Friday, February 14, 2014
We decided on arrival that we had the afternoon off. We hadn’t slept much the night before and then had traveled all of the morning and some of the afternoon. Then, after resting a bit, we arranged to have dinner at a place quite a ways from where we were staying, but still in Recoleta. It was the Albertinis on Juncal, a pleasant parilla place that was quite good. John had a pork cutlet with fried sweet potatoes, Ben had vegetable ravioli with a tomato sauce. We had sparkling water and John had a mediocre, but cheap, red from Mendoza. The restaurant got good reviews and was worth it, but no one would ever call it fancy. The waiter was superb and helpful. We were a bit late arriving so he had already called the hotel to make sure we weren’t lost! Argentines eat late. So starting before 9 PM is unheard of. Hence one is always late to bed. it was a good Valentine’s Day even if Ben was feeling a bit of internal distress.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Today we SAW Buenos Aires from the top of a double-decker tour bus. It’s a four hour tour and we did it all. From the Casa Rosada (Christina’s house—and a long time ago Juan and Eva Peròn’s house), all the gorgeous 120 year old beaux arts architecture, the huge wide boulevards with statues to people we didn’t know much about, the various barrios, from La Boca, home of football fanatics, to San Telmo to Recoleta to Retiro to the Central City to Belgrano. Here are some pictures…
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| Where the fanatics watch football in La Boca |
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| Stainless flower opens and closes |
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| Still lots of Eva Pictures |
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| Casa Rosada, Christina's Home |
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| Plaza Belgrano |
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| La Boca Street Scene |
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| Congress |
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| Theatre Colón |
After three hours of listening to the ill-timed audio program, we got off the bus in Belgrano, a middle-class neighborhood that looked like it had some good cafés. We lunched outside an old church in a building that looked like a refurbished ruin, though John is not sure what the ruin was originally.
Then back to the Turbus, though this one did not have an English audio track to learn about the neighborhoods…fortunately it was only about 20 minutes to our stop. We then bought some fruit and yoghurt for breakfast and some agua con gaz for liquid refreshment.
Changing money here is a trip. Unlike Chile, Argentina has a state-controlled exchange rate. Hence there is a black market in dollars. Everyone will take them in exchange for goods and services at a rate higher than the standard 8 to the US dollar. Sometimes you get 12 to the dollar! And you can’t buy dollars at an exchange service except from 10 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday! You can of course buy Argentine pesos, but the rate isn’t good….and changing the few remaining Chilean peso we had required a passport, which was photocopied…and a price about 3/4s of what the exchange was in Chile. If things were expensive in Argentina that would matter, but the country is nowhere nearly as expensive as Chile despite rampant inflation.
Last night we headed out to Collectivo Felix, a home in Chacarita. Fortunately we had bought electronic bus passes, much like Smartpass in Washington except much slower to deduct the fare. We are now used to the busses. They are fast and run along many routes, with about a five minute headway. And better still with the electronic Sube card, the fare ranges rom 2.7 to 2.85 pesos. Since a peso is worth about a dime, this is a really great fare. Let’s just say we are using them a lot.
So the Number 93 wound through neighborhoods we would not have seen otherwise and left us about four blocks from the home of the Collectivo. These are private homes that offer dinner to guests (for a price) on some nights of the week. This home was written up in the New York Times, which is how most of the 20 guests for dinner on the hosts’ patio learned of the place.
The food was exquisite and the patio cute. The menu ranged from fontina wrapped in chayote leaves and charñar syrup as an amuse bouche, to glazed shrimp over a lime salsa, to grilled oyster with heirloom cherry tomatoes and herbs and flowers from their spice garden. A short intermezzo of mint and melon granità, then to the main course of smoked and steamed sea bream (a sea bass) with mild padròn peppers and pipiàn, which is a type of potato. The dessert was a fig (from a neighbor’s tree) with white carob and quinoa cake and lemon verbena ice cream. The wines were all Argentine. We had a flight to go with the dishes that the owners had chosen of espumante (champagne), a chardonnay, a merlot and a malbec. None to them are seen outside of Argentina, as far as we know.
We sat next to a young, straight, couple of lawyers who are taking a year or more off work to decide what they to do next, Chris and Rosa. Both quit their jobs at Akin, Gump in New York City and have traveled to South Africa, and then a three month road trip across the US before coming to South America to camp and hike in the Andes and across Argentina. They are heading home to Miami (her’s) for a few days and then take off for New Zealand. After a few weeks there, they’ll head to Southeast Asia, Nepal and the Scotland before returning to the States in the Fall! Ages 29 and 32l Great for them to do it.
Home by taxi at 2:15 AM
Sunday, February 16, 2014
We woke just after 8 AM, for some unknown reason, considering bed-time last night. Decided that we would not pay the $15 the hotel wanted for breakfast so munched a banana and went off to Café Victoria, recommended by a Kansas City friend, Mark, who had lived here In BA for many months. Coffee was OK…the café con leche was better than the cappuccino, but the people watching on the square was grand fun.
We went back to the hotel and dressed for Sunday brunch at the Caesar’s Hotel on Posadas in their dining room, the Agraz. Mark from KC had recommended it and it lived up to recommendations . A huge buffet with everything from oysters to salami. We enjoyed the oysters, octopus in an aioli sauce, langoustine, shrimp, sushi, gravlax, vitello con thon, various salads, and then main courses of beef tenderloin with zucchini for John and broiled salmon steak for Ben, also with zucchini. Argentine champagne, Mendoza chardonnay and Mendoza Malbec from Trumpeter Vineyard to go with. Small pastries for dessert.
Then to the 93 bus to San Telmo to the antique fair and tango dancing. It’s about 40 blocks to the old ST neighborhood with its cobblestone streets and old houses, much of which dates back 200 years or so. We found the antique fair to be much like every other fair, crowded with the remnants of many an attic, but on Plaza Dorrengo there is site for tango dancing where an excellent couple danced their hearts for the crowd—most of the crowd put something in their hat too. They were superb. Ben enjoyed it immensely while John tried to take some really good photos—-with his iPhone since his digital camera got wet whale-watching and hasn’t worked quite properly ever since.
About 5 PM back to the hotel and a quiet evening at the hotel of reading books, writing and having yoghurt, bananas and cereal after our huge lunch.
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