To me, everything along the river in San Isidro feels like a hidden gem. To access most of the restaurants, pubs and riverside shopping areas you must make your way through residential neighborhoods and shopping plazas. As you pass by these magnificent homes towards the water you can see these elaborate summer gardens through the gates of their giant secured walls.
Even when you approach the road along the river it doesn’t seem like much. Dirt foot paths and humble restaurant entrances open up to a wonderful summertime oasis. Watching kite surfers fly across the Rio while taking in some sun and listening to Daddy Yankee bump through the speakers definitely isn’t a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon. You won’t find a lot of tourists here, that’s for sure.
After a late night at the bar friday and early morning basketball session on saturday I was ready for a relaxing afternoon. I met up with a friend on Libertador Ave. in La Lucila and we jumped on a collectivo and then walked a good distance to find our first destination, La Anita Restaurant.
La Anita Restaurant is an awesome little bohemian style place with a really cool terrace in the back. You could easily just pass by it because when you first look in it just looks like a little kiosko (convenient store). The food is healthy and delicious and the crowd is young and vibrant. The only disappointing thing about the place is that they teased me with this lemonade with mint and ginger on the menu but they were all out when I tried to order it… man that sounded good!
After a great lunch we headed down for a siesta along the Rio. The second stop of the day was Peru Beach. This was an amazing complex with roller hockey, rock climbing and kite surfing. There was actually a big roller hockey tournament going on that day so it was cool to seeing Argentina’s play some puck. Gergs, Howard and Mase would have loved this place.
We busted out a blanket on the open grass area along the water and just enjoyed the day. After some excellent people watching I crashed for a good hour with the sun on my face and a summer breeze coming in off the Rio de la Plata. It was a solid day and I’m big fan of Peru Beach.
