14 December 2010
11 December 2010
09 December 2010
08 December 2010
06 December 2010
03 December 2010
01 December 2010
29 November 2010
27 November 2010
24 November 2010
21 November 2010
18 November 2010
15 November 2010
11 November 2010
08 November 2010
23 October 2010
18 October 2010
Sara goes to Cafayate, Cachi, Purmamarca and the Salinas Grandes
Cafayate:
Cachi:
Purmamarca/Salinas Grandes:
Cachi:
Purmamarca/Salinas Grandes:
16 October 2010
14 October 2010
12 October 2010
Villa General Belgrano and Alta Gracia
Since Argentina is a part of the Americas, Columbus Day is a federal holiday here too, which meant that Jill got an extra day off of work so we had a long weekend in which we could travel. We've wanted to see Cordoba, Argentina's 2nd largest city, for awhile, and since Argentina's festival nacional de la cerveza (beer festival) was held this weekend right outside of Cordoba, it seemed like a great time to go. Every year for the past 47 years, Argentina has held a beer festival in Villa General Belgrano. The festival is also known as Oktoberfest because so many of the town's residents have German heritage. Indeed, the festival and town are somewhat controversial because many Nazis escaped trials in Europe by fleeing there after the war.
We decided to take the trip at the last minute, and since it was a holiday weekend, that meant we were incredibly lucky to get seats on any bus going to Cordoba. We ended up with the last two seats, which were shoved into a corner and vibrated the whole time because they were right near the engine in the back of the bus. It was an uncomfortable ride, but we made it to Villa General Belgrano, which is all that mattered. The festival itself costs quite a lot of money (by Argentine standards) to enter, and once you pay the hefty entrance fee, you have to pay for overpriced food and beer. So rather than paying $50 pesos to get in, we spent the day walking around the town and enjoying the artisan beer in local beer gardens. It seemed that most everyone else was doing the same thing and that there were more people outside the festival than inside anyway! We enjoyed seeing the town, but didn't feel like spending another day at a beer festival was what we wanted to do, so we headed onto Alta Gracia.
The tiny town of Alta Gracia has two main attractions, Jesuit Missions and Che Guevara's childhood home. The Jesuit Mission one of several in Cordoba province that altogether make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was interesting to see, but there wasn't that much information that explained the history of the whole place or the Jesuits in Cordoba. The museum at Che Guervara's house focused on a lot of information about his youth, and seemed to leave out some important information about his adult life. Still, we learned a lot!
07 October 2010
Random Bs.As. Photo: The Dogs of Buenos Aires
After being in Buenos Aires we now realize the importance of Bob Barkers message at the end of every The Price is Right episode to please "spay and neuter your pets folks". No one does that here, and as a result there is an overwhelming population of stray dogs running around the city, it's really very sad. This one however, is probably not a stray, but just goes to show that the dogs are taking over. Next stop, world domination.
27 September 2010
Sara goes to Puerto Natales and Puerto Madryn
Puerto Natales, Chile
After Calafate, I headed to Puerto Natales, Chile, so I could renew my visa. Puerto Natales isn't a particularly interesting town, but it's the place that nearly every tourist stops when they head to Torres del Paine national park. I arrived on Saturday, September 18th, which happened to be Chile's bicentennial. As our bus pulled into Puerto Natales, several servicemen were already in the street preparing for the desfile militar (military parade). Most of the town shut down for several days during the bicentennial celebrations, which meant it was quite difficult to get basic things done while I was there. I couldn't find a hostel that was open when I arrived, so I lugged my backpack down to the waterfront in order to watch the parade.
The parade was really interesting to watch, and it didn't hurt that the beautiful sea and mountains sat right behind everything. First several different groups of soldiers marched in and stood around while military leaders gave a brief history of how Chile won it's independence and who their key historical figures were. Then, the parade continued as Chilean huasos (Chilean cowboys, similar to Argentine gauchos) came out to perform the cueca, a traditional dance. Eventually, the politicians dressed in suits came out and danced the cueca with the huasos. The parade ended with large military vehicles and firetrucks driving down the street. After walking around town a few times, I finally found a hostel and was able to get some much needed rest. Puerto Natales was also hosting a artisan fair, so there were several artists who were selling handmade goods and other people selling handmade foods. I bought some homemade empanadas and could quickly tell that the dough had been made from scratch--it really makes a difference and those were some of the best empanadas I've eaten in 11 months.
Torres del Paine is a beautiful national park that I wanted to spend time hiking around. Initially, Jill and I had planned to hike the famous "W" trail there in November, but we realized that wasn't practical, so this was my chance to see the park. I didn't think it was safe to hike the "W" alone, especially since there was still snow on the ground in some parts, so I opted for a day tour of the park. Again, much of the tour operators in the area were closed for the season, so day tours were the only real option. Driving around the park in a car wasn't really the way I wanted to see it, and it was a little disappointing. Yet, I was still quite happy to see it.
Before we reached Torres del Paine, we stopped at Cueva del Milodón, or "Cave of the Milodón." The Milodón is an extinct giant sloth that supposedly died out around 5,000 years ago. Skin and bones of the animal were discovered in the area more than a century ago. After that, we drove into Torres del Paine and stopped at a point where we could take a short walk to Lago Grey. From the lake, which was filled with giant icebergs, you could look across and see glacier Grey. A Huemul, a type of endangered Patagonian deer, was walking around to drink from the lake, and that was especially cool to see since Huemuls are Chile's national animal. From there, we drove to several beautiful lookouts where you could see the "towers" (mountains) of the park, but unfortunately there were clouds hanging over them most of the day. We also spotted several guanacos (similar to llamas), nandu and condors (a type of vulture that is Chile's other national animal).
Back in Puerto Natales, I spotted black-necked swans swimming in the sea on my way out of town. I took another 5-hour bus ride back across the border to Calafate.
Calafate (again)
I arrived in Calafate with 5 minutes to decide whether I wanted to take a 20 hour bus trip up to Puerto Madryn, and at the last minute I decided to spend one more day in Calafate. I had befriended one of my tour guides from the big ice trek that I did, as we bonded over discussions about politics and books. So we met up to have beer at a neat book bar, which was fun, but also somewhat awkward. After that, I spent some time walking around Calafate with a nice guy I had met from Korea, who I had met on the bus between Puerto Natales and Calafate. He cooked me a delicious pasta dinner at the hostel, and I got to chat in Spanish with several nice Argentinians while he cooked. It was a really nice to relax for a day while talking to cool people I had just met. The following day, I grabbed a lamb crepe on my way to the bus station for the 20 hour trip up north.
Puerto Madryn
I headed to Puerto Madryn to get to Peninusla Valdes, a famous area filled with wildlife and an increidibly good spot to go whalewatching. The first leg of my bus trip to Rio Gallegos was fine, but the second leg was pretty unpleasant. The bus broke down about 1 hour after we got on, so we hopped on another bus that came by. At the next stop (2 hours later), we all got off and waited for another bus to come pick us up. There was no phone signal in the middle of nowhere when our bus broke down, so the driver waited until we got to the next stop to contact the bus company. Since these are overnight buses, that meant that 30 people were all crammed into a tiny bus station in the middle of nowhere from 11pm to 3 in the morning while we waited for the new bus to arrive. I finally got to Puerto Madryn 4 hours late.
The following day, I took a day-tour to Peninsula Valdes with my hostel. We started by driving out of Puerto Madryn for about 20 minutes to a beach where you could watch several whales swimming about 50 feet from the shore. It was great, but we had a schedule to keep, so we quickly headed onto the next stop, which was a small museum about the Southern Right whale. From there, we went to Puerto Pyramides, where we hopped on a 90 minute whalewatching boat ride. This was the most amazing part of the tour because the whales came so close to the boat. Southern Right whales recieved their name from whalers because they are a curious and social animal, so they often swim close to boats and are the "right" whale to kill. I've never really done whalewatching before, but was excited to see whales breaching, swimming right under the boat and mating. After the tour, we ate lunch in Puerto Pyramides, the only town on the peninsula, and then headed to a sea elephant colony. The sea elephants weren't too exciting to watch since they don't move much, but we headed to a cool penguin colony after that. Both the sea elephants and penguins were on the peninsula for mating season.
Puerto Madryn isn't a very pretty or exciting place to spend much time in, so after the tour I was ready to move on. I took a bus up to Bahia Blanca, where there was a circus festival taking place. The festival, however, was very small and uneventful when I arrived. I was tired of traveling, missed Jill, and felt ready to get back to Buenos Aires. So after a very brief period of time, I hopped on the next bus and went home.
After Calafate, I headed to Puerto Natales, Chile, so I could renew my visa. Puerto Natales isn't a particularly interesting town, but it's the place that nearly every tourist stops when they head to Torres del Paine national park. I arrived on Saturday, September 18th, which happened to be Chile's bicentennial. As our bus pulled into Puerto Natales, several servicemen were already in the street preparing for the desfile militar (military parade). Most of the town shut down for several days during the bicentennial celebrations, which meant it was quite difficult to get basic things done while I was there. I couldn't find a hostel that was open when I arrived, so I lugged my backpack down to the waterfront in order to watch the parade.
The parade was really interesting to watch, and it didn't hurt that the beautiful sea and mountains sat right behind everything. First several different groups of soldiers marched in and stood around while military leaders gave a brief history of how Chile won it's independence and who their key historical figures were. Then, the parade continued as Chilean huasos (Chilean cowboys, similar to Argentine gauchos) came out to perform the cueca, a traditional dance. Eventually, the politicians dressed in suits came out and danced the cueca with the huasos. The parade ended with large military vehicles and firetrucks driving down the street. After walking around town a few times, I finally found a hostel and was able to get some much needed rest. Puerto Natales was also hosting a artisan fair, so there were several artists who were selling handmade goods and other people selling handmade foods. I bought some homemade empanadas and could quickly tell that the dough had been made from scratch--it really makes a difference and those were some of the best empanadas I've eaten in 11 months.
Torres del Paine is a beautiful national park that I wanted to spend time hiking around. Initially, Jill and I had planned to hike the famous "W" trail there in November, but we realized that wasn't practical, so this was my chance to see the park. I didn't think it was safe to hike the "W" alone, especially since there was still snow on the ground in some parts, so I opted for a day tour of the park. Again, much of the tour operators in the area were closed for the season, so day tours were the only real option. Driving around the park in a car wasn't really the way I wanted to see it, and it was a little disappointing. Yet, I was still quite happy to see it.
Before we reached Torres del Paine, we stopped at Cueva del Milodón, or "Cave of the Milodón." The Milodón is an extinct giant sloth that supposedly died out around 5,000 years ago. Skin and bones of the animal were discovered in the area more than a century ago. After that, we drove into Torres del Paine and stopped at a point where we could take a short walk to Lago Grey. From the lake, which was filled with giant icebergs, you could look across and see glacier Grey. A Huemul, a type of endangered Patagonian deer, was walking around to drink from the lake, and that was especially cool to see since Huemuls are Chile's national animal. From there, we drove to several beautiful lookouts where you could see the "towers" (mountains) of the park, but unfortunately there were clouds hanging over them most of the day. We also spotted several guanacos (similar to llamas), nandu and condors (a type of vulture that is Chile's other national animal).
Back in Puerto Natales, I spotted black-necked swans swimming in the sea on my way out of town. I took another 5-hour bus ride back across the border to Calafate.
Calafate (again)
I arrived in Calafate with 5 minutes to decide whether I wanted to take a 20 hour bus trip up to Puerto Madryn, and at the last minute I decided to spend one more day in Calafate. I had befriended one of my tour guides from the big ice trek that I did, as we bonded over discussions about politics and books. So we met up to have beer at a neat book bar, which was fun, but also somewhat awkward. After that, I spent some time walking around Calafate with a nice guy I had met from Korea, who I had met on the bus between Puerto Natales and Calafate. He cooked me a delicious pasta dinner at the hostel, and I got to chat in Spanish with several nice Argentinians while he cooked. It was a really nice to relax for a day while talking to cool people I had just met. The following day, I grabbed a lamb crepe on my way to the bus station for the 20 hour trip up north.
Puerto Madryn
I headed to Puerto Madryn to get to Peninusla Valdes, a famous area filled with wildlife and an increidibly good spot to go whalewatching. The first leg of my bus trip to Rio Gallegos was fine, but the second leg was pretty unpleasant. The bus broke down about 1 hour after we got on, so we hopped on another bus that came by. At the next stop (2 hours later), we all got off and waited for another bus to come pick us up. There was no phone signal in the middle of nowhere when our bus broke down, so the driver waited until we got to the next stop to contact the bus company. Since these are overnight buses, that meant that 30 people were all crammed into a tiny bus station in the middle of nowhere from 11pm to 3 in the morning while we waited for the new bus to arrive. I finally got to Puerto Madryn 4 hours late.
The following day, I took a day-tour to Peninsula Valdes with my hostel. We started by driving out of Puerto Madryn for about 20 minutes to a beach where you could watch several whales swimming about 50 feet from the shore. It was great, but we had a schedule to keep, so we quickly headed onto the next stop, which was a small museum about the Southern Right whale. From there, we went to Puerto Pyramides, where we hopped on a 90 minute whalewatching boat ride. This was the most amazing part of the tour because the whales came so close to the boat. Southern Right whales recieved their name from whalers because they are a curious and social animal, so they often swim close to boats and are the "right" whale to kill. I've never really done whalewatching before, but was excited to see whales breaching, swimming right under the boat and mating. After the tour, we ate lunch in Puerto Pyramides, the only town on the peninsula, and then headed to a sea elephant colony. The sea elephants weren't too exciting to watch since they don't move much, but we headed to a cool penguin colony after that. Both the sea elephants and penguins were on the peninsula for mating season.
Puerto Madryn isn't a very pretty or exciting place to spend much time in, so after the tour I was ready to move on. I took a bus up to Bahia Blanca, where there was a circus festival taking place. The festival, however, was very small and uneventful when I arrived. I was tired of traveling, missed Jill, and felt ready to get back to Buenos Aires. So after a very brief period of time, I hopped on the next bus and went home.
22 September 2010
Random Calafate Photo: Tit Ice Cream
Since the word "tit" doesn't exist in Spanish (that would be teta), this sign doesn't really catch the attention of Argentinians. It's supposed to say "Tito's Ice Cream," but it sure looks a lot more like "Tit Ice Cream" to English speakers.
19 September 2010
Sara Goes to Chalten and Calafate
Since the day I saw Jill's photos from the last time she came to Argentina, I knew the place I wanted to visit most was the Glaciers in southern Patagonia. So when I realized that I had to renew my 90-day tourist visa one last time, I used that as and excuse to book a last minute trip down to Patagonia, where I could cross into Chile. I was gone for about one and a half weeks, but it was one of the coolest places I've ever been. Here are my highlights.
El Chalten
I Flew from Bs.As. to the Calafate airport, which isn't actually in a city, and then immediately took a bus to Chalten so I wouldn't have to backtrack to get there. I spent two days and one night there, and would have loved to have stayed longer. Chalten is a little hippy town that calls itself the "trekking capital of Argentina" because there are so many easy day hikes in the area. Unfortunately, most of the town was closed since I was arriving at the end of winter. So I wasn't able to go on any glacier treks from here because those guided excursions don't start up until late spring.
After settling in at a hostel, I decided to take the 10 minute walk across town to the tourist information office, but that turned into a nightmare as a snow storm kicked in out of nowhere. Walking around town in just a fleece, I was underdressed for the wind and snow, and it became an incredibly unpleasant walk. Since nearly every business was closed, it was also really difficult to try to duck inside to warm up for a minute. When I finally got the the tourist office it was closed, and I was miserable. I returned to my hostel defeated. I missed Jill and felt like crying.
The next day, I found a panaderia that had some of the best pastries I've eaten down here yet. Then I headed out to hike to Laguna Torre (literally "Lake Tower"). It was an easy hike, but since it had snowed the previous day and the trails weren't clearly marked in any way, I lost the trail about 40 minutes into the hike. After climbing up a small cliff, I was able to see what appeared to be the trail, and finally got back on it! The rest of the hike was enjoyable, and it ended at a beautiful lookout point that stops in front of a lake. Beyond the lake was a massive glacier, and to the right of the lake was the famous Mt. Fitz Roy, one of the "towers" in the area. The view was breathtaking, and I intended to spend about an hour up there eating lunch, but the cutting wind was unbearable. So I headed back down after half an hour. Three hours later, I was back in town and running to the bus to head to Calafate. I probably could have stayed in Chalten another day, but I was worried about getting to Chile in time to renew my visa.
El Calafate
I had some work to do on my first day in Calafate, so I went looking for a hostel that wasn't too crowded and had a decent amount of computers. After checking in and getting some work done, I walked out to the costanera, where you can view various wild birds, including bright pink flamingos. Of course one of Argentina's many cute stray dogs decided to follow me along the way. I spent the rest of the evening strolling around Calafate's cute, but incredibly touristy downtown.
The following day, I began the "big ice" tour to see the Perrito Moreno glacier. One company has a monopoly on giving tours where you can actually hike on the glacier, so the prices are the same no matter where you go in town to set up your tour. I was incredibly lucky to get to hike on the glacier because the big ice tours had just begun two days earlier for the season. When the glacier gets covered with snow in the winter, it's too dangerous to go hiking on because there are large crevasses that get covered up with snow, and if you fell in one, it would probably be fatal... Anyway, the big ice tour started off with a walk along a boardwalk that follows the front side of the glacier. From there, you could see large pieces of ice that had fallen off the the glacier into the water, where they became icebergs. Luckily, we got to see one large piece of ice fall off while there. Although it's somewhat sad to see the glacier falling apart, this is one of the few glaciers that is actually growing, so it's not as tragic as it might sound. One of the most fascinating aspects of standing near the front of the glacier was hearing all of the loud popping noises that the ice made as it cracked in different places.
Next, we took a boat across the lake to a "dock," where we picked up our crampons and began our hike. For about an hour, we hiked on a mountain edge that ran alongside the glacier until we finally reached a point where the guides walked us onto the ice. We spent the next four hours hiking on the glacier, which is absolutely the coolest thing I've ever done. We stopped to have lunch on the glacier, drank fresh glacier water without any filters, watched our guide descend into a deep crevasse using only his crampons and two ice picks, tried ice climbing up a small 15-foot wall, and got to slide through part of a glacier where a hole had formed and created a natural slide. It was incredibly sad when it all ended, but afterward, we hopped back on the boat, which drove much closer to the side of the glacier than we had been before. On the boat ride back, our guides gave us a glass of scotch with ice from the glacier in it. I ended the day with a delicious Patagonian lamb Pizza and an artisan beer.
El Chalten
I Flew from Bs.As. to the Calafate airport, which isn't actually in a city, and then immediately took a bus to Chalten so I wouldn't have to backtrack to get there. I spent two days and one night there, and would have loved to have stayed longer. Chalten is a little hippy town that calls itself the "trekking capital of Argentina" because there are so many easy day hikes in the area. Unfortunately, most of the town was closed since I was arriving at the end of winter. So I wasn't able to go on any glacier treks from here because those guided excursions don't start up until late spring.
After settling in at a hostel, I decided to take the 10 minute walk across town to the tourist information office, but that turned into a nightmare as a snow storm kicked in out of nowhere. Walking around town in just a fleece, I was underdressed for the wind and snow, and it became an incredibly unpleasant walk. Since nearly every business was closed, it was also really difficult to try to duck inside to warm up for a minute. When I finally got the the tourist office it was closed, and I was miserable. I returned to my hostel defeated. I missed Jill and felt like crying.
The next day, I found a panaderia that had some of the best pastries I've eaten down here yet. Then I headed out to hike to Laguna Torre (literally "Lake Tower"). It was an easy hike, but since it had snowed the previous day and the trails weren't clearly marked in any way, I lost the trail about 40 minutes into the hike. After climbing up a small cliff, I was able to see what appeared to be the trail, and finally got back on it! The rest of the hike was enjoyable, and it ended at a beautiful lookout point that stops in front of a lake. Beyond the lake was a massive glacier, and to the right of the lake was the famous Mt. Fitz Roy, one of the "towers" in the area. The view was breathtaking, and I intended to spend about an hour up there eating lunch, but the cutting wind was unbearable. So I headed back down after half an hour. Three hours later, I was back in town and running to the bus to head to Calafate. I probably could have stayed in Chalten another day, but I was worried about getting to Chile in time to renew my visa.
El Calafate
I had some work to do on my first day in Calafate, so I went looking for a hostel that wasn't too crowded and had a decent amount of computers. After checking in and getting some work done, I walked out to the costanera, where you can view various wild birds, including bright pink flamingos. Of course one of Argentina's many cute stray dogs decided to follow me along the way. I spent the rest of the evening strolling around Calafate's cute, but incredibly touristy downtown.
The following day, I began the "big ice" tour to see the Perrito Moreno glacier. One company has a monopoly on giving tours where you can actually hike on the glacier, so the prices are the same no matter where you go in town to set up your tour. I was incredibly lucky to get to hike on the glacier because the big ice tours had just begun two days earlier for the season. When the glacier gets covered with snow in the winter, it's too dangerous to go hiking on because there are large crevasses that get covered up with snow, and if you fell in one, it would probably be fatal... Anyway, the big ice tour started off with a walk along a boardwalk that follows the front side of the glacier. From there, you could see large pieces of ice that had fallen off the the glacier into the water, where they became icebergs. Luckily, we got to see one large piece of ice fall off while there. Although it's somewhat sad to see the glacier falling apart, this is one of the few glaciers that is actually growing, so it's not as tragic as it might sound. One of the most fascinating aspects of standing near the front of the glacier was hearing all of the loud popping noises that the ice made as it cracked in different places.
Next, we took a boat across the lake to a "dock," where we picked up our crampons and began our hike. For about an hour, we hiked on a mountain edge that ran alongside the glacier until we finally reached a point where the guides walked us onto the ice. We spent the next four hours hiking on the glacier, which is absolutely the coolest thing I've ever done. We stopped to have lunch on the glacier, drank fresh glacier water without any filters, watched our guide descend into a deep crevasse using only his crampons and two ice picks, tried ice climbing up a small 15-foot wall, and got to slide through part of a glacier where a hole had formed and created a natural slide. It was incredibly sad when it all ended, but afterward, we hopped back on the boat, which drove much closer to the side of the glacier than we had been before. On the boat ride back, our guides gave us a glass of scotch with ice from the glacier in it. I ended the day with a delicious Patagonian lamb Pizza and an artisan beer.
05 September 2010
Random Bs.As. Photo: Policia Federal Ride in Style
It's hard not to laugh when you see the federal police driving around in one of these. Maybe not the "smartest" car for the job...get it?
28 August 2010
Boys Come to Visit
Justen and Aaron had been talking about coming to visit us for a long time, and they finally made the trip from August 20-27th! Unfortunately, Jill was in the states visiting her family during that time so she wasn't able to spend time with the boys. But it was really nice to have them visit, and I had a great time hanging out with them. Amazingly, the boys were able to take the bus from the airport to our apartment without any trouble, but since I had forgotten to tell them what our apartment number was, they had a bit of difficulty getting in! Once we connected, we ate beef empanadas and drank Malbec wine, and that night, we headed to a parilla so the boys could try Argentine steak! Afterward, we hung out at Jill B. and Elana's apartment in Palermo.
The following day, we walked through San Telmo up to Plaza de Mayo and toured Casa Rosada (the pink house, which was made famous in Evita starring Madonna). From there, we walked north along Florida street, famous for it's shopping, until we reached plaza San Martin. Then we walked east to Puerto Madero, from which we walked south back to our apartment in San Telmo. It was a lot of walking, but it's one of the best ways to see the city and the best way to pack a lot in! On Sunday, we spent time at both the Feria de Mataderos and the Feria in San Telmo. Artisans sell handmade goods and foods at these ferias, and in Mataderos there are some fun shows with dancers and gauchos to watch as well. On different days, we spent time in Recoleta, the boys learned how to tango dance at the annual Tango festival, we had hot chocolate and churros at a bar notable, the boys went to Uruguay, we went to Chinatown and we went hung out north of the city in Tigre.
We packed a lot of fun activities in, but I also enjoyed spending time just relaxing and hanging out with Justen and Aaron. We also ate a lot of delicious foods, and to top off the whole week, the boys took me to their favorite buffet to celebrate. It was really nice having them here, and I hope they can visit another time in another place!
The following day, we walked through San Telmo up to Plaza de Mayo and toured Casa Rosada (the pink house, which was made famous in Evita starring Madonna). From there, we walked north along Florida street, famous for it's shopping, until we reached plaza San Martin. Then we walked east to Puerto Madero, from which we walked south back to our apartment in San Telmo. It was a lot of walking, but it's one of the best ways to see the city and the best way to pack a lot in! On Sunday, we spent time at both the Feria de Mataderos and the Feria in San Telmo. Artisans sell handmade goods and foods at these ferias, and in Mataderos there are some fun shows with dancers and gauchos to watch as well. On different days, we spent time in Recoleta, the boys learned how to tango dance at the annual Tango festival, we had hot chocolate and churros at a bar notable, the boys went to Uruguay, we went to Chinatown and we went hung out north of the city in Tigre.
We packed a lot of fun activities in, but I also enjoyed spending time just relaxing and hanging out with Justen and Aaron. We also ate a lot of delicious foods, and to top off the whole week, the boys took me to their favorite buffet to celebrate. It was really nice having them here, and I hope they can visit another time in another place!
15 August 2010
Random Bs.As. photos: Crazy Hat Man of Palermo
This man sits in the middle of an antique market every day, tinkering away to create his crazy hat art. He has all these pictures posted of him posing with Argentine celebrities, so apparently he has a lot of admirers. Let us know if you us to bring one home for you ;)
03 August 2010
Marriage para Todos!
We were lucky enough to be here this year when Argentina became the first country, in all of Latin America, and the second in the Americas to legalize gay marriage on July 15, 2010. Part of the reason we chose to come to Buenos Aires was because it was the place where we felt we could be the most open about who we are and the safest in Latin America. While there are still places here, just like in the US, where we don't feel totally comfortable, it's much more progressive than I think either of us realized at the outset. At the end of our trip we have found that BA is a pretty gay friendly city- there are gay bars, clubs, cultural centers, bookstores, coffee shops and even queer tango lessons! We've met a lot of gay people here, Argentinians and foreigners, and for the most part they think BA is a great place to be if you're queer.
Unfortunately, these attitudes are certainly not shared by everyone- especially outside of Capital. There was a strong nationwide anti-gay marriage movement here as well. The week before the vote, while walking in the city to teach my 8am class I was visually bombarded by signs and posters plastered all over the city, as well as canvassers at the bus stops and subways urging people to "protect the family." The posters depicted a mother and father smiling and holding their infant with the words "Todos al Congreso para Proteger la Familia" or "Cada Niño se Merece un Padre y una Madre" Which translates to "Everyone to Congreso to Protect the Family" and "Every Child Deserves a Father and a Mother." So Catholic protesters in Argentina take the same approach as right-wing conservative Christians in the US, they make it about family. There has also been graffiti around the city saying incendiary things like "Homosexualidad = SIDA" or Homosexuality = AIDS and "Matrimonio = Hombre + Mujer" or Marriage = Man + Woman. Seeing those signs around the city made me so angry. 200,000 people marched on Congreso to "protect marriage," seeing that image on the front page of the paper the day the vote was supposed to happen made me feel sad and disheartened.
However, despite the opposition, the bill passed, historically through legislation rather than through a judicial decision. The bill was originally scheduled to be voted on July 14 but after a marathon session that went into the early hours of the next day, on July 15 the Senate passed the same-sex marriage bill, by a vote of 33 to 27. On July 21, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed the bill into law. The law grants for same-sex couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, including the right to adopt children. The first marriages were performed on July 30, 2010. Argentina is the 10th country in the world to legalize gay marriage, joining the ranks of Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Sweden. Worldwide there are also some smaller jurisdictions where gay marriage is legal: Mexico City as well as US states Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, and Washington DC (we'll see about CA!).
The celebration in Congreso afterward was massive and rivaled that of the earlier protest. We are happy we chose to come to such a progressive place, and of course hope to see equality spread throughout the Americas. Hooray!
Unfortunately, these attitudes are certainly not shared by everyone- especially outside of Capital. There was a strong nationwide anti-gay marriage movement here as well. The week before the vote, while walking in the city to teach my 8am class I was visually bombarded by signs and posters plastered all over the city, as well as canvassers at the bus stops and subways urging people to "protect the family." The posters depicted a mother and father smiling and holding their infant with the words "Todos al Congreso para Proteger la Familia" or "Cada Niño se Merece un Padre y una Madre" Which translates to "Everyone to Congreso to Protect the Family" and "Every Child Deserves a Father and a Mother." So Catholic protesters in Argentina take the same approach as right-wing conservative Christians in the US, they make it about family. There has also been graffiti around the city saying incendiary things like "Homosexualidad = SIDA" or Homosexuality = AIDS and "Matrimonio = Hombre + Mujer" or Marriage = Man + Woman. Seeing those signs around the city made me so angry. 200,000 people marched on Congreso to "protect marriage," seeing that image on the front page of the paper the day the vote was supposed to happen made me feel sad and disheartened.
However, despite the opposition, the bill passed, historically through legislation rather than through a judicial decision. The bill was originally scheduled to be voted on July 14 but after a marathon session that went into the early hours of the next day, on July 15 the Senate passed the same-sex marriage bill, by a vote of 33 to 27. On July 21, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed the bill into law. The law grants for same-sex couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, including the right to adopt children. The first marriages were performed on July 30, 2010. Argentina is the 10th country in the world to legalize gay marriage, joining the ranks of Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Sweden. Worldwide there are also some smaller jurisdictions where gay marriage is legal: Mexico City as well as US states Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, and Washington DC (we'll see about CA!).
The celebration in Congreso afterward was massive and rivaled that of the earlier protest. We are happy we chose to come to such a progressive place, and of course hope to see equality spread throughout the Americas. Hooray!
24 July 2010
Random Bs.As. photo: Breast Feeding
There's a big campaign here to encourage breast feeding, so there have been a lot of different advertisements all over the city the whole time we've been here. This one translates literally to "Give the tit to your baby."
19 July 2010
We Moved!
The 6-month lease for our apartment in Palermo ended June 30th, and we had made the decision that we were not going to continue renting there a month earlier for various reasons. The reasons we decided to move were mainly 3: the price was too high, Jill’s commute to was too long, and our landlords, frankly, sucked. So the search began! We posted on Craigslist and other BA apartment websites, looked at lots of apartments online and went to visit a few as well. Of the ones we visited we decided on an apartment in San Telmo, only blocks from the apartment where we spent our first month here. It’s a much smaller apartment and we share it with another couple, but the price is half what were paying in Palermo, Jill can walk to almost all of her classes from home, and the landlord seems like a friendly, reasonable (and gay!) man. It also has high ceilings which are ideal for Sara to juggle inside on a rainy day.
So now we’ve been here a few weeks and both feel really happy with the move. Even though it’s small our housemates are great, their names are Kate and Shawn and they are from the UK, they have been here for only a few months less than us and are also teaching English. We’ve had dinner together a few times, getting to know each other and hanging out- they seem like great people. Another perk is that now we have a blender! We’ve been making smoothies every day, and pureeing up all kind of sauces and soups. And a coffee maker! Which means Jill can make real coffee and not sit there and hold a plastic funnel over her mug for 10 minutes while the water strains through.
And we are falling in love with San Telmo again, with more perspective and appreciation this time. The cobble stone streets, cute cafes, and old San Telmo market have been nice to explore again. And we’re branching out to see other nearby (and more Argentine) neighborhoods like Barracas and La Boca as well. We also live right next to Puerto Madero, the newest neighborhood in BA that is as much on the water as you can be here. It is pristine, upscale (not something we love about it) and only accessible by 4 bridges that stretch across a man-made canal coming off the river. It’s a nice place to take walks on the weekends, as it’s filled with people then and also it has the ecological reserve where you can see the river (and Uruguay on a clear day).
So we leave you with some pictures of our new place.
So now we’ve been here a few weeks and both feel really happy with the move. Even though it’s small our housemates are great, their names are Kate and Shawn and they are from the UK, they have been here for only a few months less than us and are also teaching English. We’ve had dinner together a few times, getting to know each other and hanging out- they seem like great people. Another perk is that now we have a blender! We’ve been making smoothies every day, and pureeing up all kind of sauces and soups. And a coffee maker! Which means Jill can make real coffee and not sit there and hold a plastic funnel over her mug for 10 minutes while the water strains through.
And we are falling in love with San Telmo again, with more perspective and appreciation this time. The cobble stone streets, cute cafes, and old San Telmo market have been nice to explore again. And we’re branching out to see other nearby (and more Argentine) neighborhoods like Barracas and La Boca as well. We also live right next to Puerto Madero, the newest neighborhood in BA that is as much on the water as you can be here. It is pristine, upscale (not something we love about it) and only accessible by 4 bridges that stretch across a man-made canal coming off the river. It’s a nice place to take walks on the weekends, as it’s filled with people then and also it has the ecological reserve where you can see the river (and Uruguay on a clear day).
So we leave you with some pictures of our new place.
18 July 2010
The World Cup- Vamos Argentina!
Being here in Argentina for the World Cup was an awesome cultural experience. We really got to feel the excitement and be a part of the passion that people have for soccer. We caught on quickly how important it was as the first games began. It became understood, that if Jill was supposed to teach at the same time of an Argentina game, that class would be canceled. Sara had Spanish class at the same time as a game once, and the streets that are normally so noisy were so quiet, that you could here people screaming from cafes nearby whenever a goal was scored. The city literally just stopped whenever Argentina was playing. We remember going outside on a weekday around noon and wondering where all the people had gone. The streets were literally empty. It was so eerie that we began to wonder if we missed some kind of holiday or announcement about some killer mosquitoes outside. Soon enough however, we heard screams, hoots and hollers, and car horns beeping all across the city at the same time and we remembered that it was the World Cup and Argentina must have scored a ''GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!''
After that experience we knew we had to be more on top of the World Cup, we had to join in on the excitement. From then on we watched all the Argentina games with Argentines. Our first venture out was to an outdoor space in the city where they projected the games on a big screen. This however, was a major fail because there were just way too many people. The park that it was in was so crowded that you could barely move, and to be able to see you would have had to elbow your way through. We opted to leave the public viewing area in Plaza San Martin and went to a cafe instead. The cafes were overcrowded with people, even those who couldn't get a seat would stand outside and watch through the windows. Light blue and white stripes were everywhere, along with crazy hats, face paint, and the loud (and annoying) vuvuzelas. We even purchased our own "Selección Argentina" jerseys, knock offs of course, with #10 Messi and #11 Tevez on the backs.
The atmosphere in the cafes was indescribable, the closest thing I could ever imagine to it might be watching the final world series game with the Yankees and the Red Sox in a Boston Bar, but even that seems tame compared to this. Everyone, including us, were on the edges of their seats. Every time there was a goal the whole cafe would erupt with screams, cheers, and applause that would last a few minutes, everyone was on their feet hugging and jumping. And when the games were won people cheered for even longer and left with the biggest smiles on their faces. The atmosphere in the whole city after the first few wins felt so different, everyone was abuzz and smiling and it just felt like such a happy place.
Argentina defeated Nigeria (1:0), Korea (2:1), and tied with Greece (0:0), defeated Mexico (3-1) and ultimately made it to the semi-finals to face Germany. We went to a cafe in a more Argentine part of town for this final game, sporting our jerseys, but it was a huge disappointment. Argentina lost the game with a final score of (4:0) and they were out of the World Cup. After the second goal it seemed like Argentina stopped pushing and the Germany's defense was impenetrable. It was so disappointing after all the hype, and the way the cafe felt after the second goal was scored was just dismal. The city felt even more depressing after the game was over. It was strange being outside looking at all the sad and disappointed faces and hearing the silence.
The general feel of the city throughout the victories and the final loss at the World Cup was really intense and all-encompassing. In many ways it made us feel so much more connected to the people around us. There was such a sense of solidarity all throughout the city, that even we, as foreigners, felt a part of it. It was really amazing how every soul came together to watch, cheer, jeer, and be passionate about the game. We have never felt that kind of solidarity before. It's amazing to think what the impact of that kind of passion could be if it were applied to a major world issue, like hunger, or war. But, for now, it's fútbol.
We'll look to 2014- vamos Argentina!
After that experience we knew we had to be more on top of the World Cup, we had to join in on the excitement. From then on we watched all the Argentina games with Argentines. Our first venture out was to an outdoor space in the city where they projected the games on a big screen. This however, was a major fail because there were just way too many people. The park that it was in was so crowded that you could barely move, and to be able to see you would have had to elbow your way through. We opted to leave the public viewing area in Plaza San Martin and went to a cafe instead. The cafes were overcrowded with people, even those who couldn't get a seat would stand outside and watch through the windows. Light blue and white stripes were everywhere, along with crazy hats, face paint, and the loud (and annoying) vuvuzelas. We even purchased our own "Selección Argentina" jerseys, knock offs of course, with #10 Messi and #11 Tevez on the backs.
The atmosphere in the cafes was indescribable, the closest thing I could ever imagine to it might be watching the final world series game with the Yankees and the Red Sox in a Boston Bar, but even that seems tame compared to this. Everyone, including us, were on the edges of their seats. Every time there was a goal the whole cafe would erupt with screams, cheers, and applause that would last a few minutes, everyone was on their feet hugging and jumping. And when the games were won people cheered for even longer and left with the biggest smiles on their faces. The atmosphere in the whole city after the first few wins felt so different, everyone was abuzz and smiling and it just felt like such a happy place.
Argentina defeated Nigeria (1:0), Korea (2:1), and tied with Greece (0:0), defeated Mexico (3-1) and ultimately made it to the semi-finals to face Germany. We went to a cafe in a more Argentine part of town for this final game, sporting our jerseys, but it was a huge disappointment. Argentina lost the game with a final score of (4:0) and they were out of the World Cup. After the second goal it seemed like Argentina stopped pushing and the Germany's defense was impenetrable. It was so disappointing after all the hype, and the way the cafe felt after the second goal was scored was just dismal. The city felt even more depressing after the game was over. It was strange being outside looking at all the sad and disappointed faces and hearing the silence.
The general feel of the city throughout the victories and the final loss at the World Cup was really intense and all-encompassing. In many ways it made us feel so much more connected to the people around us. There was such a sense of solidarity all throughout the city, that even we, as foreigners, felt a part of it. It was really amazing how every soul came together to watch, cheer, jeer, and be passionate about the game. We have never felt that kind of solidarity before. It's amazing to think what the impact of that kind of passion could be if it were applied to a major world issue, like hunger, or war. But, for now, it's fútbol.
We'll look to 2014- vamos Argentina!
12 July 2010
Random Bs.As. photo: Shhhh!
The nuns want you to be quiet here even when you're leaving the parking lot of a hospital.
10 July 2010
"Go and drink wine with the people," a post dedicated to Jill's mom
In the recent months we were getting through a lot of the touristy things we wanted to do and were trying to find another way to experience BA. One of Sara’s assignments for her Spanish class was to pick a café from a list of Café/Bar Notables around the city and go with a classmate. These cafes and bars are designated as “notables” because they are oldest in the city and each one has its own historical relevance to Buenos Aires. We thought this would be a great way to take Jill’s Mom’s advice to “go and drink wine with the people” - something she told Jill to do every week on Skype. Now it is part of our weekly routine to go to a café notable and drink vino (wine), cerveza (beer), clerico (white sangria), hot chocolate, submarinos (steamed milk that you drop a bar of chocolate into), and sidra (cider) with the people and it’s been great.
BA is famous for its café culture. At any time of the day, but particularly in the late afternoons and on the weekends you see people of all ages meeting up at these bars. And each one is very unique in its own way. For example, last week we went to La Giralda, which is known for its hot chocolate and churros. The hot chocolate was definitely delicious, and different than the submarinos that are found on menus everywhere. And really how can you go wrong with churros? These pastries are made of fried dough, covered in cinnamon and sugar and often filled with crème or dulce de leche. It was clearly popular with Argentinians as well since the place was packed and everyone seemed to be ordering the same thing. The ambiance here, didn’t feel as sophisticated as others we’d been in, as it had neon lights and the walls behind the bar were lined by whiskey flasks.
Another notable we went to with Jess and also Sara’s family was El Federal, one of the older ones in the city with a beautiful stained-glass bar. This bar has artisan beer and papas fritas provenzal (french fries smothered in olive oil and garlic-yum). Bar Seddon, is another that has a darker ambiance with low music playing and candles everywhere. We went here with Jess for a happy hour one weeknight, and on another trip we watched the World Cup with Jill B. and Elana and ordered a giant picada of meats, cheese, and olives. On Jill's birthday, we had gone to Las Violetas with Sara's family, but unfortunately, they weren't serving afternoon tea because they were closing early for New Year's Eve. So we revisited the cafe on one of our last days with Jess and had afternoon tea, which consisted of a plate piled with finger sandwiches and pastries, three pots of tea, and flutes of champagne.
So as you can see, each one has its own charm. Looking at the list we've also been to Bar Britanico, Bar Plaza Dorrego, Cafe Tortoni, Clasica y Moderna, Confiteria Ideal, El Gato Negro, El Hipopotamo, La Petit Colon, La Poesia, and Richmond. Out of the 60 that are still open we have collectively been to 14, and we’re still going!
BA is famous for its café culture. At any time of the day, but particularly in the late afternoons and on the weekends you see people of all ages meeting up at these bars. And each one is very unique in its own way. For example, last week we went to La Giralda, which is known for its hot chocolate and churros. The hot chocolate was definitely delicious, and different than the submarinos that are found on menus everywhere. And really how can you go wrong with churros? These pastries are made of fried dough, covered in cinnamon and sugar and often filled with crème or dulce de leche. It was clearly popular with Argentinians as well since the place was packed and everyone seemed to be ordering the same thing. The ambiance here, didn’t feel as sophisticated as others we’d been in, as it had neon lights and the walls behind the bar were lined by whiskey flasks.
Another notable we went to with Jess and also Sara’s family was El Federal, one of the older ones in the city with a beautiful stained-glass bar. This bar has artisan beer and papas fritas provenzal (french fries smothered in olive oil and garlic-yum). Bar Seddon, is another that has a darker ambiance with low music playing and candles everywhere. We went here with Jess for a happy hour one weeknight, and on another trip we watched the World Cup with Jill B. and Elana and ordered a giant picada of meats, cheese, and olives. On Jill's birthday, we had gone to Las Violetas with Sara's family, but unfortunately, they weren't serving afternoon tea because they were closing early for New Year's Eve. So we revisited the cafe on one of our last days with Jess and had afternoon tea, which consisted of a plate piled with finger sandwiches and pastries, three pots of tea, and flutes of champagne.
So as you can see, each one has its own charm. Looking at the list we've also been to Bar Britanico, Bar Plaza Dorrego, Cafe Tortoni, Clasica y Moderna, Confiteria Ideal, El Gato Negro, El Hipopotamo, La Petit Colon, La Poesia, and Richmond. Out of the 60 that are still open we have collectively been to 14, and we’re still going!
06 July 2010
4th of July
There are so many American expats in Buenos Aires that there were a few large scale parties happening to celebrate the 4th of July. But since we hadn't read about anything that reminded us of the 4th (potlucks or fireworks), we headed out to a restaurant called Kansas. Kansas serves "American-style barbecue" food, which is kind of vague since barbecue styles vary widely all over the country. Still, the food at Kansas was delicious and really felt like American food. Argentina has excellent meat, but when they grill it here, they tend to either not season the meat or season it with very little. So eating a rack of ribs coated with barbecue sauce was quite a treat here, as was the baked potato stuffed with panceta (tasty, but still not real bacon) and the Caesar salad (with real Caesar dressing)!
In the states, neither Jill or I would typically go out of our way to eat barbecue or other "American" foods. Neither of us eats much peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies, cornbread, or pancakes with syrup, but since those things don't really exist here, we find ourselves craving all of those foods. So we've been eating (or trying to eat) each of those things quite a bit more than we ever have in the states.
In the states, neither Jill or I would typically go out of our way to eat barbecue or other "American" foods. Neither of us eats much peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies, cornbread, or pancakes with syrup, but since those things don't really exist here, we find ourselves craving all of those foods. So we've been eating (or trying to eat) each of those things quite a bit more than we ever have in the states.
03 July 2010
Random Bs.As. photo: Subte is a Jungle Gym
You see a lot of weird things happen when you live in a big city for very long. Some Girl decided that hanging from the poles on the subway while it was fairly busy was a great idea.
28 June 2010
Jess Comes to Visit!
Jess came to stay with us for a glorious 6 weeks and it was wonderful. It was really reenergizing for us and gave us a new set of tourist eyes to look at the city through since we had someone to show around. It was also really nice for me to have one of my best friends here, someone familiar, who knows me and has a long shared history with me. Even though Jess and I hadn’t seen each other in 10 months (!) it felt like nothing had changed. It really made BA feel much more like home to have her here. Sara, Jess and I spent our time well, balancing between spending our days doing touristy things and spending our nights making dinners together and drinking Argentine wine. Jess alternated between our place and Bliss & Ben’s place each week.
Jess was here for the bicentennial, she joined us on our visa run to Uruguay, took us ice skating, went to the many bar/cafe notables with us, and escaped to the Argentine beach town of Mar del Plata with me for a weekend.
As so much happened during the 6 weeks I’ll leave you with an accompanying picture slideshow to show how we spent our time. This one’s for you Jess Rentsch- thanks for coming to BA!
Jess was here for the bicentennial, she joined us on our visa run to Uruguay, took us ice skating, went to the many bar/cafe notables with us, and escaped to the Argentine beach town of Mar del Plata with me for a weekend.
As so much happened during the 6 weeks I’ll leave you with an accompanying picture slideshow to show how we spent our time. This one’s for you Jess Rentsch- thanks for coming to BA!
23 June 2010
Carmelo, Uruguay
We needed to renew our 90-day tourist visas again, so we decided to go to a Winery in Uruguay with Jess. Instead of taking the normal trip from Buenos Aires to Colonia, we got on a bus around 6:30 AM, which took us to north of the city to Tigre, where we caught a ferry to Carmelo, Uruguay. So instead of being out in wide open waters that feel like the ocean, but are actually part of the river (Rio de la Plata), our ferry went through much narrower river deltas.
When we arrived in Carmelo, we quickly realized there were no banks open on Sunday. So in order to change Argentine pesos to Uruguayan pesos, we had to trade money with a couple of men at the ferry terminal, who each had large wads of cash they were holding. Since nearly everyone else there seemed to be doing the same thing, it seemed less sketchy than it normally would have, and Jess assured us that she had done the same thing when she was in Central America. After that, we took a short taxi ride outside of the city to Bodega Irurtia.
Bodega Irurtia is the biggest winery in Uruguay and is owned by a large family. Our informative tour guide was the granddaughter of one of the founders, and she explained very well (in Spanish) about how they make their wines. It was fall and the harvesting season had ended in March, so there weren't any grapes to see or any wine-making, but we still got to tour the winery and learn about each step of the process. The tour ended in a wine tasting, where we were able eat several delicious cheeses with good homemade bread and to try four different wines (two red, two white) and grappa. Grappa is a hard liquor that is made by distilling the leftover grape parts that didn't get turned into wine. It was very sweet! In the end we preferred the Tannant, a red wine that Uruguay wineries are known for, and the Viognier, a white wine. We bought a bottle of each when we left, along with some delicious goat cheese, which we had tried during the tasting and which is made across the street at the family's farm.
Next, we took an hour-long leisurely walk back to the center of Carmelo, where we sat down at one of the only places that was open for lunch. We split some Pilsen (Urugay's standard beer, much like Argentina's Quilmes), fish and different types of Chivitos, the amazing Uruguyan sandwich that includes beef, panceta (not quite bacon), ham, mushrooms, olives, mozzerella, onion, egg, and mayonnaise. After eating some of the best sandwiches ever, we strolled around the tiny town, where there wasn't much else to do and most things were closed on Sunday. Finally we caught the ferry back to Tigre, and the bus from there back to Buenos Aires, where we arrived back home around 9 PM.
When we arrived in Carmelo, we quickly realized there were no banks open on Sunday. So in order to change Argentine pesos to Uruguayan pesos, we had to trade money with a couple of men at the ferry terminal, who each had large wads of cash they were holding. Since nearly everyone else there seemed to be doing the same thing, it seemed less sketchy than it normally would have, and Jess assured us that she had done the same thing when she was in Central America. After that, we took a short taxi ride outside of the city to Bodega Irurtia.
Bodega Irurtia is the biggest winery in Uruguay and is owned by a large family. Our informative tour guide was the granddaughter of one of the founders, and she explained very well (in Spanish) about how they make their wines. It was fall and the harvesting season had ended in March, so there weren't any grapes to see or any wine-making, but we still got to tour the winery and learn about each step of the process. The tour ended in a wine tasting, where we were able eat several delicious cheeses with good homemade bread and to try four different wines (two red, two white) and grappa. Grappa is a hard liquor that is made by distilling the leftover grape parts that didn't get turned into wine. It was very sweet! In the end we preferred the Tannant, a red wine that Uruguay wineries are known for, and the Viognier, a white wine. We bought a bottle of each when we left, along with some delicious goat cheese, which we had tried during the tasting and which is made across the street at the family's farm.
Next, we took an hour-long leisurely walk back to the center of Carmelo, where we sat down at one of the only places that was open for lunch. We split some Pilsen (Urugay's standard beer, much like Argentina's Quilmes), fish and different types of Chivitos, the amazing Uruguyan sandwich that includes beef, panceta (not quite bacon), ham, mushrooms, olives, mozzerella, onion, egg, and mayonnaise. After eating some of the best sandwiches ever, we strolled around the tiny town, where there wasn't much else to do and most things were closed on Sunday. Finally we caught the ferry back to Tigre, and the bus from there back to Buenos Aires, where we arrived back home around 9 PM.
19 June 2010
Random Bs.As. photo: Japan Lips
We're still not sure what "Japan lips" are or why they're being advertised...
07 June 2010
Friend Date
After researching some things we can do that don't make the tourist short-list in Bs.As., I planned a friend date for Jess and Jill. I'm not very good at keeping surprises because I don't want to disappoint people, so I asked them both if they were interested in the things I had planned right before we headed out for the day. Then before we could start the fun part of the day, Jill and I had to go look at an apartment in San Telmo. Jess came with us because she likes apartment hunting and could help provide a third opinion to help us figure out whether it was a good choice or not.
San Telmo was the perfect place to start out walking for everything on the list. We walked South until we reached Bar Britanico, one of Buenos Aires' bar notables, where we had some coffee and sandwiches. While we were relaxing, we couldn't stop talking about the apartment we just saw, and with Jess' help, we realized what a great place it was. So we called the landlord up and accepted the apartment within an hour of looking at it. Then, we walked South through Parque Lezama and checked out the feria, which was mostly made up of clothing vendors rather than artisan goods. From there, we walked southeast into Barracas where we passed the beautiful old Aguila chocolate factory (which is now occupied by a huge grocery store) and where we finally hit Calle Lanin.
10 Years ago, the artist Marino Santa María began a project to turn Calle Lanin into a public art project so that people can live with art in their everyday lives without having to go to a museum. Marino was born in Barracas, has been a resident of Calle Lanin for many years and is responsible for turning the houses on it into colorful mosaics. At one end of the street, there's a long brick embankment that spans a block and sits below train tracks. Marino turns that into an outdoor museum on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays when he hangs 33 different prints of modern Argentinian artists along the bare wall. As we were walking down the street and stopping to gaze at every print, Marino walked out of his house and started chatting us up. He was very excited to talk about his work and explain it to us, even though I'm sure he's told the same story to hundreds, if not thousands, of other visitors. When we were down walking down Lanin, he invited us into his studio so we could see some of his other work and see the cultural space where children can take art classes.
After that, we walked to the beautiful Constitucion train station and hopped on a subway to head up toward the Obelisk. From there, we walked to Confitería Ideal (another cafe notable), which is famous for it's milongas, where Argentinians meet to tango. We found the milonga upstairs, ordered two submarinos (steamed milk that you drop a bar of chcoloate into) and sat down to watch the locals. Although there were a few young dancers, nearly everyone on the dancefloor was over age 60, and before long, a few older men had stopped by our table to ask us to dance. We explained that we don't know how to tango, and one of the kind men stayed and chatted with us in Spanish for awhile. A few minutes later, two older men showed up again but insisted that we didn't let our inexperience keep us from trying. A patient man taught Jess how to tango over several dances, while Jill and I frustrated our teacher much faster. He gave up and went back to dancing with the Argentinian women who knew how to tango.
When the milonga ended, we hopped on a bus and headed to Boedo, which is supposedly the neighborhood where tango was born. We ate dinner at Pan y Arte (bread and art), which specializes in Mendocino (from Mendoza province) foods and that displays different local artists on the walls of the restaurant. We shared two different casseroles that were some of the most delicious and unique foods we've eaten here even though the ingredients were fairly basic including: ground beef, potatoes, pumpkin, and raisins. We were tired after all of that running around and headed home!
San Telmo was the perfect place to start out walking for everything on the list. We walked South until we reached Bar Britanico, one of Buenos Aires' bar notables, where we had some coffee and sandwiches. While we were relaxing, we couldn't stop talking about the apartment we just saw, and with Jess' help, we realized what a great place it was. So we called the landlord up and accepted the apartment within an hour of looking at it. Then, we walked South through Parque Lezama and checked out the feria, which was mostly made up of clothing vendors rather than artisan goods. From there, we walked southeast into Barracas where we passed the beautiful old Aguila chocolate factory (which is now occupied by a huge grocery store) and where we finally hit Calle Lanin.
10 Years ago, the artist Marino Santa María began a project to turn Calle Lanin into a public art project so that people can live with art in their everyday lives without having to go to a museum. Marino was born in Barracas, has been a resident of Calle Lanin for many years and is responsible for turning the houses on it into colorful mosaics. At one end of the street, there's a long brick embankment that spans a block and sits below train tracks. Marino turns that into an outdoor museum on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays when he hangs 33 different prints of modern Argentinian artists along the bare wall. As we were walking down the street and stopping to gaze at every print, Marino walked out of his house and started chatting us up. He was very excited to talk about his work and explain it to us, even though I'm sure he's told the same story to hundreds, if not thousands, of other visitors. When we were down walking down Lanin, he invited us into his studio so we could see some of his other work and see the cultural space where children can take art classes.
After that, we walked to the beautiful Constitucion train station and hopped on a subway to head up toward the Obelisk. From there, we walked to Confitería Ideal (another cafe notable), which is famous for it's milongas, where Argentinians meet to tango. We found the milonga upstairs, ordered two submarinos (steamed milk that you drop a bar of chcoloate into) and sat down to watch the locals. Although there were a few young dancers, nearly everyone on the dancefloor was over age 60, and before long, a few older men had stopped by our table to ask us to dance. We explained that we don't know how to tango, and one of the kind men stayed and chatted with us in Spanish for awhile. A few minutes later, two older men showed up again but insisted that we didn't let our inexperience keep us from trying. A patient man taught Jess how to tango over several dances, while Jill and I frustrated our teacher much faster. He gave up and went back to dancing with the Argentinian women who knew how to tango.
When the milonga ended, we hopped on a bus and headed to Boedo, which is supposedly the neighborhood where tango was born. We ate dinner at Pan y Arte (bread and art), which specializes in Mendocino (from Mendoza province) foods and that displays different local artists on the walls of the restaurant. We shared two different casseroles that were some of the most delicious and unique foods we've eaten here even though the ingredients were fairly basic including: ground beef, potatoes, pumpkin, and raisins. We were tired after all of that running around and headed home!
02 June 2010
Random Bs.As. photo: Bicentenario Google Style
Google updated their Argentine website for the bicentennial!
27 May 2010
Argentina Turns 200... (this post is very long, sorry)
Argentina celebrated it's bicentennial this past Tuesday, May 25, 2010. Although whether that was the real date of it's 200th anniversary is up for debate. Argentina is one of the few countries to celebrate two independence days. May 25th is celebrated as Día de la Revolución de Mayo, which marks the date of the end of the May revolution that established the first local government in Buenos Aires. That's also when the Argentine War of Independence against Spain began. On July 9, 1816, Argentina officially declared it's independence, and every July 9th, the country celebrates it's Día de la Independencia. Argentina's history is very connected to the histories of other South American countries that were formally Spanish colonies, and Argentine history seems closely connected to Chilean history in particular. Chile also established it's first local government in 1810 and will be celebrating it's bicentennial in September.
Since May 25th fell on a Tuesday, Argentina declared Monday to be a national holiday as well in order to create a long four-day weekend. During those four days, there were hundreds of huge events being held all across Argentina, but the festivities in Buenos Aires were certainly the biggest! Millions of people from all over Latin America came to participate in or watch the various parades and shows that took place. On Friday, we made it to the Desfile federal (Federal Parade), which was full of all sorts of floats and performers representing Argentina's 23 provinces and Buenos Aires, an autonomous capital city. Every province had colorful displays of their own particular cultural identities. It was interesting to see the differences. Mendoza and San Juan had giant grapes parading through the street representing their famous wine country, while northern regions like Salta, Catamarca and Chaco had more indigenous floats and dancers depicting their culture, and regions of Patagonia like Chubut and Santa Cruz had mate-sipping Gauchos walking down the street. An interesting observation was related to the differences in displays of wealth of each province. The more "touristy" destinations had more elaborate floats and gaudy displays, which was starkly contrasted with the regions with more indigenous populations and less tourism, which had no floats and more people-centered displays related to dances and traditions. As foreigners and tourists, it was interesting and sad to see those contrasts and the apparent dependence on tourism as an industry.
After watching the parade for about 2.5 hours, we got tired of the crowds and headed out. All of the parades were routed down 9 de Julio, which is the widest street in the world, but since the street was also full of huge temporary food stands and stands with tourism information, the street didn't feel wide enough at all. It was really difficult and stressful to try to walk around.
Sunday was filled with another parade, but we felt way too tired to venture out to another one after having just done it the day before. We watched part of the Desfile de la integración (Integration parade), which included floats and performers from foreign populations in Buenos Aires and from other Latin American countries, on TV from our apartment.
On Monday, Argentina's national soccer team played against Canada, in it's last friendly game before the World Cup. We sometimes participate in a forum for expats in Buenos Aires and had the good luck of finding out that there was a group of Canadians giving away free tickets to anyone who would wear red and sit with them at the game. We thought we had scored 5 free tickets, but found out that it was likely that none of us would get in because we had responded so late and the Candians got fewer tickets than they had expected. So we sat at a restaurant full of Canadian soccer fans and drank wine with our friends Elana, Jill B., and Jess while we waited to see if some people would fail to show up. Fortunately we were able to get two tickets, but that left us with the difficult process of trying to determine who should go. Sara and Elana ended up being chosen because Sara was the one who had found out about the tickets and Elana really wanted to see the music acts that were supposedly going to perform at the game. They must have had pretty good seats because they were sitting about 20 feet away from a box that Maradona's father and brother were sitting in. Argentina beat Canada easily, but unfortunately neither Shakira nor Ricky Martin performed, it was apparently a wild rumor. Still, Elana and Sara enjoyed seeing a game surrounded by so many Argentinian fans. While they went to the game, Jill, Jill B. and Jess went downtown and met up with Bliss to explore some of the stands that had been set up along 9 de Julio. Again the lines and crowds were crazy so they really only made it in to two stands that were not necessarily worth the wait. So instead of continuing on to see more they got some emapandas and a liter of beer and people watch the crowds and listened to the concert playing at the obelisk.
Later up Jill, Jess, and Jill B. went to meet up with Sara and Elana to see the light show being projected on the newly renovated and reopened Teatro Colon. Once we found each other the show had started and we were too far away with the crowds, so we escaped to the subway and went back home to watch the show on TV! It was beautiful and much easier to appreciate from there.
Tuesday was the biggest day of celebration, but after dealing with the crowds the day before, we decided to celebrate at home. Argentinians traditionally eat a stew called locro every May 25th, so we made Argentine locro with Jess and ate it later that night with Jill B., Elana, and their friend Carolyn. Locro is hearty but not thick, and is made of beans, corn, carrots, red peppers, onion, squash, tomatoes, chorizo sausage, and panceta (the closest thing Argntina has to bacon). We made the traditional version as well as a vegetarian version and some empanadas. The girls brought an alfajor cake, which was like a giant-sized alfajor, for dessert. Alfajores are a very common cookie here, that are made up of two biscuits layered with dulce de leche (a carmel like substance made from condensed milk) in between. And of course we rounded the meal out with Argentine wine. While we feasted on Argentine food, we watched parts of the closing parade and a light show being projected on Cabildo (the first government building in Bs.As.) on TV. It was a nice way to wind down the long weekend.
Since May 25th fell on a Tuesday, Argentina declared Monday to be a national holiday as well in order to create a long four-day weekend. During those four days, there were hundreds of huge events being held all across Argentina, but the festivities in Buenos Aires were certainly the biggest! Millions of people from all over Latin America came to participate in or watch the various parades and shows that took place. On Friday, we made it to the Desfile federal (Federal Parade), which was full of all sorts of floats and performers representing Argentina's 23 provinces and Buenos Aires, an autonomous capital city. Every province had colorful displays of their own particular cultural identities. It was interesting to see the differences. Mendoza and San Juan had giant grapes parading through the street representing their famous wine country, while northern regions like Salta, Catamarca and Chaco had more indigenous floats and dancers depicting their culture, and regions of Patagonia like Chubut and Santa Cruz had mate-sipping Gauchos walking down the street. An interesting observation was related to the differences in displays of wealth of each province. The more "touristy" destinations had more elaborate floats and gaudy displays, which was starkly contrasted with the regions with more indigenous populations and less tourism, which had no floats and more people-centered displays related to dances and traditions. As foreigners and tourists, it was interesting and sad to see those contrasts and the apparent dependence on tourism as an industry.
After watching the parade for about 2.5 hours, we got tired of the crowds and headed out. All of the parades were routed down 9 de Julio, which is the widest street in the world, but since the street was also full of huge temporary food stands and stands with tourism information, the street didn't feel wide enough at all. It was really difficult and stressful to try to walk around.
Sunday was filled with another parade, but we felt way too tired to venture out to another one after having just done it the day before. We watched part of the Desfile de la integración (Integration parade), which included floats and performers from foreign populations in Buenos Aires and from other Latin American countries, on TV from our apartment.
On Monday, Argentina's national soccer team played against Canada, in it's last friendly game before the World Cup. We sometimes participate in a forum for expats in Buenos Aires and had the good luck of finding out that there was a group of Canadians giving away free tickets to anyone who would wear red and sit with them at the game. We thought we had scored 5 free tickets, but found out that it was likely that none of us would get in because we had responded so late and the Candians got fewer tickets than they had expected. So we sat at a restaurant full of Canadian soccer fans and drank wine with our friends Elana, Jill B., and Jess while we waited to see if some people would fail to show up. Fortunately we were able to get two tickets, but that left us with the difficult process of trying to determine who should go. Sara and Elana ended up being chosen because Sara was the one who had found out about the tickets and Elana really wanted to see the music acts that were supposedly going to perform at the game. They must have had pretty good seats because they were sitting about 20 feet away from a box that Maradona's father and brother were sitting in. Argentina beat Canada easily, but unfortunately neither Shakira nor Ricky Martin performed, it was apparently a wild rumor. Still, Elana and Sara enjoyed seeing a game surrounded by so many Argentinian fans. While they went to the game, Jill, Jill B. and Jess went downtown and met up with Bliss to explore some of the stands that had been set up along 9 de Julio. Again the lines and crowds were crazy so they really only made it in to two stands that were not necessarily worth the wait. So instead of continuing on to see more they got some emapandas and a liter of beer and people watch the crowds and listened to the concert playing at the obelisk.
Later up Jill, Jess, and Jill B. went to meet up with Sara and Elana to see the light show being projected on the newly renovated and reopened Teatro Colon. Once we found each other the show had started and we were too far away with the crowds, so we escaped to the subway and went back home to watch the show on TV! It was beautiful and much easier to appreciate from there.
Tuesday was the biggest day of celebration, but after dealing with the crowds the day before, we decided to celebrate at home. Argentinians traditionally eat a stew called locro every May 25th, so we made Argentine locro with Jess and ate it later that night with Jill B., Elana, and their friend Carolyn. Locro is hearty but not thick, and is made of beans, corn, carrots, red peppers, onion, squash, tomatoes, chorizo sausage, and panceta (the closest thing Argntina has to bacon). We made the traditional version as well as a vegetarian version and some empanadas. The girls brought an alfajor cake, which was like a giant-sized alfajor, for dessert. Alfajores are a very common cookie here, that are made up of two biscuits layered with dulce de leche (a carmel like substance made from condensed milk) in between. And of course we rounded the meal out with Argentine wine. While we feasted on Argentine food, we watched parts of the closing parade and a light show being projected on Cabildo (the first government building in Bs.As.) on TV. It was a nice way to wind down the long weekend.
17 May 2010
Random Bs.As. photo: Sexy Potatoes
We were walking around Belgrano (a neighborhood in BA) when we ran into this person dressed as a potato in a bikini. They were out promoting some kind of new processed flavor cube that you're supposed to mix with potatoes. Knorr must have decided that the sex sells thing applies to potatoes too. We got some free samples of the cubes and a photo...
09 May 2010
Muchos Festivales!
Buenos Aires is the biggest city either of us have ever lived in, and with around 13 million people living in the metro-area, there are always a ton of of interesting things going on. One of the coolest things about Buenos Aires is all the festivals that are put on throughout the year by the city's Ministerio de Cultura (Ministry of Culture). Since January, they have organized three huge festivals. One of them, Aires Buenos Aires, was a summer festival with all sorts of activities including concerts, dance shows, circus shows, exercise classes, movies, poetry and theater. Amazingly, the whole festival was completely free! One of our favorite shows included aerial tango dancing, which meant that throughout the show various tango dancers had giant bungee-like cords attached to themselves to they would dance horizontally on walls or be bounced around from the floor so they nearly flew for a few moments. Here's a clip from the show:
In April, an independent international film festival, BAFICI, took place. It included many free films, and the ones that cost anything were in general half to a third of the price of most regular theaters! And one of the coolest parts of the festival was that there were several open-air screenings, like this one:
Most recently, the city hosted Circo Polo, an international circus festival from the end of April through the beginning of May. About half the shows were free and those that cost money were very affordable for the level of talent that was performing. The festival also included many lectures about the history of the circus in Argentina, the troupes that were performing, and circus schools around the world. There were several circus tents set up in a park with a lot of open space, but we went went to a couple of really impressive (cirque du soleil-esque) shows that were held outside. At one of the opening shows there was a giant metal spider-like structure, and several aerial artists ziplined into it from nearby buildings. They all wore bright white outfits that were meant to resemble angels. Here is some video from that show:
A week later in the circus festival they had a special show in honor of Argentina's Bicentennial. It took place in Plaza San Martin. The show was made up of the same angel-like zipliners who had been in the opening show, but this time they were coming from much higher and performing above a much larger crowd. As they came in they'd drop a lot of feathers on the crowd below, and the visual effect and along with the music were beautiful together. The night sky made it difficult to see the zip lines so it really looked as though they were floating and flying above us. The crowd of people, kids and adults alike, had so much fun playing in the feathers that after the show, they stuck around having "feather-ball fights" and breaking into dance. Here is some video from that evening:
It's exciting to think the city will be hosting 6 other big festivals this year that should be just as entertaining. The level of entertainment that these festivals provide for free is really impressive, and it's interesting to think about what projects the government funds. You can go into beautiful old public buildings here that are falling apart and lack toilet paper or paper towels, or walk down streets where the sidewalks are completely broken, but the city still manages to hold high-quality public events for it's citizens. Besides the 9 major festivals the city government hosts, it also substantially subsidizes many other festivals. From the end of April to the beginning of May one of those festivals included a giant book fair, which was so big we weren't able to see it all in one trip and actually went three times! Here are some photos from the Feria Internacional del Libro.
In April, an independent international film festival, BAFICI, took place. It included many free films, and the ones that cost anything were in general half to a third of the price of most regular theaters! And one of the coolest parts of the festival was that there were several open-air screenings, like this one:
Most recently, the city hosted Circo Polo, an international circus festival from the end of April through the beginning of May. About half the shows were free and those that cost money were very affordable for the level of talent that was performing. The festival also included many lectures about the history of the circus in Argentina, the troupes that were performing, and circus schools around the world. There were several circus tents set up in a park with a lot of open space, but we went went to a couple of really impressive (cirque du soleil-esque) shows that were held outside. At one of the opening shows there was a giant metal spider-like structure, and several aerial artists ziplined into it from nearby buildings. They all wore bright white outfits that were meant to resemble angels. Here is some video from that show:
A week later in the circus festival they had a special show in honor of Argentina's Bicentennial. It took place in Plaza San Martin. The show was made up of the same angel-like zipliners who had been in the opening show, but this time they were coming from much higher and performing above a much larger crowd. As they came in they'd drop a lot of feathers on the crowd below, and the visual effect and along with the music were beautiful together. The night sky made it difficult to see the zip lines so it really looked as though they were floating and flying above us. The crowd of people, kids and adults alike, had so much fun playing in the feathers that after the show, they stuck around having "feather-ball fights" and breaking into dance. Here is some video from that evening:
It's exciting to think the city will be hosting 6 other big festivals this year that should be just as entertaining. The level of entertainment that these festivals provide for free is really impressive, and it's interesting to think about what projects the government funds. You can go into beautiful old public buildings here that are falling apart and lack toilet paper or paper towels, or walk down streets where the sidewalks are completely broken, but the city still manages to hold high-quality public events for it's citizens. Besides the 9 major festivals the city government hosts, it also substantially subsidizes many other festivals. From the end of April to the beginning of May one of those festivals included a giant book fair, which was so big we weren't able to see it all in one trip and actually went three times! Here are some photos from the Feria Internacional del Libro.
05 May 2010
Random Bs.As. photo: Dog-Man...nequin
There are all sorts of districts in the city. There's a district that sells fabric, one that sells rugs, and many many more. We ran across a mannequin district that sold all sorts of weird ones, like this dalmatian with a human body.
01 May 2010
6 months in BA!
It's hard to believe, but yesterday we officially passed our 6 month mark of living in Buenos Aires! It's definitely a significant milestone for both of us as it's the longest we've ever been outside of the states. To mark the day, we traced our steps back to where we spent our first days here. On Saturday, we took the subte back to San Telmo and strolled around the neighborhood. Since it was May 1st, it happened to be Día Internacional de los Trabajadores, or International Workers Day (similar to Labor Day), which commemorates the struggle for an 8-hour workday. So as we walked around, we came across many gatherings in streets and plazas, that were being held by various unions. We walked by the hostel where we had ended up stay at on our first night after the apartment we rented online wasn't what we expected. We walked by the studio apartment that we had rented for our first month. We spent some time in Plaza Dorrego where we had seen street performers and loads of tourists, and where we had bought empanadas, and where had Sara passed clubs with other jugglers on our first night in B.A. We walked by the apartment we had stayed in with Sara's family when they visited.
As we walked, we reflected about how all the things we've done in the last six months and how much we still want to do with the rest of our time here. In some ways it feels like we got here so long ago and in other ways it feels like we're still so new to this place. We feel proud of how much we've managed to do in the time we've been here. We're both employed, and are living well on our budget, we've got a great apartment in a great area, have made some friends, and feel like we really know the city pretty well.
On Saturday, we celebrated the 6 months here by treating our selves to a nice dinner. In B.A., there are many puerta cerradas, or closed-door restaurants, which are essentially meals hosted by various chefs in their homes. We went to Casa Saltshaker, where the chef serves 5-course dinners centered around various themes. The themes are usually based upon a historic event that occurred on or near that day, but that night the theme was Iron Chef. So the first two people to make reservations (not us) had gotten to choose a key ingredient they wanted to eat that night. They chose chocolate and duck, so each of the courses included at least one of those ingredients and a couple of them included both. Since the meal is held inside a home, the number of guests is pretty small at around 10 people. Although they often have visitors from all over the world, we were the only ones there that night who weren't Canadian! We enjoyed both the company and the food and hope to get to check out another puerta cerrada for another special occasion while we're here.
As we walked, we reflected about how all the things we've done in the last six months and how much we still want to do with the rest of our time here. In some ways it feels like we got here so long ago and in other ways it feels like we're still so new to this place. We feel proud of how much we've managed to do in the time we've been here. We're both employed, and are living well on our budget, we've got a great apartment in a great area, have made some friends, and feel like we really know the city pretty well.
On Saturday, we celebrated the 6 months here by treating our selves to a nice dinner. In B.A., there are many puerta cerradas, or closed-door restaurants, which are essentially meals hosted by various chefs in their homes. We went to Casa Saltshaker, where the chef serves 5-course dinners centered around various themes. The themes are usually based upon a historic event that occurred on or near that day, but that night the theme was Iron Chef. So the first two people to make reservations (not us) had gotten to choose a key ingredient they wanted to eat that night. They chose chocolate and duck, so each of the courses included at least one of those ingredients and a couple of them included both. Since the meal is held inside a home, the number of guests is pretty small at around 10 people. Although they often have visitors from all over the world, we were the only ones there that night who weren't Canadian! We enjoyed both the company and the food and hope to get to check out another puerta cerrada for another special occasion while we're here.
23 April 2010
Random Bs.As. photo: Turn that frown upside d...oh wait
Every street here has it's own pastelería or confitería (pastry shop) and we found these gems at our new favorite around the corner from our house. You know sometimes you just have the kind of day that you want your pastry to frown back at you :(
22 April 2010
Studying, Training and Working
I started taking Spanish classes at la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) at the beginning of January, and am now in my third intensive class and level! The professors at UBA have been great, the tuition is incredibly low, and my classmates have been an interesting mix of people from all over the world. Spanish seems to be a fairly easy language for English-speakers to learn. Not only do we share basically the same alphabet, but many words are cognates so more often than not, it's easy to guess the meaning of a new word that I've never seen before. I’m continually amazed by my classmates from countries like China and Russia, who started with completely different alphabets and have far fewer language resources available—if there’s a second language here, it’s English.
This month, I've also been taking a conversation workshop at UBA. With only 5 people, it's a nice small class and provides an opportunity to get lots of speaking practice! We spend a good deal of time doing listening comprehension activities with songs and radio broadcasts. I've also gotten some speaking practice at an event called Spanglish, where our friend Jill B. works. Spanglish pairs a native Spanish-speaker with a native English-speaker for about 5-10 minute intervals. During that time, you speak in both languages, for half the time, so both people have the opportunity to practice the one they're learning . Then one person moves to the next table so you continually meet new people throughout the night. It's kind of like speed dating without the dating part, unless you're looking for a date, in which case you can try to flirt with strangers.
I've also been taking two juggling classes in Spanish at different cultural centers. One of them meets for 2-3 hours every week at Circo Criollo, which is only a 20 minute bus ride from our apartment. I love this class because it's made up of only myself and 1-2 Argentineans, which means I get to learn a lot from the instructor, and everyone at the center is incredibly nice. Since the class is so small, I also get plenty of Spanish-speaking and a lot of listening practice! The other class I'm taking meets twice a week for two hours at a neat place called Circo Trivenchi, located in the Barracas neighborhood. It's a cooperative, so once you pay a monthly fee for using the building, you're allowed to take any class you want. Instructors are compensated a la gorra (by the money you put in their hat). The hat is placed on the side and people walk by it on their way out, which allows everyone to pay what they can on a sliding scale without feeling like they're being judged. It's a great system because it makes all of the classes available to nearly everyone without making them feel guilty for being unable to pay for classes upfront (like you have to at other cultural centers). I enjoy these classes as well, but it takes me a full hour to get there on the bus or the subway! And they're a little larger, so I've met more Argentinians but gotten less individual instruction in this class.
I also started working for a consulting company that works with search-engine optimization/marketing for companies in the U.S. I write articles, which this company then places on various websites and blogs. The articles aren't necessarily supposed to be written very well, they're just supposed to follow a few guidelines and include some hidden keywords. By putting more content on the internet that includes those keywords, the company can increase traffic to their customers' websites and move those websites into a higher position on search engines (so you see their product first when you search for those keywords). Even though I can write about pretty much anything I want as long as I include those keywords, you can only get so creative with keywords like home security system. But so far, the positives outweigh the negatives. The nice thing about this job is that I can choose how many hours I work and I get paid electronically in USD. If I work only 20 hours a week, that more than covers my living expenses here and leaves enough time to take Spanish and juggling classes, which is what I really want to be doing here.
This month, I've also been taking a conversation workshop at UBA. With only 5 people, it's a nice small class and provides an opportunity to get lots of speaking practice! We spend a good deal of time doing listening comprehension activities with songs and radio broadcasts. I've also gotten some speaking practice at an event called Spanglish, where our friend Jill B. works. Spanglish pairs a native Spanish-speaker with a native English-speaker for about 5-10 minute intervals. During that time, you speak in both languages, for half the time, so both people have the opportunity to practice the one they're learning . Then one person moves to the next table so you continually meet new people throughout the night. It's kind of like speed dating without the dating part, unless you're looking for a date, in which case you can try to flirt with strangers.
I've also been taking two juggling classes in Spanish at different cultural centers. One of them meets for 2-3 hours every week at Circo Criollo, which is only a 20 minute bus ride from our apartment. I love this class because it's made up of only myself and 1-2 Argentineans, which means I get to learn a lot from the instructor, and everyone at the center is incredibly nice. Since the class is so small, I also get plenty of Spanish-speaking and a lot of listening practice! The other class I'm taking meets twice a week for two hours at a neat place called Circo Trivenchi, located in the Barracas neighborhood. It's a cooperative, so once you pay a monthly fee for using the building, you're allowed to take any class you want. Instructors are compensated a la gorra (by the money you put in their hat). The hat is placed on the side and people walk by it on their way out, which allows everyone to pay what they can on a sliding scale without feeling like they're being judged. It's a great system because it makes all of the classes available to nearly everyone without making them feel guilty for being unable to pay for classes upfront (like you have to at other cultural centers). I enjoy these classes as well, but it takes me a full hour to get there on the bus or the subway! And they're a little larger, so I've met more Argentinians but gotten less individual instruction in this class.
I also started working for a consulting company that works with search-engine optimization/marketing for companies in the U.S. I write articles, which this company then places on various websites and blogs. The articles aren't necessarily supposed to be written very well, they're just supposed to follow a few guidelines and include some hidden keywords. By putting more content on the internet that includes those keywords, the company can increase traffic to their customers' websites and move those websites into a higher position on search engines (so you see their product first when you search for those keywords). Even though I can write about pretty much anything I want as long as I include those keywords, you can only get so creative with keywords like home security system. But so far, the positives outweigh the negatives. The nice thing about this job is that I can choose how many hours I work and I get paid electronically in USD. If I work only 20 hours a week, that more than covers my living expenses here and leaves enough time to take Spanish and juggling classes, which is what I really want to be doing here.
16 April 2010
Random Bs.As. photo: The Big Apple...of South America
Buenos Aires' own little Chrysler Building can be found in Belgrano at the Manhattan club, for anyone who misses NYC.
13 April 2010
08 April 2010
02 April 2010
Our Uruguayan Beach Trip
Punta del Diablo
After traveling by ferry and bus for about 12 hours, we finally arrived at Punta del Diablo at noon and were ready to spend the remainder of the day napping on the beach. We spent 1.5 days here with our friend Bliss and really liked:
● Seeing the ocean from almost any point in town because it is built on a hill
● Lying on the beach all day, only interrupted by a walk along the water or a walk into to town to buy some food or beer
● Friendly dogs we temporarily adopted (but really they adopted us).
● Cold Pilsen on the beach, Uruguay's cheap beer that is, in our opinion, markedly better tasting then Argentina's Quilmes.
● Fried seafood empanadas filled with fresh fish, mussels and cheese (yum!).
● Watching surfers ride the waves (or at least attempt to).
● Clerico, an Uruguayan white sangria filled with lemons, grapes, peaches and bananas.
● Chivito, an Uruguayan special sandwich that has beef (surprise!), egg, panceta (kinda like bacon), ham, lettuce, tomato, onions, and mayo.
Cabo Polonio
Getting to Cabo Polonio was a bit of an adventure since there are no paved roads to access it. We took a bus to the "puerta" of Cabo Polonio and from there took a 4X4 that we liked to call a "dune buggy". When the woman who sold us the tickets said 4X4 we were picturing a small ATV and wondering how we would ever get our bags on one of those. But what we got instead was a big truck with benches that could barrel right through the sand dunes. Some highlights were:
● Our nighttime dune buggy ride under the stars. With zero light pollution and a clear sky it was like seeing the sky for the first time, completely filled with stars.
● Eating dinner, brushing our teeth and doing all other nighttime activities by candlelight, since there wasn't electricity.
● Waking up in the morning to play with puppies and sit on the porch of our hostel that was literally on the beach.
● Taking an early morning walk on the beach and once again being flanked and befriended by the local stray dogs.
● Hearing the the constant calls and barks from the sea lion colony on an island just off the shore from Cabo Polonio. It sounded like a stadium of people cheering and screaming.
● Spotting a few sea lions on our side of the water, who were basking in the sun and fishing in the water by the lighthouse.
● Eating fresh Corvina (local whitefish) and Cazón (dogfish shark!) a la plancha (grilled with a spritz of lemon) for about $5USD apiece
● Being on very unpopulated beaches and having giant stretches of sand all to ourselves.
● Running into another juggler on a virtually empty beach and Sara getting to pass clubs with him.
● Meeting the famous Condor, the man featured in Anthony Bourdain's Uruguay episode on our first night.
Punta del Este and Jose Ignacio
We met up with our other friends, Elana and Jill B., from BA to spend out final 1.5 days at Jose Ignacio and Punta del Este. Punta del Este is the more ritzy of all the places we went to, as it is a big vacation spot for Latin America's rich and famous. It was certainly a different feel than Cabo Polonio and Punta del Diablo with it's skycrapers creeping up towards the beaches. Jose Ignacio, a 40 minute bus ride from Punta del Este, was a quieter beach with beautiful beach homes (Shakira apparently owns a home here) and a lighthouse that reminded us of beaches in Cape Cod. We enjoyed:
● Walking the boardwalk at Jose Ignacio along the rocks, sand, and past the lighthouse to find the perfect beach spot.
● Admiring the beautiful beach homes (mansions)and watching for Shakira sightings.
● The famous "La Mano" sculpture at Playa Brava in Punta del Este, that looks like a giant stone hand coming out of the sand. We all took turns climbing onto the thumb.
● Watching the sunset over Playa Mansa.
● Spending our last morning on the beach, Sara juggling and Jill getting sunburned!
● Just making our bus to Montevideo by about 2 minutes because we just couldn't pull ourselves away from the beach, and of course we had to stop to buy some sweet and savory emapanadas (raisin-pork and hawaiian ham-pineapple).
● Befriending an Argentine man on the boat ride home who was also graciously our temporary Spanish teacher.
● Watching the sunset from the boat and getting a quick glimpse of the light reflecting off the distant skyscrapers in BA from across the water.
● Our constellation lesson led by the captain of the ship to keep us entertained on the top deck during the 3 hour boat ride.
After traveling by ferry and bus for about 12 hours, we finally arrived at Punta del Diablo at noon and were ready to spend the remainder of the day napping on the beach. We spent 1.5 days here with our friend Bliss and really liked:
● Seeing the ocean from almost any point in town because it is built on a hill
● Lying on the beach all day, only interrupted by a walk along the water or a walk into to town to buy some food or beer
● Friendly dogs we temporarily adopted (but really they adopted us).
● Cold Pilsen on the beach, Uruguay's cheap beer that is, in our opinion, markedly better tasting then Argentina's Quilmes.
● Fried seafood empanadas filled with fresh fish, mussels and cheese (yum!).
● Watching surfers ride the waves (or at least attempt to).
● Clerico, an Uruguayan white sangria filled with lemons, grapes, peaches and bananas.
● Chivito, an Uruguayan special sandwich that has beef (surprise!), egg, panceta (kinda like bacon), ham, lettuce, tomato, onions, and mayo.
Cabo Polonio
Getting to Cabo Polonio was a bit of an adventure since there are no paved roads to access it. We took a bus to the "puerta" of Cabo Polonio and from there took a 4X4 that we liked to call a "dune buggy". When the woman who sold us the tickets said 4X4 we were picturing a small ATV and wondering how we would ever get our bags on one of those. But what we got instead was a big truck with benches that could barrel right through the sand dunes. Some highlights were:
● Our nighttime dune buggy ride under the stars. With zero light pollution and a clear sky it was like seeing the sky for the first time, completely filled with stars.
● Eating dinner, brushing our teeth and doing all other nighttime activities by candlelight, since there wasn't electricity.
● Waking up in the morning to play with puppies and sit on the porch of our hostel that was literally on the beach.
● Taking an early morning walk on the beach and once again being flanked and befriended by the local stray dogs.
● Hearing the the constant calls and barks from the sea lion colony on an island just off the shore from Cabo Polonio. It sounded like a stadium of people cheering and screaming.
● Spotting a few sea lions on our side of the water, who were basking in the sun and fishing in the water by the lighthouse.
● Eating fresh Corvina (local whitefish) and Cazón (dogfish shark!) a la plancha (grilled with a spritz of lemon) for about $5USD apiece
● Being on very unpopulated beaches and having giant stretches of sand all to ourselves.
● Running into another juggler on a virtually empty beach and Sara getting to pass clubs with him.
● Meeting the famous Condor, the man featured in Anthony Bourdain's Uruguay episode on our first night.
Punta del Este and Jose Ignacio
We met up with our other friends, Elana and Jill B., from BA to spend out final 1.5 days at Jose Ignacio and Punta del Este. Punta del Este is the more ritzy of all the places we went to, as it is a big vacation spot for Latin America's rich and famous. It was certainly a different feel than Cabo Polonio and Punta del Diablo with it's skycrapers creeping up towards the beaches. Jose Ignacio, a 40 minute bus ride from Punta del Este, was a quieter beach with beautiful beach homes (Shakira apparently owns a home here) and a lighthouse that reminded us of beaches in Cape Cod. We enjoyed:
● Walking the boardwalk at Jose Ignacio along the rocks, sand, and past the lighthouse to find the perfect beach spot.
● Admiring the beautiful beach homes (mansions)and watching for Shakira sightings.
● The famous "La Mano" sculpture at Playa Brava in Punta del Este, that looks like a giant stone hand coming out of the sand. We all took turns climbing onto the thumb.
● Watching the sunset over Playa Mansa.
● Spending our last morning on the beach, Sara juggling and Jill getting sunburned!
● Just making our bus to Montevideo by about 2 minutes because we just couldn't pull ourselves away from the beach, and of course we had to stop to buy some sweet and savory emapanadas (raisin-pork and hawaiian ham-pineapple).
● Befriending an Argentine man on the boat ride home who was also graciously our temporary Spanish teacher.
● Watching the sunset from the boat and getting a quick glimpse of the light reflecting off the distant skyscrapers in BA from across the water.
● Our constellation lesson led by the captain of the ship to keep us entertained on the top deck during the 3 hour boat ride.
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