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This beautiful country seems to be in a continuous crises. It´s impossible for Argentina to lend money on the world financial markets and there is still an dispute ongoing with an US hedge fond about repayment of an government bond. Unemployment and inflation is high and accordingly criminality in on a rise as well. Accordingly the black market exchange rate for USD or EUR was 60% to 70% higher than the official rate, making a stay not a bargain but more affordable. Otherwise Argentina can be quite expensive. During my stay there were elections and the controversial “Presidenta” Christina Fernandes de Kirchner or just Christina as the locals call her could not run again. Finally a more moderate and liberal candidate from another party won the election. Future will show if he can turn the boat.
This city rocks (or better: tangos). It´s a huge, bustling city with many interesting neighborhoods. BA is huge, really huge and it takes time and many km on foot to explore the neighborhoods. 3 to 4 days should be considered as a minimum time frame.
This is the heart of the the city. A business and shopping district with some beautiful buildings, including the famous Casa Rosada at the Plaza Mayor. Here the famous and beloved Eva Peron (Evita) held her speeches from the balcony to the euphoric Argentinian folk below. A scene, later covered from Madonna in the musical film Evita, when she sings “Don´t cry for me Argentina”.
Probably the most atmospheric hostel and for sure the hostel with the strangest name I have been so far. Diego, the fantastic helpful owner, did all the renovation together with his brother. So you are curious about the name? I was, as I had something in mind (probably the same as you my dear reader) “Yeah”, he said, “that´s what most people think but the idea for the name is actually originating from my previous job”. So he explained that he established a delivery service for alcoholic beverages. And what do people see when they are drunk? Here we go.
A small city in itself, this cemetery is the last place for the rich and famous in Buenos Aires. It´s an eerie and fascinating place. Although not specially impressive, neither in location nor appearance, the crypt from Evita is always surrounded by people.
This is the new posh upmarket entertainment center of Buenos Aires but honestly, I didn´t like it. To artificial and steril for my taste.
Another more upmarket entertainment center but Palermo has a lot more flair than Puerto Madero. After I strolled a bit around, I decided to make it my base for the last night of my trip, before I return to good old Germany.
The colorful Caminito street and the La Bombonera football stadium in this old working-class neighborhood attract nowadays heaps of tourist. Outside this areas La Boca is not safe and therefore I took a taxi from San Telmo. When the taxi driver suddenly turned from the main street to La Boca into an empty side street my adrenalin level started to increase, reaching shortly after almost panic level driving along really shabby streets under highway bridges with rundown buildings and few but very strange looking folks around. To say it with a German expression “Der Arsch ging mir mächtig auf Grundeis”. I was seeing myself already robbed if not worse in an empty garage (stories about this are all around between backpackers). When we suddenly reached the busy area around the Caminito street, I felt like I just got granted a second live. It turned out that the taxi driver just wanted to show me the “no walk around” area, by even taking a shortcut.
This is the team where Madonna played and his pictures are still all around. I didn´t join a game but heard that the atmosphere must be crazy. The stadium is middle in the quarter and surrounded by houses.
With its low colonial buildings and narrow cobblestoned streets San Telmo has a very nice atmosphere. Every Sunday thousands of people stroll over the huge and famous flea market. A great picture opportunity.
This falls are gigantic and without doubt one of the big natural wonders on earth. The Rio Iquacu tumbles in an endless number of cascades up to 80m into the depth and this in a perfect lush rainforest setting. All falls together are 2.7 km wide. The downside? Once seen, all other waterfalls seem to be only mediocre from that moment on. I also did a boat tour to the base of the falls. Be warned, you get wet, I mean really, really wet, soaking wet, completely drenched.
In terms of generated energy it‘s the biggest dam in the world with its 18 massive turbines. Looking at it from the public viewpoint I was a bit disappointed as it didn‘t look that impressive but close up the dimensions became enormous. The dam generates 80% of Paraguays energy demand and 15% of Brasils. It‘s a shared project and exactly in the middle of the border line. The big 3h tour is highly recommended as it leads also into the interior structure. It makes you feeling very small.
There is absolutely no reason to visit Ciudad del Este if not for shopping. The city is known for the cheapest prices in whole South America, especially for electronics. No wonder that the whole city feels like an crazy oversized shopping complex. As I needed a memory card for my camera and the prices in Brasil turned out to be 2-3 times more expensive than in Germany I gave it a try and could get one for a similar price like in Germany.
Most traveller I talked to prefer the Argentinian side of the falls, but also the Brazilian side offers stunning views and should not be missed out. Whereas the more extensive Argentinian side can easily take a day to explore, half a day is enough for the Brazilian side.
© 2026 Beyond All Maps - Portraits of our Planet by Thorsten Mehret
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