Trip Report 7- South Side

Tues. Apr. 12 Today I had figured to go back to a store in Microcenter I had passed on my 1st day in town to buy some soccer jerseys prior to the tour of "Hidden BA/The Other South" at 1400. I also wanted to stop by Teatro Colon to try to reserve a tour spot for Friday (call the day before was the answer).

--------------------------------On the walk over the jersey store I realized that I was right by the city's Holocaust Museum and stopped in to check it out. As with every other museum I had been to, the writing for the exhibits was only in Spanish. I was particularly impressed w/the museum because it also discussed and integrated Argentine Jewish history w/the events of WW II. There was also a display on the Nazis who escaped to Argentina after the war and their eventual fates.

---------------------------------------------------------- Important (and seemingly obvious in retrospect) note: Do not attempt to take any photographs of Jewish-related places. Photos inside are of course prohibited, but on walking out of the museum I took a picture of its display banner, which is out on a public street in plain view. Without going into details, doing so immediately attracted a lot of adverse attention and resulted in several moderately stressful minutes. This was compounded by the fact that the displeasure over my seemingly innocuous act was conveyed in rapidly spoken Spanish that I could not possibly hope to follow or adequately formulate a response. After this incident my desire to take pictures anywhere was quite curtailed, as my quasi-paranoid fears about taking pictures in a foreign country had somewhat come to light.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The other annoying thing to happen to me in a matter of an hour was the first attempted tourist rip-off (as it turned out, this was the only one my entire visit). After buying the soccer jerseys, I stopped in place nearby and ordered 3 empanadas to go. It should have cost about AR$ 3.60, and the guy tried to charge me AR$ 13 (which will buy you a dozen), so I simply left. While I was certaintly pissed that this had happened to me, I was even more pleased to have caught onto it, thereby avoiding a minor rip-off (but a rip-off nonetheless). I soon found a sit-down restaurant and had a slice of spinach torta (a pastry-based item similar to a slice of pie) and 2 very tasty empanadas before catching a cab back to the hotel to drop off some purchases prior to the afternoon tour. ---------------------------------------------------- For the most part, I am kind of an impatient person. If you can read about a heavily visited area and are capable of walking around by yourself or w/your group, a tour of such areas seems to be a bit of a redundancy. That is why I wanted to take the "Hidden BA" tour, b/c it went to neighborhoods that, while still interesting, a regular tourist would never go to otherwise. (www.eternautas.com).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The driver and guide met me right in front of the hotel, and off we went. I guess another good aspect of a tour is that you can kind of let your guard down a bit in that you are following the guide and don't have to be worried about your precise location at every moment. The guide was a social anthropologist, prob. about my age, who works as a guide part time (due to the $ problems here, I discovered that a lot of people have multiple jobs). He spoke good English and did a great job of explaining how the city's history has impacted the neighborhoods as they exist today (e.g. their architecture, a park built over a cemetery of latter 19-century yellow fever victims). The barrios we visited in the south part of town (Barracas, Boceo and Nueva Pompeya) are definitely a bit more run down and have a good deal more graffiti than the areas I had been frequenting up north. We got out of the car several times to check out various sites, and overall it was an awesome tour. I had never been on a small private tour w/just me and guide, and it was totally worth it.

--------------------------------------------------------- That evening I went to a tango show at the oldest cafe in the city (if not the country), Cafe Tortoni. While the show was good, I would have probably been better off reading a book for a few hours at the cafe; the interior just exudes character and history. The food was mediocre and b/c the performance area was closely packed it was difficult to see the dancers' feet, but the performance was very lively and the band (the violinist and bandoneon player, in particular) was great. Plus the show itself was only AR$ 20.

Trip Report 6- Open Day

Mon. Apr. 11 (written the next day) Yesterday I had blocked as an open day and was able to take things at a leisurely pace. I had lunch plans for 1400 with this chick whom I had exchanged several e-mails prior to my trip via the lonely planet travel forum.

------------------------------------------------ In the morning I went to Recoleta Cemetery, which was about a 20 minute walk from my hotel. It is very maze-like, and each tomb has its own style of architecture. The people for whom many of the streets are named after in this town are buried here. As far as cemeteries go it was pretty cool but after wandering around for about 45 mins. and taking the obligatory picture of Evita's tomb I had enough.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lunch w/my Argentine friend was relaxing and replete with interesting conversation. She had recently returned to BA after living in Canada for 7 months, and had a lot of insights about her experiences outside of the country and Argentine politics and history. We'll prob. get together for a farewell beer/happy hour on Fri. afternoon b/f my departure.

----------------------------------------------------------- That night I went to check out some live jazz at a cd store/cafe/music venue just two blocks from the hotel. I wasn't really that hungry but, when presented with the option, figured to get some beef anyway. The music was more modern, nothing I would get at the store but live it was totally worth it. This spot (www.notorious.com.ar) has live music most of the week; I could easily have gone there every night.

Trip Report 5- Estancia

Sun. Apr. 10

Today I took an excursion to an estancia/ranch (Santa Susanna) about 70 km outside of town. I had lined it up prior to my visit on the website www.argentinago.com and, despite being moderately tired from the night before, it worked out pretty well.

----------------------------------------------------------------- The bus picked me up right outside my hotel; it was a gray, dreary Sunday morning and the streets were eerily and completely empty. Although it was not previously announced as part of the itinerary, we first stopped at the much-discussed San Telmo antiques fair for half an hour. It was pretty interesting to wander around there; most of the antiques are tchotchkes but I bought some tango-themed coasters and wallets for later use as gifts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ The ride out to the countryside was pretty relaxing, and the tour guide pointed out sites in both English and Spanish. At the estancia here were several other tour buses as well, and one could ride a horse or in a horse-drawn wagon (basically traveling for a brief distance in a circle, nothing too rigorous or major). I didn't really feel like doing either, so I just checked out a house/museum decorated in period style and took in the scenery of La Pampa, imagining how much of this area must have looked prior to European settlement. There was a large asado (barbeque/grill), probably about 20 feet long, upon which a wide variety of meats were being grilled. I hope that the pictures of the meat turn out well.

------------------------------------------------------------ It was not too difficult to meet other people on this day trip. I ended up sitting at lunch with a chick from Mexico and had the pleasure of watching 4 40ish, probably upper-class women from Guatemala get drunk during the meal. None of them spoke much English so I tried to keep up in the conversations the best I could. Lunch itself was quite good; there were a few salads but the overall focus was on meat. After the meal a couple performed some tango and traditional dances. Although it was in an utterly touristy setting, it was the first time I had seen tango dancing performed live and it was incredibly captivating. After the dancing there was a styled gaucho show outside, which was pretty cool if you like horses (the horses run around and the men perform some tricks and whatnot).

---------------------------------------------------------- While my more cynical side (which has been kept in check this entire trip, refreshingly) would deem the day as touristy, it is totally worth it to get out of the city for a day and on top of that the whole thing only cost US$35. Plus on the bus there was a chance to try mate, a tea drink that is closely identified with the River Plate area (but, ironically, not available in restaurants, as it is usually prepared and shared amongst family and friends). I slept most of the way back to town, and chilled in my room for a few hours afterwards. I didn't have to wander any farther than across the street from my hotel to briefly peruse the selection at a music store (CDs are US$8 for everything, even new stuff. I am stocking up big time before leaving) and pick up a few empanadas from the same place I went to the other night. At this point a long night of sleep was the sole remaining item on the agenda.

Trip Report 4- Palermo

Sat. April 9

Walked over to the Museo LatinAmericano de BA (MALBA) which, unsurprisingly, has Latin American art (from the early to mid-20th century). The museum is in the Palermo neighborhood, which is known for its wide boulevards and numerous parks. It is, indeed, a very pleasant area in which to walk around. The museum itself is laid out quite well, and the interior reminded me of the newer east building of the National Art Gallery in Washington, D.C. ------------------------------------------ Although I had tentatively planned to visit several museums, for today one was enough. Plus, as the walk over prob. took a good 45 minutes from my hotel I was a little tired and sat outside the museum for a few minutes. The weather is extremely conducive to walking outside, so after consulting a map for general reference (and eating one of the powerbars I had brought w/me from the States), I headed south through Palermo and Recoleta with the ultimate late afternoon destination of my hotel.

--------------------------------------------------- On the way back I ran into one of the several shopping malls in town (Alto Palermo) & decided to check it out. Plus I really needed something approaching a regular meal. Immediately upon entering there was a French-themed spot, at which I got a baguette sandwich (chicken), soda and a large chocolate tartaleta pastry for about US$3.50. The exchange rate will likely continue to amaze me the entire trip.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sidenote: if you are thinking of visiting it is highly recommended to brush up on or learn a little Spanish. A penchant for languages coupled with a basic twice-a-week-at-lunch class when I first moved to Miami allows me to speak it at a fairly basic (but I would like to think efficient) level (mastering verb tenses is another issue though). In particular, knowing Spanish for food, numbers, directions, days of the week and how to ask basic questions will go a long way to communicating effectively and thereby will make your experience much more enjoyable. Most people I encountered were very accommodating and seemingly appreciative of my attempts to communicate in Spanish. Without going into the details, also be aware that in Argentine Spanish some words, phrases and cadences sound a little different from the Spanish spoken elsewhere (owing in part to the Italian influence in the country).

----------------------------------------------- As it turned out I had the opportunity to dine at the most-discussed best-known restaurant in town, Cabana Las Lilas. Fueling its fable, there is an estancia that is the exclusive supplier of beef to this place. Somewhat akin to Joe's Stone Crabs in Miami Beach, for all the hoopla and hype this place receives the food is outstanding (both in selection and quality). There is a huge wine list as well, and it's incredibly pleasant if you can get a table outside with a view of the canals (Puerto Madero is a port area in the midst of a revitalization, meaning in this case a few new hotels and a growing selection of restaurants/bars). For BA it is one of the more expensive places (meaning US$50-60 per person for everything), but if you can swing it then definitely check it out.