Multicultural Day

Yesterday was Jake's birthday and our last Sunday in Buenos Aires.  It being Jake's birthday necessitated an American-style breakfast at Bar Poesia with fresh squeezed orange juice, scrambled eggs and really good bacon.  It being the last Sunday necessitated one last stroll through the Sunday market in our neighborhood.  In the afternoon we went to see Dura de Matar (the latest Die Hard movie).  Bruce Willis is just as popular here as in the US.

Some store names wouldn't work so well in the U.S.
such as this one for an independent designer's clothing store.

Finally we dined at another Puerto Cerrado, this one at an apartment in Recoleta.  Casa Salt Shaker is run by Dan, a chef and sommelier, and Henry, a tango dancer and teacher.  The other guests were a couple from Winston Salem, NC doing a short tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Chile, a woman from Scranton, PA on her way to trek in Torres del Paine, a couple from New Haven, CT who spoke impeccable Spanish and had lived in Spain and Portugual, a couple from London - he a professional chef and she in the catering business, and a woman from, gasp, Buenos Aires!  After a cocktail we sat down for a delicious 5 course meal paired with wines.
1. A light, slightly spicy melon gazpacho with cilantro sorbet and sparkling white wine,
2. A wafer of polenta and parmesan topped with feta, melon, almonds, raisins and paprika, served with a chardonnay
3. A firm white fish with a carrot coconut puree and grilled endive served with a rose wine,
4. Loin of rabbit with a sweet potato puree and lightly sauteed arugula served with a really good pinot noir
5. honey cheesecake with a plum compote served with a Moscatel dessert wine.

Doors in Colonia Uruguay

We were amused by several doors in Colonia Uruguay.  Room 17 was our hotel room in Posada Plaza Major.  As you can see from the exterior and interior pictures, the door was a little small.  The top only came up to my shoulder, so even Sylvan had to duck.  Yes, this was the only door to the room.  We were told that this part of the hotel was from Portuguese times and that the Portuguese were very small.  We did not believe it.  Nice hotel, generally, as you can see from the fountain with the tourist in front of it.  (Ooops, I guess the photographer didn't get a picture of the fountain, only the tourist -- just goes to show my priorities.)

As you can see, Sylvan did not have to duck for the main gate to Colonia, a drawbridge from colonial times. 

Colonia, Uruguay

View of the Plaza Mayor from the lighthouse

Historic street in Colonia

Car as planter

Mid-week we decided to do an overnight trip to Colonia, Uruguay.  Colonia is almost due east of Buenos Aires, on the other side of the Rio de la Plata.  We walked to the Colonia Express ferry terminal (probably wouldn't do that again as it required crossing some highway entrance ramps with no crosswalks) and were quickly processed through customs and immigration.  This ferry takes about an hour to reach Colonia.  It is less expensive, but less luxurious, than the Buquebus ferry.  It was perfectly adequate though for such a short trip.  Arriving in Colonia, the ferry terminal is a 10 block walk or so from the historic area.

Colonia has been designated as a UN World Heritage Site.  The historic area is compact and blends into a more modern shopping district that then winds around the coast to suburban areas and a few resort hotels. It was the site of many battles between the Spanish and Portuguese, but now seems a peaceful, tourist-oriented place.  Colonia turned out to be an hour ahead of B.A., so we dropped off our backpacks at our hotel and went to the nearest corner restaurant, El Farol, for lunch.  Sitting outside under umbrellas admiring the plaza and colonial buildings, we shared a plate of salmon with shrimp sauce.  The food sounds better than it was, but the view was pleasant.  In the afternoon we strolled around town, stopped for the obligatory licuado and expresso, visited cute shops, and watched the sunset over the river.  We had dinner at "The Drugstore" which I had read good reviews of.  They offer smaller plates of food, although certainly larger than what I think of as tapas size!  Again though, neither the mussels provencal nor the fried calamari were all that special.  In honor of my brother's birthday, we sought out a piece of chocolate cake elsewhere, but that was also better than it looked.  Happy Birthday though Bro!

Sunset over Rio de la Plata

Happy Birthday Joe!

Balustrade along the river

We were supposed to leave on the 11 am ferry, but were surprised by longer than expected lines and then that we needed our piece of paper proving that we'd paid Argentina's reciprocity fee to return to Argentina.  I had mine, but Jake had left his at home and we had a very difficult time attempting to access the damn thing on line.  Eventually securing the required piece of paper we also got seats on the 5 pm return boat.  It was a steamy hot day, so we decided to have as leisurely a lunch as possible at one of the waterfront restaurants.  We shared a salad of orange slices, cured ham, toasted walnuts, and cherry tomatoes, and a lamb risotto that were both very good.  Realizing that it was Valentine's Day we ordered a dish of strawberries covered in chocolate sauce for dessert.

No problems this time checking in and getting through immigration.  While we were in line to board the boat, a young guy came up and asked if were from NM having seen the flag sewn on Jake's backpack.  He was from NM and had just graduated from MIT.  He was spending a couple months traveling before starting a job in Chicago.  It's always fun to meet smart, young, independent travelers.  Gives me hope for the next generation!

MALBA and Murga

MALBA, museum of Latin American contemporary art

Yesterday's highlights were a visit to MALBA, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericana.  There was a really interesting exhibit of art by Oscar Munoz, a Colombian photographer.  The mixed installation of photos, videos and charcoal drawings really made you think about the nature of photography and time.  For instance, a table with a projected sink on either side and projected images of photos of faces in the center.  A hand would take one of the photos, hold it in one sink and it would be rinsed away.  The blank paper would be put back on the table.  Then a blank photo would be put in the other sink and an image would be washed onto the photo.  Or another piece had a series of circular mirrors at head level.  When you breathed onto the mirror an image would briefly appear blocking out the reflection of your own face.  Okay, maybe you just have to see it to get it.   We also loved this bench whose slats wandered off over the edge, down to the floor below and reformed into a second bench.

There is a nice cafe at the museum as well with somewhat different sandwiches, fancy teas, and good pastries.

foam covered youth

End of the show for this group

Littlest murgeros, costumes are often decorated with cartoon characters

In the evening we went back to see the murgas perform in our neighborhood for carnaval.  Hard to take photos in the dark and I still haven't grasped how to take good videos with my camera, but see photos below.  Vendors sell cans of foam to the kids and everyone gets liberally sprayed in the course of the evening.

Extraordinary Meals

Last night we dined at one of Buenos Aires' "closed door" restaurants.  These are mini-restaurants, by reservation only, in a person's home.  We chose Nola, run by a young woman chef from New Orleans and her Argentine, sommelier-in-training, boyfriend.  Their home is a modern space in an old neighborhood.  An enclosed outdoor "hall" leads to an indoor foyer and open plan living dining area. The walls were painted warm colors contrasting with the grey cement floor and exposed brick ceilings.  We were greeted with a glass of champagne and a few minutes to meet the other couples we would be dining with.  There were other American couples from Chicago and San Francisco, a couple from Toronto, and a couple from Alice Springs, Australia.  We all had an interest in food and travel in common, so at least for one meal, it was a very sociable group.

There were four courses, each paired with a wine.  We started with a slightly spicy mango gazpacho topped with shrimp, paired with a floral Torrontes (see recipe here!).  Next was a fried tomato slice topped with a squid salad, paired with a dry, chardonnay-like rose wine from Mendoza.  The main course was a piece of pork shoulder that had been braised for 5 hours, tender and with a slightly sweet glaze.  It was served on top of grits flavored with green onions.  This was paired with a really nice Malbec.  Finally, for dessert we were served individual blueberry tarts with a little goat cheese mixed into the filling.  The goat cheese was only barely detectable and  added a rich, slightly earthy flavor.  This was paired with a sweet, but very flavorful dessert wine from the UcoValley.

On Tuesdays, Liza, the chef, operates a pop-up Mexican restaurant in Palermo as well and I'm sure it would be well worth a visit!  I expect that sooner or later she will have her own successful restaurant in B.A. but until then, see if you can get a reserva at Nola!

Needless to say it was a late night and a lot of wine, and we realized when the doorbell rang at 8:30 am that today was apartment cleaning day and we needed to clear out.  We went to our favorite bar/coffee place, Bar Poesia, and fortunately they were open and even have a good breakfast menu.

A second excellent restaurant we went to, treated by friends visiting for a night from the U.S.A., was Cabana las Lilas in Puerto Madero.  Las Lilas specializes in beef, from its own estancia.  We sat outside on a long covered veranda overlooking the water as waiters brought us an amuse bouche of appetizer selections while we pondered the menu.  Three of us ordered beef, and the vegetarian among us ordered several vegetable side dishes.  The side dishes turned out to be sizable, and probably meant for sharing among a table.  They have the traditional soufleed potatoes, like a puffed french fry.  Grilled vegetables were also particularly good. The beef was absolutely delicious, grilled to order.  We ordered a dense chocolate cake to share, but also got a complimentary selection of small cookies and confections.

I'm compiling a  list of our favorite places that I'll post before we leave.  We have several more recommended places that we hope to get to before we return home!

Menu del dia --at home before siesta and tango

Lunch today from our local fish store . . . empanadas of mussels, octopus, and other unidentifiablea, a filet of abedejo (sounded exotic in the store but turned out to be the humble (from a New England perspective) pollack, and roasted veggies.  Followed by an Oreo cookie.  Are we not multicultural?  Now, time for a siesta.

Tigre

Tigre lies north of Buenos Aires in the delta of the Rio Parana.  Imagine an enormous silty river becoming so wide at the mouth that the waters slow and deposit silt forming thousands of small islands braided by large and small channels of water.  Tigre lies at the edge and is the embarkation point to reach the many islands.

narrow waterway on Tres Bocas

House on Tres Bocas island

We took two trains to get to Tigre.  Trains tend to be very inexpensive to travel on in Argentina, and they show their wear.  The Mitre line crawled out of Retiro station and made its way slowly through the huge railyard  and eventually out into the leafy suburbs.  At the Mitre stop we walked through the station to the Train de la Costa station.  Suddenly the station has decent restrooms, clean floors, and benches in the waiting area, but the train fare is 20 pesos instead of 3 pesos.  Go figure.  Anyway, the Tren de la Costa is a nicer train, but it doesn't really save any time in getting to Tigre.  You do get glimpses of the River along the way.

Silvia Moore, a travel agent we met here 4 years ago whose brother-in-law is my stepdad's college friend's wife's brother (or something like that!), lives in Tigre, and she met us at the Estacion Fluvial where you can catch boats out to the islands.  There are lancha colectivos (like a bus), water taxis, and tour boats.  We took an Interislena lancha out to the island of Tres Bocas.  Lots of weekend houses, guest houses and some full-time residences are built on the islands.  Although Silvia said the water is pretty polluted, we did see lots of people swimming in roped off areas.  Often the buildings are built on stilts to accommodate occasional floods.  Everything, groceries, lumber, water, has to be brought in by boat, but many of the islands do have electricity.

You let the boat operator know where you want to get off, or you wave them down to pick you up from a dock along the river.  We disembarked and decided to walk some first, following a path along one of the narrow waterways until it reached a swampy end, then turned back, took a bridge over the waterway, and walked back along the other side to El Hornero restaurant.  All the seating is in a shady courtyard, shaded by a huge sweetgum tree among others.  From the eclectic menu we all ended up ordering chicken crepes with tomato sauce, thinking it would be a light lunch.  The crepes were huge though, defeating our best intentions.

There was surprisingly little wildlife around.  I expected to see lots of water birds but just saw some cormorants hanging out near town.  Many of the plants planted around the houses are introduced ornamental plants.  The small undeveloped area we walked through was dense with shrubs and small trees and the wetlands were filled with a type of grass or a rush usually.  Speed limits on the river are not enforced and the waves generated can be pretty big.  Many of the shorelines have retaining walls or rip rap to slow erosion.  Maybe you have to go out to the more isolated islands for wildlife viewing.

Grocery  boats

Boat carrying goods upriver

Rowing statue with a rowing club in the background

Sylvan and Jake at the Estacion Fluvial in Tigre

Abandoned boats with the Amusement Park in the background

Back at the dock, there were several groups waiting for a return boat, which eventually showed up about a half hour later.  In Tigre after a stop for expresso at the waterfront gas station, we walked along the waterfront admiring the elaborate Rowing Club buildings.  Tigre has a large number of apparently pretty well-off rowing clubs that got started around the turn of the century.  Silvia also drove us around a little more of Tigre before dropping us at the Mercado de Frutas late afternoon.  We strolled through the market which features a lot more furniture and homewares stalls than it does fruit stalls at this point.  It is probably a really happening place on weekends and was relatively busy even mid-week.  We then walked up to the big train station and caught the regular train (the Tigre line) back into town, fortunately getting a seat for the 50 minute ride.  The Tigre line was in moderately better shape than the Mitre line, featuring air conditioning and a smoother ride.

Definitely worth a visit if you're in B.A.!