Friday, July 23, 2010
Colonia
On Wednesday we got up early to get on the ferry across the estuary of the Rio de la Plata to Colonia, Uruguay. It's not a short trip (3 hours each way) but definitely worth it. Colonia is a quiet town with a number of historic buildings and the ruins of a fort. The air quality was much improved there over the ironically named Buenos Aires, and the experience overall was very relaxing and a nice break from the city. The trip back was at night, and the only good opportunity to see the stars of the southern hemisphere away from light pollution, a first for me.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Dine and Dash
(I've found myself too busy to blog in real time, but dispatches will continue as time permits...)
On Tuesday night we went to a restaurant that will remain nameless (*cough* Las Cholas *cough*) as it was one of Hilary's favorite restaurants when she was here studying. We entered the upstairs section of the restaurant and got a seat at a very dark little table. Eventually a candle was delivered and we ordered our food. After a substantial wait we were delivered our tamale, but it was anything but hot. After another substantial wait we were delivered our salad with chicken and brochette de lomo (steak kabob) which was, again, lacking in the temperature department. In the dim candle light it was discovered that the chicken was a bit raw on one side. Definitely no tip was going to happen for this meal. When we received the check it was actually the check for another table that was about 30% lower than what our bill should have been (short by about 40 Argentine pesos which is about $10). I decided this was an opportunity to enact a fair punishment for a sub par meal and attempted murder by salmonella. Without informing the waitress of the mistake we slapped down a 100 peso bill to cover the incorrect tab, slipped out of the restaurant, and quickly caught a cab to flee the scene of the "crime."
On Tuesday night we went to a restaurant that will remain nameless (*cough* Las Cholas *cough*) as it was one of Hilary's favorite restaurants when she was here studying. We entered the upstairs section of the restaurant and got a seat at a very dark little table. Eventually a candle was delivered and we ordered our food. After a substantial wait we were delivered our tamale, but it was anything but hot. After another substantial wait we were delivered our salad with chicken and brochette de lomo (steak kabob) which was, again, lacking in the temperature department. In the dim candle light it was discovered that the chicken was a bit raw on one side. Definitely no tip was going to happen for this meal. When we received the check it was actually the check for another table that was about 30% lower than what our bill should have been (short by about 40 Argentine pesos which is about $10). I decided this was an opportunity to enact a fair punishment for a sub par meal and attempted murder by salmonella. Without informing the waitress of the mistake we slapped down a 100 peso bill to cover the incorrect tab, slipped out of the restaurant, and quickly caught a cab to flee the scene of the "crime."
La Boca
Took a bus to La Boca on Tuesday which is a historic neighborhood famous for its multicolored dwellings. It's mostly a tourist trap now, but has some quality elements including stands where artists sell their work and a number of restaurants featuring outdoor tango dancing:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Phil Collins on the High Seas
We are right now on the ferry to Colonia, Uruguay watching a concert video of Phil Collins singing "Take a Look at Me Now" on the monitors.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Día Dos
Had a rainy second day in Argentina. It rained all day long and was in the 40's temperature-wise but I still prefer this weather to the heat wave up north. The first mission of the day was to buy a SIM card for my Nokia n900 superphone. Here I am pictured attempting to triangulate the position of a place to buy such a thing with my phone and a map of the city, a scene that earned me the title "map boy."
We decided to go to a mobile phone kiosk in the fanciest mall in BA, Galerias Pacífico:
The perky Movistar salesgirl hooked me up with a SIM but said it wouldn't be active until tomorrow. After that we headed toward Café Tortoni, some fancy restaurant. The guidebook warned there might be a line of tourists and they were right. The whole street was dead except for a gaggle of people waiting outside. We didn't want to stand in the rain so we decided to just go into some random place and have some random food, which we did, and it was adequate.
After that we went to el Museo de la Ciudad which had an extensive exhibit on Yerba Mate, the national drink of Argentina. Here I am pointing out a map of Germany showing sources of porcelain mate cups and solidifying my "map boy" title:
There was also a substantial exhibit on toys common in Argentina, including a small selection of antique tricycles, along with this photograph:
We decided to go to a mobile phone kiosk in the fanciest mall in BA, Galerias Pacífico:
The perky Movistar salesgirl hooked me up with a SIM but said it wouldn't be active until tomorrow. After that we headed toward Café Tortoni, some fancy restaurant. The guidebook warned there might be a line of tourists and they were right. The whole street was dead except for a gaggle of people waiting outside. We didn't want to stand in the rain so we decided to just go into some random place and have some random food, which we did, and it was adequate.
After that we went to el Museo de la Ciudad which had an extensive exhibit on Yerba Mate, the national drink of Argentina. Here I am pointing out a map of Germany showing sources of porcelain mate cups and solidifying my "map boy" title:
The caption at the bottom reads:
Grandmother, mother, and grandson, the latter mounted on a tricycle, which, according to the size of its wheels, would permit a notable velocity. What is not a toy is the corset that is squeezing the waist of the mother, distributing upwards and downwards that which the corset has been tasked to reduce. (Photograph circa 1895)
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Hotel y Almuerzo
Took a taxi from the airport. I had heard horror stories about drivers in Buenos Aires but as far as I can tell it isn't any worse than New York. I took a few random shots out of the window of the cab:
The Argentine government very recently signed a law to allow gay marriage, so there was quite a bit of graffiti along those lines. This particular graffiti espoused a somewhat unique take on the issue:
The bit on the left translates to "No to marriage, gay or not gay," while the bit on the right is a declaration of resistance against "heteronormativity and assimilation." This is an interesting town so far.
Around noon we checked into Art Hotel, which is kind of a boutique renovation in the ritzy Recoleta neighborhood. The room wasn't ready till 2 pm so we decided to go get a light lunch at a place called La Querencia which turned out to be, how you say, no so light:
The dish I had was called Puchero Criollo, kind of a mixed meat and veggie stew. It was 40,000 times better than the food-like matter we were served on the plane. I'm very impressed so far by the cuisine. Coke is made with sugar not with high-fructose corn syrup here, so that was yummy too.
By the way the weather here is awesome, hovering around 50 F which feels so good after the 100 degree weather we have been having in New York.
The Argentine government very recently signed a law to allow gay marriage, so there was quite a bit of graffiti along those lines. This particular graffiti espoused a somewhat unique take on the issue:
The bit on the left translates to "No to marriage, gay or not gay," while the bit on the right is a declaration of resistance against "heteronormativity and assimilation." This is an interesting town so far.
Around noon we checked into Art Hotel, which is kind of a boutique renovation in the ritzy Recoleta neighborhood. The room wasn't ready till 2 pm so we decided to go get a light lunch at a place called La Querencia which turned out to be, how you say, no so light:
The dish I had was called Puchero Criollo, kind of a mixed meat and veggie stew. It was 40,000 times better than the food-like matter we were served on the plane. I'm very impressed so far by the cuisine. Coke is made with sugar not with high-fructose corn syrup here, so that was yummy too.
By the way the weather here is awesome, hovering around 50 F which feels so good after the 100 degree weather we have been having in New York.
Viaje
The overnight flight was not terribly painful. I think I got 3 hours of sleep which was much better than nothing. The plane was super cold, Hilary had to don her ninja gear:
The food was, how you say, no so good:
At some point in the middle of the night we crossed into the southern hemisphere which is a first for me. Here's a screenshot to prove it:
Once we landed at Ministro Pistarini International Airport we went through immigration and customs, which was basically painless. There was a rather stiff entry fee of $140 for each of us. It was instituted last year in response to entry fees that the U.S. charges for Argentines to enter the U.S., which is entirely understandable.
The food was, how you say, no so good:
At some point in the middle of the night we crossed into the southern hemisphere which is a first for me. Here's a screenshot to prove it:
Once we landed at Ministro Pistarini International Airport we went through immigration and customs, which was basically painless. There was a rather stiff entry fee of $140 for each of us. It was instituted last year in response to entry fees that the U.S. charges for Argentines to enter the U.S., which is entirely understandable.
Friday, July 16, 2010
JFK
Let's get this party started with a boring post about how we got to the airport without incident, though the flight is delayed 30 minutes. What makes this marginally more interesting is that I'm blogging from my n900 smartphone. I am holding the future in my hand.
Argentina!
This blog is officially back in business. I leave this evening from New York's JFK airport on a non-stop, overnight flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Stay tuned.
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