AH civilization...sophistication...mosquito attack...BUENOS AIRES!!
Paige and I arrived in Buenos Aires and was glad to be in a warmer climate. Though I could have done without the humidity, thank you very much. A short cab ride to our hostel, dumped our stuff and out we go to explore the neighborhood, Palermo Soho. We walked by a couple of places that Chris and I went on our last trip through South America 2 years ago. Then I realized...we stayed not too far from Paige and I's current hostel 2 years ago. A HA! For dinner, we went for sushi at Tenkuu in Palermo Viejo (I think...). YUM!!! After a little over 6 weeks of NOT much variety, I was in heaven! Hello asian food, I have missed you.
The next day we decided to do the tourist thing and went to see the cemetary in Recoleta. Beautiful blue sky, sunny, HOTT, and definitely make the cemetary less creepy. We also walked by and saw the Floralis Generica by Eduardo Catalano. I actually remembered how to get there from the cemetary. YES! After being out in the hot sun...we decided, it is time to explore the finer side of Buenos Aires, ie shopping!! Off we go to Peatonal Florida, an avenue only for pedestrians and LOTS of shops. This is where things started to go a little downhill. First, came the near robbing experience where Paige felt someone tried to lift her purse out of her backpack. Luckily, Ms Pagina here is an excelent packer and packed VERY smartly. Despite BOTH zippers on her backpack being COMPLETELY UNZIPPED, all the culprit got was a tourist map. The map that was to point us to delicious Thai food near by Plaza San Martin. BOO! And then, as we walked around trying to remember exactly which street the delicious spicy food is on, she got pooped on by a bird. FAB. So we decided to duck into this rather nice Japanese restaurant and have our lunch (and so she can clean up). What can go wrong here? well...how about the waiter forgetting to tell me that they are OUT of curry katsu until they brought out Paige's food? So I watched Paige eat and then she watched me eat. Damn you Irifune! The food was good though. I'd give them another chance. As we sat at lunch, the weather forecast slowly went from sunny to cloudy to chance of rain...to rain. Well, deciding that we must see the Obelisk since it is close by. We hauled butt to get there ONLY to be stopped by a torrential downpour. Luckily, there are lots of cafes with wifi nearby. It rained so hard parts of BA flooded and I learned the word 'hail' in Spanish (Granizo). We took the subway home because there was NO free cabs anywhere and they were letting everyone ride for free due to the weather. Back at the hostel, we plunked down in front of the tv and I learned the beauty that is Curling. It is like shuffle board but with bigger 'puck' thing. And the guys scrub at the ice frantically. Hilarious.
Next day, 2/20/2010, the day known as the last day of my fabulous 20s was spent dining and shopping. YES! I bought a cute pair of shoes and a dress to wear to dinner that night. My birthday present to myself is my justification for shopping and buying more stuff when I have to sit on my pack to zip it up. Dinner though, was the highlight of the day. Paige had schemed and schemed for the last couple of weeks to set up this amazing dinner at this closed door restaurant called Salt Shaker (http://www.saltshaker.net/ or http://www.casasaltshaker.com/indexen.htm check them out if you are ever in BA). It was super delicious, especially the pea gazpacho with a dollop of gelatined watermelon mixed with fresh crab. HEAVENLY! It was the perfect way to send off my 20s and welcome me to the 30s in style.
For our last day in BA, we decided to do some more sightseeing. We went to San Telmo where they were having the weekly antique fair at plaza Dorrego and arts and crafts stands all down Defensa. It was just as I remembered but with a LOT more people. Maybe it was because Chris and I came during BA's winter that we didn't see as many people when we went sightseeing. We got to see some tango dancing in the streets, not to mention a choripan and bifepan stand (awesome!). After a leisurely lunch at Territorio (where Chris and I ate at on our previous trip), we went to check out La Boca. It was hopping with people and just as vibrant with the colors as I remembered. On the way back, our taxi driving, upon learning that we understand some spanish, decides to give us an impromptu guided tour of the city as he sees it on the way to our hostel. Fab.
Bioweapon, this deserves its own little paragraph. So, Paige needed to mail back some stuff back to the states (all the winter/trekking gear) and off we go to the post office. Paige explained to the woman behind the counter that she needed a box to put the clothes/shoes in to mail it to the states. The woman responded with basically, you can't mail used clothing. After double checking our hearing, which prommpted the woman to write on a piece of paper 'ropa usado, no'. We asked her why. Her explanation is that it might make people sick. New clothes you can mail but used cloth that is yours and that you want to mail to yourself? NO. Incredulous! Who'd have known used clothes is counted as bio weapons!? Hello defense department, are you getting this? A lot of taxpayer dollars can be saved here...I think Argentina is on to something. LOL.
Next up, WINE!!!! Hello Mendoza...here we come!
Posts
