretty to look at – we were due for some color after all the now 3rd consecutive day of rain.
After seeing our full we headed back home – in a taxi, thank you very much – to freshen up before taking in a tango show that evening.