Don't cry for me Argentina!
I got back from Argentina on Sunday morning after a good 22 hours of traveling. Oy. But I had such a great time eating steak and drinking wine. And eating steak and drinking wine. And then drinking some more wine. The exchange rate really favors the dollar, so we could get really good bottles of wine for like $12. And what's another $12, really? Order another bottle!
Also, if you ever get a chance to go to Buenos Aires, you must take a taxi. They're very cheap and really are quite a fun ride because the first rule of driving in Buenos Aires is that there are no rules. Seriously. Drive very fast for a short distance and then slam on the brakes, stopping two inches from the cars on all sides of you? Sure. Go straight through a bend in the road, crossing six lanes in the process? No problem. Pass cars stopped at a red light by driving into oncoming traffic and then run the red light? Yeah you do. All of these things happened. Multiple times with different drivers. But in the taxi, I had a weird feeling of invincibility, probably because I never saw a dented car much less an actual wreck. It's not being a bad driver if everyone else drives like a maniac, too.
Follows is a (rather lengthy) collection of some photos and some information about Argentina and the people who live there. I'm a nerd that way.
After arriving Sunday morning, we went to San Telmo, a more working class sort of neighborhood with a large Italian population. Argentina is primarily (like 97%) made up of people of European descent, and Spanish, Italian, and Irish are the primary ethnicities. San Telmo has an open-air antiques market on Sundays, along with art displays and street performers. I saw tango dancers, living statues, a live band (complete with an upright piano sitting on the sidewalk) and a puppet show. We ate lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant, enjoying steaks and several bottles of wine (you might find that this is a bit of a theme of my meals in Argentina). The restaurant had a line of people waiting out front, but my friend Tomas, who is from Mexico and was the only one of the group who spoke Spanish, went in and chatted up the manager. About two minutes later he came out to tell us he had a table for the six of us. Looks of death came from all the people waiting outside for a table. Heh.
Here's a photo of the street in San Telmo:
We went to a soccer game Sunday evening, and it was amazing how into it the people were. They sang and beat drums the entire time. We saw some people marching into the stadium carrying a long piece of material, which turned out to be a giant flag they unfurled during the game. Seriously, this flag covered the entire section of the stadium, both decks. It was he-uge. After the game, security officers wouldn't allow the home team fans to leave until the visiting team had left, so as to prevent violence. Nice.
The Great Flag Display:
Monday we took a city tour and went to Recoleta Cemetery, where Evita is buried. Remember that Amazing Race challenge where they had to find her grave? I don't at all understand why it was so difficult for them. Recoleta was actually very pretty, and looked like an only slightly creepy city of the dead. The mausoleums are all nicely done in a variety of styles, so it really does look like a miniature city. The strange thing about Recoleta was the large number of cats that lived within the cemetery's walls. Apparently they're there to keep the rat population to a minimum, and people actually come in twice a day to feed them. I kind of want to be a Recoleta Cemetery cat. Is that weird? All they do is lounge around all day in the sun (or shade), waiting for someone to come feed them. And if they get bored, there are plenty of places to investigate in the cemetery. What does not sound great about that?
We went to the oldest church in Buenos Aires, which very handily is right next to Recoleta cemetery. The church was of course very pretty, and it had a beautiful silver altar that was shaped or stamped with various images and decorations. It was believed that an empty space would allow evil spirits to enter. Speaking of evil spirits, I took this picture of a statue of Jesus that is both creepy and funny. Creepy because of the skinned knees. Funny because while he's supposed to look forlorn, he looks mostly bored to me. I know, Special Hell.
We also saw Casa Rosada, which is where the President works. The president at the time liked how Americans called the presidential building the White House, and he wanted a similar sort of name for his place, and at the time the two prevailing parties in Argentina used the colors red and white. Mix them and you get pink; therefore, "The Pink House." I'm not sure if you can tell, but the metal barrier in this photo has "Bush Go Home" spray-painted on it. Argentines love Americans, but they don't so much love our president like many Americans.
The same public square in the above photograph has many white handkerchiefs painted on the sidewalk around the square. These handkerchiefs are there to honor the mothers of people who were disappeared in the 1970s during a strict military dictatorship. For decades, these mothers marched around the square wearing white handkerchiefs in a silent protest to what happened to their children. Recently they stopped because they are simply too old now to march, but they still do not know what happened to their children. In total, about 30,000 people disappeared, including hundreds of babies. The government asks that people who are about 30 years old and who question their origins to come forward, in hopes of being identified as one of the disappeared babies. The disappeared adults are presumed dead, but no one knows exactly what happened to them.
On a completely different note, I got really drunk Monday night. We went to a wine tasting, but in Argentina, wine tasting apparently means drinking several glasses of wine and getting mostly drunk. But if you're looking for a good Argentinean wine, might I suggest a Malbec. Malbec is a very smooth, drinkable (clearly) red wine, or vinos tintos, as our Spanish speaking friends would say. Then we went to a bar where we did a couple of shots (no tequila for me, thank god), and then on to an Irish bar called Killkenny. There I met three Israeli guys, two Argentine guys, and one guy from Liverpool. I cannot tell you any of their names. But I can tell you that I spent a great deal of time that evening trying to convince the guy from Liverpool that he knew my friend Eddie, who is also from Liverpool. I don't really remember much about that night, but I'm certain that I did not puke. Woo!
We went to a gaucho ranch where - you guessed it! - we ate steak and drank wine. Just when you thought this post was going to be light on the fangirling, here's a photo of an Argentinean Brego:
On Friday and Saturday, we went to Iguazu Falls, which is up in the northeastern corner of the country, on the borders to Brazil and Paraguay. Iguazu was both the best and worst thing we did. It was really cool to see the falls, which are the widest falls in the world, but in the middle of our tour, it started pouring down rain. End of the world type rain. I guess that is likely to happen in the rainforest, but still. However, the rain did not stop our tour guide, who continued on with the rest of us following begrudgingly. We were soaked to the bone. I was the only one who brought a raincoat, but even that didn't matter after a while. Anyway, the falls really were worth seeing:
However, while walking to the falls, I saw this sign and almost turned back:
My favorite part? The snake seems to be smiling. Damn snakes. I didn't actually see one, however, so all was well.
Anyway, I had a really good time in Argentina, but I'm glad to be back at home, where I can sleep in my own bed, pee in a bathroom that doesn't have a bidet (I find bidets to be very, very gross and disturbing), and communicate with people on basic levels. I'm also looking forward to eating cereal and drinking diet coke. If you'd like to see more pictures, you can find them here. The password to view is emily.
Also, if you ever get a chance to go to Buenos Aires, you must take a taxi. They're very cheap and really are quite a fun ride because the first rule of driving in Buenos Aires is that there are no rules. Seriously. Drive very fast for a short distance and then slam on the brakes, stopping two inches from the cars on all sides of you? Sure. Go straight through a bend in the road, crossing six lanes in the process? No problem. Pass cars stopped at a red light by driving into oncoming traffic and then run the red light? Yeah you do. All of these things happened. Multiple times with different drivers. But in the taxi, I had a weird feeling of invincibility, probably because I never saw a dented car much less an actual wreck. It's not being a bad driver if everyone else drives like a maniac, too.
Follows is a (rather lengthy) collection of some photos and some information about Argentina and the people who live there. I'm a nerd that way.
After arriving Sunday morning, we went to San Telmo, a more working class sort of neighborhood with a large Italian population. Argentina is primarily (like 97%) made up of people of European descent, and Spanish, Italian, and Irish are the primary ethnicities. San Telmo has an open-air antiques market on Sundays, along with art displays and street performers. I saw tango dancers, living statues, a live band (complete with an upright piano sitting on the sidewalk) and a puppet show. We ate lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant, enjoying steaks and several bottles of wine (you might find that this is a bit of a theme of my meals in Argentina). The restaurant had a line of people waiting out front, but my friend Tomas, who is from Mexico and was the only one of the group who spoke Spanish, went in and chatted up the manager. About two minutes later he came out to tell us he had a table for the six of us. Looks of death came from all the people waiting outside for a table. Heh.
Here's a photo of the street in San Telmo:
We went to a soccer game Sunday evening, and it was amazing how into it the people were. They sang and beat drums the entire time. We saw some people marching into the stadium carrying a long piece of material, which turned out to be a giant flag they unfurled during the game. Seriously, this flag covered the entire section of the stadium, both decks. It was he-uge. After the game, security officers wouldn't allow the home team fans to leave until the visiting team had left, so as to prevent violence. Nice.
The Great Flag Display:
Monday we took a city tour and went to Recoleta Cemetery, where Evita is buried. Remember that Amazing Race challenge where they had to find her grave? I don't at all understand why it was so difficult for them. Recoleta was actually very pretty, and looked like an only slightly creepy city of the dead. The mausoleums are all nicely done in a variety of styles, so it really does look like a miniature city. The strange thing about Recoleta was the large number of cats that lived within the cemetery's walls. Apparently they're there to keep the rat population to a minimum, and people actually come in twice a day to feed them. I kind of want to be a Recoleta Cemetery cat. Is that weird? All they do is lounge around all day in the sun (or shade), waiting for someone to come feed them. And if they get bored, there are plenty of places to investigate in the cemetery. What does not sound great about that?
We went to the oldest church in Buenos Aires, which very handily is right next to Recoleta cemetery. The church was of course very pretty, and it had a beautiful silver altar that was shaped or stamped with various images and decorations. It was believed that an empty space would allow evil spirits to enter. Speaking of evil spirits, I took this picture of a statue of Jesus that is both creepy and funny. Creepy because of the skinned knees. Funny because while he's supposed to look forlorn, he looks mostly bored to me. I know, Special Hell.
We also saw Casa Rosada, which is where the President works. The president at the time liked how Americans called the presidential building the White House, and he wanted a similar sort of name for his place, and at the time the two prevailing parties in Argentina used the colors red and white. Mix them and you get pink; therefore, "The Pink House." I'm not sure if you can tell, but the metal barrier in this photo has "Bush Go Home" spray-painted on it. Argentines love Americans, but they don't so much love our president like many Americans.
The same public square in the above photograph has many white handkerchiefs painted on the sidewalk around the square. These handkerchiefs are there to honor the mothers of people who were disappeared in the 1970s during a strict military dictatorship. For decades, these mothers marched around the square wearing white handkerchiefs in a silent protest to what happened to their children. Recently they stopped because they are simply too old now to march, but they still do not know what happened to their children. In total, about 30,000 people disappeared, including hundreds of babies. The government asks that people who are about 30 years old and who question their origins to come forward, in hopes of being identified as one of the disappeared babies. The disappeared adults are presumed dead, but no one knows exactly what happened to them.
On a completely different note, I got really drunk Monday night. We went to a wine tasting, but in Argentina, wine tasting apparently means drinking several glasses of wine and getting mostly drunk. But if you're looking for a good Argentinean wine, might I suggest a Malbec. Malbec is a very smooth, drinkable (clearly) red wine, or vinos tintos, as our Spanish speaking friends would say. Then we went to a bar where we did a couple of shots (no tequila for me, thank god), and then on to an Irish bar called Killkenny. There I met three Israeli guys, two Argentine guys, and one guy from Liverpool. I cannot tell you any of their names. But I can tell you that I spent a great deal of time that evening trying to convince the guy from Liverpool that he knew my friend Eddie, who is also from Liverpool. I don't really remember much about that night, but I'm certain that I did not puke. Woo!
We went to a gaucho ranch where - you guessed it! - we ate steak and drank wine. Just when you thought this post was going to be light on the fangirling, here's a photo of an Argentinean Brego:
On Friday and Saturday, we went to Iguazu Falls, which is up in the northeastern corner of the country, on the borders to Brazil and Paraguay. Iguazu was both the best and worst thing we did. It was really cool to see the falls, which are the widest falls in the world, but in the middle of our tour, it started pouring down rain. End of the world type rain. I guess that is likely to happen in the rainforest, but still. However, the rain did not stop our tour guide, who continued on with the rest of us following begrudgingly. We were soaked to the bone. I was the only one who brought a raincoat, but even that didn't matter after a while. Anyway, the falls really were worth seeing:
However, while walking to the falls, I saw this sign and almost turned back:
My favorite part? The snake seems to be smiling. Damn snakes. I didn't actually see one, however, so all was well.
Anyway, I had a really good time in Argentina, but I'm glad to be back at home, where I can sleep in my own bed, pee in a bathroom that doesn't have a bidet (I find bidets to be very, very gross and disturbing), and communicate with people on basic levels. I'm also looking forward to eating cereal and drinking diet coke. If you'd like to see more pictures, you can find them here. The password to view is emily.