So... Keira's Argentine sojourn is drawing to an end. This time next week I will be back in the UK. For the last 2 weeks the trip had been feeling like it has all been winding down and so as well as letting you in on a glimpse of the last couple of stops of the trip, I have also in mind for a bit of a reflection on the past 3 months.
Bariloche and San Martin de los Andes were close enough together to be rolled into one... although I only really spent a day in Bariloche, a place most famous for the skiing and the chocolate, being summer meant that the slopes were out of the question however luckily the chocolate is continually in season. Rapa Nui was my cafe of choice for a 'submarino', a hot chocolate whereby one is presented with a glass of hot milk and a hunk of chocolate for DIY mixing. Then San Martin was a small town (more chocolate) that we got to by a very rickety bus through the 7 Lakes Route and indeed the next day.... (drum-roll please) .....Keira got to ride a horsey! The woods and hills which I got to ride through were incredibly beautiful however the highlight was watching my gaucho-guide herd a few of his unruly cattle in and out of trees and up and down improbable slopes, altogether very impressive horsemanship.
Mendoza is the heart of the wine region and no trip to this (incredibly leafy and beautiful) town would be complete without a day-trip at least to one winery. So we got a bus then hired bicycles to pedal about the small satellite town of Maipu, taking in a wine museum with its own vineyard and a couple more wineries. All I can say it than now I am in the big grizly city of Cordoba, I wish I had stayed in Mendoza longer. Mendoza had a very relaxed feel with plenty of small parks including Plaza Espana, a small square which has fabulous blue-tiled fountains and benches on which I read for hours.
As for a round-up what have I seen and done, and what have been the highlights, my best steak was probably at a really ordinary place outside of BsAs whilst I was at the Feria de Mataderos, an incredibly touristy place where they put on dancing shows and have stalls of local crafts etc. Here I ate my slab of meat whilst dipping into Letters to a Young Novelist a book by a Peruvian writer that I picked up in a lovely little bookshop in the leafy Buenos Aires suburb of Palermo.
My holiday reading started with Flowers for Algernon while I was in Buenos Aires. There is the most wonderful old theatre which has been converted into a huge bookshop but has still retained all of the original features (and the stage is now a cafe where there a classical musician plays) I spent a long time here however its only let down was its terrible English Language collection made up almost entirely of books called things like 'Wild Rose', 'The Shy Highlander' or 'Diamond Blade'. Amongst these I did find Algernon which I whizzed through on accounting for adoring it.
Next was Portrait of a Lady my introduction to Henry James which I picked up in the cellar of a damp old second hand bookshop which was on my road. I also picked up a Spanish Agatha Christie which I have yet to tackle. As for the Portrait... This took me from the end of my time in BsAs, through lazy days of outstanding heat in Sierra de la Ventana - book in one hand, ice cream in the other - through to Puerto Madryn and the whale-free trips around Peninsula Valdes and further on to the Welsh town of Gaiman and the campsite set up by the volunteer firemen. It was a long book but I have to admit to being pretty bored most of the way through it which was probably why it took me so long. I waited an hour for the bus out of Gaiman and stood at the bus stop determined to get through the last 50 pages before the bus came. The novel was left for its next reader on that very bus along with my scratched-to-death Gucci sunglasses.
The light relief of Nature Girl, a crime comedy that Robin had brought with him entertained me long enough for him to finish reading Captain Corelli's Mandolin somewhere around Ushuaia and the log-cabin of a hostel with the views from my bed of the southernmost Andes and the small but perfectly formed Glacier Martial. This latter part of this exquisite novel was mostly read in the aforementioned Plaza Espana in Mendoza and certainly some of the most pleasant time that I have passed was whiling those hours away.
Gulliver will undoubtedly out-travel me since I have only just started him. Ideally it would have taken me up to all the places I regret to being out of time to visit, in particular Salta, Iguazu, the Jesuit Ruins in Missiones and Jujuy way up in the Bolivian border, although the latter mostly for its great name.
Here in Cordoba these last two days of drizzle have been my call for home and as my tan fades I will spend the remaining days in Buenos Aires saying goodbye to some of the good friends I have made here. I am most certainly looking forward to being back with you chaps my splendid friends and family so will hope to do a few trips about the country visiting people with the last of my savings. These 30 hour bus journeys will certainly put a Virgin train up to the Lakes into perspective.
One thing that I came to me unexpectedly was my changed perspective and thoughts of England. A country which I always intended to leave eventually and settle in a warmer clime now seems that bit more quaint, just and appealing, although I am sure that is much easier said having not spent the past couple of months battling through snowstorms! I am missing all the best of things Anglo: excellent cheese, the Post Office, Sunday roasts, London bus maps, crusty old pubs and of course a certain Mr E Morello.
If I had to pick out one thing which for me was the highlight from my travel here in Argentina it would have to be climbing on the Glacier Perito Moreno in El Calafate. The phenomenal creaks, bangs and groans that this giant river of ice makes as it advances are out of this world and I would be back to see it in a heartbeat. The wonderful people, so sociable and always ready to have a good time together with their fabulous asados really put the cherry on the cake, or should that be the steak on the parrilla?
Right this is getting long so I will leave this here.
Chau, Keira
Saturday 21 February 2009
Wednesday 11 February 2009
Some of My Best Friends are [Buses]
Having clocked up well over 100 hours of bus travel time I thought I might write a little about this place that I have spent as much time as anywhere outside of Buenos Aires. Truth be told I am currently writing this on a laptop whilst on the last leg of a 28 hour journey from El Calafate to Bariloche.
So why buses? Well there really isn't much choice. Going back to our old friend President Menem, the chap who privatised pretty much all of Argentina's public service, which in the case of the land travel had the knock-on effect of reducing Argentina's 40,000+ miles of train-tracks down to somewhere around 7,000. Buses are now pretty much the only way to get around.
Ok so really I mean coaches as although I wouldn't go so far as to describe them as plush, there is plenty of leg room, squishy (if a bit grotty) seats and they usually feed you something on the longer trips. I say 'something' and what I really mean is a dry cheese and ham roll, and of course since I am traveling with a veggie I have had a lot of ham rolls and Robin has had a lot of cheese rolls as we have been doing a regular rank-roll-filling swap.
I have also seen a crazy amount of terrible films. Usually they are a straight-to-video kinda thing with someone vaguely famous in it, being played dead loud. One of the best decisions I have made was to hang on to the earplugs that I got free on the plane over here. The other great thing is that I am one of the world's most adept sleepers and can actually drop off in pretty much any contortion that my seat allows and I would consider comfortable, which is most. Yey!
This trip I am on right now is actually taking me right back over to the east coast in order to get back round to the Andes on the west. This is because the direct route north would take me up the famous Ruta 40, of Che's Motorcycle Diaries fame. This road is still fairly untraveled and the road remains mostly unsurfaced meaning that to go direct would take somewhere along the lines of 37 very bumpy hours. Even on the surfaced roads I often find myself being ounced right out of my seat and the way in which the top of the bus rocks from side-to-side feels more than a little hairy.
The bonus of traveling by bus is of course the phenomenal views. Since on this particular journey I am traveling 'coche-cama' which means you pay a bit extra for bigger seats which recline a bit further and last night with the full moon and an ipod full of my favourite tunes and having had the foresight to buy a bottle of wiine for the trip I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening! This morning I have seen gauchos herding cattle in the middle of nowhere, not a building in sight for miles and miles. The landscape is outstanding generally however recent trips alongside the Andes have been particularly awesome.
With 50+ hours of bus travel left before I leave this country I think I will end this blog here, not wanting to bore myself on this subject as much as I may you.
So why buses? Well there really isn't much choice. Going back to our old friend President Menem, the chap who privatised pretty much all of Argentina's public service, which in the case of the land travel had the knock-on effect of reducing Argentina's 40,000+ miles of train-tracks down to somewhere around 7,000. Buses are now pretty much the only way to get around.
Ok so really I mean coaches as although I wouldn't go so far as to describe them as plush, there is plenty of leg room, squishy (if a bit grotty) seats and they usually feed you something on the longer trips. I say 'something' and what I really mean is a dry cheese and ham roll, and of course since I am traveling with a veggie I have had a lot of ham rolls and Robin has had a lot of cheese rolls as we have been doing a regular rank-roll-filling swap.
I have also seen a crazy amount of terrible films. Usually they are a straight-to-video kinda thing with someone vaguely famous in it, being played dead loud. One of the best decisions I have made was to hang on to the earplugs that I got free on the plane over here. The other great thing is that I am one of the world's most adept sleepers and can actually drop off in pretty much any contortion that my seat allows and I would consider comfortable, which is most. Yey!
This trip I am on right now is actually taking me right back over to the east coast in order to get back round to the Andes on the west. This is because the direct route north would take me up the famous Ruta 40, of Che's Motorcycle Diaries fame. This road is still fairly untraveled and the road remains mostly unsurfaced meaning that to go direct would take somewhere along the lines of 37 very bumpy hours. Even on the surfaced roads I often find myself being ounced right out of my seat and the way in which the top of the bus rocks from side-to-side feels more than a little hairy.
The bonus of traveling by bus is of course the phenomenal views. Since on this particular journey I am traveling 'coche-cama' which means you pay a bit extra for bigger seats which recline a bit further and last night with the full moon and an ipod full of my favourite tunes and having had the foresight to buy a bottle of wiine for the trip I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening! This morning I have seen gauchos herding cattle in the middle of nowhere, not a building in sight for miles and miles. The landscape is outstanding generally however recent trips alongside the Andes have been particularly awesome.
With 50+ hours of bus travel left before I leave this country I think I will end this blog here, not wanting to bore myself on this subject as much as I may you.
Tuesday 3 February 2009
Comida Argentina
Observant folk, knowledgeable about the likes of Miss Roth, may have noticed the rather large gap in her writings thus far. I am talking of course about the titley-mentioned grub. The topic has indeed popped up here and there of course, but here I plan to expand on this a little.
Ok, so what do we know about the food of Argentina. I have mentioned of course the enormous steaks. Patagonian lamb is relatively famous, dulce de leche and the Italian influenced ice-cream? But what do Argentines really eat? My travels have taken me from living with a family and their cook, the stylish restaurants of Buenos Aires' Palermo as well as food-on-the-move as I embark on camping, not to mention the fact that I am travelling with a vegetarian which means there has to be an element of creativity in the search for sustainance.
Nowadays, the first thing I think when considering of the food of Argentina is the Milanesa. This is essentially thinly cut, breaded meat (beef or chicken) which is shallw fried and served with puré (mash), fries or salad. Graciela taught me how to make it and which spices to use and I consider it yummy enough to make at home. Milanesa is on pretty much every every standard menu and is a fairly reliable dish.
A note about the puré - it is 90% fantastic, probably due to the heaps of cream they pour in it. So yes Comida Argentina is definitely the corinary heart disease's dream.
Pizzas: the Lonely Planet advises too only ever affirm that Argentines make the world's best. Doubting this is a bit of a faux pas and isn't going to make you any friends, you might as well tell them that you think Tevez is Man U's weak link, El Diego really wasn't all that and quite frankly you don't think that a bunch of wind swept islands are really worth getting upset about. Luckily, even a pizza ignoramous like me can appreciate them. Thankfully as does Robin as they feature at the top of the food-that-needn't-always-feature-meat list.
Strangely, eggs feature everywhere. Salads, tarts, empenadas (mini cornish pasties) and more. Noothing much to say about them other than the little buggers sneak up chopped up small in pretty much everything. If being veggie is just about possible, being vegan would be just silly.
The big disappointment has been salads, considering the fantabulous fresh vegetables out here the salad opptions are usually pretty dull and unvaried. Bizarrely cucumber is never in a salad, no idea why and instead the basic 3 are lettuce, tomato and onion. My Argy friend Ceci though the cucumber addition to be a bit of an oddity.
For Christmas the family very generously invited me to spend with them and I had really hoped to cook something english but here I was seriously hampered... Firstly, bread sauce doesn't really go with barbequeued meat, it was somewhat too late to embark on a chrimble pud and most amusingly is that there isn't even a Spanish translation for Parsnip, the dictionary says a sweet cream coloured root vegetable, the same shape as a carrot. So I took along the giant tub of Celebrations I had brought with me and hoped for the best. So yes, the food was mostly meat, potato salad and what I can only describe as Palmheart Roulade.
Ahhh the Palmheart, a delicious delicacy which is very popular here. It tastes a little like artichoke heart and pops up here and there. Fundamentally yum. Now imagine a thin layer of sponge cake, like a giant unravelled swiss roll with a thin coating of sweet sticky something. Chop up a load of palmhearts, smother in 'Salsa Golf' (a popular mayonaise and ketchup combo) and roll it up, slice and serve with the main dish. Sounds rank? Yessirree. Two slices of this were on my christmas dinner plate.
Gosh now that I have got going I don't know where to stop, so I will leave it here. If you want to read about the phenomenal fresh pasta place with a daily changing menu, have a gander at Rob's blog:
http://gibboniser.blogspot.com/
and some pictures he has uploaded:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gibboniser
Ok, so what do we know about the food of Argentina. I have mentioned of course the enormous steaks. Patagonian lamb is relatively famous, dulce de leche and the Italian influenced ice-cream? But what do Argentines really eat? My travels have taken me from living with a family and their cook, the stylish restaurants of Buenos Aires' Palermo as well as food-on-the-move as I embark on camping, not to mention the fact that I am travelling with a vegetarian which means there has to be an element of creativity in the search for sustainance.
Nowadays, the first thing I think when considering of the food of Argentina is the Milanesa. This is essentially thinly cut, breaded meat (beef or chicken) which is shallw fried and served with puré (mash), fries or salad. Graciela taught me how to make it and which spices to use and I consider it yummy enough to make at home. Milanesa is on pretty much every every standard menu and is a fairly reliable dish.
A note about the puré - it is 90% fantastic, probably due to the heaps of cream they pour in it. So yes Comida Argentina is definitely the corinary heart disease's dream.
Pizzas: the Lonely Planet advises too only ever affirm that Argentines make the world's best. Doubting this is a bit of a faux pas and isn't going to make you any friends, you might as well tell them that you think Tevez is Man U's weak link, El Diego really wasn't all that and quite frankly you don't think that a bunch of wind swept islands are really worth getting upset about. Luckily, even a pizza ignoramous like me can appreciate them. Thankfully as does Robin as they feature at the top of the food-that-needn't-always-feature-meat list.
Strangely, eggs feature everywhere. Salads, tarts, empenadas (mini cornish pasties) and more. Noothing much to say about them other than the little buggers sneak up chopped up small in pretty much everything. If being veggie is just about possible, being vegan would be just silly.
The big disappointment has been salads, considering the fantabulous fresh vegetables out here the salad opptions are usually pretty dull and unvaried. Bizarrely cucumber is never in a salad, no idea why and instead the basic 3 are lettuce, tomato and onion. My Argy friend Ceci though the cucumber addition to be a bit of an oddity.
For Christmas the family very generously invited me to spend with them and I had really hoped to cook something english but here I was seriously hampered... Firstly, bread sauce doesn't really go with barbequeued meat, it was somewhat too late to embark on a chrimble pud and most amusingly is that there isn't even a Spanish translation for Parsnip, the dictionary says a sweet cream coloured root vegetable, the same shape as a carrot. So I took along the giant tub of Celebrations I had brought with me and hoped for the best. So yes, the food was mostly meat, potato salad and what I can only describe as Palmheart Roulade.
Ahhh the Palmheart, a delicious delicacy which is very popular here. It tastes a little like artichoke heart and pops up here and there. Fundamentally yum. Now imagine a thin layer of sponge cake, like a giant unravelled swiss roll with a thin coating of sweet sticky something. Chop up a load of palmhearts, smother in 'Salsa Golf' (a popular mayonaise and ketchup combo) and roll it up, slice and serve with the main dish. Sounds rank? Yessirree. Two slices of this were on my christmas dinner plate.
Gosh now that I have got going I don't know where to stop, so I will leave it here. If you want to read about the phenomenal fresh pasta place with a daily changing menu, have a gander at Rob's blog:
http://gibboniser.blogspot.com/
and some pictures he has uploaded:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gibboniser
Friday 30 January 2009
Argentinosaurus
I have not really had any one particular thing to write about recently since now I have met up with Robin (who is here en route to New Zealand) we have been traveling about and only spending a couple of nights in each place. After a few days showing Robin the delights of Buenos Aires (mostly eating alfajores in the Botanical Gardens) we headed off down to Sierra de la Ventana with high-minded ideas to do long walks and climb the mountains of the area and generally be outdoorsey and virtuous. Well yes it was all very well meaning however in reality it was unbelievably hot and it was as much as was humanly possible to walk all the way to the Heladeria and get ourselves an icecream. Hard work I know.
A note on ice cream: Argentina does incredible ice cream. Really really good. There are Heladerias on pretty much every street and the flavour options are 20 at minimum, usually including at least 3 or 4 different types of Dulce de Leche. In case anyone thought I might be wasting away out here, it has been decided that one ice cream is a daily minimum. Also.... it is one of the only things out here which is still cheap, with inflation up to the region of 20% and the pound being a bit of a weakling in the markets right now, things really are little cheaper than the UK unfortunately. In reality this means for me that although I will still be continuing to travel as before (which is camping by the way!), the weekend at a lovely estancia riding horses gaucho-style is looking unlikely. *sigh*
After lolling about in Sierra de le Ventana there was a 9 hour bus journey to Puerto Madryn. Guttingly missed the whale season but did get really close to penguins, sea lions, rheas, guanachos and malting elephant seals. I mean they were actually losing their skin so no need to go googling any new rare breeds or anything.
Next stop was what Rough Guide over-prominsingly called the 'Welsh Heartland'. Ok so everybody knows about the Welsh community that live in Patagonia, or really I mean lived. The little town of Gaiman (yes Gaiman) was settled by Welsh folk back in the day and now it attracts tourists to its 'authentic tea shops' and indeed there are Cymru stickers in lots of windows however ask any of the locals if they speak the lingo and they will tell you that they had to do a course at school and know a few words. The older folk may rave about their grandparents being very Welsh, yet red bedragoned flags aside, this is a nice little Argentine village.
Ok one last thing before I embark on a 12 hour bus journey to Puerto San Julian.... I visited Trelew's museum of paleantology. Wow. What a phenomenal collection of complete dinosaurs, all from Argentina. I was absolutely blown away. Also there really is a Argentinosaurus! Google that instead of the sea-lions as it is simply incredible and being Argentine it had to be the biggest... I don't even come up to its knee.
A note on ice cream: Argentina does incredible ice cream. Really really good. There are Heladerias on pretty much every street and the flavour options are 20 at minimum, usually including at least 3 or 4 different types of Dulce de Leche. In case anyone thought I might be wasting away out here, it has been decided that one ice cream is a daily minimum. Also.... it is one of the only things out here which is still cheap, with inflation up to the region of 20% and the pound being a bit of a weakling in the markets right now, things really are little cheaper than the UK unfortunately. In reality this means for me that although I will still be continuing to travel as before (which is camping by the way!), the weekend at a lovely estancia riding horses gaucho-style is looking unlikely. *sigh*
After lolling about in Sierra de le Ventana there was a 9 hour bus journey to Puerto Madryn. Guttingly missed the whale season but did get really close to penguins, sea lions, rheas, guanachos and malting elephant seals. I mean they were actually losing their skin so no need to go googling any new rare breeds or anything.
Next stop was what Rough Guide over-prominsingly called the 'Welsh Heartland'. Ok so everybody knows about the Welsh community that live in Patagonia, or really I mean lived. The little town of Gaiman (yes Gaiman) was settled by Welsh folk back in the day and now it attracts tourists to its 'authentic tea shops' and indeed there are Cymru stickers in lots of windows however ask any of the locals if they speak the lingo and they will tell you that they had to do a course at school and know a few words. The older folk may rave about their grandparents being very Welsh, yet red bedragoned flags aside, this is a nice little Argentine village.
Ok one last thing before I embark on a 12 hour bus journey to Puerto San Julian.... I visited Trelew's museum of paleantology. Wow. What a phenomenal collection of complete dinosaurs, all from Argentina. I was absolutely blown away. Also there really is a Argentinosaurus! Google that instead of the sea-lions as it is simply incredible and being Argentine it had to be the biggest... I don't even come up to its knee.
Thursday 15 January 2009
La Plata, Ciudad de Masones
Generally my timing on this trip hasn´t been great, arriving in Benos Aires at the start of the biggest storm in 10 years, visit the Gauchos town when the gauchos are out of town (out on the plains no doubt) and I arrived in La Plata - a small university city an hour´s drive from BsAs - on a scorching Sunday when all the shops are closed and the inhabitants are off on their summer holiday. Since all the interesting things (such as the self-proclaimed best natural historl museum in South America) were closed I amused myself y exploring the place on foot.
It turns out that this rather nice place has a really quite fascinating story history. La Plata was Argentina¨s first fully planned city and the designs for most of the city¨s important architecture were chose by competition sometime and so there are loads of really delicious flashy european builings about the place. Most interestingly I think is the Masonic sub-plot that underpins the roots of the place (if those mixed metaphors work that is). Now I may have this wrong (googlers and wiki-ists can help me here) but what I gathered from Patchi the hostel owner was that the Masons who founded/funded the place did so at a time when the catholic church were not seeing exactly eye-to-eye due to the the Mason¨s religious inclusivity. In the huge Plaza in front of the huge neo-gothic cathederal (only actually finished and fully neo-gothicised in 1998) besides the many other statues I found an archer hidden amongst the trees who appears to be firing directly at the Cathederal. Curiously, one day his bow disappeared.
Also.... when looking at the plan of the city it features not only the usual grid pattern but also some diagonals, clearly shaping out the Mason¨s symbol in the streets. Conspiracy maybe, but a fun and convincing one.
Politically this place is quite controversial. Essentially La Plata was built as the beaurocratic centre of the Buenos Aires district, and therefore of Argentina. If I unerstand it correctly, a notable numer of the beaurocrats are left over from Menem¨s time in office (the chap responsible for privatising everything to foreign investors and screwing things up nicely in time for a crisis a decade later.... all things that I can speculate but many Argentines would never officially say for fear of, well I don¨t know what) now work here as paper pushers in the dusty corridoors of Government back offices here in La Plata.
Anyway, two years ago a left-ist thinker and activist by the name of Julio Lopez went the same way as the Archer¨s bow and hasn¨t been seen or heard of since. "2 años sin Lopez" and "Sin Lopez no hay nunca mas" and similar slogans cover the streets. Earlier military dictatorships became famous for having people ´disappear´by the mother´s protest in Buenos Aires´ Plaza de Mayo, no surprises that where there is still a concentration of the old boys, that kind of thing is still happening.
It turns out that this rather nice place has a really quite fascinating story history. La Plata was Argentina¨s first fully planned city and the designs for most of the city¨s important architecture were chose by competition sometime and so there are loads of really delicious flashy european builings about the place. Most interestingly I think is the Masonic sub-plot that underpins the roots of the place (if those mixed metaphors work that is). Now I may have this wrong (googlers and wiki-ists can help me here) but what I gathered from Patchi the hostel owner was that the Masons who founded/funded the place did so at a time when the catholic church were not seeing exactly eye-to-eye due to the the Mason¨s religious inclusivity. In the huge Plaza in front of the huge neo-gothic cathederal (only actually finished and fully neo-gothicised in 1998) besides the many other statues I found an archer hidden amongst the trees who appears to be firing directly at the Cathederal. Curiously, one day his bow disappeared.
Also.... when looking at the plan of the city it features not only the usual grid pattern but also some diagonals, clearly shaping out the Mason¨s symbol in the streets. Conspiracy maybe, but a fun and convincing one.
Politically this place is quite controversial. Essentially La Plata was built as the beaurocratic centre of the Buenos Aires district, and therefore of Argentina. If I unerstand it correctly, a notable numer of the beaurocrats are left over from Menem¨s time in office (the chap responsible for privatising everything to foreign investors and screwing things up nicely in time for a crisis a decade later.... all things that I can speculate but many Argentines would never officially say for fear of, well I don¨t know what) now work here as paper pushers in the dusty corridoors of Government back offices here in La Plata.
Anyway, two years ago a left-ist thinker and activist by the name of Julio Lopez went the same way as the Archer¨s bow and hasn¨t been seen or heard of since. "2 años sin Lopez" and "Sin Lopez no hay nunca mas" and similar slogans cover the streets. Earlier military dictatorships became famous for having people ´disappear´by the mother´s protest in Buenos Aires´ Plaza de Mayo, no surprises that where there is still a concentration of the old boys, that kind of thing is still happening.
Monday 5 January 2009
The Sans Antonio & Nicolás
Happy New Year to all. I am now back in Buenos Aires after a couple of trips away. The first to San Antonio de Areco, a little 'gaucho' town 2 hours out of the city and the second for a friend's wedding in San Nicolás de los Arroyos.
The former is a beautiful little town which the guidebooks describe as things like original, authentic and beautifully preserved. I went on a Monday which meant I missed out on a lot of the gaucho horsemanship displays in the big park at the bottom of the town that seem to be pretty regular on the weekends but I still got a taste of the place. I take my hat off to the tourist office who supply a few bicycles to roam about on for free. This did mean that for all my care-free pedalling about I frazzled myself in the sun but I think it was worth it.
While I was doing my tour on my bright yellow push-bike I saw on the dusty back streets a few signs saying something like 'se alquiler caballos' (horses for hire) and I was incredibly tempted. There were plenty of ponies about and some were tied up by trees near the signs. Although I was desperate to ride I thought the horses didn't look very happy so I pedalled back to the tourist office to find somewhere a little more official. Yes there were estancias for riding and I went of to visit a couple... however the norm here is to do a 'day in the country' with more gaucho shows and lunch etc included, rather than just a trek out, so unfortunately I missed out again.
The rest of my time in San Antonio was just mooching about the very sleepy town with a beautiful town centre. There is a river at the bottom of the town which gets populated with teenagers daring each other to jump in off something higher. I sat watched and read my book.
Although San Nicolás de los Arroyos is not in any of the familiar guidebooks it still attracts thousands upon thousands of visitors every year. These visitors are not, I hasten to add, here because it is a particularly beautiful place... its popularity is due to some lady called Gladys having sightings of BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) back in the 80s and now it is a place catholics go on pilgrimage. On the 25th September (the town's big day) there are on average crowds of over 300,000 - nearly trippling the population of the town.
BVM sightings aside, now I know why some places are in the guidebooks and other places are not.
The wedding itself was fantastic and held on a beautiful estancia (no horses unfortunately) and partying until 6am. I crashed at 3am and was found kipping out of sight of the party by the estancia owners. They took me into their farmhouse and gave me coffee and even with the caffine injection I still managed to sleep for a couple of hours in a chair the their living room. Argentines are incredibly kind like that, so so generous and hospitable even to strangers.... although as always, the English accent helps.
One last thing.... am I right in thinking that of the 25+ letters and postcards I have sent, nothing has arrived?
The former is a beautiful little town which the guidebooks describe as things like original, authentic and beautifully preserved. I went on a Monday which meant I missed out on a lot of the gaucho horsemanship displays in the big park at the bottom of the town that seem to be pretty regular on the weekends but I still got a taste of the place. I take my hat off to the tourist office who supply a few bicycles to roam about on for free. This did mean that for all my care-free pedalling about I frazzled myself in the sun but I think it was worth it.
While I was doing my tour on my bright yellow push-bike I saw on the dusty back streets a few signs saying something like 'se alquiler caballos' (horses for hire) and I was incredibly tempted. There were plenty of ponies about and some were tied up by trees near the signs. Although I was desperate to ride I thought the horses didn't look very happy so I pedalled back to the tourist office to find somewhere a little more official. Yes there were estancias for riding and I went of to visit a couple... however the norm here is to do a 'day in the country' with more gaucho shows and lunch etc included, rather than just a trek out, so unfortunately I missed out again.
The rest of my time in San Antonio was just mooching about the very sleepy town with a beautiful town centre. There is a river at the bottom of the town which gets populated with teenagers daring each other to jump in off something higher. I sat watched and read my book.
Although San Nicolás de los Arroyos is not in any of the familiar guidebooks it still attracts thousands upon thousands of visitors every year. These visitors are not, I hasten to add, here because it is a particularly beautiful place... its popularity is due to some lady called Gladys having sightings of BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) back in the 80s and now it is a place catholics go on pilgrimage. On the 25th September (the town's big day) there are on average crowds of over 300,000 - nearly trippling the population of the town.
BVM sightings aside, now I know why some places are in the guidebooks and other places are not.
The wedding itself was fantastic and held on a beautiful estancia (no horses unfortunately) and partying until 6am. I crashed at 3am and was found kipping out of sight of the party by the estancia owners. They took me into their farmhouse and gave me coffee and even with the caffine injection I still managed to sleep for a couple of hours in a chair the their living room. Argentines are incredibly kind like that, so so generous and hospitable even to strangers.... although as always, the English accent helps.
One last thing.... am I right in thinking that of the 25+ letters and postcards I have sent, nothing has arrived?
Wednesday 24 December 2008
Graciela
Here there is a person for every job, although certainly not the other way round. Or rather, whatever you want doing, there is someone to do it for you. I was hard pressed to find a 'self-service' laundrette and so for the first time in 18 years I had someone else wash my clothes for me (which I was initially very excied about with however I realised yesterday that my favourite jeans have been shrunk). Federico, one of the sone in the flat I am staying) recounted to me a time when traveling in Europe and had to fill the car up with petrol himself. He asked for help and was told that all the information he needed was there, just read the instructions. Helpful.
Here it is not uncommon to have a maid. In our house Graciela catches 2 hours worth of buses to work from 9am until 3pm weekdays doing the cooking and cleaning. Graciela speaks no English and so has been very helpful for me to practise with... although she has fallen out of favour a little as late for telling me my Spanish is getting worse. Graciela leaves various dishes inthe fridge for the family to heat up in the evenings. Many people here cannot cook and it is odd to them when I say that cooking is very fashionable in the UK. Many flats for sale are advertised as having 'maids quarters' which is essentially what I a staying in.
There are a lot of jobs that folk have invented for themselves: finding parking spaces, opening cab doors, groups of people on the streets who sort the rubbish into recycleables which can be sold on and repack the rest for the bin men.
Ok thats it from me... next time I will tell you about the Jesus theme park - Resurrections every half an hour. And on that note, feliz navidad and eat lots of roast potatoes for me please.
Here it is not uncommon to have a maid. In our house Graciela catches 2 hours worth of buses to work from 9am until 3pm weekdays doing the cooking and cleaning. Graciela speaks no English and so has been very helpful for me to practise with... although she has fallen out of favour a little as late for telling me my Spanish is getting worse. Graciela leaves various dishes inthe fridge for the family to heat up in the evenings. Many people here cannot cook and it is odd to them when I say that cooking is very fashionable in the UK. Many flats for sale are advertised as having 'maids quarters' which is essentially what I a staying in.
There are a lot of jobs that folk have invented for themselves: finding parking spaces, opening cab doors, groups of people on the streets who sort the rubbish into recycleables which can be sold on and repack the rest for the bin men.
Ok thats it from me... next time I will tell you about the Jesus theme park - Resurrections every half an hour. And on that note, feliz navidad and eat lots of roast potatoes for me please.
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