I stayed in Ana's San Telmo loft apartment with my pal Liam for ten days over the Christmas holidays. All in all, a great stay.
Ana arranged to have me picked up at the airport by the lovely Hilda — she also arranged for Hilda to take Liam and I back to the airport — and met me upon arrival at the apartment. Located behind a huge, ornate and heavy iron gate in a vintage complex linked by a charming, breezy passage lined with potted plants, the apartment feels especially secure as there are a total of three locked gates and doors to pass through to gain entrance.
After a quick tour and explanation of the apartment's amenities and essentials, Ana walked me around the neighborhood a bit and suggested a couple of restaurants including La Poesía (Chile 502), an historic literary cafe that seems to attract as many locals as tourists with an occasional late afternoon piano player and an insanely extensive menu.
The apartment is perfect for two people or two couples traveling together. The bedrooms are well separated — one upstairs, the other downstairs, both en suite — with a spacious living/dining room under a double-height ceiling, a galley kitchen with snack counter and a beautifully tiled entrance hall as shared space. The air conditioners in the bedrooms were powerful and welcomed as the temperatures were quite hot and even stifling on a couple of days. Something to note for summertime travelers: Although there are two ceiling fans to stir the air, there is no air conditioning in the main living space. The kitchen was well stocked; the bathrooms clean and spacious with excellent water pressure; we appreciated the washing machine; and the wireless internet was fast.
Not nearly as tidy, restrained or patrician as some of the other neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, historic San Telmo is a lively and creative working class neighborhood with stunning if somewhat shabby 19th century buildings and enough spots to eat and drink that it was never necessary to leave the neighborhood. We returned each morning to Coffee Town inside the San Telmo Market (Bolívar 976) where Fernanda makes the best cappuccinos in all of Buenos Aires; we were charmed by the erudite owners of the Vinotango wine shop (Estados Unidos 488); we went twice to the Museo de Arte Moderno, a.k.a. MAMBA (Av. San Juan 350) to see the amazing Sergio Avello and jaw dropping Thomas Saraceno exhibits; I purchased a pair of very affordable minimalist drawings at Quorum (Defensa 894) and Liam and I both dropped a few dimes on shoes and leather goods at Tacones Lejanos (Defensa 1034). The best meal we had, however, was not in San Telmo but rather on the edge of Palermo at Gran Dabangg (Avenida Raul Scalabrini Ortiz 1543) where they serve up a delectable fusion of Indian and Latin American flavors and foods. Seriously, just go and go hungry and eat everything.