A Gourmet Bus Ride

Leaving the city of Buenos Aires, we chose the overnight bus to get to Mendoza.

Positively surprised with the very comfy seats (and this is true), the journey also included a dinner and breakfast on board. The food was the second surprise. Nicley served, the 4 course gourmet dinner started off with some sort of toast (it was fine bread air dryed in order to get the neutral taste of toast) with secret toppings. The second course was a delicious salad, mainly based on potato and decorated very nicely. Especially the spicing was done in perfection. The main course was then a typical tarte. The one incredient which was obvious was cheese...the rest will remain a secret to the cook. To finish the dining experience, we got a delicious croissant (medialuna) accompained with a fantastic dulce de leche cream (caramel cream).

To summarize, I have to mention that AmericanAirlines Food is crap. So we were surprised that there is even a level below that. :-)

High-five with the new Pope?

Yes, please!! :-)

it's all about bars..., markets and food

Last day in BA.
Our friend Maura  went home and we are taking our bus to Mendoza.

Delta of Tigre

To runaway from the city we spent 1 day in Tigre. You can get there by train from BA Retiro station. It costs only 3.5 pesos!
Tigre is a getaway of wealthy Portenos (BA inhabitants). It's situated in islands. The whole region is a part of Delta Parana. The town sits on an island created by several small streams and rivers and was founded in 1820.
To get to a specific address you need to know by which river it is situated. Each habitat is named.
The main problem here is a potable water. You have to buy it in supermarket boats. 

What we noticed at a first glance - was the 'dirty' color of the water. It appears that it comes from the material brought by the river from central part of he continent.
Nevertheless, I wouldn't like to swim there...
In this region, it's not rainfalls which can cause floods. This is dominated by winds: first one comes from north-west and it's called pampa. The other wind comes from the ocean (north-east). It rises the water level which can be dangerous.

Later on we took a boat back to Puerto Madero (BA). It cost us 150 pesos and was worth it's value. It's a good alternative to the train.

Veganismo es justicia!

I thought that vegetarian do not exist in Argentina. And if so - they must have it very hard to keep eating soya schnitzels instead of the real ones...
Surprisingly once walking through Av. de Julio we saw the protest of vegetarians. Aparrently, they were not protesting against killing the animals but they just wanted to demonstrate their right to be a vegetarian. Well, this must be not too easy.
Just some statistics: Argentina's one of the biggest exported product is soya. They sell 95% of it to Asia and Russia.

Need fire?

If so, just walk down on Av. Independencia and grab the public lighter outside the store. Its all about customer relations I guess :-)

Little stroll through Buenos Aires

Diego is here

In my spanish school there's a big portrait of Diego Maradona.
Together with Messi they the most popular celebrities. As we can see - the legend is alive!

Fancy a theatre? Or bookshop? Or both?

Ateneo is one of those places about which you are actually not sure where you are. At a first glance it looks like theatre but ... surprise! You are in a bookshop !!!

Buenos Aires Street Art

Buenos Aires Street Art has a very vivid scene. It's known internationally and has deveopped only in late 90's. The huge increase in graffiti and Street Art was triggered by the political chaos that followed the economic crisis in 2001.

Today we can find here huge variety of tags, to sticker art and posters. The last ones interested me the most. 

They call themselves Street Artists or Wall Painters.  Together with Matt we went to Colegiales to see some interesting paints.

Nowadays, when Banksy's work is being auctioned, we have different perceive of Street Arts. Take a look:

 

 

Rats are one of favourites motives of street artists. They are symbol of the protest.

 

The author of this one works for Cartoon Network and is known fashion stylist. His paints are inspired by cartoons.

really an art?

The one below is created by a famous italian street artist called Blu. Check his youtube movies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uuGaqLT-gO4

First graffiti in Buenos Aires appeared in 1994 which is much later than in Europe or USA. Political regime didn't make it any easier. Blu was one of the first artist. In the paint below we see a baby. It's an alegory of the country under military dictatorship between 1976-1982. The interpretation was very controversial and Blu never took part in this discussion.

Some of interpetations say that the child got a 'dictatorship pill' into his mounth and it makes him sick. However, Blu leaves it open.

Based on stop motion technique he created a 6 mins movie which took him a round year.

This paint is consider as one of most important voices against crisis and showing the current political moods. In 2001 due to market crash, 1 peso equals to 1 dollar went down to 5 pesos=1 dollar. People lost money of their lives.  This resulted in many protests.

THe paint below is a result of Buenos Aires Street Art Event from 2012. The winner had this big wall for his disposal.

Btw: I didn't mention that in Argentina street painting is legal and depends only on owner of the property.

Warning: facebook knows what you ae doing at the moment :)

YES, it's legal

Pop Art style graffiti inside one of Palermo's Cafe.

 

Protest against deforestation

 

 

Thanks to Matt for a great trip!

You can find him under:

http://www.buenosairesstreetart.com/tours/  

 

 

Don`t hassle the Hoff

Today we`ve seen the one and only, the man himself, the one who thinks that its because of him that the Berlin Wall fell...yes we are talking about: THE HOFF (he is all over the city of BA...they must have missed all the stories about him I guess :-) )

One night in Buenos Aires

I have the impression that BA never sleeps. Only when it gets dark, the city shows us it's another (better) face. First reason is:

Milongas.
It starts usually around 22. Not earlier. It's  perfect to have dinner before. And don't go to the restaurant earlier than at 8pm. It's considered as early.
El Afronte in Av. Peru 571 is one of those not too touristic places where you just can seat in the corner and observe.
If you are lucky, you will see the live band, otherwise, the tango is played from the old cd.

 

Tango itself is thought to start in Buenos Aires in 1880's where lot of european immigrants arrived in BA to steer their fortune in a new country. They settled down but missing their women, they left behind, sought out cafes and bordellos to ease the loneliness. Here, they danced with each other, while waiting for 'their lady' to be available - women were scrace back then! 

Later on the trend spread to the Europe and USA. In 1955 however, Argentina became a military state intolernat of artistic national activities. Some of Tango songs were banned. The tango became 'vivid' again after 1983 when argentinians wanted an experience of a new life.

There are 4 styles of dancing tango. We have taken our first lesson and it's not sth you can learn in one hour. The fact is that you'd better know your stuff when you go there :) 

Got Yerba Mate?

It's the most popular argentinian drink. You won't find it in the menu because it's a standard. You drink it at any time of the day. For me it tastes like very strong green tea. 
It contains coffeine and has relaxing properties. 
Basically you see it everywhere.

Estancia de San Antonio de Areco

We have spent one day observing the life of gauchos.

We went to beautiful town of San Antonio de Areco where we met out guide Guillermo. With a great sense of humor he explained us the Irish history of the town, guided us through small and charming bars, local artistic atelier, local radio and  handcraft atelier. In the afternoon we had a great asado and horseback riding.

Local grocery:

 

Which one would you like to have? 

 

HAPPY Basti 

 

Stylish cafe and (stylish) Maura :

 

"after work" music of gauchos:

 

 

"Why is my plate empty again??":

 

 

We can recommend services of Guillermo. You can find him on Trip Advisor:

www.caminopampa.com 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g312741-d2071959-Reviews-Camino_Pampa_Tour_San_Antonio_de_Areco_Town_Estancia-Buenos_Aires_Capital_Federal.html