IATTOUR Dec 26-Jan 1

Buenos Aires Week IV "Fin de Ano"

Monday 26:  In keeping with the Lowe family Boxing Day tradition, we were off to the horse races at the "Hippodrome"  with Carmel and Richard today.  This oasis in Palermo takes up more than a section of land filled with a number of horse tracks, lakes, exercise rings, exclusive "Jockey Club", betting stands, restaurants, and a sweep of white steps overlooking the race-way.  Even though we couldn't follow the commentator, we had no problem understanding the excitement as we followed our horses down the home stretch. 

 Richard "won" our betting competition by picking 3/5 winners and had to buy the wine for dinner.  For this, we dropped by one of the extensive wine shops in Palermo (wow what choices!) and stocked up for the week.  We also came across one of the many fireworks vendors that had some interestingly names packages of explosives;

The night was still young after dinner (~2230hrs), we headed off to Benita Milonga and listen to El Afronte while more talented and practiced Portenos and some tourists entertained us with their Tango steps. We were very surprised to find that we weren't in bed until about 2 pm.  Are we becoming Portenos?  

Tuesday 27: Out for a stroll along Puerto Madero...getting pretty warm today.  In fact too hot for the dogs; conveniently they seem to have this figured out in having the dog walkers well trained.

Picked up  the ferry tickets for R/C to go to Colonia tomorrow, then off to the Arms Museum today.  Ah.. El Museo de Armas.  Who doesn't enjoy a good gun?  How about thousands of them...and suits of armour, Samuri swords, tanks, Gattling guns/machine guns/pistols/rifles/motars/bazookas//.....and many more beloved weapons of individual and mass destruction.  This museum has something for even the most jaded collector!  We thought we would be in and out of here, but spent at least an 1 1/2 hours here.  We loved the full suit of mail and the tiny "personal protection" guns that look as if a finger would barely fit round the trigger.  

 for the horse that has everything- "a gas mask"

On the other side of this  cultural tour, Carmel and Richard were off to enjoy the Ballet at the Teatro Colon. They reported that all was amazing, but that the stage sets were beyond belief and that one of the lesser ballet dancers had stolen the show with his incredible leaps.  A "classy" day, all the way through.

off to the Ballet

Wednesday 28:  Although Carmel and Richard were on their way to Colonia del Sacramento today, we had just enough time to catch bus 130 to the MALBA- Latin American Art Museum this morning.  Before getting to the museum, we wandered through a few parks in Ricoleta/Palmero barrios.

Floralis Generis- follows the sun and closes at night.

The main exhibit space was dedicated to Carlos Cruz-Diez--he of the "optical Art" genre.  Pretty incredible movement and colour in his works--though they do get repetitive after awhile.  The most absorbing and unusual part of the exhibit was a white chamber with illuminated block sculptures and another chamber with constantly moving vertical lines (not for the faint of heart or people prone to epilepsy).  

Additionally, there were other artists represented including Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera as well as a fascinating gallery shop.   Carmel and Richard then raced to the Buquebus terminal to catch the ferry to Colonia del Sacramento while Tony and I headed back home to scout out a restaurant for tomorrow night.  The San Jaun Cafe, our favorite, is closed until late January!

Thursday 29:  Finally, the Parque Ecologica was actually open, so off we went on a very long jaunt.  This gigantic green space next to Puerto Maderos and the docks, offers glimpses of Buenos Aires skyline, acres of trees, (dry at the moment) lakes, plenty of bird songs and sweaty Portenos burning off those Christmas calories.  

 Cranky and tired, we returned home on foot for a siesta.  Carmel and Richard were back in time for an evening wander into the edge of San Telmo to a lovely restaurant called Caseros.  We photographed our delicious appies - Ceviche was the winner (a la the foodie blog sites), but missed the splendid  dessert as we were too busy gobbling it up.  My oh my.... chocolate, ganache and candied-poached orange slices!

Friday 30: We headed out this morning for our long-anticipated trip to Tigre.  This small town close to Buenos Aires has been described as the "green Venice" of South America.  

This is the confluence of many rivers forming the huge Tigre Delta and emptying into the Rio de La Plata.    It is possible to imagine that it looks much as Venice may have before the giant buildings were built..  It is a fascinating place of many, many waterways...a water community with vacation homes, water side stores, rowing clubs, yesteryear's resorts and tourist trails.  We stopped off up the Delta for a wander through the smaller canals and had a bite to eat...glorious flowers, big bees (size of hummingbirds!)

 

Tigre was a worthy day trip, though quite touristy and much more developed than we expected.  

And then...for something we had all been waiting for...the TANGO SHOW!  Carmel and Richard treated us all to the  dinner and show at "El Viejo Almacen".  We were blown away by the meal (many reviews aren't kind to Tango show dinners, but this was fabulous), wine/champangne and by the show.  A brilliant evening, one which lasted well into the night.

Saturday 31:  Today is the last day of the year and Richard and Carmel's last night with us.  As the occasion required we pulled out all the stops with Carmel and Richard picking up some exceptional wine.  Starting early gave us enough time to visit  Abasto barrio (home of Gardel and Tango) and peek into "Las Violetas-high tea and postres to die for" before returning to build a great 3 course dinner to accompany the wine. Tonight, we slowed down and savoured all, making the courses and wine last until midnight.  

For your enjoyment--a few recipes:

Chimichurri Sauce with Empenadas (an Argentinian staple)

http://fishcooking.about.com/od/saucesforfishandseafood/r/chimichurri.htm

http://www.whats4eats.com/meats/empanadas-recipe  (just buy the pastry--that is what they do down here!)

Richard demonstrated his prowess in two languages in free form scrabble.  We joined the revelers in Dorego Square with Champagne and accompanied by percussion blasts of fireworks which continued long into the night.  Richard suspects that the cadombe drums finally stopped in the square about 0600. Our lasting memories will include the sight of a very elderly couple propped up at a table next Square sitting from 1600 hours to after we left for bed.  Luckily, they were not there the next morning.

Sunday 1:  Oh it was a sad quiet day in San Telmo as Carmel and Richard got ready today.  We all wandered over to Puerto Madero and tried to get into the Parque--no such luck today- "Cerrado"! We did see evidence of a wild night every where with multiple giant boxes of spent fire works.  We were back to the apartment for "linner" and then Carmel and I had one last ramble around to shop in the Feria del San Telmo before they were on their way.  What a grand visit--one we will remember and recount often.   

 No sooner than we waved goodbye to Richard and Carmel, we walked around the corner on Defensa to find a huge crowd and a great jazz band.  Some great characters. The story continues!

IATTOUR Dec 19-25

Christmas in Buenos Aires Week III

Monday:

Today we returned to Puerto Madero after a little more research and finally located the geocache to place a travel bug.  It was the only cache we were able to locate, but gave us another chance to wander through the edges of the park and along the waterfront.  On our way to the cadet-training tall ship, we spoke to a German chap who has been camper-vanning his way through the Americas with his partner and large golden retriever for the past 2 years.  He started in Halifax, traveled across to Alaska and down to Ushuaia before stopping by the waterfront to wait for the trip back home (and back to work after New Year's).  He loved the trip through Patagonia--saw beautiful scenery and almost no one on the way down.  Walking back across to town, I (Elaine) was sprayed by yogurt (a thief's tactic, we had been told), but we kept walking and all was well.  After meandering down Florida Ave and having lunch on Corrientes Ave, we ducked into the Subte just as the monsoons began again.

Tuesday:

We kept close to home today as we were waiting forour British friend Lizzie to visit on her way home from the Spanish school in Montevideo.  There are venues and attractions of every sort in San Telmo, so today was "museums and churches day".  We hope to return to one of the churches for Christmas Eve mass with Carmel and Richard.  I was really surprised by a delightful exhibit at the City Museum on Children's Toys.  They had everything from dolls to bicycles displayed in an artful manner and the very welcoming guide seemed thrilled to direct us through. Had lunch in a nice Resto Bar "La Poesia", have their own microbrew beer on tap.  We spent a great evening catching up with Liz and finding out about her recent adventures.

 

Lunch at La Poesia

Wednesday:

As Lizzie's holidays are drawing to a close, we zipped into Boca on the bus to pick up some last minute travel and Xmas presents.  Even though it is very touristy, there are some surprisingly good deals in the less traveled areas (Elaine).  Wandering the streets it became apparent that a cruise ship had disgorged its cargo of "adventurous clientele"; not!.  After negotiating the streets to get away from the various relentless restaurant hawkers, I can safely say, that I do not need to return to this tourist ghetto again on this trip (Tony).  Afternoon siesta's are nice when it is hot; today was hot!  We went out to a nice local establishment for dinner, good thing we picked an inside table as the thunder and lightning started followed by buckets of rain.  It stopped to a drizzle by the time we left.

Thursday:

Get off to a bit of a late start and head off to the Abasto area to tour Gardel's neighbourhood.  As we come out of the Subte, we notice crowd's gathering, TV crew's and lots of police.  I guess this was just another impromptu demonstration which shut down Corriente's street for about an hour, traffic was a mess and lots of short tempers.  We wandered the neighbourhood looking at all the glitzy Tango shoes/clothes and finished up with a tour of the Gardel museum....neat to see good history on his career singing and in movies.  Back to San Telmo as Lizzie had to finish packing and head to the airport for 6 pm.  

 












We got news this afternoon that Elaine's mom Helen passed away this morning; very sad, but relieved that, as her friend, Dale said: "it was time to lay aside her worn out mind and body and be off on a new adventure".  It was good to speak to all our family and thankful for the very good communications at a time like this to remember Helen in her best years.  A big thanks to all of our friends for their kind notes. After Lizzie left for the airport, we went for long walk in the neighbourhood, then sat to listen to the music, watch the Tango dancers and raise a glass of wine to Helen's memory.

Helen Douglas (Schuetze) beloved mother and grandmother: Anne Schuetze (Thierry Pierret), Carl Schuetze (Cynthia, Dylan, Diane) and Elaine Ethier (Tony, Nicholas, Valerie), sibling: Verna Mikkelson and Gordon Douglas, and ex-wife of Dan Schuetze passed quietly away on December 22^nd .  Helen was born in Bella Coola, but spent the past 35 years in Sidney, BC.  She will be remembered for her kindness, creative abilities (owner of Classic Flowers, Sidney), artistic endeavors (SPAC member) and musical talents.  Her family would like to thank the staff at Kiwanis Pavilion for their kind care and attention to Helen.  Donations in her memory can be made to the Alzeheimer’s society.  A memorial will be held at a later date.    

Friday:

A quiet day of reflection and last local bits of Christmas preparations. We picked up some flowers on Corrientes and squished into the Subte on the way home--certainly a Christmas rush in BA!  Carmel and Richard returned from their excursion to Salta and Iguazu with lots of tales and photos for proof..they had a fabulous time.

Saturday:

Last minute Christmas preparations; dinner, wine, prizes!  Dinner was going to be seafood Paella, so off to the San Telmo market to get the fresh meat, lagostina, and veggies.  An excursion to the Mercado del Progresso to pick up the tapas for this evenings festivities; cheeses, olives, dried fruits, special breads, membrilla dulce; then on the way back muchos vinos- tintos, blancos, rosados...we will be happy campers.  

Mixed into this all was a stroll down Florida street to see all the last minute shoppers, just like at home.  Things wound down quite quickly with everything pretty much shut down by 2 pm.  We got dressed in our finery (as good as it gets) and headed off to the evening Christmas mass.  A shock greeted us on our arrival to the cathedral to see only a paltry assemblage of parishioners (~25) in this massive venue; the clergy almost outnumbered the audience.  It was a nice service,  with music, ritual, etc.  The walk back to Dorego Plaza was done on deserted streets aside from the occasional fire works  blast.  We retired to the flat to indulge in the collected delectable treats.  

 















At the stroke of midnight, WWIII broke out with fireworks exploding from all sides, this continued for 2 hours.  A quick foray to the street to observe was cut short when rockets started bouncing off the wall near our observation post...time to go to bed.

Sunday-  Merry Christmas From BA

On our way out of the apartment  for a walk, we were shocked to see that many people were setting up for the Sunday San Telmo market; seems that even the biggest Christian Holiday of the year does not slow down this institution.  A leisurely morning stroll by all 4 of us "Pseudo-Portenos", along the Puerto Madero and Parc Ecologica helped clear the cobwebs on this fine Christmas Sunday morning.  Unfortunately the parc was locked down till noon, we guess to keep it from getting burned down with fireworks from the previous evening as there was plenty of evidence scattered along our entire walk.  

mmmmm-panatone for Xmas brekkie!

It was starting to get warm and we were now a bit peckish so we came back to our Pan Dulce (aka Pannetone), fresh fruit and a really nice cup of coffee (thanks Santa Carmel).  Again sated, the ladies were keen to explore the market, Richard and I opted for a siesta.  Later in the afternoon, the first bottle of vino blanco (Torrontes, one of our favorites) was cracked to begin our next few hours of calls, texts etc to friends and family's at home and abroad...ain't modern technology swell!  A few games, chores and a nap.

Out to listen to a bit of street music in the market...some great artists...before beginning the dinner prep....  A great collaborative effort turned out a scrumptious Seafood Paella with all the accompaniments.   Some word and dice games finished off the evening...what a full day with great friends.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!