Category: argentina

Losing a day in Buenos Aires because of our cancelled flight was compensated by the lovely nature and service provided by Ana, our hostess at Giorgio’s B&B. We had door to door cab service to a nicely renovated top floor apartment in a 7-storey building on a busy street in Buenos Aires.

On our first night Ana took us and another couple from New York to a Milonga where we had a tango lesson and a chance to practice this very difficult dance. Tango is in the DNA of the Portenos (people from Buenos Aires) as evidenced by the number of milongas, tango shows, and this how-to diagram on the sidewalk.

The next day happened to be national census day (every 10 years, just our luck), and everything was closed from 8am to 8pm even McDonald’s and Starbucks. With nothing to do, we went to the park where we joined throngs of people enjoying the day off. How could they be counted if they weren’t at home? We wandered around famished until we came across a vendor selling sausages. We were first in line!

We wanted to visit the Casa Rosada (Pink Palace) and see the balcony where Eva Peron delivered her impassioned speeches to her beloved public. When we arrived, we noticed the flag at half mast, and a thin line of people filing past the palace.

All became clear when we saw the banners and discovered that Nestor Kirchner, former Argentine President and husband of current President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner had died of a heart attack during the night, and Argentina was about to enter three days of official mourning.

Later that day, the long line-ups, flowers and supportive graffiti demonstrated Nestor’s popularity. In contrast, the rise in Argentina’s world credit rating showed that international business felt differently.

There is a lot to see in Buenos Aires, and we could only experience part of it. We admired the Floralis Generica, a large stainless steel sculpture that opens and closes its petals using solar power.

We visited the Recoleta cemetery where tombs resemble mini high-rises and tourists wander through the lanes looking for the Duarte family tomb where Eva Peron currently rests.

We toured the Evita museum that is housed in a former women’s shelter established by Eva Peron. The museum tells her short life story and gives a sympathetic account of her rise to prominence using film, photographs and artifacts, including dresses from her famous wardrobe. This was followed by a lovely lunch in the restaurant attached to the museum.

Buenos Aires has some famous coffee shops. We visited Cafe Tortoni, possibly the oldest in the country and still a favourite of older Portenos even though these days tourists tend to outnumber locals.

We were sad to leave Buenos Aires as we were just feeling at home there. On the other hand, after just two weeks of Argentine Malbec, steak and media lunas (croissants), my waistline was saying it was time to go.

More photos of Buenos Aires from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sataylor/sets/72157625302943287/

Since our last post, we have braved the rushing waters of the Iguazu Falls, danced the tango at a milonga, witnessed a country in mourning, paid our respects to Evita and enjoyed our first visitors to the Galapagos. Let me show you Iguazu Falls first.

That is the Devil’s Throat, the most impressive section of the Iguazu Falls, a series of waterfalls located mostly in Argentina but also in Brazil. We spent an entire day in the national park on the Argentine side visiting the upper, middle and lower areas of the falls.

On the advice of a park employee, we saved the adventure boat trip for the end of the day. According to my guidebook, 5000 cubic metres of water falls per second into the river 70 metres below. Some of this water landed in the boat.

After a dry change of clothes and hot coffee, we hung around for the start of the Luna Llena tour, a trip back to the Devil’s Throat but under the light of the full moon. That’s where I tried my hand at night photography but let me tell you that taking pictures of fast running water in the dark with no tripod is no fun!

The next day we walked through the town of Puerto Iguazu and along the Iguazu river until we reached the Parana river and the tri-country border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. I was happy to be on the Argentine side where we lunched on a restaurant terrace and took in the view.

The following afternoon we headed to the airport to return to Buenos Aires where we would have almost a week of city life. Hah! We had just boarded the plane when the captain informed us that the clock didn’t work. Thus began 4 hours of waiting to see if a new part would arrive that evening. Hopes were dashed when we saw OUR crew board the last flight out of Iguazu. Things turned out okay though. The airline put us up in a 5 star hotel complete with a buffet dinner, and we got to meet some nice folks from the United States.

More photos from Iguazu: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sataylor/sets/72157625425173082/

We’re now in Argentina for Sally’s IAMSLIC conference in Mar del Plata followed by a short holiday.

To get to Argentina, we first had a long stop-over in Guayaquil (scene of recent police strike) so we took the opportunity to walk along the malecon when we arrived in the early afternoon. Among the attractions along this new area are many sculptures, small food outlets and a tropical garden complete with Jurassic Park like dinosaurs. We also saw a tall ship rigged out for river dinner cruises.

Before taking the red eye out of Guayaquil to Santiago, Chile and then on to Buenos Aires, we were able to score some good java at a Juan Valdez outlet that features hi speed wifi. Yeah! What a treat after dial up speeds in Galapagos.

Mar del Plata is known for its incredibly long coastline and numerous beaches. It was also an introduction to Argentina’s famous cuisine, asado (bbq meats) and wine. The wine is Malbec and the meat is delicious. Can one ever tire of excellent slow fire cooked beef, pork, sausage and chicken? Down here that is a definite maybe.

One day featured a city bus tour that included a stop at the inner harbour. Have you ever seen a southern sea lion? We did, and he was huge! A local dog was very curious until the sea lion’s girl friend showed up and warned him off.

Our final day saw us bus to Estancia Santa Isabel for a genuine asado. On arrival we were handed a glass of white wine and led through the entrance to a very large grassy area where appetizers and more wine awaited. Soon a group of horses and gauchos in riding gear approached and treated us to an exhibition of riding skills after which some of us got to be dragged behing a galloping horse on a cowhide much in the manner of a skim board on water. There is more friction on a cowhide than water………I can vouch for that.

Following this we moved inside for the main event… the asado. Several salads accompanied meats which were cooked on large skewers arranged teepee style around the wood fire. Included were two kinds of sausage, steak, pork and chicken. Hind sight says I shouldn’t have had so many of the excellent appetizers as I couldn’t do justice to the asado. Of course there was lots of excellent Malbec to accompany the feast.

You would think that everyone would be ready for a siesta by this time. No way! The DJ turned on the music and everyone was up dancing, spearheaded by the exhuberant Latin American group. Who said librarians were no fun?

Next is Iguazu Falls in the north and then back to Buenos Aires. See you there.