October 26, 2025 . Buenos Aires . Definitely a City!

Quite a day…. down one jacket and down one ATM card! Crossed 22 lanes of traffic! Tango dancing on the bridge; the Sube (subway/Metro); and more… all on election day here in Buenos Aires.

We started out with the leisurely breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the ATM that was recommended by the concierge—just about three blocks from the hotel. We had absolutely no Argentinian pesos. The only ATM we found at the boat dock wasn’t working, so we took a taxi last night that let us use a credit card. But it turns out that a lot of taxis won’t take credit cards (even from Argentinians) and the use of credit cards overall is not as prevalent as it was in Uruguay (where you could pay for everything by credit card… and I do mean everything.) According to Peter, Uruguay is nearly a cashless society, at least n Montevideo.

By the way, I had two interesting conversations with one of the concierges at the hotel (well more annoying than interesting). I had downloaded the taxi app for Buenos Aires (because the one in Montevideo was so good), but I was having a little problem completing the sign-in because the app would not accept my cell phone number (I guess they only accept Argentina phone numbers), so I asked if she could insert the hotel number to replace my number. She immediately told me I should take Uber. I explained that I refuse to use Uber (anywhere in the world), but she couldn’t understand that at all. Then she told me there was another app called Cabify, so I asked if it was a taxi and she said no. This was their own Uber. Again I declined so she appeared quite annoyed. Eventually another concierge came over and he inserted the hotel’s phone number and I now have a working app to get a taxi. But frankly, there are taxis roaming everywhere.

Anyway, we got to the ATM and I tried using my card, but it kept telling me there was an error. So Mike decided to try his card which is from a different bank. His failed and he tried again (i had tried mine four times in three different machines at the same bank). On the second try after inserting his card, the whole machine went black and turned off —-with his card inside the machine. We tried to call the phone number on the machine but the line was constantly busy. Then all of a sudden the machine came back on but no card, and actually the machine just kept saying it was broken and they were going to fix it as soon as possible (in Spanish). That left us with no cash and a full day ahead of us, and no debit card for Mike. So off we went.

In many ways Buenos Aires seems very familiar; it’s big; it’s bustling; people seem to be in a hurry (even on a Sunday); it’s packed with high-rises—much like NYC. But it’s cleaner and has less graffitti. The density is almost the same as Brooklyn (37,000 people per sq mile); it’s twice as dense as San Francisco and half as dense as Manhattan.

We were heading to el Ateneo Grand Splendid, a huge bookstore located in a former theater. A few things to note along the way… At one point we had to cross 22 lanes of traffic (although it was very organized). That included two lanes for parked cars and two dedicated bus lanes….so a mere 18 lanes of moving cars. There were multiple median strips and two separate traffic lights to get across. Also, along one different boulevard, there were many ‘benches.” At first we thought they were “upholstered” and found them quite odd. But then we realized they were actually concrete made to look like soft cushions. A sort of art piece. And Buenos Aires has a lot of “influencers” or wanna be influencers” that you see constantly taking selfies or having a friend take their photo as they walk around town.

And as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, today is Election Day throughout Argentina. It’s a really important election with more than half of their congress up for election or re-election. Trump is backing the incumbent, Melei who is described as a libertarian. Inflation is at 35% and there are multiple scandals, enabling multiple opposition parties to increase their presence and power. Milei apparently slashed state spending and was photographed holding a chain saw showing him cutting spending (Not sure who was first Elon or Melei). Melei has also visited Mar a Lago; Trump has said that US assistance to Argentina is contingent on Melei’s victory. But Melei is not actually running; this is not a presidential election. It’s an election for Argentina’s congress.

Anyway, we saw lots of people going into official buildings to vote and the ballot was in paper and voting was possible in every public school and other official buildings.

Ateneo Grand Splendid, the book shop, retained the stage and all the “box seats” and essentially the whole interior of the grand theater but removed the seats. According to National Geographic, it is the world’s most beautiful bookstore. It was opened as a theater in 1919 called Teatro Gran Splendid, and includes frescos and caryatids. It had a seating capacity of more than 1,000. In the late 1920s it became a movie theater. and then sometime in the early 2000s it was renovated into a bookstore (using all four floors). We strolled all of the floors and loved being surrounded by so many books. (Alas, they do not have a copy of my book… but oh well!)

From the bookstore, we decided to take a taxi (without any pesos) to our next stop—the big outdoor Sunday market at Plaza Francia, that includes a large craft section. We hailed a cab (just like in NY!) and before we got inside, we asked about credit card payment and he gave an emphatic “NO.” We then asked about using American dollars, because this morning an Argentine guest at the hotel told me that taxis take American dollars as long as they are in small denominations. At first the driver said no, but then he motioned to sit and he took us where we were headed and we did a rough calculation of the exchange and gave him some extra dollars to consider his time going to a bank. It is a huuuuge outdoor market. Must go on for at least a mile and it’s a big circle with multiple rows of covered tables.

Then we walked to Plaza de Mayo, the site where the “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo,” (Madres de Plaza de Mayo) — the Argentine human rights group organized as a response to abuses of the National Reorganization Process, the military dictatorship of Videla. They worked to find the desaparecidos (the people who “disappeared” without any arrests or trials or legel process. Most are believed to be dead.  The Mothers demonstrated continually in this plaza right in front of the presidential palace. They petitioned to have their children returned alive. Eventually the then president declared a state of emergency and the police expelled the Mothers from the public square. The story of the Mothers has been documented widely in film and books. They still function as an organization addressing a variety of human rights.

Today at the Plaza there is a monument and at the base there are hundreds, maybe thousands of stones that people have left, noting the names and sometimes dates of the missing.

From the Plaza we walked to (and crossed over) the Calatrava-designed pedestrian bridge called Puente de la Mujer (Woman’s Bridge). Supposedly the design resembles a couple dancing the tango (??). And true to form, right there in the center of the bridge as we walked across… there were two professional tango dancers doing their thing.

After clocking in at about 15,000 steps, we were pretty beat… and decided to try the Subte (Buenos Aires’ subway system) which looked pretty straightforward. It did however take a while to figure out where there was a station, because the maps don’t show where the stations are, But we did it… Went three stops on the A line and transferred to the C line and then we had about a 7 minute walk to the hotel. It seems efficient, cheap, and clean. But it does involve long walks underground if you are changing trains (sort of like Paris’ Metro). That said, the quality of the stations is a lot like NYC–no grandiosity here.

We had dinner at a Peruvian restaurant, a taxi ride away… upscale, sort of mostly sushi/sashimi. But before dinner we went to an amazing bar for drinks and snack (liquor started being served at 9 pm tonight, because the polls were closed at 6 and they have to wait three hours). It’s called Floreria Atlantico. You enter on street level into a very small florist shop… and then you find a refrigerator door in the shop. When you open that door you go down a steep flight of stairs to a basement and voila! you are in a long thin basement that stretches under the florist shop and under about two other shops… and it’s a bar with very interesting mixed cocktails…one continuous bar. I had something that had chola and ginger and lime. And Mike had some kind of martini (thery have many different kinds).. and we had a snack of sweetbreads (getting my sweetbread fix here since it’s a pretty common dish. In the states it’s rare to find it. At the Peruvian place we had some kind of whitefish nigiri, a tuna sashimi dish, and a shrimp dish. We were totally full when we finished dinner at 12:30 am! Getting to be real Argentinians with regard to our eating schedule.

The results of the election seem to be in from the elections and Meilei’s people got 40%. That means that 60% voted against them but without a clear majority for another candidate.

Argentina’s politics is complicated. So not totally sure what this all means. But more on the elections tomorrow.