Sunday

Jake garnishing his choripan

Parrokeet and pigeon

punk bird - a guira cuckoo

Sunday on the Costanera

Sunday was a pleasantly warm summer day, so as many Portenos do, we headed down to the Costanera Sur for a walk and a lunch of choripan.  Choripan is a grilled sausage, sliced in half on french bread. Sampling choripanes from 2 different stands (Chorimovil and another one), we determined that there is indeed variation in quality of choripanes.  Overall we preferred Chorimovil's which had a much better quality sausage and a lower bread to sausage ratio.  The other stand though had really good french bread.  While eating our choripan, we watched the urban birds picking at bread, french fries, and mustard packets.

Sunday is crafts fair day on our street, and at the end of the day a Murga band samba'd down the street (see video).

Meat, meat, meat and dulce de leche!

Jake was going to write the post on food for our trip, but he's gotten caught up reading some novel and so as not to get too far behind, I'll write about it.  Jake gets credit for the title though!

Outdoor grill

afternoon tea

I think I read some statistic that Argentines eat more beef than any other people in the world.  The estancia we stayed at raises polled herefords, and they were the source of our meat.  We got three meals a day plus afternoon tea, and Angelica is an excellent cook.  Her husband did the grilling on a built in grill that had areas for grilling both indoors and outdoors connected to the same chimney.

Poached peach with dulce de leche

Pasta bolognese

Apple crisp

Lunch - steak with 2 fried eggs and french fries

A "light" lunch of assorted tartas (like a quiche), leek, zucchini and ham and cheese

Dinner - Asado of sausages and ribs with assorted salads

Dinner  - Roast chicken! with roast potatoes and squash, carrot and tomato salad

Pear poached in red wine

Breakfast with fruit salad, homemade bread, fresh oj

Argentines also love their dulce de leche, a caramel spread.  We were served dulce de leche on poached peaches, with our morning toast and afternoon tea, in crepes, and on flan.  If you go to an ice cream store they are likely to have at least 5 flavors of ice dulce de leche ice cream.

Sightseeing in the Sierras

Cerro Blanco

View from Cerro Blanco

Mountain wildflowers

native red verbena

Invasive trees and ivy along Oscuro part of trail

We generally started the day with a hike and there were lots of roads to explore around the estancia too.  Parque Nacional Ernesto Tornquist is in the mountains and has several self-guided walks varying in length and degree of difficulty.  You have to sign in and out for all hikes.  Longer hikes have to be led by a private guide or park employee. Our first day we opted for the hike to the top of Cerro Blanco and despite many misgivings we did make it to the top!  It offers rewarding views over the valleys.  We also added on a short trail, Claro/Oscuro (Light/Dark), which leads through a meadow and wooded stream valley.  The stream is lined with invasive plants including Pinus radiata, Eucalyptus, Populus alba, and Hedera helix.

Cool waters at Garganta Olvidada

Jake at Garganta Olvidada

Entrance to Parque Nacional Ernesto Tornquist

Day two we went to another park entrance and hiked the Garganta Olvidada (Forgotten waterfall) trail.  This trail mainly goes up the stream bed to a box canyon.  Since it is the middle of summer, there was just a trickle of water coming over the cliff.  We drove to the town of Tornquist after this hike.  Aside from an impressive main plaza and pretty church, there didn't seem to be much going on there.

Town of Tornquist

Day three we decided to find the trail to our very own estancia's Cerro de la Cruz.  We set off across the fields, climbed fences, waded through weeds, and climbed the scree covered slopes.

Along the ridgeline of Cerro de la Cruz

View over the Estancia from Cerro de la Cruz

I don't have photos of the two other towns we visited.  Sierra de la Cruz was just 3 km from the Estancia and is definitely a tourist town.  A river winds along one edge of town and is lined with cottages and hotels.  One section of town has vacation houses and a golf course.  There's a friendly tourist office with wi-fi too.  We visited Villa la Ventana closer to the national park entrance, also built for tourism, but all dirt roads and lots more people on foot and bicycle.  It seemed to be a vacation spot for dogs too all of whom were roaming around in little packs.  There were some great artisanal food stores there if only we weren't so stuffed by our hostesses bounty.

"La Ventana" btw, means "window" and refers to a rock formation at the top of one of the mountains.visible from a scenic overlook along the main road. Not quite sure why it got all the notoriety!

Birds and Wildlife of the Pampas

There seemed to be a huge number of birds in the pampas, but many were variations of what you might see in the U.S. - flickers, a robin-like bird, mockingbird, herons.  They were different enough though that your ordinary bird seemed exciting to see.  And then there are the raucous flocks of parrots.  We got a good view of a grey fox, probably the pampas fox, along the driveway.  We saw several flattened armadillos.  In the marshes along the road from Sierra de la Ventana to Buenos Aires, there were lots of birds including rheas, a flamingo, black ibis (not sure which species), great egret, cattle egrets, at least two types of herons, numerous large storks or maybe Jabirus, but unfortunately few safe places to pull over to photograph them.  Also not photographed were some other hawks and the southern caracara.

Domestic animals included cows, sheep, and horses.  Pets included Simone, a border collie and working dog, and Pancho, who unlike Simone knew how to let himself into the covered patio area that led to the kitchen.  There were two housecats around too, but they were not especially friendly.

American kestrel

Panchito, house dog

Large flattish toad

fork-tailed flycatcher

Field flicker

Simone, working dog

Pampas grey fox

Polled Herefords, e.g. dinner

Small red bird with black wings

Sierra la Ventana

Lagoon along Ruta 3

On Monday we rented a little 3 door Chevy and drove down to Sierra la Ventana, towards the southern end of Buenos Aires Province in the pampas.  The pampas are supposed to be vast grasslands, but to satisfy the desire for shade, people have planted a lot of trees, mostly exotic ones, and often ones that have become invasive.  More on that later (see a post on Invasive  Plant Guide's blog, http://invasiveplantguide.com/blog/)!  Besides rangelands, there are vast fields of soybeans, corn, and sunflowers (just like the Eastern Shore!).  I was also surprised by the number of small streams and wetlands.  Somehow I had pictured the pampas as being drier, and I guess in some regions it is.

Hot water for mate drinkers

Jake drove and I navigated.  Roads are pretty well signed, sometimes with too many signs!  Upcoming curves, different speed limits for fog and rain, different limits for trucks and cars, mysterious symbols for tourist attractions.  The roads were mostly two lane roads and since trucks are required (and actually do) drive more slowly than cars, there is a lot of passing.  Jake could gauge his daring by whether I was gripping the door handle or not.  There are numerous tolls along the way, but mostly less than 5 pesos (less than $1) each.  We were warned to get gas about 100 km before our final destination because there were no gas stations along that stretch.  And one gas station we stopped at didn't have any gas.  Gas is pricey, about $1/liter ($4/gallon).  Gas stations though have conveniences like clean bathrooms and places to refill your thermos with hot water for your mate.  We stopped for lunch in Las Flores at a roadside Parrillada called La Familia.  I got a milanesa that hung over the plate and Jake got a bife de costilla (like a ribeye).  These came with french fries.  Next time we vowed to split a plate!  While we ate we watched the news which besides a spectacular glacier calving video featured stories about murders and robberies.

Estancia Cerro de la Cruz

Stream at estancia

Around 5:30 pm we arrived at our destination, Estancia Cerro de la Cruz.  It turned out were the only guests there for the week.  We had hoped to meet other people on this vacation, but it wasn't so bad having the whole place to ourselves either.  The main house was designed by a famous Argentine architect (he also designed the resort outside Bariloche, Llao Llao.  It is decorated in typical country house style with cowhide rugs, stuffed hunting trophies on the walls, and trophies for prize winning Polled Hereford cattle on the mantle.  The estancia has been in the same family since it was built in 1938, but the main house is used only for guests to pay for the upkeep.  The estancia itself started out as 6500 ha, but was divided between 2 family members so now the main house is on a mere 3000 ha (7400+ acres).  They grow soybeans, oats, sunflowers, corn and sorghum, but most of the acreage is devoted to raising cattle and sheep.  The grounds have a big swimming pool and tennis court and there are lots of indoor and outdoor games available to play with.  There is not tv or internet for guests so we got a lot of reading done too!  There's a nice stream that winds along one edge of the property, and a school group was camped out for the week on the banks.

Angelica greeted us - she was the hostess, cook and cleaner for the week.  Her husband and son run the farm operations and maintain the grounds.  Angelica started working at the estancia at age 14 and learned to cook from the mistress of the house.  From our first welcome tea with a cake taken right from the oven, we never lacked for excellent food!  More on that in another post too.

Meteorology in South America

A rainy day in Buenos Aires.  One photo shows that we are surfing the net and posting blogs this morning. It also shows the nice living room and dining room in our apartment.  The other photo is our view from our old French-style apartment and is the alternative side of the San Telmo neighborhood -- some buildings beautifully restored, some, well, "under construction."  The building across the street is typical of many structures in this neighborhood.  The bottom floor is a bakery, political party office (Kirchner), and a bodega ("kiosko").  The second floor is a tango studio, which seems to take the place the cut-rate karate studio has in large US cities.  The third floor, naturally, is a parking garage.  What else?  The fourth floor is under construction and looks like it has been for 50 years.

Oh, yeah, the meteorology part . . .   It took a while to find a weather report that predicted rain for today -- its pooooring outside.  In general we have found the reports incredibly unreliable -- even weather.com and wunderground.com vary as much a ten degrees.  We have been seeing reports for Sierra de la Ventana, the mountain region we are visiting next week, showing temperatures of 99 degrees and of 82 degrees.  The forecast for BA seems to be much hotter than it ever turns out to be.  Sylvan thinks it is a bit humid and hot, but I think the days are just great and the nights are cool.

El Tango Argentino - Las clases de esta semana.

Today will be day five of tango lessons this week.  I feel like a farmer tromping down the floor.  Our teacher, who weighs 15 pounds, keeps saying "Smaller steps!   Smaller steps!"  Then she goes on and on, in Spanish, about how important it is to be "suave," as if I haven't been suave all my life.  Go ahead and try to teach a farmer how to glide smoothly as if he were a snake.  Last night was the largest class -- perhaps twenty-five students.  No Americans in any of our classes.  The other English speakers in last night's class were from China and Ukraine.  Previously we did meet an English-speaker from Paris, a guy who was a frustrated as I (and I thought all Parisians were naturally suave).  Almost all of the students are Argentines, who are not, it turns out, born suave or able to tango.  But no one seems to take steps as big as mine.  I wish I could have taken a picture of twenty five of us walking (tango-style) in three rows down the dance floor.  Picture, if you will, a giraffe marching with a herd of gazelles and you will have some idea how I felt.  I do have some companions in a similar situation -- sort of the wart hogs mixed with the gazelles.  Paquito is one of the guys who has been in several classes with us.  Last night, when I also was feeling particularly frustrated, Paquito pointed down at his feet and just shook his head.  Alas.

Manteca de Mani!

Finally, after two weeks of searching, I found the hidden treasure in a health food store (Sylvan's inspiration) and I am no longer deprived of my main sustenance -- peanut butter.  OK, it is not Skippy (TM) Super Chunk (TM), but is it very creamy.  Now if we could just find some good whole wheat bread ("pan integral").  The better of the two loaves we have found has the consistency of, well, a good quality cordoroy fabric.  The other loaf I am tempted to send back to the sawmill from which its main ingregient apparently came.  We even tried to make French toast out of the sawdust loaf but it wouldn't absorb the liquid.  Muy mal.  Of course, we didn't even look for maple syrup to go with it but, being in the middle of summer down here, we are thrilled at being able to go through fresh peach and nectarine season again.  Muy bien.

A Museum and a Movie

Since we didn't have any lessons yesterday, we decided to visit the Natural History Museum in the Abasto neighborhood and then go to a movie at the Abasto Shopping Center.  The Natural History Museum is located at the edge of Parque Centenario, a large round park in the center of a fairly modern-looking city neighborhood.  The museum celebrated its 200th anniversary last year.  The building has some striking details.

 
To me the dinosaurs were most impressive in the exhibits.  There was a great exhibit showing what dinosaurs were found on what street corners in Buenos Aires, imagining the past long before the city existed.  The other interesting exhibit was a timeline of the intersection of political events and scientific discoveries.  The exhibit discusses how politics has suppressed and supported various scientific endeavors.  I've never seen that topic taken up by a museum before.

There were several times when I thought of the Adkins Arboretum book club because there was a cabinet of curiosities, discussion of the Voyage of the Beagle, and other things that reminded me of books we had read.

Dinosaurs of Buenos Aires

A relatively new diorama of African mammals

Cabinet of Curiosities

After the museum we were in need of a cold drink.  On the way back to the subway station we stopped at El 55, a small bar on a street corner.  The owner made a great iced frapuccino for me (not so easy to find iced coffee drinks here) and a tutti-frutti smoothie for Jake.  Tutti frutti here just means a combination of many fruits.  We took the subway back a couple stops to the Abasto Shopping Center.  This is a huge shopping mall with lots of stores and a multiplex Hoyts cinema.  Many of the popular movies at the theatre are in English with Spanish subtitles, but some are dubbed so you have to look for whether a particular film is subtitulada.  There was only one film at the theatre that was an Argentine film.  There was a long line to buy tickets with cash (plenty of machines to buy tickets with a credit card, but not very popular).  We got tickets to see Life of Pi (named La Aventura in the theatre) choosing our seats at the counter (yes, there are assigned seats for the movie).  We had an hour and a half before the movie started so I went into a bunch of stores looking for a couple shirts.  Clothing here is priced the same or more than in the U.S. though, and it is hard to find cotton clothing, so it was an unsuccessful shopping trip.  Back at the theatre we had to wait in a line before they would let us take the escalator to our movie, then in another line to get our 3-D glasses.  Argentines wait in a lot of lines (buses, theatres, paying utility bills,etc.) and seem very patient about it.  The movie got out around 10 pm and by 10:30 we were back in our neighborhood for a light dinner at Bar La Poesia.

Botanic Garden

Flora Argentina

Phytolacca dioica - tree relative of pokeweed

Yerba mate, Ilex paraguariensis

On Wednesday morning I went up to visit the botanic garden Carlos Thays on the border of Palermo.  The garden was started in the late 1800s as a place to test the hardiness of plants that could be used to beautify the streets and parks of the growing city, but now serves the multiple purposes of education, conservation and beautification.  Carlos Thays was a landscape architect who designed many of the large parks and avenues in Buenos Aires at the turn of the century.   It houses a nice collection of trees native to Argentina as well as introduced trees.  There is a small section of plants ordered by family and a large conservatory with tropical plants.

Garden cat