Last Tango in BsAs

Jim covered our last few days pretty well, but I need to expand on the San Telmo Feria (fair.) Almost like jamon y queso, craft fairs seem to be everywhere, everyday in Buenos Aires. Since we'd seen San Telmo on Saturday we thought we might skip the fair on Sunday. Thankfully, for once we took the advice of the guidebooks and went to this 'must-see' event. And it is a site to behold -- Calle Defensa is closed to traffic for blocks and is filled with vendors, street performers and musicians. But most importantly, I finally saw a tango performance. We had seen 'real' people tango at the milonga the week before, but I still wanted to see a performance - and did we get one. In a corner of Plaza Dorrego, a tanguero nicknamed El Indio (according to my guidebook) wows the crowd with a history of tango told largely through dance. At one point, he asked the crowd (in Spanish) where they were from, and I heard Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay and Boston - so a tourist crowd but largely South American. How fitting to finally see a tango show on my last day.

As always, there would be more to do and see if we had the time. But I liked the way we arranged our trip. At our first stay in Palermo we didn't feel so much like tourists - we were often the only English speakers in restaurants - we certainly were the only ones or one of the few at the milonga. We popped into the little mercado across from our inn each day for essentials (usually that means cerveza), and we strolled the streets comfortably at all hours. (Turns out we might have been a little too comfortable - folks we met on the wine tour were robbed at gunpoint in Palermo. But they noted the robbers were kids who looked as nervous as they were.)

Then we had the lovely break in the country where we relaxed, caught up on our blog and had some wonderful wine.

Finally, it was back to the city for a taste of what the world usually associates with Buenos Aires - tango and the colorful filete painting on buildings and signs. It was definitely more touristy, but there's a reason tourists visit these places - it's a lot of fun!

I managed to get my Dulce de Leche ice cream, another pizza and Fernet, but never got around to having sweetbreads and sausage. Guess I'll just have to make do with the New Jersey variety.

Bye-Bye Buenos Aires

The jamon y queso tour has come to an end. As I start this post, we're on the plane waiting for all the cattle to be loaded; as I finish it, we are home. A spotty wi-fi connection at the last hotel made additional updating difficult, (Too cold here, I want to go back.)

I think I succeeded in having ham and cheese for at least one lunch, dinner and breakfast (many times for breakfast to be sure.) The airport restaurant was the topper Sunday night; of 20 sandwich choices, 15 were some variation of jamon y queso – and all we heard about was the beef before our departure. Ate a lot of that to be sure, most of which was outstanding.

Where to begin? The final two and a half days were another whirlwind. The final hotel was in a funky area in the southern part of the city; partly a neighborhood and partly a business area. There was a printing company across the street, for example. But the rooms in the hotel were secluded from the street by huge wooden doors that opened onto a Spanish colonial courtyard. We had dinner the first night back in a Italian place a block and a half from our hotel that was all locals. Lots of families out for a Friday night dinner. We finally tried the milanese, which is on virtually every menu in town. Pat had the veal; I had a chicken version topped with, you guessed it, jamon y queso. OK, in the US it is usually called saltimboca, but I had to go there. It was good, and at 28 pesos, or about $8.50, it was a good deal. Food costs in Argentina were very reasonable, but we were struck by how pricey clothing was.

Saturday brought us to La Boca, the old shipbuilding port famous for its brightly colored houses. It's a big tourist area – paid 10 pesos to pose with a tango dancer. Good for a laugh. But the market stalls were actually pretty good. But the area is dodgy; walk a block away from where the vendors are set up and you are in Fort Apache. A local woman warned me to put my camera away, so we got back to the tourist zone fast. As we learned later, there are plenty of police around when the vendors and tourists are in the area, but they clear out when the vendors do leaving the residents to fend for themselves.

That night we closed out at a trendy bar/restaurant in the Recoleta district. It was weird; sitting in the dining room all we heard was English in contrast to the previous night. But when we moved to the bar for a night cap (why wouldn't we?), it was all Spanish. We did learn our bartender from earlier in the trip, Ariel (which might not be a real name), has some local renown among fellow bartenders. They refer to him as the Samurai, I guess for his shaved head plus beard look.

Wrapped up the final day with another must-see stop on the tourist train, which is the San Telmo market. It is block upon block of vendors, musicians, tango dancers and all manner of things. It's a day-long carnival. Shared a beer with a Brit who now resides outside of Atlanta that told us about getting jumped on a visit to Lima, Peru. Put the previous day's experience in La Boca in another light. (Memo to file; don't plan a trip to Lima anytime soon.}

All in all, we loved Buenos Aires; it's now one of my favorite cities in the world. It is vibrant but seems to work well enough. We enjoyed the people, most of whom were very friendly even when we couldn't communicate, and would seriously consider a return visit in the future to explore other parts of the country.

Back in B.A.

We are back in B.A. after momentarily scaring ourselves with the thought maybe we still had the wrong time, but that was not the case. Except for the time snafu earlier, Aerolineas was basically good. They even feed you, which regular readers will know was a ham sandwich. Plane left on time, bags arrived safe, and a guy with a pair of pliers fixed the plane before we left. O.K., he pulled out an exposed fastener on the seat in front of mine that was in danger of stabbing me in the knee, but there is something oddly disconcerting when a repairman arrives on the scene equipped with only pliers. We can only wonder what the other passengers were thinking.

The new digs in B.A. aren´t as fancy as what we just left, but it is an interesting colonial style building and the staff is friendly. More later, off to explore another section of town...

Still Trying To Leave

Pat didn't want to leave Mendoza and in a way we have succeeded by missing our flight back to Buenos Aires. It's not like we weren't warned. A local had told us the flights were marked for BA time, which is an hour ahead of Mendoza. Despite ample opportunities to reconfirm the flight, in the boneheaded move of the week, we took Aerolinias Argentinas at its word that the flight departed at 9:50. Wrong! That's 8.50 Mendoza time. Ironically, if the cab we had scheduled for our morning pickup would have arrived on time, instead of 15 minutes late, we would likely would have squeezed on the plane at the end. Instead, they had just shut the doors. Muy stupido as the locals might say. (Or something like that.) Actually, they might call it a qui lombo, as in a big mess on our part. Qui lombo probably isn't correct as that is more of a slang phrase akin to a snafu in english.

So, we stashed a bag with the customer service people at the airport -- charge of six pesos (lesss than $2) to watch it for up to 24 hours, and took a cab back to Mendoza centro. Ok, it wasn't our favorite locale but it's nice enough for shopping, so we we took care of souvenir shopping so as not to waste the time. We're back to a cafe on a closed shopping street where its warm outside (mid 80s, looking forward to those 30s back home), so could be worse. Could do without the jackhammer in the background from some street repair project, but what are you going to do?

Our only concern now is that Aerolineas shows up on time for the afternoon flight; that would be poetic justice but such is travel. In the scheme of mistakes, it could have been worse. All in all, a minor glitch in an otherwise good trip.

I Don't Want To Leave

We've had a wonderful stay in Mendoza. And no, I don't want to leave.

Today we ventured to the Valle de Uco, which is south of Mendoza city and is considered to be the up and coming wine region. It's a higher elevation with warmer days, colder nights and rocky soil so the grapes get very thick skins and intense flavor. Two of the three bodegas we visited were absolutely gorgeous – one was owned by a Dutch company, the other a Spanish couple. There are a lot of foreign winemakers in Mendoza, but as our guide pointed out, they employ Argentines so they do help the local economy.

The wines at these bodegas didn't blow me away like a couple from our first tour, though I did really enjoy the wines from the Spanish-owned Fournier, which uses Tempranillo in their blends. But we'll have to look for this region back at home and track what they're producing.

The tours themselves were diverse – Salentein was a beautiful building with a formal tasting in a lovely cellar room; Mil Piedras was in the owner's backyard with the Spanish-speaking agronomist - very informal and fun, and the last, Fournier, was a fantastic setting with a delicious lunch. All in all, a great day. We used Ampora Tours, and I would happily use them again or recommend them. We also had a lively group that made the hour plus drive to and from the Valley enjoyable.

We ended up staying all four nights at Casa Glebinius, and I'm so glad we did. It's lovely and relaxing here. I could stay another four days. We took a day trip to Mendoza city, and unless we missed something, I wouldn't put it on a tourist must-see list – though we did have an excellent tasting at Vines of Mendoza where we signed up for their wine club. (Friends at home will benefit from this stop.)

It's off to Buenos Aires tomorrow for one last city fling. I'm looking forward to experiencing some of what we missed, though I know we won't cover it all. We definitely need to do: more cow parts (sweetbreads, sausage), dulce de leche ice cream, another pizza, Fernet. Oh, and probably some more sightseeing.

Mendoza Wine Touring

Yesterday was our first day of wine touring in Mendoza. I gave Jim a break on this trip - we took a tour instead of making him drink and drive. This also kept us to a slower (and probably better) pace of 4 bodega (winery) visits instead of the usual 6 to 8. We also had a great lunch at one of the bodegas, Ruca Malen.

I was surprised at the grandeur of the bodegas we visited - they were as large and beautiful as any we've visited in California, and they were all using the latest technology. A winemaker from France apparently criticized the Argentine industry for being too technology-driven.

But in any case, they are making good, and sometimes great, wines. The malbec at Achaval-Ferrer was among the best wines I've ever tasted - and we were doing a barrel tasting of the 2008 vintage! This was the most expensive wine on the tour, but there were others that were also very good and less expensive.

Today we head off to the city of Mendoza to sightsee, taste more wines at a tasting room (where we're armed with a strong list from our favorite Buenos Aires sommelier) and maybe, finally, do some shopping. (We'll see - we always seem to hit the shops at siesta.)

If our friends are lucky, we won't finish all the wine we buy before we get home!

Jamon y Queso

Okay, so I enjoyed the ham and cheese sandwiches we had our three mornings at the B&B in Buenos Aires. That, with eggs, homemade bread and jams and peanut spreads, pastries, alfajores, yogurt and fruit was enough to get a girl going in the morning. I was starting to get a little tired of ham and cheese when we had it for lunch today, but at least it was jamon crudo.

But now I'm drowning in ham and cheese. We wanted to eat a little earlier, so we went to one of the only two places in town open before 9 pm. It was a casual cantina with the bonus of an outdoor spinning area in the back. (Yes, an illuminated spin pit where you could watch spinners while you ate.)

I ordered the vegetarian sandwich, and Jim wanted the empanada with cheese and sundried tomato. "Sorry, we're out. We have ham and cheese. " How about a salad? "Okay, it comes with nice ham and cheese on it. " I give up - we ordered the beef empanada and steak sandwich. We shouldn't have been surprised - the steak sandwich came with ham and cheese. We're told breakfast at our inn tomorrow will be sandwiches and bakery goods - I could only guess what the sandwich will be. (Sure enough, the next morning brought another ham sandwich.)

We ate our ham, cheese and steak and hurried out because our waiter wanted to go to spin class. After all this ham and cheese I should have joined him.

Chacras de Coria

Ah, tranquilidad. To come from the madness of Buenos Aires to this place of beauty and tranquility is an experiential traveler's dream. The sky is pure blue interrupted only by the sun, the birds are chirping (well, shrieking almost); there' s a soft breeze. Jim is relaxing by the pool when the the four friendly dogs aren't bothering him for a belly rub. As a friend of Jim's used to say, "It doesn't get any better than this." He also used to say, "It's five o'clock somewheres" - which is why we opened the wine at about noon.

I was sad to leave Posada Palermo in Buenos Aires, which was also a lovely inn. The hosts were very congenial, as were the other guests. I especially enjoyed one morning's conversation when an Argentine, a German and an American (me) were discussing the finer points of "The Girls Next Door." (For those who spend time on better things, it's a "reality" show starring Hugh Hefner's three girlfriends. Bizarre doesn't begin to describe it.) But of course we also shared travel stories, and we Americans envied the Europeans who travel for 5 and 6 weeks at a time. I already know our 10 days is way too short.

So much of what I read about the portenos (people who live in Buenos Aires) proved true - they are very friendly. They kiss each other on one cheek – our hosts greeted us with a kiss our first morning. (I loved seeing the guard at the presidential pink house kiss other guards and staff as they came and went.) They drink mate (an herbal tea) – it looks gross, but tastes good with the right amount of sugar. They have a sweet tooth - which makes me feel less guilty about mine. The place is hustle bustle crazy, but they take time to enjoy life. They make eye contact - everyone seems to be checking everyone else out. On a 50-minute train ride to the delta town of Tigre, three entertainers passed through the cars - a singer, a juggler and a musician. Rather than avert their eyes and hold them in scorn, the passengers applauded when each finished their 'acts' and tossed coins to the entertainers.

As readers can tell from our substantial blog posts today, this is the first R&R we've had on our trip. We quickly got into the Argentine lifestyle of sleeping late, chatting over breakfast and starting out to tour around noon. Which means, of course, dinner around 11 pm and bed at 2 or 3 am. It's probably good that we moved to the country, though I'm certainly ready for more BA when we go back - the most 'colorful' part of the trip - San Telmo, awaits.

I'm looking forward to our wine touring the next few days, and we already have a substantial list of wines to look for from an accommodating sommelier who had very few customers last night. (Like in the U.S., Sunday isn't a big dining-out night.)

I'm guessing our next wine-tasting dinner will feature Malbec...

Ciao Buenos Aires, Buen Dia Mendoza

The fun of travel, at least to us, is soaking up the local culture and the title of this post sums up some of the uniqueness of Argentina. With a substantial percentage of the population claiming at least some Italian heritage, the dialect in BA is what I'd call Spanlian. Mostly Spanish, but with Italian phrases thrown into the stew. Hence, people are as apt to say “ciao” as they would “buenos dias” or “buenos tardes.” Here in the Mendoza region, they clip the words even more, offering buen dia for their hello. By the time we get back to BA we'll be totally confused.

The weekend was a whirlwind, complete with real wind on Saturday. On Friday as we toured the central part of the city with our Jersey-bred guide, the temps pushed towards 90 and after midnight a front moved through with rain, lightening and thunder. We know, because we got caught in it around 2 a.m. On Saturday it was very blustery, with winds of 35 mph gusting higher. The temps never got out of the 60s that day, and it was a chilly wind. We found refuge in Recoleta Cemetery, best known as the resting place of Evita. The Duarte family crypt is actually kind of nondescript, hidden on a side alley. More impressive were the mausoleums of various generals from the 1800s and other politicos that have massive structures to house their decaying bones.

Recoleta itself is one of the ritzy sections with the usual complement of designer name shops like Armani and the like. Same stuff you can find in any city; there were more interesting shops are in Palermo where we stayed (though they were usually closed by the time we got to those neighborhoods at night.) We found our way to some sidewalk cafe near the cemetery; we found out later was very well known for people watching. We had some wine and did just that. Chatted with a couple of gay guys from Fort Lauderdale; one was an Argentinian native who had been in the states for 35 years and was visiting with this boyfriend. They were off to Iguazu; he'd never gone as a kid. One of our inn keepers said he'd gone about five times, often under duress as a teen with other things on his mind. Of course, now he watches every episode of the “Girl Next Door” on cable, but that's another story. One couple staying at the same b&b as we did went up to Iguazu on day trip; kind of pricey because you have to fly but had we considered that option we might have done it.

The falls are supposed to be amazing, but we're not sorry we opted for skipping an overnight stay; it would have meant not getting back to BA and that would have been unfortunate. Buenos Aires is a great city. Last night we had a more “upscale” meal, which including wine and tip came to about $80 U.S. The night before we went to a casual place that served food typical of northern Argentina; the waitress spoke no English and the menu offered no translations, but we managed. I had a veal stew with red wine and mushrooms; Pat had something very similar to a tamale, all vegetable, and we had what for this place at about $15 U.S. was a pricey bottle of wine. Total cost for everything, about 35 bucks. Then there was the steakhouse. Strip steaks for two people were $10 – that's for both, not each and the meat was outstanding.

We find ourselves now in Chacras de Coria, a small village outside of Mendoza in an absolutely lovely rural inn. Grounds are spectacular, with extensive gardens. Everything is in full bloom as it is spring here. We are actually doing something we rarely do, which is just relaxing. Pat's sitting by the pool and I'm tapping out this opus, but at least I'm doing it outside. The “rooms” are all separate bungalows on the grounds. It's the property of an older couple that remodeled the whole grounds on their own. Our cab driver had trouble finding it but the place is beautiful. Multiple dogs and cats on the property and lots of nature. One cat was especially friendly, except its the only cat I've ever encountered that slobbers. Tomorrow we will take our first wine tour.

A couple final notes. Flew over here on Aerolineas Argentinas, which has a bad rap as a carrier but we had no problems. The big concern was the line at the security checkpoint that stretched for what seemed a mile. But they managed the line well; called out people for flights set to board, and we didn't miss our plane. Never know on the way back, but so far, so good.

One last note; before leaving BA we did return to visit our new favorite bartender, Ariel. Yeah, only in town four days and we're already regulars at one place. Staff greeted us like old friends. He told Pat, “Don't order, your in my mind.” And off he went to create a libation. It was fun; he complained about some guy who stared at the menu for 30 minutes, then ordered a Diet Coke. "In a bar?" he asked. Who knows, might have to go back one more time next weekend, though we'll be in a different part of town.

Hopeless in Buenos Aires

Hopeless in tango, that is. Jim let me drag him to a milonga last night (milonga is a dance hall where people dance tango or milonga - a form of tango.) We arrived about 11 pm and lessons (practicas) were still going on. I don't know why we can't follow lessons - we certainly enjoy dancing 'freestyle,' but we were clueless. The instructor even came over to help us out, to no avail. But it was fun to try, and then to watch the real dancers after the lesson.

Later in the evening, I probably did something no Argentine woman would ever do - I essentially asked a man to dance. He started speaking to me in Spanish, which I couldn't understand, but I thought he was asking me to dance. So I got up and led him to the dance floor. We danced briefly (Jim said I did okay; I felt clumsy). When we came back, he explained in halting English that we were sitting at his table, but we could keep it. So the dance was my idea!

Buenos Aires - Centro

Our first full day in BA. We scheduled a walking tour with Buenos Aires Walking Tours, which is run by a British expat and is staffed with other US and UK expats. Our tour guide was from our home state - yes, we New Jerseyans are everywhere. I liked the idea of a native US tour guide because I thought they would understand what we were looking for and be honest about what to do and what not to do. (Which she was.)

We toured Centro, including the "Pink House" which is equivalent to the US White House and where Evita gave her speeches. I can see why they call BA the Paris of the South - the buildings in this area are all French designs by Italian architects. But its definitely got a feel all its own -one minute it reminds me of Mexico and another of Europe - and to me the Latin part wins out.

One thing I don't understand is all the talk on the message boards and even guidebooks about how the portenos dress up - we saw jeans, t-shirts and even flip-flops all day. We're going out for our first nice dinner tonight - we'll see what dinner attire is like.

I'm already getting into the swing of things - we have a dinner reservation at 9 pm, and I'm thinking that's too early. Maybe I'll change it to 10 pm....

Buenos Aires Buzz

We arrived in B.A. on time and more or less without incident. Flight wasn't as horrible as expected, though American Airlines is no prize in the travel department. We both slept enough that the time passed. Weather in B.A. is terrific; sunny with temps in the 80s. Our accomodations are great; wonderful little b and b in the Palermo district. We wandered about the area a bit on arrival and stoppped for some pizza (not bad by the way, and that's coming from a pizza snob.) After napping we struck out again to check out the area and to the surpise of no on that knows us, found our way into a very cool, modern watering hole. At least we picked one where the bartender, Ariel (spelling is a guess) spoke English. He said he taught himself the language watching TV broadcast in English with Spanish subtitles while recuperating from a motorcycle accident. Ya never know. In any event, he created a special drink for Pat, a variation on a Negroni that added Yagermeister of all things; wasn't bad. I'll let Pat embellish the story and add her thoughts on the city.

Argentina State of Mind

We're off to Buenos Aires in three days, and I'm having fun figuring out what clothes I'll bring. Jim and I like to travel light, so we make something of a game of it. How little can we pack and still have the right clothes for any weather and any activity?

A poster on Fodor's Argentina forum says that it's getting hot in BA. Someone I know who is there now says it's 70's and sunny. A resident advises to 'dress like an onion' - which is what I plan to do. Layers of t-shirts, long-sleeve shirts and light jackets.


I'm also getting in the mood by reading Jorge Luis Borges. I have The Motorcycle Diaries for the plane. And I'm listening to Spanish language tapes - getting used to pronouncing ll and y like zh.


I know of seven other people in Argentina this month. Their tourism board has certainly done a good job. And the weak dollar has helped - though airfare is a killer.


It will be nice to travel for the first time in eight years with the rest of the world feeling a little, maybe even a lot, better about the U.S. after our historic election.


On to the next part of packing - toiletries!