Yeah so the title is cheezy but I had someone ask me what they should do while they are here in Buenos Aires and I feel like I should share some of these things anyway so here we go.
Argentine Beef - You have to try it at least once while you are here. You can get good beef nearly anywhere but for excellent beef head to a parrilla in San Telmo. The best I had was at the intersection of Denfensa and Independencia, although I don't remember the name. This place was packed and the food was amazing. As if that wasn't enough it's very inexpensive. From the street it looks like a little shop, but inside it's more "restaraunt like." For a nicer dinner head to La Cabrera in Palermo. This place gets so busy they have two locations on the same block. In my opinion the place in San Telmo has better steak but my friends here disagree. If you head to La Cabrera know that you don't need to order sides as each steak comes with a sampling of 8 or so of them; also, their food is meant to be shared as the portions are rather large. Anywhere - if you want a filet get the bife de lomo but the most famous cut here is the bife de chorizo (which at La Cabrera probably weighs about 2 pounds).
Apunto - medium to medium well
Juzgado - medium rare
Bien (although this term seems to be different in every place) - well done
When you get tired of beef, bread and potatoes (the 3 staples of any meal here) and want some vegetables or something remotely healthy head to Tea Connection (corner of Uriburu and Junin more or less) or Pura Vida (withing a block of the other place) both in Recoleta. Tea Connection has anything and everything from homemade fruit extract sodas, to stir fry to many types of tea. Pura Vida has wraps and smoothies and is more of a take out kind of place. It's hard to find vegetables in restaraunts here, just fyi.
Palermo - Palermo is the hip and "happening" end of town. You'll find art galleries, pubs, shops and bookstores (amazing bookstores in my opinion) all over. One of my favorite streets is Costa Rica as nearly every place I've gone to in Palermo is at Costa Rica and another street. Although you should know that Palermo is huge and has been subdivded into Palermo Viejo, Palermo SoHo, Palermo Hollywood and more that I don't know so get a decent idea of which part you want to go to before you head out.
Plaza de Mayo - This is the city center where you'll find the Casa Rosada (their Whitehouse) among other things. But the more important thing, at least for me, is that you are almost guaranteed to experience something very important to Argentinos - protesting. There's always some type of protest in the Plaza de Mayo.
La Boca - Ok so every tourist has to go to El Caminato in La Boca. It's cheezy and touristy but you just have to take a picture of the colorful houses if you go to Argentina.
Las Ferrias - Ferrias are open air markets here and they are everywhere. The most famous is in San Telmo's Plaza Dorrengo on Sundays. While it's technically an antique market you can find just about anything there. There's also a big market next to the cemetery in Recoleta which I highly reccomend (although you'll notice that the prices are a bit higher at this market). Those are the two I'm most familiar with but any market is good here.
Cemetery in Recoleta - For me this is a must see. It's a rather large and very famous cemetery that looks like it belongs in Paris and not in South America. Plus you can visit Evita's (Eva Peron's) grave.
MALBA - I've yet to make it here but every tells me it's an amazing art museum.
La Bombonera - This is the futbol stadium. While I've yet to start following soccer it was still cool to see the stadium and such. If you're really adventerous go to a game on Sunday - but if you do you should go with an Argentino or book with a travel agency (let's just say the games can get violent sometimes).
Hotels - From what I've seen of the city and the hotel choices you want to stay in Recoleta or in Palermo. If not those two, then maybe Belgrano. If you are on a business trip you might end up in the Microcentro which will be fine for business but very busy if you're here for fun. Puerto Madero is also very very nice but it's the extremely expensive area in town and it's not exactly close to everything else like Recoleta or Palermo.
Taxis - Taxis love to drive you around for an extra 10 pesos and take the long way. They also love to give you fake money (nearly always small bills) and try to screw you over on your change. While most of them are very nice and want to chat with you, you should always keep an eye on where you are going, pay with nothing larger than a 20 and check your change as it could be fake. Out of the 10 or so people that I hang out with about 7 of us (including me) have gotten fake money from a taxi driver.
Other transportation - The Subte is amazing but crowded. The Green (D) and Red (B) line are said to be the safest. The colectivos (buses) are everywhere but are very confusing. Don't take one unless someone trustworthy told you which one to take and where to get off. You have to wait at the stop and put your arm out for the bus to stop. You pay either 90 centavos or 1 peso and only coins are accepted. You have to press the button before your stop for the bus to stop. They are very crowded and you'll probably have to stand. The drivers are usually rather nice and you can always ask them where to get off. If you're here for a little while buy a Guia T at any newstand - it's the bus schedule (rather, guide as they are no times for buses they just arrive very 10 mins or so during the day and ever 30 or so at night). The train can be great to get from one end of town to another but only take it during the day. The Mitre line is said to be safest.
Other - You should know who Che Guevara is before you come here as he's pretty much considered a national hero. Be ready to discuss, and sometimes defend, American politics. Argentinos love to debate and practice their English. It wouldn't hurt to wikipedia Argentine history to learn a bit about the dictatorship (which just ended in the 1980's) and Peron as well as what's happening now. Argentinos are late for everything - up to 30 mins late is considered normal. This also happens with the public transportation system as the schedules posted are typically only suggested times (the Subte is the exception to this). You tip 10% and only in restaraunts - don't tip taxi drivers although you always round up to the nearest peso and never ask for centavos back. You can pay with credit cards (Visa is most popular here) but can't tip on them. Lastly, don't drive here, it's impossible.
And a side note - here "gringo" refers to a white person from Europe, they will call an American "americano" or "norteamericano" if they call you anything at all
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