Lovely Uruguay

Carousel at zoo
see all photos »

Our final weeks in Buenos Aires have passed in a blur of food, wine, walking, music and a two day excursion to Uruguay.

Before we begin, let me get a couple of things out of the way: First, we had our only bad food experience in BA. We were on our way to find a recommended Italian place (Piola) and decided to stop in a cafe for an empanada y cerveza before wandering on about town. It was absolutely the worst thing we had eaten on the whole of our trip. They were old, stale and heated up in a microwave. And to top it all off, the margherita empanada was moldy on the inside upon further inspection. Ugh! We had to haggle to not pay for at least the rancid empanada and vowed never to return again. Fortunately the rest of our dining experiences greatly outweighed the one horror story. Second, there are two distinct reasons that would make living in Buenos Aires difficult: the pollution and the poop. Let's start with the poop. Because BA is such an urban oasis, if you are of the canine persuasion you spend a vast majority of your time in a high-rise apartment (with a balcony, if you're lucky) and therefore get taken on walks - often by one of the many professional dog-walkers in town - along the city streets and sometimes to the park. Needless to say, the amount of poop on the sidewalks of BA makes wearing Birkenstocks potentially hazardous. Not to mention that being forced to encounter poop in a variety of shades & textures with a queasy stomach from too much vino tinto the night before is just, well, wrong. The pollution problem is somewhat inherent to Buenos Aires being an enormous city of ten to twelve million (including tourists and commuters) with a plethora of city buses that all still run on diesel. At times, the air is so thick that it literally tickles my throat - and not in the pleasant way a nice shot of tequila might. :)

Polly want freedom?
see all photos »

On with the show: two Wednesdays ago, we made it down to the US Embassy just in time to mail in our absentee ballots. It is a pretty high security facility (go figure), but the process was smooth and our votes should have been received in Austin within three to four days of our visit. That Friday we made the long jaunt back to the Palermo neighborhood to do the oh-so-touristy thing of going to the city zoo. We just had to see how it worked in the middle of a gigantic industrial city, and the sad truth is, it just didn't work very well. Being of the animals-should-be-kept-in-their-natural-habitat variety, I was skeptical from the beginning and Todd and I both ended the afternoon more than a little disheartened. The architecture was amazing and there were certain critters (ducks, beavers and these weird rabbit/jackelope hybrids that just milled about the grounds and would come up and take food out of your hand. The one thing that all of the animals (aside from the wild cats and foxes) had in common was their uncanny knowledge that humans equal food. From the giraffe to the elephant to the chimpanzee to the sea lion, they all knew how to work it for the little bags of snacks that one could buy all along the zoo path for the specific purpose of feeding the animals. ** Soapbox ** If these incredible creatures are going to be housed for the sole enjoyment of us humans, then at least strive to create an open air, natural habitat sort of vibe. Animals, reptiles and birds do not belong in cages or glass boxes. So we went to drown our depression in a lovely Syrah and shared our sorrows with a delightful shrimp & heart-of-palm salad followed by spinach raviolis in a decadent shrimp sauce at another repeat dining establishment, T-Bone.

Feed us please!
see all photos »

Saturday night we made it back out to Palermo for a late night DJ set (http://www.myspace.com/frandigianni) at the Congo bar. This is a very hip neighborhood that we would love to stay in next time. Congo had great tapas, great cocktails & DJ Fran was fantabulous! We made it home around 3am with the city still abuzz with late night revelry.

Lovely Uruguay: We booked a ferry trip to Colonia, UR for Monday morning, where we would spend a few hours and then take a bus to Montevideo for two nights. This turned out to be a wonderful little excursion. Colonia is an absolutely charming town complete with cobblestone streets, enchanting architecture and a small cafe with a jazzy trio playing outside that we couldn't resist for lunch. After the meat smorgasbord that is Buenos Aires, fresh seafood was a divine intervention. The bus trip to Montevideo had many stops as there are regulars that use it to commute to Colonia from several of the surrounding small towns. We checked into the hotel around 9:30 and decided to splurge on room service and stay in. Come to find out the next morning, I had booked us a place on the opposite end of Montevideo from the city center, old town and port area that we had hoped to explore. Such is life! We were directly across from a small beach and decided to exhaust ourselves walking along the coast until we found some seafood and then we would take a cab to the Plaza Independencia. The one restaurant that I remembered reading about in Montevideo is called El Italiano but I have no idea where it is. It stays in the back of my mind. We walk and walk in the warm Uruguayan sun and pass up some enticing eats. There are meter markers all along the coast and we pass many people walking, jogging and relaxing along the way. After enjoying and exhausting ourselves for approximately 9-10 kilometers (6-7 miles), we come across a bevy of sailboats, see the sign in the distance for the local yacht club and simultaneously think "seafood!". Wandering up to the leisurely cafe immediately next to an incredibly stocked fresh seafood stand, I can't help but begin to grin as the words El Italiano enter my view. Kismet! Serendipidty! All those magical words that describe the universe winking at you at the right place and the right time. This was, without a doubt, the best seafood we have ever had, level of hunger not withstanding. We shared fresh salmon in a tropical fruity mustardy sauce with carmelized onions, raisins and homemade applesauce and an impeccably simple & delicious fish and chips with homemade tartar sauce. Color me happy in the deep blue shades of the sea...or in the case of Montevideo, a sort of murky brown. Todd and I wandered a bit farther in our post-seafood bliss and then took a cab to the center for a brief stroll through a bit of the rough & tumble old town to PLaza Independencia. With the sun soon to set and out skin ruby red from our trek, we catch another cab back to the hotel for another quiet night. The direct ferry back on Wednesday took just over three hours and landed us back at the Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires. We stopped in for an empanada and some blood sausage before heading to the apartment, afterwards strolling through a bit of San Telmo and encountering a veteran's protest in the park. These last few days in Buenos Aires would be sprinkled with other such encounters. Revolution and politics are humming in the city streets.

Photo Todd
see all photos »

That night we make it out to La Trastienda for an intimate Spiritualized show. They give an amazing performance and Todd is able to get a stellar recording. You can download it here: http://www.4shared.com/dir/10199776/54f5cb26/Spiritualized__La_Tracienda_BA_29-Oct-08.html

Thursday is spent attempting to figure out how to ship a package of souvenirs & gifts back to the Texas affordably. We are still dumbfounded and if anyone has any insight, please drop us a line. On the plus side, after wandering around all day, we happen upon Broccolini, an Italian place that I have wanted to try. It is packed with a mix of tourists and locals, smells authentic an has one table for two available. Our last dinner in Buenos Aires is muy rico y delicioso! Pepperoncinis sauteed with olive oil & garlic, fresh linguine with a tomato-mushroom sauce and house made spinach crepes stuffed with shrimp & mushrooms in a light tomato cream sauce. We allow ourselves to get talked into sharing the dessert specialty of the house - mascarpone ice cream in a fresh berry sauce. Dios mio, la dulce vida! A spectacular ending.

Graffiti Todd
see all photos »

On Friday we spend most of the day packing and getting things in order for our Saturday departure to Bariloche. That night we take a taxi out to the Personal Fest, an annual music festival in it's fifth year in BA, to see !!!, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Spiritualized and Four Tet. A night of music to bid us farewell from Buenos Aires.

We will treasure this time spent in such a magnanimous city and will most certainly return to experience even more of the Argentine culture. Ciao, Buenos Aires...