Living for the City, BsAs

Monday 19 January 2009

Living for the City, BsAs

We successful meet Adam in Buenos Aires (9th January), drop off our belongings at Pali's apartment and get ready for a weekend in the city, a culture shock from the tranquility of La Pampa!

Reunions..

We have quite a few Argentine friends who have provided us with insiders tips for exploring the city's eateries, nightlife & barrios. Palermo (Hollywood & Soho) and Recoleta are the areas where we spend most time - attractive, atmospheric & vibrant.

Here are my highlights from the weekend:

Four-course lunch for $44 pesos at Miranda. Featuring Flan with dulce de leche....

Sushi Party at our new friend, Freddie's house, sipping Fernet Branca & later dancing at Kika, Palermo Hollywood. A late night with lots of dancing.

Puerto Madero, Saturday night. The rennovated dockland where warehouses have been converted into stylish and expensive restaurants. The docks look surprisingly familiar to me (I later learn that they were originally modelled on the docks of Liverpool, UK, although are now being redesigned to look more like Seaport, New York).

Credit crunch dragging London down....

We arrive at sunset and enjoy strolling the area, before sitting down along the riverfront for yet another mouth-watering steak at Happening.

La Boca. The old port district, where buildings are painted distinctivly with bright colours (29 bus from Plaza de Mayo, must have correct change of $1 peso, crazy driver!).

The famous street is Caminito, where colours are vibrant and one can imagine living in this artsy neighbourhood in the 1950s. However, today it is a tacky tourist trap and the only part of city where I feel the need to clutch my bolsito tightly. My instinct prevents me straying too far from the main, bustling street. Many of the streets within La Boca are impoverished, reminding us that the weathly areas of the city we have been spending our time are not a true reflection of life for the majority here.

San Telmo. Filled with late colonial and Rosista buildings - this barrio is filled with cafes, bars and little art galleries.

We visit on Sunday, where the buzzing streets are knee-deep with market stalls and free tango shows.

Lunch at La Cabrera. For me the best meal of the weekend! We linger in the sunshine, sipping the champagne 'on the house' and watching the Sunday wanderers pass by. We contemplate how lucky we are.

La Cabrera is situated on the corner of Thames

Giant mortilla and chorizo

The pictures continue to make my mouth water...

And of course there is still room for ice-cream in our separate 'desert tummies'

MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano) gallery. A spacious, airy and light space housing a collection of Latin American paintings, sculptures and installations. Well worth a visit, one could linger for hours over the imaginative and though-provoking pieces. Wohoo and it is free with our ISIC card!

Folklore (ful-chloray) dancing, La Catedral. Great venue, funky dancing and music.

It is the quiet month of January in Buenos Aires (a large number of porteños leave the city for cooler costal areas), however, we have a fun weekend without sleep or a dull moment!

1 comment:

Anonymous20 January 2009 at 13:28
Very nice post. La cabrera restaurant is probably one of the two best places to eat meet (the other one is "La Brigada" in San Telmo).
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Pearls of Wisdom

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.

- James Bryant Conant

Say what you want and be who you are because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

-Dr. Seuss

You cannot stop the birds of sorrow from landing on your shoulder, but you can prevent them nesting in your hair.

-Chinese proverb

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.

-Winston Churchill

The discipline of writing something down is the first step towards making it happen.

-Lee Iacocca

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up.

-Mark Twain

Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if your can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

-Dalai Lama

It is better to have lived one day as a tiger than 1,000 years as a sheep.

-Tibetan proverb

If you want to be happy for a short time, get drunk; happy for a long time, fall in love; happy forever, take up gardening.

-Arthur Smith

DESIDERATA

GO placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with other, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.

IF you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies, or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and lose, and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run, yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, and - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! -Rudyard Kipling

Elaine's Trail of Thoughts — Travel Memoirs

Monday 19 January 2009