It’s Getting Colder……… No Me Gusta

Now that it’s starting to become winter down here, and my two month tourist phase is over, I am starting to think about life after BsAs, which is a bit depressing, but a must. I still have no idea what I want out of a job. I have been reading many books during my time here, The Celestine Prophecy, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, This Time I Dance, and most currently The Happiness Project, in order to gain prospective on my values, beliefs and how to generally be happier. I do have to say the Happiness Project book is making me a bit depressed, but I am learning from it. I do know that having a high power career is not for me and that my happiness comes from relationships with others and being around people, and I also get satisfaction from completing projects and conquering the unknown, like a new city, language, or culture; now I just need to find a job title or company that can help me make this a reality. I think my next step after reading is going to be to make lists of what I like and don’t like and what I want to do in life.

This past weekend was tranquil. Like I said it’s been cold, I have been hanging out a lot in my house with my two Argentine roommates, cooking dinner together and watching TV. It’s pretty cool to know that now I can hold a whole conversation and its fun to hang out because we have many things in common. It rained all day Saturday, and I don’t mean a little rain here and there, I mean someone turned on the shower and let it run all day type of rain, and somehow our internet was out, so after doing yoga and some abs exercise in the morning I headed out to Tea Connection, my new favorite place here, for some delicious hot tea (imported of course) and a curry vegetable wok thing. Delicious, minus the fact I used my time to half research jobs on craigslist (not fun, a bit depressing) and work on my final project for school (I am working on a PowerPoint of the history or wine in Argentina, all in Spanish of course).  When I returned to the house after my trek in the rain to the Tea Connection (about 15 blocks away, I was determined to eat there), I found my roommate Jessica determined to fix the internet because she really wanted to talk to her boyfriend (he lives in Germany), so we spent another hour trying to fix it, when we finally followed the phone cord to the wall to discover it had come loose from the maid, Ah ha, at last we had internet! That night I went out with my new friend Nicole from my internship company and her roommates for a night on the town, well we went to a bar for a bit then crashed a birthday party at a house. I did however get into an interesting conversation, in Spanish, with some Argentines who think all Californian’s surf, practice yoga, and eat organic (unfortunately I just fell right into their stereotype and couldn’t change their minds that not everyone is that way in CA).

Sunday, was cold, but at least sunny. I had lunch with my cousin’s friends Peter and Mari and then a nice drive around the neighborhood of Belgrano and the river, I think my next sunny weekend day trek will be out to this area, it was beautiful, and I think I need to visit the religious themed theme park, even though it’s a bit sac religious to go to a religious theme park, I think. I will let you know if I make it out there. That evening I went out with Jessica, my roommate and Carla, a friend of hers to watch El Principe de Persia (the Prince of Persia). It was entertaining but I think I liked reading the Spanish subtitles more than the film itself (most of the foreign movies are in English with Spanish subtitles).

Monday was back to the grind and super cold, I can't believe I scraped my overcoat with Thinsulate lining from my packing list before I came, how dumb! Anyways, it’s my last week of Spanish lessons, which is  a bit bittersweet, I really like taking the classes but, will enjoy having a bit more of free time. My internship is going well; right now I am working on a script for a YouTube movie/advertisement for our Spanish classes on Skype. It’s pretty challenging but, I’m enjoying stretching my boundaries. After work I stayed at school to watch the Argentine film “Illuminados por el Fuego.” It was about the Argentine-British war over control of the Falkland Islands, a war which Argentina went into basically knowing they would lose, but the military government at the time insisted on. It was a moving film, documenting the life of three of the soldiers, from the surviving one’s point of view, and showing the sadness of the situation during and the aftermath of sentiments and feelings of the veterans. I think it was a good movie to remember the veterans of war (all over the world, especially since it was Memorial Day in the US), and since I have never seen a movie about the losing side, an eye-opener to the other side and how traumatic it is on the soldiers. Makes me grateful for my country and our soldiers, because it’s not always easy to fight, but sometimes you have to. God Bless.

Bicentenial and Goodbyes

Argentina turned 200 on Tuesday May 25^th (well it’s actually the 200^th birthday of when they declared war on Spain, their independence took place July 9, 1818). A very exciting time to be in the country, and something I am very excited to be able to celebrate, but at the same time this means I had to say good-bye to many new friends who are heading home or continuing on their journeys, and most importantly Nick  had to head back home to work, so it’s a bittersweet time.

After Mendoza , Nick and I arrived back in BsAs Thursday morning, after our overnight bus, and after napping we decided to be active and see the MALBA (or Museo de Arte Latinoamericana de Buenos Aires), it held many interesting exhibits of Latin American artists, including a painting each from Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, two artists from Mexico that I really enjoy. They also had an exposition of Alberto Passolini, called Malona to commerate the Bicential, absoultly beautiful and interesting to read the story behind. We had lunch at an organic and natural restaurant Tea Connection, which has decent food, but the best part is the delicious tea and the teapot wetsuits, I really fell in love with those. That evening we had dinner with some friends from school at a Moroccan restaurant and then met my roommate Louisa at Casa bar for a nightcap.

Friday we spent the day walking in Puerto Madera, the refurbished area built around the manmade diques for ships which are no longer in use, but a beautiful area with the Puente de la Mujer, or pedestrian bridge which has become an icon of BsAs. There we explored an old sail boat the Uruguay which actually traveled to Antartica many times, something we couldn’t understand after touring it, it had to have been freezing on that ship. We stopped for drinks twice at outdoor cafes, and were pleasantly suppriesed when one gave us tortilla chips as a free drink snack instead of peanuts. It was the first time I’ve seen tortilla chips, besides on the MacDonnald’s Mexican Burger ads. They were fine, but they call them nachos, which is a horrible misrepresentation of a name in my mind. We watched a movie on the computer that night because we had just been so tired.

Saturday we got up early and headed on the train to Mitre, where we then switched trains to the electric line Tren de la Costa up to Tigre and the Delta, about an hour’s ride outside of town. I recommend taking this scenic route out there. We then hopped on a commuter ferry to the island town of Tres Bocas where we were promptly met by our dog guides, who literally stayed with us the entire time we were on the island, unfortunately; we took the hard path, which in Summer would have been fine but, in Fall was a bit muddy. Expecially, when a new dog wanted to play with one of our guides and ran and slid into me, knocking my knees out and making me back bend over another dog(good thing I practice backbends in Yoga or I would have been on my ass in the mud). It was entertaining to say the least, especially when I slapped Nick in the face because a mosquito was attacking him; in my defense I do think I was getting him back for hitting all the mosquitoes off me; too bad we still ended up getting eatan by the vampire bugs. That evening we took the regular train home in time for a party at my friends, Hannah and Gussies, for drinks and then out to the bars….a long night, is all I can say.

The actual bicentennial was on Tuesday May 25 and they had huge celebrations all weekend, actually a very exciting time to be in the city. Saturday morning Nick and I walked over to Avenida 9 de Julio to check out the festivities and the parade of all the provinces. A bit of background, Argentina officially started the war against Spain for independence May 25, 1810 and gained their independence July 9, but the 25^th is the big day in their mind. The parade was amazing, but super long, about 4 hours. We were so tired from the parade we didn’t really feel like going out that night, so good thing my landlord Jose decided to have an Argentine asado for everyone at the house. An asado at an Argentines house is something that everyone needs to do when visiting Argentina, and I have been lucky to have been invited to 2, or rather had 2 at my house. Who can say no to lomo beef, endless wine and great chatter in Spanish? We couldn’t.

Sunday was a bit sad, Nick was leaving that night but we had a wonderful day exploring the San Telmo street fair for all the gifts he needed to bring back home and having a wonderful steak sandwich at a pub in the area before exploring El Zanjon, or Jesuit tunnels dating back to 1730. We made it back to the hosue just before the major thunderstorm hit and Nick’s plane took off just after the storm stopped. I was sad, but I know we will see eachother in 5 weeks, plus I kept myself busy by cooking dinner with my roommate Louisa as a goodbye to our friend Hannah, who left Monday to head back to Chicago. Who couldn’t enjoy a night of great vegeterain sir fry(much needed after the carne overload the night before and at lunch), good wine, alfajores, and girl talk? Ah, fun….

Monday was a big day for me. I attended my first football (soccer) match, Argentina v. Canada. It was exciting, and Argentina just killed Canada 5-0, I don’t think Canada ever even got close to their goal. It was fun to be there in person to see all the fans, and hear the cheers, but I have to say I would much rather watch soccer in a bar or house, where its warm, there is commentary and beer. I couldn’t believe there was no beer at the game. That evening I met a new friend, as my internship program is now starting over with a new group of people. So although I have to say goodbye this week to all my old friends, I will have many more in the coming week.

Tuesday was a full day of classes (8 hours), we spent most of the time learning about the history of Argentina which was pretty exciting, especially now that I could understand more of what all the floats in the parades were about. That evening I had to say goodbye to my friend Gussie, who was also heading back to Chicago. Instead of braving the 6 million person crowd at Plaza de Mayo we opted for cooking dinner, drinking wine and watching it on TV. I think it was the better choice as we had a great view of the floats from the TV and my roommate Louisa who had been there in person really didn’t get to see much and had her camera stolen right out of her hand!

As this blog is also about goodbyes, Wednesday night I went out with my Argentine roommate Jessica to have a farewell dinner for Louisa our British roommate. I now am living with only Argentine’s, which is good because I have to speak Spanish all day, but sad because some night’s I just want to talk English….Now I need to focus on meeting new people since all the foreigners I started out with are gone. It will at least keep my next 4 weeks interesting!

Mendoza….Part Two, Fancy Trout and Wine Tour

We got up Wednesday morning bright and early to start the day of wine tasting with Trout and Wine, a wine tour company recommended from a friend, in the Luján de Cuyo valley of Mendoza. There were seven people in our group including the guide. Our first stop was Renacer, a fairly large winery, here we got to play winemaker and taste three virgin forms of Malbec, and then decided what percentages we wanted to mix to make the best tasting Malbec for our taste buds. After this we tried the Punto Final Clásico and Punto Final Reserva Malbec and Enamore; a blend of Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Bonard; which is a joint venture wine between Renacer and Alleguini. I recommend the Punto Final Reserva with food. 

Next we were off to Terrazas (part of the Chandon group), for a vineyard and winery tour followed by a private tasting of reserve Torrontes, Afincado Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cheval des Andes, a blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. The Torrontes was beautiful and the Cheval des Andes as well. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this winery even though it was part of a giant corporation.

The third stop was a wine and food pairing lunch at Bodega Ruca Malén. The first step was a Yauquén Chardonnay 2009 paired with critic mousse on a red apple chip with a fresh granny smith apple wedge; the food helped the wine on this one. Second step was Yauquné Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 with a sweet and sour pork empanada with roosted onions and raisins, again the cab needed the food. Third step, Ruca Malén Syrah 2007 paired with caramelized carrots, species crust and dried ham on a smoked goat cheese sauce, the starter was good, but the syrah could stand alone. Fourth step, Ruca Malén Malbec 2007 and a Kinién Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 paired with grilled beef tenderloin medallion served with baked potatoes and zucchini on a cheese and almond pesto. The Malbec was great but the Cab lacked strength. Pre-dessert, yes I said pre-dessert was a chardonnay, lemon and rosemary granitee and the fifth step, or dessert was dulce de leche panna cotta and fresh fruits followed by coffee. You could have rolled us out of there, it was delicious and since we had an out spoken Texan woman, two Canadians, our Argentine guide and a guy (with a Mexican dad and British mother) who grew up in Mexico, Dallas, Buenos Aires, Chicago and now Canada, the conversation was quite entertaining.

Last stop was Alta Vista for a quick winery tour and a tasting of their Premium Malbec (recommended), Premium Torrontes and Malbec Terroir Selection before heading home on our overnight bus. Exhausting day for our taste buds, but so much fun and a great reminder that Gallo didn’t ruin my passion for wine like I thought they might have, in fact I love everything about it from the soil, to the process of making it, packaging it and selling and promoting it, I just never want to have to be on the selling side where I have to physically sell the wine to make a living.  

http://www.facebook.com/album - Nick's Visit #1

http://www.facebook.com/album - Nick's Visit #2

Mendoza….Part One, Bike Tour

We arrived in Mendoza at 8am after the long 13 hour ride on the Andesmar first class overnight bus. And boy were we surprised, it was so cold we could see our breath, if we had brought snow clothes I think we would have pulled a “Cool Running’s”, by running back into the warm bus to change into everything we owned. Good thing the cold was only temporary and that morning. We immediately hopped into a cab to our beautiful boutique hotel Villagio to warm up and take showers. Of course we were in wine country and I insisted we start the trip and the day tasting wine in the area of Maipú by bicycle. Now biking to wineries in Maipú is very common, there are about 5 bike companies situated on the main road for this purpose, but the road conditions in this area aren’t the best, the pollution from the cars is still bad and well, it’s pretty dangerous with all the cars and large trucks screaming past. Nothing like biking through Marlborough in New Zealand (well then again the roads were only a bit larger and the trucks were bigger but there was a lot less traffic in NZed). Although the biking conditions weren’t the best the wineries were surprisingly modern, beautiful and serene. It was a beautiful day. We started at Trapiche, the largest winery in Mendoza and Argentina for that matter. I was a bit leery on going here since most of the Argentine wines found in American grocery stores is Trapiche and I am not really a fan, but the winery was beautiful (they restored the old brick building from the original winery). The tour was informative to the beginner wine drinker, but what most impressed me was the tasting room. It was elegant but had a homey feel, and we were completely alone except for the other 3 people on our winery tour and the guide. Plus the reserve wines were delicious (we tried Iscay Merlot-Malbec blend, Broquel Bonarda, and Profuso Malbec) and at bargain prices compared to California reserve wines. 

The next stop was about 3k down the road to the smallest winery on the route Carinae, its owned by a French couple who moved to Mendoza to retire and start a winery, the original winery they bought was a bit out of shape but the vines were well established and taken care of. They were also building a new tasting room and facility. It was great to see the contrast between the largest winery and a smaller labor of love(here we had a Malbec Rosado, a 2007 and 2006 Malbec and the reserve Malbec). 

The third winery was our favorite in terms of wine quality. Familia de Tommaso, one of the oldest wineries, with original brick tanks, now used for storage, and some of the best wines we had tasted. We ended up purchasing a bottle of homemade hard apple cider which we enjoyed the next day and a bottle of 2004(a very good year) special reserve Malbec; only 4,000 bottles were produced and the winemaker signed each bottle instead of putting a front label. Now you might ask, did that cost an arm and leg? oh no, only $95AR or about $25USD. Yeah, good wine is that cheap down here(we tried 2007 and 2006 Malbec, a 2006 Cabernet, and a Torrontes dessert wine aged for 1 year in oak). Next on the stop was Viña el Cerno for a delicious Asado(bbq) lunch. It was beautiful just sitting out amongst the olive trees and vines, drinking a delicious glass of Malbec and eating fresh carne and salad.

After lunch we headed over to Tempus Alba, my second favorite spot on the ride. It’s a gorgeous modern winery with an outdoor second floor terrace to sit at and enjoy a flight of wine while overlooking the vineyards and beautiful landscape of Mendoza (we tried the Cabernet, Malbec, Syrah, Merlot and a Malbec-Tempranillo blend Pleno Reserva del Enologo). Of course the Malbec’s were delicious, especially the reserve Malbec and the grilled provolone was to die for. I highly recommend if you go to Mendoza order the grilled provolone at the restaurants, you won’t be disappointed, who could be with a hunk of warm provolone sprinkled with herbs and spread on homemade hot bread….mmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking of it, but my thighs are telling me I can only have it once.

That evening we had a delicious meal at El Fuego with my Norwegian friends, Maggie and Maria. They left BsAs 2 weeks ago to continue their travels in America, and we were lucky enough to catch them in Mendoza for dinner, such a small world.

Day two was pretty quiet, we had a late breakfast at a café and wandered through the city, even checked out the Modern Art Museum, which was a bit of a letdown since the museum is under the main fountain in town and the fountain was leaking through the roof of the museum, I guess they don’t care too much about modern art, I don’t blame them, most of it I don’t understand either. That afternoon we went to the only wine bar in the area The Vines. Nick ordered the Malbec flight and I ordered the Muestras flight, which included a Torrontes, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon. We ended up tasting our own flights, then switching to try the others, this being a great economical way to taste. I can say that the Renacer Punto Final Clássico Malbec was a great young wine that could be anyone’s everyday dinner wine, while the Sangre de Los Andes was a great full bodied, big and bold Malbec (other wines: Doña Silvina, Malbec de Angeles, Flecha de Los Andes Gran Malbec). For the Muestras flight the Mounier Torrontes was nice and light and the Las Perdices Reserva Pinot Noir was phenomenal for down here (other wines: Mairena Malbec, Catalpa Merlot, Caelum Cabernet Sauvignon). That night we had dinner at Anna Bistro with a bottle of Alta Vista Premium Malbec. It paired perfectly with my curry like chicken dish and Nick’s rib eye.

* photo link attached in following blog

Re-Exploring Buenos Aires

You know that you are slowly becoming a resident of a city when you are able to show someone around and feel like its home. It’s nice to show someone your favorite restaurants, the best places to get sweets, your weekend watering holes, and the top things you need to see in the city before you leave.

Nick arrived last Thursday for a 10 day vacation. After a long (about 16hr) but relaxing business class flight he arrived just in time to get those jet lag legs moving and to stroll around my favorite place in the city, the Palermo lakes region and rose garden. We got an amazing steak sandwich from my favorite road-side stand, it’s a large thin piece of steak topped with grilled onions, a fried egg and cheese….mmmm. After a brief nap, we went to Buhler Brewing for their 8.5% Honey Beer and some empanadas then to meet some friends from school at Noa Bar for some Argentine wine and better empanadas. Friday, we acted like real tourists and took the big yellow Buenos Aires tourist bus. It was a great way to get across the whole city and see all the sights in one day, but was a bit disappointing in the lack of information as well. I took Nick to 1810, for a traditional Argentine lunch of cazuelas. The evening was spent learning Tango! I had taken a few classes prior at Vos and with my Argentine roommate Jess, but it was fun to learn with him. We were the best dancers in the beginner class (wink, wink, ha ha). We stayed a bit to watch the milonga afterwards then headed to the expat bar near home for a night cap. Boy did we get a surprise at the Alamo, it was $30 pesos to get in and they gave you a drink ticket to take to the bar. I gave the bartender both our tickets and he asked if we wanted the “Cerveza grande,” why not? I think they drained half the keg into the pitcher. Since it was already late for us, we had about 5 of the beer, we made some Argentine’s night by giving them the rest (about 8 beers worth). Such good Sheppard’s we are.

Saturday, we got up late morning headed to a typical Argentine breakfast of café and medaluna (a type of croissant). Then we headed out to the Recoletta cemetery to see the “only place in BsAs that sleeps,” as Nick would like to say. The second time the tombs were still impressive. We strolled through the Feria Recoletta, a crafts fair, the Museo de Bellas Artes, over to the Floralis Generica, plaza Serrano for some shopping and drinks, then strolled home to relax before dinner at La Cholita, my favorite place for a giant steak dinner. Of course I let Nick order the 5 pounds of steak while I ordered the veggies, in an attempt to make the meal healthier. Delicious; either way. We decided to end the night in the neighborhood of Las Cañitas in Palermo, for some drinks in a bar straight out of medieval times, minus the flea infested rats, and the Soul Café, a bar with an afro-man on the sign and giant dice hanging from the ceiling. I have found a drink that Nick doesn’t like, well 2, the first being Fernet and coke (which I don’t like either, a nasty bitter licorice drink) and the second which I love, Gancia and limon (an Italian liquor that is still a bit bitter, but delicious with fresh lemon juice and sugar). 

Sunday, we made our way to the leather market in the Villa Crespo neighborhood then the outlet area, after we walked again around the Palermo Lakes area then to a delicious lunch at a tea house in Palermo Chico. The night was spent on an all night first class bus to Mendoza; I hope that I can finally give you some good wine advice.

*I will post more photos on facebook after our trip to Mendoza and the rest of Nick's time in Argentina

At War with a Phantom Mosquito

So I just have to vent. I HATE mosquitoes, but I refuse to sleep in bug spray, I don’t want the chemicals to soak into my body, or to breath the vapors all night. If I open my window I use the mosquito coil incense things, but they make my room smell horrible for days. I wish they had citronella candles here, and that someone had told me how bad the mozzies were so I could have prepared and brought one with me. Now you are saying, isn’t it fall there? And wouldn’t it be too cold for mozzies? Yes, and you would think so, but apparently it’s not and I get to suffer. When I’m around another person the mosquitoes tend to bite them, not me, but I’m alone and they are attacking me.

They are so good here; they manage to bite through your clothing. I was exercising the other day and ended up with 3 bits on my butt and I was wearing skin tight Capri workout pants, and one managed to get me through my sock! These are seriously vampire, super mosquitoes. No wonder they have signs posted everywhere warning about Dengue. I have no idea what that is so I looked it up just in case one of these tiny blood sucking machines carries it, it is a fever that gives you a headache, rash, muscle and joint pain, it can also be accompanied by abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. Ugh, dear Mosquitoes, please stop sucking my blood, I only have travelers medical and really don’t want to end up sick…

You must wonder the reason for this rant. Well, over the past 2 weeks I have discovered a phantom mosquito. He is never here on the nights I have the window open and burn the mosquito coils, but on the nights I keep the window shut, he shows up around 2 or 3 am just to annoy the hell out of me. He likes to do a buzz by my ears, which wakes me up, then freaks me out, because I can’t stand to get another bite. When I turn on the light to find him and kill him, he’s not there. I can leave the light on for 20 minutes just staring, sitting still and waiting and he doesn’t show, but the second I turn off the light and lay down, he’s back! I feel like I’m going crazy, I actually think I might be. It’s horrible and it always happens on the nights I try to go to bed early (12pm, 1am, its relative, I know). They sell mosquito coils you plug in, I think I might have to invest in one, in the hopes that it kills or deters my phantom mosquito stalker, otherwise I might go mad.

*Images borrowed from the internet

Eating My Way Through The Weekend

Eating Cuban food and listening to salsa makes me want to go to Cuba, can they lift the no travel restrictions for Americans yet? My passport does expire in 5 years maybe I can go right before it does? But eating Cuban while listening to the music will have to do for now and I can tell you it was delicious for the tummy and the ears. A big group of us went to Oye Chico, for an amazing 4 course meal of Pulpetines (or hush puppies stuffed with veggies and chicken), Cuban chicken for the main, flan for dessert, followed by a cafe, all accompanied by lots of mojitos and wine and some great Cuban music, now only if Nick had been here so I could have danced, because it’s a bit hard to dance Salsa with only girls. The night ended across the Atlantic Ocean in Ireland….well after dinner we headed to a pub and were entertained by an Irish Folk band, talk about a twist of music!

We strolled around the street fair of Plaza Serrano in Palermo on Saturday. It’s like all the street fairs in BsAs but, smaller and the main draw is the cheep clothing stalls in the buildings surrounding the Plaza. They were so interesting, people just hang up whatever it is they are selling and stand near their rack, a few places have cash registers but, most you just pay the person whose rack it is. My favorite part of the day was lunch. I have a blog on food to come, but I have started eating more vegetables that I ever have before, I guess I am growing up (tear). But I had a phenomenal baguette with grilled tomatoes (yes I said tomatoes), eggplant, zucchini and carrots, it just melted in my mouth it was so tasty. I took the bus to Palermo Alto, or the mall, after just to check the area out, and I found my first Starbucks, but since I am not a fan of Starbucks I didn’t purchase anything. The mall was very much like one in America, it even had a Friday’s, in the future I will stay away from this place, but I had to see it for myself one time.

The evening revolved around more food, I just love 1810 for local food. Except this time the waiter forgot my order and didn’t seem to care so I made sure to not leave a tip…I can’t stand bad service, at least in America they would apologize and take it off the bill or give a free desert. But when there is only a table of 6, you shouldn’t forget an order. Ugh…..oh well I washed the bad taste out with many beers afterwards at the birthday party of my Spanish professor Camila.

After a lazy morning (or just sleeping in) I met some friends and we traveled out of town (well we took the bus 30 minutes into the suburbs, I wouldn’t really call it out of town as the landscape of buildings didn’t change, they just weren’t as tall) to the Feria de Matadores, or gaucho fair. A gaucho is an Argentine cowboy. Again it was full of craft stalls, the same as in all the fairs in town, except they had a stage with live entertainment, a bunch of people dressed in full gaucho gear (I think the fair-goers just liked to dress like this) and the best food ever! This fair is not really a tourist fair, more of a local thing, which was great because the food was tremendous. We started the day with Vacio sandwiches (steak sandwiches), had some delicious fried Jamon y queso empanadas, a taste of humita, a fresh homemade alfajor (dulce de leche cookie), and delicious artisan ice cream….I needed to be rolled out of there, and if I don’t gain 10lbs before I leave I will not have eaten enough. Mmmmmm……

http://www.facebook.com/album

Long walks, lessons and a feliz cumple

Sunday was lovely, I spent the whole day walking. I took the Subte to Plaza Italia and was headed to the Japanese Gardens when I saw a huge park with lakes, so I detoured and found my favorite spot in Buenos Aires, Parque de Deportes or the Palermo Lakes district. It’s beautiful, there are some small lakes, a beautiful rose garden, large grass areas, and the whole perimeter is closed off on the weekends for people to rollerblade, bike, walk and run…I loved it. After walking for about 2 hours my nose too me to a street vendor selling the best churrasco sandwiches, or grilled steak sandwiches with queso, egg and onions on top. Heaven. The Japanese gardens were somewhat of a disappointment, but I think after you’ve been to the gardens in SF all Japanese gardens would disappoint unless they were in Japan, it’s the same philosophy I have with zoo’s, after going to the SD zoo, I don’t need to go to another because they are just disappointing, even Steve Irwin’s Zoo in OZ. I might just be picky. Plus the gardens were over crowded with tourists and it was a place more for kids to buy fish food to feed the coy than it was for tranquil or beautiful gardens.

This week has been a bit tranquil, have been working on more online research to get Vos a higher web presence on-line. Some of what I am doing is investigating travel websites, blogs, and government sites and trying to contact them to get more advertising or partnering information.  Spanish classes are going well. Some days I feel confident and some I lose it all…I really just need to keep practicing. I have all the tools, I just need to start remembering them and thinking in Spanish, I understand conversations better though. And have been asked for directions on the street because I look local which is nice. A side note, the Argentines look more European than you would think, they have a lot of German, Italian and other European blood, so a female with a bit of olive in her skin with brown hair would look like a local.

Monday I went to CineClub at Vos, we watched El Aura http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Aura. Weird but interesting at the same time and a bit easier to understand than some of the other movies because there wasn’t much talking. Wednesday was my Spanish school’s 3^rd birthday so we went to After Office “literally happy hour” but they don’t have a Spanish word for it so they say “After Office” at Godoy, a bar in Palermo. It was a great time but a late evening. At least classes were put off until the afternoon the next day so I could catch up on my sleep.

Caca, pollution, miniature stores, and grocery delivery

First I want to let you know this is not a rant on how horrible BsAs is, or that I don’t think it’s a great city to visit or live; I just wanted to fill you in on some of the annoyances and oddities and some of the great ideas that I have noticed here, good and bad.

Since I want to end on a good note, I’ll start with the majorly annoying and get to the totally awesome, ideas I think should be implemented in the US large cities.

First, the pollution is horrible, from transportation fumes, to smokers, to noise pollution. This place has the worst air I have ever breathed. Every time a bus, car, motorbike goes by you can just see a cloud of exhaust. I’m serious; it’s especially bad around 5-7pm when people get off work. Every inhale has some sort of smoke flavor; I’ve never tasted so much air in my life. I can’t wait for my trip to Mendoza with Nick, just to get some fresh country air. Then there is the smoking, people at the bars smoke like chimneys here, I am pretty sure you can’t smoke in a restaurant but after hours when the place turns into a proper bar or dance club, the cigarettes start popping up….gross. And the noise pollution, well, let’s say my ears hurt, from the impatient cars honking just as the second the light turns yellow before green they are honking to go (a little on the signals here they go green-yellow-red and boy you better stop on the yellow, because that’s the signal for all the people to walk, then they turn red-yellow-green and this yellow the cars start honking and going through the light), the motorbikes honk at the pedestrians to move-use it as a means to cat call to girls, the bus breaks are squeaky, apartments are noisy and the airplanes taking off and landing are so loud that sometimes when I’m sleeping I think one might land on the apartment! Whew…..I might need to be put on a deserted beach after this just to have some quiet but then I think the sound of waves crashing might destroy that.

Second, the dog poop is awful. If you are going to have a dog and walk it pick up their S*it, please. The sidewalks are dangerous enough here with all the cracks, potholes, missing tiles and electricity hole covers; I don’t need to also dodge all the poop too. It’s not just a problem with the dog walkers “Paseaperos”, as there are hundreds and some have like 15 dogs at one time, which I understand might be hard to stop and pick up poop if you have that many dogs, but even the people who actually walk their own dog, just can’t seem to stop and pick up the poo.  Even Lonely Planet talks about the amount and types of dog poo on the streets.* Lonely Planet Buenos Aires city guide page 96

Third, an interesting thing here is that there aren’t giant stores and malls like you have in the states. The “malls” are full of tiny shops, some so small they just have a giant window you look into and pick what you want. I have noticed a few chains but, nothing that stands out like in America and I defiantly haven’t seen a target, kohl’s or thank god a Wal-Mart type store here at all. In fact most of the stores look independently owned, and they tend to sell one thing, yes I said one thing, so weird when you come from the land of super and mega stores that sell everything short of children and labor. If you want pajamas they have a small corner store for that, if you want a doorknob, there’s a store for that, there’s a store for pastries, one for bread, one for chocolate….. (am I sounding like the annoying Apple app commercial?), there’s a store for socks and tights and a separate store for shoes and one for beef and one for chicken, one for accessories and one for clothes, you get my point. And unless the store is on one of the main shopping streets you need to ring a bell so they can buzz you in, it’s amazing.

Fourth, and yes I am getting more positive, they have the most interesting way of delivering groceries here. If you buy over $200 pesos (don’t quote me, I haven’t done it), they deliver your groceries to your home for free, and put them away for you! It’s a wonderful system since there is no parking at most of the stores and it’s impossible to carry it all back to your house if you buy a cart-full. They just pack all your groceries in medium sized white crates, stack them, attach your address and have a store employee deliver them to your house a bit later. The only thing I don’t understand is how some of the food doesn’t go bad just sitting there, I mean I’ve seen them put the cold stuff in insulated bins, but the other night the store was packed and they had rows of stacks piled to the ceiling of groceries that needed to be delivered, who knows how long some of it sat there? The system must work though because you see it all day long. I do think it might be difficult to implement in SF with the hills though, they just push the crates on file dollies and I could see many runaway crates in SF, good thing the streets here are flat. It’s honestly an awesome invention.

These are some observations for now….more adventures to come I promise. 

*Some of the images were borrowed from the web

You know you’re in Latin America when you have transportation problems

You will have to read a bit to get to the transport part….

Our Polish student at school is heading home, so he invited everyone from school to the Polish Bar, Krakov, in BsAs to say good-bye and drink free beer. Who can say no to free beer? I defiantly can’t, so off I went for another long night on a work/school week. Needless to say, Friday was a struggle, I made it to school on time because I’m such a good student (actually I got tired at 2am and went home so I was able to wake up on time), however many students didn’t come till break because they stayed out the whole night. I was able to get out of work early Friday to take a nap before heading out to Tango lessons with my Argentine roommate Jessica.

Now these weren’t my first lessons, since I have had 2 lessons at school, but they were my first in a real tango hall, and I looked pretty silly dancing in my tom’s shoes, but I didn’t bring any heels, so I dealt the best I could. Let’s just say Tango is HARD, and I really think I need to get some shoes if I really want to learn. But we had a great night and then went out for dinner after, around 12pm, we were supposed to go to a Milango (Tango Hall) after to dance but Jess and I were really tired so I’m glad we didn’t, plus I had to be up at 6am the next morning to head to Colonia, Uruguay for the day.

Yes I said Uruguay, for my friends who are a bit geographically challenged Uruguay sits under Brazil and Colonia  is an hour long fast ferry ride across the Rio de Plata from BsAs. It’s the perfect day trip spot, and if you are planning to stay in Argentina for more than 3 months it’s the place to visit to get your visa renewed, good thing I won’t have that problem, but some friends were going and I wanted to check it out.  A bit of background information on Uruguay we learned from our tour guide 1) 9 times in 100 years Uruguay changed between the Spanish and Portuguese rule 2) Prostitution is legal, ugh, weird and sick 3) You need a motorcycle license to rent a scooter....there was more but just some info.

Well the trip started like most Latin American trips start (or so I've been told by my backpacking companions, I really have no idea, but this was my experience this time), with some type of transportation problem. We arrived at the ferry terminal to find out the ferry was broken and that we were being bused to another ferry company to continue our journey (well this was after the lady at the counter tried to tell us the whole thing was cancelled for us because we had a walking tour and lunch scheduled, but we were too smart for her because we knew Spanish and knew others were getting there for free on the other boats). So instead of leaving at 8am for Uruguay we left at 9:30am. Upon arrival we were surprised to find out the walking tour and lunch were still on (oh I love LtnAmr). After the walking tour a few friends who had taken the slow boat over joined us for lunch and then we all rented a golf cart to drive through the city and up the coastline for a bit.

Beautiful, plus now I really want to come back and stay at least one night at the most beautiful Sheraton Hotel I have ever seen, for all of you with Sheraton points I recommend the one in Colonia Uruguay! But we are poor so we just looked at it and strolled along the beaches and drove back to town for our favorite thing down here, Helado (Ice Cream). After Ice Cream those of us with the, err, shi*ty boat company had to return for our ferry back. But it’s Latin America and transportation has problems, so they tell us the boat is broken, no sh*t, we knew that already from this morning, and that we are getting put on another one but it leaves an hour and a half later L Not a big deal but we missed the sunset and I guess sunsets here are beautiful….. we did catch the last glimpse from the ferry terminal before being chased away by a guard, but it was a bit sad…all in all the day was wonderful and I totally recommend heading to Colonia, but take Buquebus there, not Colonia Express (although the lunch and tour were nice).

We finished the day having drinks at Bangalore, a pub we like in Palermo BsAs.
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