Living the life...

I had the great pleasure of hosting first, my cousin, Elizabeth and then my friends from Fordham, Katie and Mary. So if Elizabeth took to the cuisine at lightning speed, then Katie and Mary took to the laid back lifestyle of long lunches at cafés like Argentine pros.

Mary arrived without any problems; she went up to the taxi stand inside the airport and arrived a half hour later with a discount return trip. Katie, on the other hand, made the mistake of going to the taxi stand outside the airport and she was charged an arm and a leg and had to step out of the vehicle while the taxista put gas in the car. We’re still a little unsure as to why she had to exit the car, but in true Katie Carroll style, she was ready to jump and hang on to the roof of the taxi in order to keep her luggage, if need be.

The first order of business was lunch and the girls quickly realized how quickly 3 hours can fly by in Argentina. After lunch, we took in some highlights: the Recoleta Cemetery, including Eva Perón’s mausoleum , the Floralis, and Avenida Alvear where you can see all the beautiful French inspired architecture and also some old mansions, where high society once lived. Then the day ended with a nice long dinner accompanied by wine.

Basically, we followed this routine for the rest of the week. Wake up at a leisurely hour (even Katie slept past 7:30am), ate breakfast, took in some sights, enjoyed a long lunch, took in some more sights/shopped, had a merienda, relaxed until dinner, went to dinner, repeat.

A few distractions and honorable mentions from the normal routine…

Mary learned to always keep your bag on your lap. While we were enjoying a nice lunch at an outdoor café someone pulled up a chair behind Mary. I noticed that the person she was walking with continued on so I thought that was strange, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Finally, I saw the strap of Mary’s bag moving and I very calmly said to Mary “grab your bag,” Mary looked at me quizzically and I said again “grab your bag” and finally I was able to blurt out, “she’s taking your bag.” And just as Mary grabbed her bag the waitress flew out of the restaurant to see if we had all our things. Apparently, these people were working a scam, but they obviously have some kinks to work out, since we got keen to them pretty quickly.

After days of ogling boots in the shop next to my apartment Mary dragged Katie for some shopping. Three hours later they were back: Katie with four leather bags in hand and Mary in need of some translation assistance for her boot purchase. While Mary tried on her boots again, Katie managed to find two pairs for herself. I have to admit you cannot find better leather products anywhere else.

On Friday, a guy I went to high school with was in town with a friend, so we rented bikes in San Telmo and rode out to the Reserva and Puerto Madero. We lunched on the costanera and had choripan and bondiola sandwiches—the bondiola was DELICIOUS! I used to always only get the choripan from the outside parrillas, but my teacher recommended the bondiola and it was super good. I will never go back to the choripan again. Goodbye, old friend.

We also found time to take in an 11pm Tango lesson at La Viruta. I got to dance with a 16 year old (and I am being generous, when I say he was 16) and the girls cut the rug with other locals. We went for a nice dinner after the lesson, at Lo de Jesus. I’d never been there, but we all really liked it and agreed it was the best dinner of the week.

Another great find, were the picadas. I thought this word existed in English, so every time my Argentine friends served a picada and asked for the translation I always said that I think that we say the same thing. For the record, we don’t. Anyway, a picada is basically the spread before the meal: cold cuts, hard salamis, cheeses, and sometimes tortillas and empanadas. We had a few of these as late leisurely lunches and were pleasantly surprised!

I am in the home stretch. It was great getting visitors the month before my homecoming; the visits really made me realize how long a year is and how much I really miss my friends and family. When I collect my thoughts on this past year I will write my final post, although at this point, I think it’s only my mother, when reminded, who is reading the blog. This became apparently clear when I asked Katie and Mary to write a post and they both said in unison “you have a blog…oh yeah.”

La noche en vela

So I've been meaning to post this song from an event I went to a few weeks ago. At the end of March, Buenos Aires held La Noche en Vela, to raise awareness of environmental issues, we have in NY and I know that it is held in other cities around the world. The big push is for everyone to turn the lights off for one hour. Well in BsAs in order to really push people to turn there lights off they offered tons of outdoor art events: there were concerts, art exhibits, plays, etc. I heard Elena Rogers sing and also the philharmonic orchestra...and others. I really enjoyed the night and saw lots of awesome shows, but the song below was my fave. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it too!

Ok, so I will write more later or post more later, my cousin was here for my birthday week so hopefully she'll serve as a guest blogger! Sorry'it's been awhile since I have written I will try to be better in my last month!

Feliz Día de San Patricio!

While there was no parade like NYC, there was definitely a celebration- green beer included, as seen below. The crowd poured on to Reconquista, the well known Irish street in town so that Argentines and ex-pats alike could raise a pint in the Kilkenny Pub to wish one another a muy Feliz Día San Patricio!

This was just a quick share to show BA represented the Irish well!

Hope yo were all able celebrate St. Paddy's Day in your own way! Besos!

Guest Blogger: Courtney visits BA!

Wow.


What a fantastic trip.  Muchísimas gracias to Amy and Caitlin for putting up with me for 9 days and showing me the best of BA (and Iguazú).  I thought that instead of going through the details day by jam-packed awesome day, I would share my Top 5 highlights of my trip, plus some honorable mentions as well.  In no particular order, here goes...


Top 5:


1.  Beef and red wine.  And then more beef, and more red wine.  I had heard great things about the beef in Argentina, and I have to say that it exceeded my already very high expectations.  I'm drooling just thinking about it.


I learned an important word: jugoso.  It's supposed to indicate medium rare, but I discovered that it seems to have a different definition depending on where you are.  The first jugoso steak that we had, at La Brigada, I think there was still a heartbeat on the plate.  Possibly the rarest that I've ever eaten steak, but still wonderfully delicious.  And for those of you who've ever tried unsuccessfully to share a steak with Amy unable to convince her a little pink in the center is delicious, you'll be happy to know that she's now moved over to the dark (pink) side.  After confirming that the purple steak on our plates was safe to eat, she promptly devoured it.


La Cabrera hit the mark with a perfectly cooked medium rare, and even though it was well past midnight and we had already stuffed our faces with the most amazing prosciutto (and mozzarella for Ame), we enjoyed every last bite.


Ame's favorite restaurant Don Julio interpreted our request for jugoso completely different, and brought us out a steak cooked medium. Still very tasty, and we were just thankful that they seated us at all given that we showed up after midnight on a Sunday night smelling like sweaty soccer fans.


And oh, the wine! A bottle of a delicous Malbec that costs the same as just one glass costs in NYC... might as well just order another bottle!


2.  Iguazú Falls.  Ame and I were completely blown away by Iguazú Falls. We've seen many a waterfall in our travels and were a little skeptical as to whether these would really impress us, but they surely delivered. I could not stop taking photos (and videos), I just had to capture it from every angle.  We walked along all of the various paths (and somehow timed it perfectly to avoid the massive crowds of tourists), got soaked in the spray of the waterfalls, saw incredible rainbows, hiked down to a more secluded waterfall and ate our picnic lunch at the top of the waterfall, saw lots of wildlife including pretty butterflies, surprisingly cute coatis, adorable monkeys, ginormous spiders and a large snake (thankfully we did not see it cross our path ahead of us and only realized it was there when other hikers pointed it out to us after it returned to the forest) and went on a very fun and refreshingly wet boat ride right up to the base of the falls.  Small world story: As we were rolling our eyes at the annoying American school group that just happened to be sitting next to us on the boat, one of the adults in the group started talking to us.  Turns out they are from Mattituck, the town over from Riverhead, and one of the women used to be a teacher at Riverhead High School.  They seemed less annoying after that.

3.  Brazil.  Even though this could technically roll up under the Iguazú Falls section, I think it's worthy of it's own Top 5 shout-out.  There was a lot of back and forth whether we’d be able to make it across the border to see the Brazil side of the falls, but in the end all signs seemed to point to Brazil.  And we were so thankful that it worked out.  The views of the falls were different from the Brazilian park and we could see more waterfalls than we realized existed from the Argentine side and were thoroughly impressed yet again (and took another 100 or so photos).  We saw another awesome rainbow, got soaked in the falls once again, attempted to dry off a bit, and then had an amazing buffet lunch before venturing back to Argentina.  Also very cool was the bridge connecting Argentina and Brazil; half of the bridge was painted with the Argentine flag, and the other half painted with the Brazilian flag.  Unfortunately we couldn’t catch a photo of that, but I think it’s ingrained in our memories along with the adventure of our few hours in Brazil.

Amaaaazing buffet

Amaaaaazing rainbows

4.  Shopping in Palermo.  I went a bit overboard with the shopping in Palermo.  It got to the point where I was rather embarrassed by the number of shopping bags that I was holding, and tried to consolidate so that it wouldn’t look quite so excessive.  Though all the bags came back out for the Pretty Woman photo op.  TRIVIA: Name that Pretty Woman quote [Hint: It starts with “You people work on commission, right?”]

5.  Amy's Fiesta de Despedida.  I was lucky enough to be in town for Amy’s Fiesta de Despedida (= Going Away Party).  Amy picked a fun bar in San Telmo and we arrived early and stayed until closing.  It was so great to meet so many of Amy and Caitlin’s friends, they packed the bar and gave Ame a proper send off.  And while it was a sad occasion for the rest of the guests, it was a happy occasion for me because Ame saying “Adios” to BA meant she was returning home to NY!

Honorable Mentions:


The weather – mid 80’s and sunny every day, a very welcome contrast from the NY winter

C. A. River Plate v. Independiente Soccer Game – This just barely missed the Top 5, though I think I look back on the memory of the game with more fondness than the actual experience.  Packed in amongst the Argentine soccer hooligans in the “Popular” (aka INSANE) section of the Independiente stadium was not the most comfortable or pleasant 90 minutes of my life, but it certainly was a memorable and truly unique experience.  I’m very glad I did it, but definitely do not need to experience the Popular section ever again.  For those familiar with the 4/5/6 train at rush hour, picture that level of crowdedness, standing on bleachers, with everyone chanting and cursing at the top of their lungs while chain smoking cigarettes.  For 2 hours.

This was before the insanity started!

Riding bikes around Palermo parks and neighborhoods (and related: learning how to fix a slipped bike chain) – Fun AND healthy way to explore the city

Eating dinner at midnight, staying out until 5am, sleeping until noon – I love vacation.


Once again, a very big thank you to Amy and Caitlin.  I’m so happy I was able to visit and you both made my trip absolutely perfect!

Time flies when you're having fun ...

... as evidenced by the fact that my first blog post was almost a year ago -- ONE YEAR AGO!  Crazy for me to try to comprehend.  Also crazy to think that these 9 months of living and breathing Buenos Aires are nearly done.  Caitlin always says that BA is somewhat of a time warp -- you often feel like you've just arrived because you can remember your first days so vividly, but very early on you feel like you've been here forever.  The city really has a way about it.  I leave tomorrow, and what an experience I've had ... truly indescribable.  


So, some final thoughts from South America from me (Cait I'm sure and hope will continue this fine blog!).


Everyone here's been asking me what I will do for "mis ultimos dias" in BA (now down to 1).  Truthfully, since my wonderful friend Courtney visited me last week from NY, I got to do all my favorite things then, leaving me time to pack and roam around in the sun for my last few days as a wannabe porteña.  She's promised to write a lovely blog post, so I won't fill you in here, but obviously another fabulous visit!  

Court and I at an insane futbol match that she'll fill you in on

I know it's super cliche, but it really feels like yesterday that I had my going-away party in New York, and that was back in May. Just had another one here this past Saturday and felt like a celebrity - people from all over my life here came out for a drink or 5.  It rocked!  Anyone up for a welcome back party when I'm back??  Just kidding ... I think I've had enough parties for myself in the past year to sustain me for a while. :)


You might be wondering why I'm spending my 2nd to last day inside on the computer, but rest assured, I wrote most of this post old-school style, outside in the park earlier today (in the shade of course - way too hot for the sun, especially when one forgets to put on sunscreen).  I don't even want to think about the weather that awaits me in NY.


I'm staring at my bags now as I type this up and they are officially packed (if you can call it that ... stuffed is more like it), to the point that l will definitely be paying a fee for either a heavy bag or an extra bag.  Can't wait to find out which!  


As a final thought, it's going to feel really strange/bizarre/sad to leave my other half Caitlin here and I will probably go into withdrawal in the weeks to come.  On the plus side, I'll see her in May or June either in LA or NY, and as we know, time really flies.  I'm also looking forward to hearing about her last 3 months here.  I know they'll be awesome.     

Cait and I on Saturday

Muchas gracias for listening to me ramble here - still crazy to think this is my last post!!  xoxo

Guest Blogger: Lisa in BA!!

Jan 4-5: Amy welcomed me with open arms on the sunny streets of BA!  She introduced me to some neighborhood sights and Caitlin joined us for dinner at my first parilla (steakhouse)! The steak was muy bueno, especially with a pinguino of Malbec:)  The next day was spent wandering the city and on a great walking tour of the neighborhood Recoleta.  I learned all about Argentine history as well as the beautiful plazas, palaces, embassies, and apartment buildings lining the streets of BA.

Wine is always better in a pinguino!

Vatican embassy on Avenida Alvear

Jan 6-8: Amy and I headed to Punta del Este! It was probably the shortest flight (30 min) we've ever been on...as well as the bumpiest and scariest.  Luckily Amy is a better flier than I am, so I was able to squeeze her arm for the whole 30 minutes…even though she was still at the end of her what we think was the flu… My friend Florentine picked us up from the airport and we headed straight to the beach. The sun did not set until 9pm. I then truly understood why Argentines and Uruguayans don't eat dinner until 11pm!! We spent our 2 nights in Uruguay in a share-house with  Flor and Nico's (her husband) friends who rent the same house there every year. It was not the best of accommodations…since they slightly overbooked…but it was a beautiful house with great beaches, perfect weather and new friends!  

At the beach in Punta del Este - it was around 8 p.m.!

Lisa & Flor with the beautiful 9 p.m. sunset

A photo of the cool house

On our way to lunch - we're shielding ourselves with our towels because we neglected to put on sunscreen!

Jan 9: We made our way to Plaza de Mayo to see Casa Rosada (the presidential building) and then to the San Telmo market, which was filled with leather goods, vintage items and Amy's favorite Argentine cartoon, Mafalda:) We had a leisurely lunch, walked along the water in Puerto Madero, and dinner was at Casa Felix - a closed-door restaurant.  A lovely couple (yes we had a girl crush on the wife) opens their home to approx 20 people Thurs-Sat night and prepares a 5-course meal with unique flavors and local ingredients, including fresh herbs from their wonderful garden. We ate in the courtyard, enjoyed savory food and wine, and even ate pulpo (octopus)…well some of it at least! It was definitely one of my favorite evenings in BA:)

Din at Casa Felix with our friend Lindsey

Jan 10-14: We spent the next and last few days sight-seeing, shopping, museum-ing at the amazing National Museum of Decorative arts, Evita museum and Malba.  Amy and I also proved our true athletic abilities as we braved the streets of BA via bicicletas!  The bike tour through the parks and rose gardens were lovely, but we almost didn’t make it back on the streets of Palermo.  Let’s just say BA drivers are not the most biker friendly... We also attended a great cooking class, saw incredible graffiti, ate meringue, drank mate, didn’t get anything stolen and enjoyed excellent wine for very few pesos. My last two dinners were at Amy’s favorites - Don Julio and La Cabrera - both delicious and memorable.

One of the stops on our bike tour - the very pretty rose garden in Palermo

Walking around Recoleta

Muchas gracias Amy and Caitlin for opening your adorable home on Paraguay street to me, giving me a preview into your lives over the past eight months, and sharing your most favorite new sights, activities and culinary favorites.  It was a perfect trip.  Can’t wait to have you back in NYC now!!

Muchos besos!

Lisa

And the moral of the story is...

Seven months in Buenos Aires and I am still learning the tricks of the trade. Fortunately, yesterday I learned an important lesson by example and not through personal experience.

The lesson learned: never help a little old man (viejito) into his building unless you are absolutely positive of your exit strategy.

Last night I went to a pub quiz/intercambio and afterwards I was going to meet Amy and Lisa (her friend visiting from NY) at a neighboring bar. I left the pub quiz with a friend, Roger, from Australia- a real character, think Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High- and while we were walking to meet Amy, we heard frantic knocking on a door. When we turned to look, we saw two people trying to get a passerby’s attention. We approached them and they begin to explain in really bad Spanish that they needed help getting out of the building. I told them that I spoke English and they explained that they had helped an old man into the building and on to the elevator and when they went to leave the building they realized that they could not get out without a KEY!! This is extremely common in BsAs, for security reasons, you have to use a key to unlock the door in order to exit. Unfortunately, these two turistas did not know this tidbit of information and they found themselves trapped in the vestibule between two locked doors! It was a guy and a girl from England and the girl seemed to be on the brink of a full blown panic attack. They asked us to ring some bells to see if a neighbor would come down and let them out. Well, without hesitation, Roger begins to ring as many bells as possible in order to solicit some help. However, no one is willing to come down and help these two people leave, because I am sure they all thought this was a complete scam. I have to say, I can sympathize, I don't know if I would be running down to let a stranger in my building, especially one with some strange foreign accent.

Instead, I stopped an Argentine and asked for his help. He rang for the doorman, but of course there was no answer. He then had a very good idea of ringing the bells of those who lived on the first floor so that they would not have to go very far to help the trapped turistas. Well, they didn’t want to help either. The Argentine then went to get a police officer. The policeman came and assessed the situation, but he too realized there was little that could be done. The kind Argentine took off, almost in a light jog, so I decided to follow his lead. I motioned to Roger to let's get going and of course, he had to take a quick snapshot before we too left the scene. (I'll try to have him email it to me for viewing pleasure)

As we were walking away, I asked Roger what he thought the moral of the story was and he looked at me, obviously perplexed by the question, and said: “What? Never help old people into their building.” Exactly. So with that said, I would like to apologize in advance to the viejitos of Buenos Aires, I will not be helping you into your building anytime soon…

P.S. Don’t worry, I walked pass the building this morning and the turistas had been freed.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

I have been following the blizzard in NY and cannot believe I live on the same planet as you. It is 37 degrees here- I've taken to the Celsius system because no one I talk to here (besides Amy) knows Fahrenheit, but I believe it is equivalent to almost 100 degrees. But what makes the heat even worse is the humidity; Amy has had to take two showers a day the past two days because of it. So you can imagine that it has been a tad difficult to get into the Christmas spirit: you can't bake cookies because you don't dare put the oven for fear of heat exhaustion and the smell of evergreen trees in the streets obviously doesn't exist here either. I can honestly say that Christmas crept up without me even realizing it. Fortunately, Amy and I got invited to a potluck Christmas Eve at an Argentine’s apartment, there was tons of food and drinks and we were in great company of people from all over the world. The holiday gathering was donned the moniker “the orphans Christmas party.”

Photo: An impressive non-traditional Christmas tree made out of green cerveza bottles

Christmas is celebrated a little differently down here. For starters, everyone gathers on Christmas Eve, which they refer to as Nochebuena, and have dinner at normal Argentine dinner time, anywhere between 9:30PM- 11PM. At 12 midnight you have a champagne toast and the children promptly open their gifts left for them by Papá Noel. Usually, the night lasts well in to the early morning hours. Christmas day is typically used as a day for catching up on sleep. So Amy and I followed suit. We left the party shortly before 5AM, and por suerte found a cab to take us home, we both slept in the next day, me till 2PM and Amy until slightly before!

Photo: Amy enjoying the fiesta with two Aussies: Allison & Marlo

Photo: Me dancing in the street to a drum parade down defensa with Anabel, another party-goer, cerca 3AM

Since most ex-pats are used to celebrating Christmas, well, on Christmas, we were invited to a roof-top asado (BBQ). Amy's Aunt Ro and fam arrived Christmas day so she obviously skipped out on the asado, but I moseyed my way on over to the asado at around 8PM. The asado was hosted by a New Zealand ex-pat and he made a great spread! Delicious food and the guests brought great desserts! This night I managed to get home by the reasonable hour of 3AM.

We are still smoothing out are plans for NYE, but I am sure it will some more good times.

Photo: Waiting for the Christmas meal to be served

Wishing you all a Happy, Peaceful Año Nuevo!

Visits + Trips = awesome!

Around the same time that the Murphys arrived in BsAs, my good friend Lauren and her good friend Lanny from high school came to visit.  We had a blast!  Since I'm working, I couldn't spend the days with them, but they made their way around BA (and Colonia, Uruguay) like true portenas.  Impressive ladies, impressive.  


On their first night, a Saturday, I hosted a bunch of friends (I use that term loosely - some people I had only met once and the portenos don't consider those people friends) at a bar to usher in the last year of my 20s.  It was such a happy birthday, definitely because of my visitors and BA friends, but also because of the amount of love I received in card or other form from back home!  Thank you to all.  So lovely.


My birthday actually was on Sunday and the 4 of us (Cait, Lauren, Lanny, and I) went to our first futbol game.  It was so awesome.  We all dressed in red for the occasion to route for the River Plate team and sat with the crazy yet amazing fans.  I have never felt energy in a stadium as I did at that one.  People did not stop singing, moving, throwing paper, etc.  It was wild!  They don't serve alcohol there because it's rowdy enough without it (or when people drink beforehand), and when the game is over, as a fan of the home team, you have to wait about 20 minutes before they let you out of the stadium so that the visiting team fans can escape safely.  When everyone lined up at the end waiting to get out, I thought there might be a stampede or something the way people looked.  Fortunately, we got out safely and got to enjoy a nice Mexican meal at a restaurant down the road.

On most days, it's incredibly hot here now.  Fortunately, we got to experience one of those days poolside at my friend's apartment building.  She lives in one of the luxury high rises in the Puerto Madero neighborhood (supposedly the most expensive place to live in the city) and invited us over for a swim, which I was ecstatic about - I definitely wanted to see her apartment and I also wanted to alleviate the strong urge I've been having to swim!   We bought stuff for mimosas and made our way over there.  Our friend Marlo was there too, so the 5 of us set out for the pool, overjoyed to have some relief from the heat.  Unfortunately, my friend hadn't learned the pool rules yet after almost a year of living there - and the guest limit per apartment is 2.  Oops!  She graciously let me, Lauren and Lanny stay at the pool first, with a rotation plan to take effect in 20 minutes.  Well, 2 hours went by and there was no sign of the girls.  We were really happy not to be released from the pool, but we were baffled that they hadn't kicked us out as planned!  A half hour later, my friend came down and reported that they had just enjoyed the apartment and didn't need a swim.  So, we got to enjoy the full last hours of the sun without interruption.  Amazing.


This past Sunday Caitlin and I ran the hash again.  It was supposed to be 75 degrees, max, but lo and behold, it must have been in the 90s.  We were melting.  Luckily, the hash hosts had a pool, so I got to jump in right after the run (yes, with my running clothes on - who has time to change in that heat!). An awesome asado (bbq) followed and it was definitely the highlight of the hashes so far!


In Amy-Caitlin trip news, we are planning our trip to Patagonia for January.  It will be about 2.5 weeks.  We have flights and most hostels booked and it's sure to be amazing.  Obvs there will be a report when we return.


In the meantime, work ends 12/30, my aunt, uncle, and cousins arrive on Christmas, and several other folks I look forward to seeing will be here around then as well.  My friend Lisa then arrives in early Jan.  Yay!


Lots of other things I can report on, but for now, I'll leave you with this already long post.  
Happy holidays to everyone!

Guest Blogger: Mama Pat Murphy!

On November 30th Brian and I arrived in EZE airport BsAs for the start of our Argentine vacation and visit with Caitlin. The 11-hour trip was not nearly as bad as we anticipated. We got through immigration and found the driver who would take us to our apartment that did not look as good as it did online and the promised American kitchen did not exist. And yes the Bunsen burner did run out of gas and the rain on the roof sounded like gunshots but it was in a nice area and Caitlin was able to stay with us so all in all it was fine. Our first day consisted of eating lunch, visiting with Caitlin and having dinner. The following day began our series of “forced marches” through the city of Buenos Aires. Caitlin walked us until we could go no further most days! Our first stop was the Recoleta Cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. The cemetery is filled with the beautiful mausoleums of the rich and famous of BA. Caitlin has taken all her visitors to the cemetery and by now it is a little boring for her. She spent her time in the shade while we explored the cemetery.

During the following days we took 3 tours – 2 BA FREE tours that were super. The guides were hilarious and informative. The tours took us many areas of the city; we saw all the major buildings, plazas, the cathedral and neighborhoods. We experienced the protests which occur daily, learned not to be careless and step out in the street without looking (you WILL get run over), and were careful not to step in anything the numerous dogs left behind.

Protest

The bus tour, as Caitlin said, was the worst by far but it did take us to the Boca area that was colorful and interesting.

On our longest march we walked about 8 miles from Congreso to Puerto Madedo, walked an ecological reserve and then walked back to San Telmo! This is the day we managed to find bad beef in Argentina!! And while the meal was not great, we barely cared. We were happy to be sitting down!

Reserva Ecológica

We spent a day in Tigre a 45-minute train ride outside BA. It is part of the river delta area. We took a boat ride along the river, walked the riverfront and visited the art museum. The museum, a former casino, was a beautiful building housing Argentine artists.

We spent Sunday visiting the street markets in San Telmo and Recoleta. In San Telmo we watched Tango dancers demonstrate their moves and I found a Bolivian artist selling great watercolors. I bought 2 small village scenes I am delighted with.

On Monday we boarded a plane and headed for Puerto Igauzu and the Igauzu Falls. The Falls were spectacular. It is hard to imagine the power and grandeur of the many falls that roar out of the rain forest to empty into the river. We took a boat ride up the river to the Falls the first day. It included a truck ride through the jungle. We were surround by the noise of birds, dense vegetation and had our first experience with the friendly butterflies! Not long into the ride one landed on the woman seated in front of me and rode all the way to the river with us!

Approaching the falls from the river was amazing - you heard nothing but the roar of water and felt the spray of the Falls. We got soaked and stayed wet for the rest of the day. It was near 100 degrees and over 100% humidity. It was also the rainy season and the trail through the jungle we hoped to walk and spot túcans among other creatures was to muddy to hike. The park was a great place to visit. It had good trails, a train to take you to some of the furthest points, good restaurants and rest stops. And like the national parks in the States, visitors from everywhere. Our stay in Puerto Igauzu was delightful. It is a very small town with friendly people, easy to walk to and interesting to see after the city of BsAs. We found a great taxi driver, Basileo, who took us to and from the park each day and showed us the “Three Frontiers”, the area where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet. On the third day he took us back to the airport where we waited for hours for our delayed flight back to BsAs. Our complimentary lunch from LAN Airlines was a no choice milanesa – breaded steak – which topped this worst meal list by a mile. We arrived back in BsAs in time to pick up Amy and go to dinner. We went to a wonderful restaurant in a truly beautiful building with a great tango band! It was a perfect last supper. The next day – our last – we had our only rain. We did a little site seeing, went to a museum, hugged Caitlin goodbye and headed for the airport. We had had a wonderful trip. Good food. Great sites. Time with Caitlin. Laughs with Amy. Plenty of exercise and stories to tell. The woman who checked us through customs kept looking at my passport and then at me. I was beginning to think I wasn’t going home when she indicated that I looked better then my passport photo. She waved her hand and said Bye Bye Patricia. And with that we were on our way home.

Día de Acción de Gracias- Buenos Aires Style

Celebrating holidays away from family is always difficult, especially Thanksgiving. It is the one time a year where you are guaranteed a good meal with your family and all you have to do is be thankful. You don't have the pressures of finding the last dyed egg or picking out the perfect sure-to-be-exchanged sweater for your holiday exchange partner. All you need to do is eat! I have to admit, I was sad to think that this year I would miss out on the festivities, since Amy and I did not have any T-day plans as of Tuesday. We were set on treating it like the other porteños- just another ordinary Thursday.

As usual, Amy and I went to yoga on Tuesday; however, instead of our private lesson that we're used to, another girl, Mary from NY, was in the class. Mary had just arrived to Buenos Aires and we got to talking about things to do in the city, etc. Well by the end of class, we had exchanged emails and Amy and I managed to create a surrogate family, which included the 3 of us and the yoga instructor for a Thanksgiving pot-luck dinner. Not too shabby. Amy invited one other girl from the States so in total we were 5.

The list circulated and we all received our assignments. We quickly realized that traditional Thanksgiving Day food was not so easy to come by since we are currently in the midst of a very hot spring season. For example: turkey, not available. We came up with a quick fix and ordered delicious rotisserie chicken from a Peruvian restaurant. (For those NYers reading this, think Pio Pio, and then imagined that it tastes even better!) I signed up to make the dessert, and originally thought that an apple pie would be nice and familiar, but those too are not in season. What fruits are in season? Strawberries and peaches. So I looked up summer fruit recipes and found an easy tart recipe- feel free to use it at your next 4th of July BBQ . I ended up with way too many peaches (who knew that a kilo of peaches equaled 14?) so I made two tarts for five people, this seems about right, no? Amy made mashed potatoes and also a delicious salad.

The tarts!

We decided to have the dinner at Mary's. She has a beautiful apartment in Palermo with great, big open windows looking out to the city. Mary was also kind enough to supply the vino- and boy did she supply, there were more bottles of wine than guests, I think it might have been a 2:1 ratio. And while we drank a good amount there were still 4 bottles left over!

The surrogate family: Amy, Diane, Barbara & Mary

The feast! Includes stuffing by Diane, and sweet potatoes and spinach made by Barbara!

Needless to say, although we were not in the US we were still super gluttonous and had way too much food! And I got to take an entire tart home! So in typical Murphy tradition, I had a piece for breakfast! And I am thinking about having another slice now...yumm! I hope you all had great Thanksgivings with your families and and are suffering from turkey hangovers (Mayen, I know you are).
This year I am thankful because Pat and Bri Bri are coming in less than a week!

Besos!

Truly running the Hash

We've talked about the Hash run a couple times on this blog and I've now done it 3 times (Cait 4 or maybe more).  Yesterday though, Cait and I, along with our friend Marlo, were the hares!  Hares = we were in charge of organizing food for 35 people and planning and then laying the trail in the morning before everyone arrives at 11.  From what we were told afterwards, ours was a big success.  Woo hoo!

Cait, me, Marlo as the crowd started to arrive

Marlo is big into running and so took on the planning of the trail route, thankfully.  We met her at 8:30 yesterday morning to lay the trail, i.e. throwing flour on the ground every 10 feet or so, trying to aim for places that won't get swept up or licked up by dogs.  The section I had contained the Botanical Gardens and it was not easy finding places to dump flour there - I didn't want to ruin the pretty plants and grass, and there was a security guard tailing me everywhere I turned.  So, I threw some near a garbage can and then on some of said grass in a couple spots, and then was on my way to the next part of the trail.  Ha oops, I heard later from the runners that it was impossible to know where to go in the Botanical Gardens, but fortunately they used their good sense and figured it out.  


I didn't run much yesterday because I'm still recovering from my stupid Achilles tendonitis.  Also, we anticipated about 20 people and ended up with 35, making it one of the biggest (if not the biggest) BA Hashes to date.  So, when everyone went out for the run, I went to the grocery store to get more food and then prepare it.  Everyone's clearly very hungry when returning from the run and especially yesterday since it was ridiculously hot, so it was a good move to have extra food instead of not enough.  There was also plenty of beer, which everyone wants even more than the food when they get back.


When all the hashers left around 5, Cait made the awesome discovery of a big bottle of beer that was left behind.  We weren't sure how it could have been missed considering it's a focal point of the after-run ceremony, but nonetheless, we hares treated ourselves to Cait's perfect find and toasted our good work out in the sun.  


Salud!

Who ordered the cubierto?

Last night at dinner, one of our friends told a story where the question of "Who ordered the cubierto?" was posed.  Everyone at the table erupted with laughter and every time someone said it for the rest of the night, it continued to make us giggle.

For anyone who hasn't been here to experience the ever-so-popular cubierto, the reason the line was funny is because most restaurants you go to charge you a cubierto for the table set-up, which sometimes means only silverware, a plate and the like, but most of the time includes bread too.  At nicer restaurants, it could also mean that they give you so much to eat, you don't even have to order side dishes.  This concept has always been kinda annoying (except in my opinion for the really nice ones), given that at home we get the bread or silverware for free, but I guess it just is what it is and in the end isn't all that expensive because of the exchange rate.

Example of what comes with a nice restaurant's cubierto (this one is from La Cabrera)

It doesn't sound as funny as I'm writing it, but as I said, the question "Who ordered the cubierto?" really made us laugh.  It's just one of those things you have to accept - nobody orders it, but yet there it is.  That lovely surprise!

I could say the same thing for my new buds here.  By buds, I mean that last week, I had a few mosquitoes hanging around my head while I slept, and this week brought moths in my closet.  I certainly didn't order them.

Since I've been exercising a bunch, another exciting surprise for me has been getting achilles tendonitis pain in my left foot.  It's like my body is rejecting exercise!  Of course,  now that I am enjoying my exercise, this is what happens - but, I'm dealing with it just fine and hope the pain will subside and let me resume my schedule shortly.  

I recently rejoined the working world, albeit part-time, but that has brought some surprises in the world of HR too, where I have found myself landing again.  For example, an applicant is required to put a head shot on his/her resume, as well as age.  Surprise!  It's not just for the modeling business.  

After dinner last night, we went to La Noche de los Museos (Night of the Museums), which is provided courtesy of the city of BsAs.  Pretty much all neighborhoods participate by opening the doors of their museums (170 in total) to the public from 8 p.m. - 3 a.m. and hosting various events.  The city also provides free buses to get you from place to place.  Despite the free buses, surprise - we somehow ended up covering major ground by foot (ouch, achilles tendon).  Our last stop of the night was at Palacio del Congreso (the Congress building), where at 2 a.m., the line snaked around the corner so far it looked like it would take several years to get in.  Fortunately, it only ended up taking 15 minutes before we got to the bag and body scanner.  In general, the security was pretty lax inside the Congress building, but the funniest we noticed was for a room we weren't allowed into. How did we know to stay out?  Well, there was a piece of paper over the double doors that said something like don't come in here. Trying to picture that going down in the Capitol building.

At least surprises can make life more interesting, even when they are of the cubierto style!

Good deal!

It’s hard to come up with new and interesting things to write about after being here for so long, especially when you fall into a routine, everything feels so ordinary. However, the truth is living here is very different from living in NYC for a few reasons, the obvious one is it’s a different county with a different culture and language, but the other one is that this is the first time in my life that I have been unemployed for more than 3 months since I graduated from college in 2003. And even when I graduated from college I had a temp job, so this whole not working thing is a lot more challenging than one might think…I find myself constantly thinking about how I can save a peso or two.
I remember during my first few weeks here I met someone who said that you could live here off US$15,000 sans employment without any worries. This person ate out all the time and took cabs everywhere. He suggested I make a spreadsheet to keep track of my finances. I never made the spreadsheet, that’s probably because I didn’t really have the budget that he had and I wasn’t planning on spending above my means- I mean after all, last time I checked they weren't throwing money at social workers. Instead, I chose to take advantage of the low cost of living in Buenos Aires because it is a good place to live on a tight budget.
A ver, for example, last night I worked with a girl down here- I am using the term work loosely- I am helping her with some grants she is working on and also researching other possible funding. I digress, the point I am trying to make is that transportation down here is a steal. I took the subte to her house for a whopping US$0.30; and then for helping her, I got a delicious meal for free! We finished up working around 12am, which meant the subte had been closed for two hours. I was faced with two options, I could take a $5 cab or I could take a $0.30 bus ride. After looking at my nifty Guia-T, I realized I could take a bus that would literally drop me off in front of my apartment. I opted to take the bus and 20 minutes later I was at my door- that is what we call a good deal! For those of you (Mom) worried about me taking a bus so late at night, don’t be, the Argentines are just finishing up dinner so everyone is on the streets heading home. However, I am a little afraid of the buses; I once got eaten by the bus doors and Amy had to pry me out. Fortunately, I was able to escape without injury, but Amy in the midst of her valiant efforts got a huge ass bruise on her arm. However, I have made my peace with the busses and I am vowing to take advantage of them more!
Now, another way that Amy and I save is by eating in. We’re getting a little more daring with our recipes, but we’ve also discovered the joys of the pre-cooked rotisserie chicken and after already having two meals from the chicken, I made a soup! It grossed me out a little bit, because I really had to rip apart that chicken to find the meat, but in the name of saving a buck, I did it. So today, on my free day, I made a bucket-full-I’m talking at least 8 servings- of delicious chicken soup (yes, technically all days are free days so to clarify a free day is when I don’t have a 2 hour Spanish lesson. And yes, I do realize I live a really tough life down here). Now, I am calling it delicious, but I may have used one too many bouillon cubes for the average persons’ likings. See the recipe (which I recommend) was in English, but the directions on the bouillon cubes were not, so I winged it. I also didn’t realize how much meat and flavor comes off the bones after you boil them in the stock- it’s like the chicken re-grows itself, I was a little disturbed. If you do make the recipe he gives a really smart tip about using a colander and a paper-towel, but I would try a coffee filter instead, I think that would work better. For $10 Amy and I will get 4-5 meals each- another good deal!
I am now on the lookout for other good deals, such as free museum days, free art shows, etc. So hopefully I can share some good finds like those soon! Un beso!

Mom & Dad Schulman in BA - Guest Bloggers!

After a 10 1/2  hour flight to BA and not seeing Amy for 4 months, we felt great joy when Amy walked into the lobby of the Marriott Hotel and into our waiting arms!

After checking in, we pushed forward despite our groggy state.  We had an early introduction to the Argentine parrilla (steakhouse) for lunch, where we mapped out our plans for the week, tried some Argentine food and Jeff had his first Quilmes beer!  By this time, we realized that Amy was speaking Spanish quite fluently, in both the hotel and restaurant!  When we met up with Cait, we realized the same for her!

One of the first things we noticed on our trip was that dinner in BA was off-limits until at least after 8:00PM, which was still very early by BA standards.  We even noticed that families were eating dinner with babies very late at night.  Since Amy and Cait were more accustomed to this late hour, we had to compromise about the time and generally went to dinner about 8:30 every night, which is very late for us in the USA!  But we did get with the program!!  

On our first full day, Amy took us on a beautiful walking tour where we went to the famous MALBA museum (Cait could not join us). On our way, we also passed the Floralis sculpture and other interesting sites in addition to noticing the many dog walkers that Amy and Cait have written about.  Later that night, we took the girls to a fabulous parrilla dinner at Cabana Las Lilas in the beautiful Puerto Madero neighborhood. We loved it!

The following afternoon, the 4 of us went on a 3 hour guided tour of BA. Our tour guide, Enrique, was excellent and a highlight of this tour was the Recoleta cemetery where Eva Peron lies in a mausoleum.  There are more than 6400 mausoleums and they are all architecturally interesting to look at.  We also noticed the many cats in the cemetery, which was very interesting to see.

Mom and Dad in front of Teatro Colon

Lucky for us, the first Sunday of our trip was Mothers Day!  Amy and Caitlin came to our hotel room with beautiful flowers in my honor, so I celebrated two Mothers days in 2010.  It was also Alissa and Bill's first wedding anniversary, so we called them to wish them well!   Sunday was also a terrific day at the San Telmo antique market and the Recoleta craft fair.  We ended the day at Marcelo, a fantastic Italian restaurant, where we  enjoyed a delicious mothers day dinner!

The next day brought us to the town of San Antonio de Areco, about an hour outside the city.  We went to a beautiful silver shop and then spent the rest of the day on Estancia El Ombu de Areco with our new friends Kaye and Tony.  What an experience!  Part of the day was horseback riding on a pictureseque trail surrounded by soy and wheat fields, llamas and sheep.  Meanwhile back at the ranch, they were preparing our traditional Argentine asado.  Jeff was very brave, and tried everything on his plate, including the blood sausage (a.k.a. black pudding, or as it's called here - morcilla)!!!  We really loved this day and our daughters were very proud of us that we went on horses!

For our next trip, we took the Buquebus high speed ferry to Colonia, Uruguay for a wonderful overnight stay.  We booked the Radisson hotel on line and were so surprisingly pleased with the very pretty hotel and its location, given that the online reviews didn't say such kind things.  After checking in, we had a lovely lunch at El Drugstore and then walked around the old part of the city.  Amy and Jeff climbed the old lighthouse while Cait and I waved from below!  While on top of the tower, Amy and Jeff discovered what a small world it is.  They met a guy named Andrew, who ended up being from Smithtown, which is not far from our home town!   After walking around some more, we returned to our beautifully located hotel to watch the sunset from the pool terrace.  The view from our hotel was stunning!

Dad and I on top of the lighthouse

Cait and Mom on the ground

Views from our hotel

When we got back to BA on Wednesday, Amy and Cait took us on a wonderful guided tour (with the help of Mr. Frommer) from Ave. 9 de Julio to the Congress building.  We so enjoyed finding the buildings that were highlighted in the book.  That night we all loved El Querandi, a beautiful Tango show complete with singing, dancing, and wonderful music.  

          Walking tour with Frommer's           Cait and I at the tango show

Lastly on Thursday, Amy took us to Tigre via the Tren de la Costa, where we took a boat out to the island of Tres Bocas and ate a surprisingly great lunch.

To close, we want to say how proud we are of Amy and Caitlin. Their knowledge of the city was fab and we so enjoyed being with them.  We know that this experience will help them to make good choices in life and will be a benefit in any path that they choose!