Buenos Aires Graffiti Tour

The abundance of street art in Buenos Aires makes the city itself is an ever-evolving art gallery. Wander Argentina has partnered to offer a Buenos Aires Graffiti Tour showcasing some of South America’s best urban art.

This fascinating street art treasure hunt winds visitors through out-of-the-way neighborhoods such as Villa Urquiza and Coghlan to see more than 50 artists’ work, including the city’s largest murals.

What you see

Discover anomalies such as a robot battle on an otherwise quiet corner house; marvel at the four-story mural of a gaucho (cowboy) Napoleon crossing the Alps, and ponder Italian artist, Blu’s building-wide mural of a reclining industrialized baby.

Visitors also see the work of Cof, a street artist who works for Disney and Cartoon Network and paints his own colorful cartoon characters on walls and buildings. The tour also passes by Martín Ron’s pièce de résistance and the city’s largest mural, Tale of the Parrots.

Mecca of Street Art

Led by a bilingual insider to the BA graffiti scene, this budget walking tour is a chance to get great photos and understand the context in which street art thrives in Buenos Aires.

Hear about the international collaborations and local rivalries, discover the social factors that inspire the art, and return home having taken the ultimate pilgrimage in the mecca of South American street art.

Buenos Aires Walking Graffiti Tour

When: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
Starts: 2:40 p.m.
Ends: 5:30 p.m.
Duration: 2.45 Hours

Where to meet: The meet-up point is in the Colegiales neighborhood, in an area accessible by bus, subte and train. Since safety is a priority, participants are given the exact location once they book the tour.

Where it ends: At an art bar in Palermo, close to public transportation. where you can have a beverage or snack and continue to chat with your artist guide and other participants.

Additional tour information:
• Although not strenuous, this is a walking tour, wear comfortable shoes
• Transport costs are provided, but there is no pick-up and drop-off
• Suitable for families
• Please book at least 12 hour in advance

Various private and group tours are also available. To arrange one, get in touch via our contact form below.

Casa Rosada Museum: A Modern Museum in the City’s 1st Fort

Just around the corner from the Plaza de Mayo is the sleek Casa Rosada Museum. This museum was built in 2010 and originally called the Bicentenary Museum to commemorate 200 years since the start of the revolution that led to Argentina’s independence.

The sprawling museum is below street level, and lies on the spot where the first fort in Buenos Aires was built in 1580. The original brickwork is still visible in the museum and makes for a stunning reminder of the building’s history.

Historical Videos in the Casada Rosada Museum

Inside the museum visitors can watch Spanish-language videos of different periods of Argentine history. Important artifacts such as clothing and objects of some of Argentina’s most popular political figures such as Eva and Juan Perón are also on display.

Non-Spanish speakers may find themselves a little lost by the videos, but they shouldn’t feel bad. Even for those with a vague idea of Argentine history might find it difficult to fully understand which liberator was which, and which coup happened when – which serves to highlight Argentina’s complicated political history.

The museum ends on a patriotic hopeful note, with footage of the late Nestor Kirchner and videos, which emphasize the changes he made during his presidency. The message seems to be ‘Everything is okay now, we’ve sorted out all the country’s problems.’

Interestingly, no extra footage or objects have been added since Nestor’s death nor of his wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s presidency.

Plaza de Mayo Through the Years

Close to the entrance a video shows images of the Plaza de Mayo changing over the years, which is accessible for non-Spanish speakers and gives a visual insight into historical changes in the square.

A principle point of interest at the Casa Rosada Museum is the 1933 mural Ejercicio plástico, by Mexican, David Aflaro Siqueiros. It was originally painted in journalist Natalia Botano’s basement, and excavated in its entirety to the museum.

There are also retro cars and temporary exhibitions concerning Argentine figures and history plus a traditional patisserie and coffee shop.

The architecturally impressive, if propagandist, museum is worth a stroll through after taking in the Casa Rosada tour around the corner. -Rosie Hilder

Casa Rosada/Bicentenary Museum
Paseo Colón 100
Tel: 4344-3802
Hours: Weds – Sun & holidays:
(April-Nov) 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
(Dec – March) 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

• Entrance: free
• Spanish language only

Gun-Ho! — The National Arms Museum

One of the largest arms collections in all of South America, the National Arms Museum of Buenos Aires is stocked with over 2,000 weapons and artifacts ranging from ancient armor to pistols to canons.

A project started in 1904 under Argentine president Julio Roca and Minister of War Pablo Ricchieri, the Museo de las Armas de la Nación, overlooks Plaza San Martín. The historic landmark building is an ornate example of the Renaissance-inspired architecture that gives the Retiro neighborhood its European flavor.

The sprawling 18-room mansion, originally known as ‘Palacio Paz,’ was built for the Paz family, founders of La Prensa newspaper. In 1938, the society of ex-military officers, Círculo Militar, purchased the building.

Inside the Arms Museum

From the richly decorated swords of 12th century noblemen to the advanced assault rifles of today, the objects featured in this museum reveal the nation’s history through its iconic leaders, difficult battles and military technological advances.

Two imposing engraved suits of armor guard the entrance into the first room of the exhibition where visitors are introduced to relics from various countries including ancient crossbows, shields, breastplates and chain mail.

A room named after José de San Martín, everyone’s favorite Argentine hero credited with liberating Argentina from the Spanish, features historical firearms dating to the settlement of Buenos Aires in 1536.

An exhibition dedicated to the Falklands/Malvinas War displays the uniforms, equipment, and weapons used during the bitter conflict over the sovereignty of the islands, such as the Argentine manufactured light automatic rifle as well as model fighters and cruisers lost during the war.

A room dedicated to Asian weaponry is dominated by figures of soldiers clothed in elaborate ceremonial armor wielding Samurai swords. This part of the collection includes weapons from Southeast Asia, China, Turkey, Persia and India.

Fancy Guns, Toy Soldiers & Equine Gasmasks

History majors and war buffs will enjoy the ‘Hall of Arts,’ dedicated to battle artifacts and the decorated guns of Argentina’s past presidents.

The younger crowd will enjoy the miniature toy soldier exhibition of various military uniforms throughout history. Another curiosity are the custom-designed horse gas masks.

Beyond the Artifacts – Tours & Courses

Guided tours are available upon request as are annual courses on topics such as, ‘History and Technical Evolution of Weapons.’ Visit the Círculo Militar website for more details. — by Valerie Sarron
The National Arms Museum —$
Santa Fe 702
Retiro
Tel: 4311-1071/79 –ext. 179

• Hours: Monday to Friday from 1:00-7:00 p.m.
• Entrance Fee: AR -$

Discover the Dinosaurs of Argentina

The history of man in Argentina is well documented – it dances through the colorful streets of La Boca, whispers in the walls of Recoleta cemetery and stands proudly in monuments across the city – but where do you go when it’s natural history you’re after?

One of the city’s better-kept secrets, the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia (MACN or the Bernardo Rivadavia Natural Science Museum) has 13 exhibition rooms displaying Argentina’s creatures great and small.

History of the Natural Sciences Museum

In 1812 Bernardino Rivadavia – at the time an important government minister, and later the first president of Argentina – called for the provinces to collect materials to create a natural history museum.

Over the next 125 years the gathered objects were housed within in a convent, the historical manzana de los luces (block of lights)and in buildings around a square in Monserrat.

In 1937 the collection moved to a building specially designed to house them, in its current location in Parque Centenario. Attractive small details such as stone owls watching over the first floor windows, bronze spider webs adorning the doors and mollusk shapes in the banister reflect the building’s suitability to its purpose.

Dinosaurs and other prehistoric mammals

A pictoral of the Amargasaurus, which was native to Argentina — The Amargasaurus was found in the Nequen province and lived during the early Cretaceous Period.

The MACN’s star attractions are the impressive looming dinosaur skeletons in the spacious paleontology room. One of the most striking is the spiny amargasaurus cazaui, a 10-metre-long skeleton discovered in Neuquén province.

All of the dinosaurs on display are native to Argentina. Displays explain how the creatures lived and when and where they were found. Small children can pretend to be archaeologists by excavating fake remains from a sandpit.

Equally fascinating are the displays in the low-lit ‘Buenos Aires, un millon de años atrás’ (Buenos Aires, a million years ago) room. The number of fossils dug up from underneath Buenos Aires exceeds the amount of dinosaur remains found in the whole of Patagonia.

Skeletons of prehistoric mammals such as the South American toxdon, comparable to a modern-day rhinoceros, and the glyptodont, a primitive armadillo, are on display. Short videos on flatscreen TVs give general information and reconstruct the excavation of these creatures, found when building the subway, the port and what is now Abasto shopping mall.

Plans are in place to expand this section of the museum to include exhibits on invasive species and the early American man.

Geology, Astronomy and Antarctica

Directly opposite the museum’s entrance is the geology room, containing rock samples, a large model of the globe and a small planetarium that replicates the night sky from any place on earth.

The ground floor also includes an aquarium, sections on marine life, mollusks and Antarctica. The aquarium is largely empty while the Antarctica room is packed with displays of model penguins and sea lions, preserved fish in jars, and the enormous skull of a sperm whale found in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Visitors can take a break at the retro bar temático (thematic bar), though should not be fooled by the name. Besides the room’s focal point – a large plastic shark hanging from the ceiling – the ‘bar’ consists of red plastic tables and chairs and a couple of vending machines.

The History of Science, Birds, Arthropods, Reptiles and Animal Idioms

Head upstairs for a journey through the history of science. Old-fashioned TV screens with 60s–style presentations, a colorful timeline on the floor and stand-alone posters tell its story. Here visitors can learn about Argentina’s connection to Charles Darwin, who passed through the country on his famous expedition on the Beagle, and Albert Einstein, who gave conferences in Buenos Aires during a 1925 visit.

There are also biographies of Argentine scientists such as Nobel Prize winning Bernardo Houssay and Luis Federico Leloir.

The rest of the floor exhibits bird, arthropods, mammal, reptile and plant species. Both bird and mammal rooms have skeletons of extinct and living species, plus stuffed animals in replicas of their preferred habitats.

In the amphibian and reptile room, jars full of coiled snakes and bulbous looking frogs line the shelves. Rows of glass cabinets in the arthropods room are filled with tiny beetles, butterflies and bees along with educational information about the species and their role in the ecosystem.

Spanish learners should look out for the ‘dichos argentinos’ display in the reptile room, which lists popular Argentine idioms related to animals such as, cocodrilo que se duerme es cartera – sleeping crocodiles get made into purses.

Temporary Art Exhibitions and Guided Tours

There are three temporary exhibition rooms in the Natural Science Museum, one of which is specifically for artists. It is meant for those whose work is related to the natural world or science, through the mediums of sculpture, photography and other visual arts.

Buenos Aires’ Museum of Natural Sciences isn’t modern, but it is well maintained, and its old-school display cases retain a kitsch charm.

While perfect for children or adults fascinated by dinosaurs, nature and science, it is not for the faint-hearted. Anyone who finds stuffed birds or pickled snakes creepy is advised to carefully choose the rooms they visit.
Information on exhibits is in Spanish only. Guided tours are available in English or Spanish, but must be booked in advance. —Rosie Hilder

Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales
Angel Gallardo 490
Caballito

• Hours:Sun-Mon 14-19hs.
• Cost: AR$10, those under 6 get in free.
• Planetarium: $8, only open at the weekends.
• Accessibility: There are ramps and lifts for disabled visitors

Getting there: Bus: 15, 36, 55, 65, 92, 99, 105, 112, 124, 135, 141, 146.
Subway: Line B, Angel Gallardo stop.

The Wanda Mines: Amethyst Treasures of Misiones

In the misted shadow of the largest waterfall of South America, Iguazú, lies Wanda Mines, a peculiar side attraction worth a visit for those interested in gemstones, geology, or jewelry.

Located just 55 km (34 miles) to the south of Iguazú Falls, these stone mines are easily accessible by organized tour, car or bus.

Surrounded by lush green forest in the rainy season, the pueblo of Wanda and its mines are a tiny blip on the map, but are on the way to another Misiones attraction, the San Ignacio Jesuit Ruins.

Polish Founders

Colonia Wanda was settled by Polish settlers in 1936 and the town and its mines are named for a mythical Polish princess.

The Poles were later joined by German, Swiss, Brazilian and Paraguayan immigrants, who planted tobacco, citrus fruits and subsistence crops. A local man, Amalia Bogado discovered the precious stone deposits while washing his clothes in a stream, but it wasn’t until years later that his son explored further and registered the mines.

The Wanda Mine Tour

A knowledgeable local guide leads you down past fantastic geodes embedded in basalt to the caverns where amethyst is extracted. The mines also contain topaz, quartz, jasper, rock crystal and agate.

Pick-your-own crystal is a no-no, but touching is encouraged, as are pictures posed in the narrow caverns and arches of the mine.

A small gravel lot, a kiosk, small café, and gift shop are the only developments around the mines themselves.

The environmental ramifications of the gemstone extraction at Wanda Mines haven’t been studied, but it is small scale and delicate extractions forbade the use of heavy-duty explosives, so environmentalist shouldn’t be too horrified.

The mining here also provides employment to local artisans from the gemstone extraction, processing, and sale of the stones.

Tours end at the gift shop, where visitors can purchase polished and natural stones, wind chimes and jewelry with precious and semi-precious stones.

— Alana Fichman

Getting to Wanda Mines

•Renting a car: It is simple to get to the mines driving: Take route 12 heading south out of Iguazu toward Posadas (mostly a paved road). Once you get to the entrance of the town of Wanda, follow the signs that say ‘Minas de Wanda,’ a further few minutes outside the town. The entrance fee for the mines is about US$6.

→ Check prices to rent a car

• Public transport: Daily buses from Iguazú to the town of Wanda. The mines are 15 blocks from the bus stop. You can get a taxi or hitch a ride from there. If walking, bring water.

• Tour: As the guided tours at the mine are in Spanish, most travelers choose to stop here as part of a double Wanda Mines-Jesuit Ruins at San Ignacio tour. Wander Argentina offers a one-day tour for $95 per person that can be booked online. Please get in touch via our contact form to inquire about the tour or make reservations.