Frommers.com Podcast: Buenos Aires, the Paris of South America

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Top Tips from This Podcast

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• First Thing: Get to a steakhouse, try the Chelitto cut.
• Asalos: Also called a Parisia, aka an Argentinean barbecue.
• San Telmo: Walk the streets and appreciate the architecture. Visit the San Telmo Fair.
• Ricolleta: Very Parisian, filled with parks, Ricolleta Cemetary.
• Palermo Viego: Full of restaurants, comparitive to New York City's Greenwich Village.
• Tango: To dance visit El Nino Bien, visit Esquina Carlos Gardel to watch performances.
• Tango Lessons: Galerias Pacifico about $8 an hour.
• Night Life: More than just Tango -- Samba, Techno clubs, Latin nightclubs.
• Gifts:Mate Cups, or Leather products.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

Announcer: Welcome to the Frommers.com travel podcast. For more information on planning your trip to any one of thousands of destinations, please visit www.frommers.com.

This podcast is sponsored by VisitLondon.com. To plan and book the perfect London vacation, go to London's official website, VisitLondon.com.

Kelly Regan: Hi, and welcome to another conversation about all things travel. I'm Kelly Regan, editorial director of The Frommer's travel guides. I'll be your host. My guest today is Michael Luongo, the author of a book "Frommer's Buenos Aires," and a contributor to our Frommer's South America book. He's here to give us the low-down on why Buenos Aires is one of the world's hottest urban travel destinations. Michael, thanks for being here.

Michael Luongo: Hello Kelly, thanks for having me, I'm enjoying it.

Kelly: Great! You're someone who's traveled all over the world, and you've been to Buenos Aires many times, I'm curious what it is that draws you back to the city again and again?

Michael: Well, I think one of the things that really draws me the most is the people.

Kelly: Mm hmm.

Michael: You know I've been to 80 countries and Argentina is one of the places that has the warmest, most friendly people. They're all beautiful, so you may be afraid to approach them, you may think, "Oh, I can't talk with them." But you know, the moment you begin a conversation, it goes on forever. Simple asking for directions winds up being an afternoon over coffee.

In addition to the beautiful people, it's a beautiful city that looks a little bit like the Paris of South America.

Kelly: It really does, I mean that's one of the things that it's known for, that the architecture is very evocative of an old world city in Europe. Apart from the architecture and stuff, I mean how does Buenos Aires compare to other South American cities like Rio or San Paulo?

Michael: Well, I think, just like people, every city has its own personality. You know, Rio is another one of what a friend of mine who grew up in South America calls one of the crowns of South America. And he refers to San Paulo as a crown, he refers to Rio as a crown, he refers to Caracas and Bogota as crowns, each one of the cities is unique in its own way.

Buenos Aires has a more European feel, for a couple different reasons. It has that feel because of the architecture. Much of it was rebuilt at the turn of the last century to look like Paris. The people tend to be a blend of Italians and Spanish, actually you have about half of the population has an Italian last name.

Kelly: Sure.

Michael: You also have this sort of Italian, Mediterranean feel in the culture, and in the way that people talk to each other, in the way that people spend so much time at cafes. You don't have Mediterranean in the sense of beaches, but you really got it in the personality of the people. That's one of the things that makes it very different from some of the crowns, or capital cities of South America.

Kelly: OK. When you get into town, what's one of the first things that you do?

Michael: One of the first things that I do is call on my friends and then go to a steak house, go to a place to get steak. Pampas grass fed and free-range, and they're very thick and juicy, and that's one of the first things that I do.

Kelly: To enjoy the food in Buenos Aires, you really do need to enjoy being carnivorous.

Michael: Not a place really for vegetarians.

[laughter]

But I will tell you, that there are great salads. Many of the places that are the best steak houses also have great salad bars. So it's one of those sort-of secrets of Buenos Aires, that even a person who's a vegetarian will be happy, but they'll probably convert from vegetarian to carnivore.

Kelly: Do you have a particular cut of steak that you like? Because there's so many that they serve.

Michael: Well there are a lot of cuts, I like something that's called the Chelitto, which we associate in America with I think a sausage and stain, but it's actually a cut of beef. A Chelitto is fatty and very flavor-full.

Kelly: Uh huh.

Michael: And I just love medium-rare Chelitto, so that's definitely one of the things that I eat. But you know you can have sirloin, you can have any part of the animal, they even serve, and I can't remember the name of it, but the glands in the neck is one of the things that they serve. They eat the best cuts and they eat the whole animal. And when you go to an Asalo you're going to be shown lots of parts of the animal that you are probably not that familiar with here in the United States or Canada.

Kelly: So the Asalo as you talk, can you just describe a little about what that is?

Michael: Well the Asalo, it's also called the Parisia, what you're really talking about, in America we might call it a barbecue, but it's a little bit more than that, it's the place, because that's where the food is cooked, it refers to the actual grill, but it also refers to the sort-of atmosphere where you're inviting everybody over, and you're just going to spend an afternoon, late afternoon, the whole evening, carving up meat and having a good bottle of wine, usually an Argentine Malbec. And so an Asalo is a place, it's a thing you cook with and it's a state of mind that defines Argentina.

Kelly: OK, now are you talking about the Asalos in a restaurant or in a more getting outside the city and going to, you know maybe an estancia, a ranch or something like that.

Michael: Oh really all of that.

Kelly: Mm hmm.

Michael: Really all of that, I mean the finest restaurants in Argentina, as an example Caba a Las Lilas, expensive for Argentines; it runs you about 40 dollars a person. That's not expensive for us here in the States or Canada. That's an Asalo. You have an Asalo at a friends house, their backyard or on their rooftop. And then again you also have Asalos as you said in estancias, where you're going to watch the gauchos round up the cattle, and then you're going to eat the cattle later on. So an Asalo is in many different places.

Kelly: OK.

Michael: It's one of the things that defines the country.

Kelly: OK. You're having these great meals, you're also obviously exploring the city, do you have a favorite neighborhood in Buenos Aires? And if so, why is it your favorite?

Michael: You know like anything, it's hard to say what is my favorite, favorite, favorite. But there are many neighborhoods that I like for many different reasons. One of the most charming neighborhoods, I think, is San Telmo. Which is gently decayed, but currently gentrifying. San Telmo's associated with both antiques and tango.

Kelly: Mmhmm.

Michael: And it's beautiful to just walk the streets, go antiquing, watch the people, look at the gently decayed architecture. I love it at sunset when the streets are lit very golden.

Kelly: Oh wow.

Michael: So that's definitely one of my favorite neighborhoods.

Kelly: They have a famous market there. I think it's the...

Michael: San Telmo Fair, which I think is in Placa Del Juego.

Kelly: Yeah.

Michael: Which is one of the old colonial plazas in Buenos Aires. You know you can go any day of the week and there's something going on, but on Sundays, that's when it's really the most exciting, you have the antiques, flea markets set up and it's more than just a plaza, it spills out into all of the side-streets. They have live tango dancing, which goes on into the night, and one of the famous tango dancers is a tall dark gentleman called El Eundeo and you'll actually see his photograph in many places in Argentina, because he's one of the stars of Placa Del Juego and the San Telmo Fair. It's definitely one of the highlights, and I would not miss that. Every neighborhood has its own character, every neighborhood has its own flavor, a favorite neighborhood of mine, which I know is a favorite of many tourists, is Ricolleta neighborhood.

Kelly: Mm hmm.

Michael: Ricolleta's most famous for Ricolleta's Cemetary, which is where Evita, we've all heard of Evita I'm sure...

Kelly: Evita Peron, yeah.

Michael: Evita Peron is buried. But the neighborhood itself is the most Parisian of neighborhoods. It's a very exclusive neighborhood, and it's beautiful to wander, it's full of beautiful parks, some of which actually go into Palermo which borders that. And it's a beautiful area, majestic might be a good way to describe it, to walk through it.

Kelly: Uh huh.

Michael: And I also like Palermo Viejo, and I think many people now are really discovering that. It was an area that was sort of abandoned, it was sort of working-class, maybe a little bit less than working-class, it came inexpensive. It's sort of like in New York, one of the best ways to compare it to is Greenwich Village.

Kelly: OK.

Michael: A historical neighborhood that's low-rise, full of trees, and just wonderful to walk through, full of restaurants, and the best new restaurants are going up there. Now the problem is every six months some of those restaurants change or close, because things can be fickle, but it's a great neighborhood to walk, and a lot of great little boutiques.

Go there on the weekends and it's fabulous inexpensive shopping, local designers, in particular for women's clothing, around Placa Serrano, and that's just a wonderful place to walk through and wander through.

Kelly: Oh that's fantastic.

Michael: But that's another of my favorite neighborhoods, and you know I could go on about the character of many of the different neighborhoods, each one is different and special in their own way.

Kelly: Sure. You mentioned tango a couple of times, and I have to ask you, do you tango?

Michael: Well, a lot of people think I do, but actually I don't. Or you could say that I dance tango, but I do it very, very badly. I love to watch tango. I have tried to learn tango many times. I will tell you that those women who teach tango, they have high-pitched voices and very sharp high heels.

Kelly: [laughs]

Michael: So they've often yelled at me and threatened me with their high heels because I don't dance that well. However, I do love to go watch tango. I love to go with friends of mine who tango very well. They're more patient with me and with trying to teach me. It is a difficult dance.

Kelly: It is very difficult.

Michael: But you can learn it, and there are many Americans and Canadians and other foreigners who come to Buenos Aires to live, and devote their lives to tango. There's a woman named Marina Palmer, for example. She wrote a book about it. She left her job in New York and went down there and wrote a book about devoting her life to tango. Lots of people do that.

I recommend going to a place called El Nino Bien, as an example. It's a milongo where you can watch tango. It's easy on the tourists. There are some other places where, if you don't know how to tango and you act too much like a tourist, you should not go. Like Salon Canning, which is beautiful, though. If you respect tango, and if you know a little bit about the tango, or just want to watch in a beautiful setting, that's another location to go to.

Kelly: Can you just tell people a little bit about...

Michael: What a milonga is? A milonga is a kind of song that you can dance to. It's a kind of tango tune. But when we use that word milonga, we're really talking about a place where you do tango, and the place where tango as it should be performed by locals is dark. They're generally rather dark, sultry, sexy, very smoky. They're very smoky places, but that's part of the atmosphere that makes it very special.

I think we've all heard those stories about when a man and a woman look at each other across a dance floor and are drawn to each other. That's really what tango is all about. The men usually sit on one side of the milonga. The women sit on another. And through what are called milonga eyes, this ballet of the eyes, and the gestures and nodding the head, a man and a woman will meet, and almost without words begin to dance on the floor. That is a milonga, and it's a very special thing that I think should be experienced by tourists.

The other thing that tourists can experience, if they don't want to dance but they do want to watch a performance, is to go to tango palaces, which I describe in the Frommer's Buenoes Aires book. One of my favorites is Esquina Carlos Gardel, which is very elegant. It's very beautiful, and Carlos Gardel is one of the most famous tango crooners that Buenos Aires has ever produced.

Kelly: I believe one of his most famous works is the tango song that everybody thinks about when they think about tango, La Cumparsita.

Michael: Yeah, that's one of them.

Kelly: Do you have any sense of how much it would cost to take lessons?

Michael: Taking lessons really depends on where you go. You can take group lessons within places like Galerias Pacifico. They'll run you maybe $8 an hour.

Kelly: Wow, that's not bad.

Michael: Maybe even less than that. There's another institute that's above Cafe Tortoni. That's the place that I've been eating mostly. Cafe Tortoni is the most famous cafe in Buenos Aires. You can actually watch live tango there. Above that is a school that teaches tango. Again, you're looking at about $8 an hour. You can take private lessons. That probably won't run you more than about $15 an hour. You'll probably want to take two hours at a time.

We're looking at very reasonable prices for learning the tango, whether in a group setting or in private. Many people definitely do that for a little bit of time while they're visiting Buenos Aires. Or what many young people now are doing is just moving there and taking tons of lessons and devoting their lives to tango.

Kelly: Tell me a little bit about the nightlife scene in Buenos Aires beyond the tango. What other things are popular, and what's really happening in the city from a nightlife perspective right now?

Michael: Oh, there's a lot more going on in Buenos Aires besides just tango. Tango's what it's famous for, but you can samba, you can go to techno clubs, you can go to Latin nightclubs. I lived in a neighborhood where there's a place called Cafe Mambo, which was a great little Latin club. There's also La Opera which is in Puerto Madero. It's built to look like the Sydney Opera House. That's a great place to go. There are other nightlife clubs, like Ahie Puva. There are great techno clubs that a lot of the young people go to.

I'll tell you, you're going to stay out late. You're going to dance until the sun comes up. Another great thing about Buenos Aires and the nightlife is, it doesn't matter whether you're a teenager. It doesn't matter whether you're a college student, if you're in your 20's. It doesn't matter if you're a baby boomer. You're going to feel comfortable in many different kinds of venues.

La Opera and Mambo, you have young women and young men. You have older women, older men, because everyone loves to go out. Everyone loves to tango. Everyone loves to samba. Everyone loves to dance. It doesn't matter how old you are. And that's one of the great things for anybody visiting.

There are tons of gay nights, also. Buenos Aires has become the gay capital of Latin America. So you've got a city that loves the nightlife in its various forms.

Kelly: OK. I think you've given everybody a lot of great ideas for things to do there. My last question for you would be, if you could pick one thing to take home with you from Buenos Aires that you got when you were there, what would it be? What would you recommend?

Michael: I'm thinking of the gifts that I gave to my editor from Frommer's Buenos Aires. I'm thinking of the gift that I gave to my parents also, and that was a silver mate cup. Mate is a drink that Argentines -- you'll see people carrying around thermoses with this strange little wooden gourd with a straw coming out of it. And this strange green tea. I won't tell you what it looks like.

Kelly: [laughs]

Michael: But it keeps you awake, and it's something that Argentines drink constantly. So that's a gift that I got people. You can buy inexpensive ones, you can buy very expensive ones, and you can have your name put on it. So that's a great souvenir. Also leather products are another thing.

Kelly: Where there are many cows, there is also lots of leather.

Michael: That's right. There's a lot of beef being slaughtered for the plate, and you can wear the same cow home. It's hard for me to stop with just one thing. I guess you've noticed that. So get a mate cup, and get a leather coat or some other leather products. Those are definitely things you should bring home from Argentina, because you'll all have all of those great memories that you're going to have from your vacation that you're going to want to repeat.

Kelly: Of course. And maybe some tango music so you can do the tango when you get home.

Michael: And tango music, of course. Like Carlos Gordel, so you can also remember what he calls another of his famous songs, Mi Buenos Aires Querido. My dear Buenos Aires. You will definitely be calling it that, and probably crying when you get home because you loved Buenos Aires so much. I cried the first time I left, and I still get that sad feeling when I leave, which makes me all the more happy to go.

Kelly: Which is why you keep going back, yeah.

Michael: That is definitely why.

Kelly: Well, that's fantastic. And I think that's probably all we have time for today. I've been talking with Michael Luongo, who's the author of our book Frommer's Buenos Aires, which is on sale now. And Michael, thanks for joining us today. This was a really fun conversation.

Michael: Oh, it was a fun conversation for me too. I'm missing Buenos Aires, and already happy to go back very soon. Just having this conversation has brought back wonderful memories.

Kelly: Me too. Makes me want to hop on the plane as well.

Michael: Then we could go tango together.

Kelly: Yeah, exactly. So join us next week for another episode of all things travel. I'm Kelly Regan, and we will talk again soon.

This podcast is a production of frommers.com. For more information on planning your trip or to hear about the latest travel news and deals, visit us on the web at www.frommers.com and be sure to email us at editor@frommermedia.com with any comments or suggestions.