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
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