Last Day in Buenos Aires

After breakfast, I received a few directions from my hotel on how to get to the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, also known as MALBA. Their website did not include directions, but the hotel had a copy of the Guia T which is an extensive bus map the size of a mini binder. The subte is ok, but the buses or collectivos are the main source of transport in the city. I made the 4 block walk to the main avenue and flagged down (you have to wave), my bus - #130. Was pretty proud of myself as I enjoy taking public transportation, especially in new cities! Just ask my Sweep the Leg football team when I decided it would be fun if we took the light rail in Salt Lake City...

Art at the MALBA

MALBA is 3 floors and there was a retrospective of the last 100 years of Latin American art. They had a few pieces by Rafael Jesus Soto. I knew I recognized the name and realized it is because NYU Women's Alumni Initiative is holding an event at a NY gallery featuring only her work in February.

Kahlo, Rivera, Orozco, Xul Solar, Torres-Garcia are all well-represented. The 2nd exhibition was Carlos Cruz-Diez's "El color en el espacio y en el tiempo". Very cool uses of color. Also an Andy Warhol ironic photo series of Argentina repaying their debt to US in corn was also quite humorous. The benches, also super decorative, added to the modern ambiance. Amanda would have enjoyed the exhibit where an artist, Luis Fernando Benedit used plants, in his "Fitotron".

I headed back on the same bus and caught it just in time. I headed towards my hotel but got off a few blocks before so I could try Broccolino - I was in the mood for some pasta. I ordered the black fettuccine in arrabbiata sauce. Anyone who knows me knows I love black pasta and it was super fresh.

I headed back to the hotel to put on some warmer clothes to prepare for the northeast weather and waited for my taxi. My ride to the airport was less than 40 minutes when it should take about an hour - there were practically no cars on the road. As such I was early for my flight, but had wanted to make sure I had enough time. Amanda had a tough time getting to the airport on Wednesday because the highway was closed. My driver said Wednesday was a complete mess. But as I had to check out already, either I sat at the hotel or at the airport.

So I have a bit of time as I sit by the gate and wait to board my overnight flight! Buenas noches!

Palermo and Puerto Madero

So the coffee from last night kept me up last night. As such you might have noticed me online as I used the Tryp's business center. However, I could not sleep in and got up for breakfast. I made my way to Palermo via the subte. I was surprised to know that the subte fare had more than doubled since New Years Eve. The hike was effective January 6th and went from $1.10 to $2.50 pesos - from less than $.30 to around $.60 USD.

After walking a few blocks, I was asked by a local where the zoo was. Not sure why she thought I would know, but I pointed it out to her. Allison had mentioned she really enjoyed the zoo, and it looked nice through the fence, but I was not particularly interested as I had seen lots of animals in Patagonia.

I headed to the Evita museum that was interesting with her clothes on display and old footage of her speeches and funeral. The museum is housed in the building of her foundation and only opened relatively recently in 2002.

Afterwards I headed to Plaza Serrano, supposedly the center of Palermo life and plopped a seat at a cafe to rest and read for a bit. The neighborhood was cute with various Asian restaurants, furniture stores, and etc.

I then headed to the most eastern part of the city, Puerto Madero. This old port is lined with fancy restaurants, hotels, and a few corporate complexes. There is also a famous women's bridge that is quite artistic.

Puerto Madero with the famous Women's Bridge

I decided to have a lunch / dinner at Cabana Las Lilas, considered one of the best steak restaurants in the world as they maintain their own estancia, or ranch. It was included in my "1,000 places to see before you die" book. They brought me the wine list on an iPad and immediately a gazpacho shooter and a plate of antipasto and bread rolls. As such, I opted not to order any appetizers and just got a ribeye. Probably the juiciest steak I have ever had! The glass of wine I ordered was an Alamos of Catena Malbec and they gave me a very heavy pour. The service was great too.

"Estoy Jugoso"!  (Translation: I am juicy)

To walk off the food, I did a bit of last minute shopping and walked around for a bit. Boy was my Spanish tested - most of the people did not speak English, but were quite patient.

After a full day of walking and lots of eating, I returned to the hotel to organize for tomorrow and rest up for my travels back!

Pool and Tango

Woke up this morning and headed down to the Novotel's breakfast. Every place we went included breakfast, but the Novotel was by far the most extensive with waffles and typical American breakfast items like bacon and eggs. I spent about 4 hours laying by the pool and reading. It was sunny with a light breeze - so relaxing!

After a late checkout, I made my way to the Melia Tryp hotel about 7 blocks away. The Novotel is in the theater district so just like Times Square, plenty of people to navigate with my rolling luggage. The Novotel rates jump closer to the weekend and I had picked the Novotel to enjoy a pool in the city, but wanted to make sure I did not become too lazy and lay only by the pool for the next few days.

On my way, I walked a few blocks out of the way to see the Teatro Colon where it appears they are doing some construction out front. Considered one of the top 5 opera houses in the world, I would definitely have opted for a night at the opera if it was in season. Gotta remember it is summer here, so both the opera and soccer seasons (would have loved to have seen a Boca Junior game) are on hiatus. The acoustics in the opera house are suppose to be incredible.

I finally made it to the Tryp and bought a soda on the way since it was so hot. Laying by the pool had not only gotten me so tired but engrossed in my book so I finished it up and took a quick nap after checking in. The Tryp hotel is smaller than the Novotel, but the room is bigger and has less lights. Seriously the Novotel was really into ambiance lighting with a ton of switches everywhere. Amanda and I had a fun time trying to figure them out. I mean, I guess it is nice to have the option of green or red lighting?

I headed out late afternoon to wander and to eventually make my way to Cafe Tortoni to watch a tango show. There was a line down the block for the famous cafe which looked like it was straight out of a Toulouse Lautrec painting - very European. As I had time before the show and was not allowed to enter, I went across the street to eat some pasta at a cafe and have some coffee. I had been lethargic all day and wanted to make sure I stayed alert during the show. Seriously need a vacation from my vacation! :-)

The show was great and I hope to upload videos when I am back in the states. There were couple dancers, solo male dancers, and a singer who sounded great. The guy next to me kept singing along so I assume they were well-known ballads. He definitely reminded me of Julio Iglesias. The music was also great - I forget how good the accordian can sound.

Can't wait to share the videos!

Back to Buenos Aires

The overnight bus went smoothly except for when an lady asked if we could switch seats with her so her mom can sit on the lower level and not have to climb to the upper level. I asked if the seats were the same and she said yes. When I went up to see, at the same time a nice lady told Amanda they were not, so we had to politely respond to her that we wanted our seats back. It was ok but a little awkward. While a Cameron Diaz / Ashton Kutcher movie played, Amanda and I fell asleep and woke up in Neuquen around 5 am. Neuquen is supposedly a transportation hub and about 5.5 hours from Bariloche.

We hopped on our flight at 7 am and made it back to Buenos Aires. This time I had opted to stay at the Novotel for the night so that Amanda and I could enjoy their pool before Amanda returned at night for NY. Unfortunately the weather was a little rainy and very cloudy. We took naps and rested in the room.

Around midday, we headed over to Calle Florida, a street famous for shopping and to Plaza San Martin. We were now in the business district and for Amanda's last meal, we opted for a steakhouse called Al Carbon. We had beer, salad, mashed potatoes and squash, a sirloin and ribeye. Delicious!

We headed back to the hotel and made our way to the pool where we were entertained by a family with small children using the pool.

After a few daiquiries by the pool, Amanda got ready for the airport and I opted to stay in tonight and rest as we had traveled all day yesterday on the lakes crossing, then an overnight bus, and early morning flight back to Buenos Aires.

As I explore Buenos Aires the next few days and rest up for the flight back, I will surely miss Amanda who has been by my side for the last 11 days and friend for almost 11 years. Thank you for an unforgettable trip - you are an amazing companion and wonderful friend! Safe trip back! Hope you appreciate I am watching House as it seems to be the only thing they play here...

Buenos Aires

We arrived safely in Buenos Aires this morning. Our flight was quite lovely thanks to the best flight attendant ever, Ramiro. I failed to mention last night that we were pacing the Washington Dulles terminal because Amanda had been bumped from her confirmed seat that was right next to me. After speaking with several United service representatives (via phone and in person) they would only offer the Economy Plus seats for a charge or put us on standby for a seat change so we could be together. Ultimately we got seated together, but in the very back and therefore SURROUNDED by children. Not what we wanted on an overnight flight especially since the boys near us were continuously fighting and playing noisy video games with no headphones.

When I asked the flight attendant, Ramiro if it was possible to move,he asked if I liked children. I replied that I love them, and they behave when I'm their Sunday school teacher, which I was not of the children on the plane, and I still wanted to enjoy my single hood. I even said "yo soy una soltera" which means a single lady. He laughed and gave us the Economy Plus seats for FREE and even got in trouble for it. He then proceeded to say it was Amanda's birthday and gave us free beers. We were in front, with extra leg room, no screaming kids, and free beers. Plus Ramiro was nice to us in the non sketchy way, which is most important. Amanda and Cyn for the win! Take that United!

Arrival was pretty uneventful. Despite warnings that customs could be difficult, our x ray machine guy couldn't even be bothered to collect our customs forms.

With a taxi ride into the city, filled with American lite FM music, we arrived at the Wilton Hotel in Recoleta. There were very few options for New Years Eve that were affordable and in Recoleta no less, but so far the people have been hospitable and the room is very clean.

We rested for a bit and I strolled out looking for cash. Amanda hung out in the room as the night before she had taken the red-eye back from Nevada. Recoleta is replete with shops and restaurants. Totally adorable and very Parisian looking apts. The buses are zippy and the people very shi-shi.

I returned to the hotel and Amanda and I ventured out. On our way to the famous cemetery, we stopped for some delicious ice cream. It took us a bit to figure out we pay first, then order, but 2 Georgetown grads put together can do anything. I got dulce de leche and Amanda got marscapone. We also even ran into a nice gentleman who was from Perth, Australia which is where Amanda was born. We later learned he was really from Kalgoorlie. He told Amanda to move back to Australia immediately and she agreed to think about it.

At Recoleta park, we visited the Pilar Church and walked around the crafts stalls. We finally visited the famous cemetery with gorgeous mausoleums, very similar to the Parisian cemeteries. Some of the mausoleums are larger than some NYC apts! They say it's important to live in Recoleta, but more important to be buried in Recoleta. We made our way to the tomb of Eva Peron and the Duarte family, where tourists crowded, and also the Sarmiento tomb of the 7th president of Argentina.

By the way, in front of the cultural center, there was a sign for a play / show and on the bottom, it said "ojala". My Spanish class will appreciate that I spotted that as we spent extensive time discussing the Arab root of this word which is often used to exclaim with a bit of jealousy or means "I wish!"

At this point, we decided to grab a snack and ate outside at one of the restaurants along the Recoleta park. We shared chorizo and a margarita pizza with olives. We were surrounded by a variety of tourists and got to hear a little about their itineraries which sounded similar to ours. When I mean hear, more like eavesdropping. We decided post afternoon snack to head down to Plaza de Mayo where there are a bunch of government buildings and the Pink House - the president's house. Kind of interesting - White House - American, Blue House - Korean, and Pink House - Argentine. Presidents making up the rainbow in more ways than one.

Also, here from one of the Pink House guards, I got my first - "where are you from?" Me - "NY." "No, where are you really from?" It doesn't bother me, but definitely expect to hear it a few more times. Happens every time I travel.

Bottle caps to resemble the
Argentine Presidential symbol

We got to the Plaza de Mayo neighborhood via the subte which is the subway system. It's nothing too special, but definitely very cheap - 1.10 peso per ride or less than 30 cents. Nearby we also visited San Ignacio, the oldest church in Buenos Aires which is going under some renovations and then the Metropolitan Cathedral. I even got to take communion as they were finishing up mass. Inside the Cathedral, there is a mausoleum for General Jose de San Martin who helped liberate Argentina, Chile and Peru and fight for independence. The tomb of the unknown soldier is buried here as well. We accidentally missed the door to the Cathedral as the building looked like any government building that surrounded the plaza. We ended up walking a little through Microcentro - financial district trying to find the door. Your typical financial district on a Saturday - empty streets with lots of banks. It was especially interesting and sad, though, to see plaques in the sidewalks memorializing individuals who worked at the various banks and "disappeared" (were taken by the regime) in Argentina during the 70s.

Afterwards, we walked over a few avenues exploring the neighborhood, walked by the Obelisk which helped celebrate the 400th anniversary of the city in 1936, and took the subte back to our hotel in Recoleta. Flipping through tv, we did stumble upon a Korean channel and various movies dubbed in Spanish. However we ended up watching 3 episodes of House.

So for New Years Eve, we went to a charming, white cloth, BBQ restaurant in Recoleta around 10:30. The 4 course meal came with champagne, malbec, and unlimited beverages. Amanda and I were truly stuffed and had a wonderful time practicing our Spanish with the waiters who spoke little English. They were very kind to us. We tipped them even though the prix fixe included tip. We said it was to thank them for our poor Spanish.

So you might be wondering why we're not partying it up. We have to wake up at 4 for a 7 am flight to El Calafate and both our feet are swollen from all the walking. Upon our return to the hotel, we found ourselves locked out. When the security guard came to let us in, I said, "you're like my parents - locking me out when I return late." I said it in Spanish and he laughed. A lot. However, technically my parents never locked me out. I think I become more charming in Spanish.

Happy New Year or Prospero Ano Nuevo! Please ignore the fact that I do not have an accent over the n. I am not trying to wish you a new body part, but the blackberry is very limiting.