Cake, Jazz & enjoying the rain….

 

Waiting for cake!

8^th Nov

Today’s spreadsheet:

Tasks: Pick up laundry, 12pm; book tango, ask when finishes

Day: Shopping for David & café tortoni

Night: Notorious Jazz Club (supposed to be nice!) Callao 966 Recoleta….. Swing Summit

It’s becoming a habit; we slept in. It wasn’t until 12.30pm that we emerged into the bright BA sunshine and the white mosaicked walls of El Salvador to go and collect D’s shirts. Killing two birds with one stone, we ventured to La Cabrera – a much praised restaurant, with prices to almost match those of La Estancia. Given the queues we witnessed out into the street at both restaurants last night, we figured it best to book well in advance, so gave it ‘penultimate night’ status, in case it blew the others out of the water and needed to be repeated the following day!

 The décor was cosy, old-fashioned, and relied heavily on dark wood. The knives were heavy and wooden handled, and the linen thick and expensive. It reminded me of a gentleman’s club; a little smoky and with older gents sporting white bushy eyebrows and rotund bellies from a lifetime of port and cheese… and obviously lots of steak for lunch. The waiters though, needed some manners, in the way that the very French ones do; spit on you as soon as look at you. We stood awkwardly for a little while, being studiously ignored by at least five of them, before finally managing to break the invisibility spell, and managing the feat of booking a table for Monday 14^th.

Still on an efficient booking vibe, we did our usual Subte expedition, which today was incredibly hot and sweaty owing to the heat and the million people that all seemed to want to go to the same place we did. It was the first time

ice cream and urchins

 

when only hangover food will do

7^th Nov

Today’s spreadsheet:

Tasks: Hand in laundry

Day: Museums closed

Night: Nothing to book. Somewhere in Palermo?

After our liver and stomach abuse the last two nights, and given that the museums and major tourist attractions are closed on Mondays, when the alarm went off, I made the (popular, given the grunts of approval) decision to sack off any hope of being up bright and early, and just do more sleep.

So our first task of the day was to hit the laundry, to hand over David’s (all two) shirts for cleaning and pressing. After that taxing errand, we mooched around Palermo again, ever-seduced by its Mediterranean architectural charm and dappled leafy sunshine. In order to stop the slight pounding in our heads and the need for toxin-soakage, we decided the only sensible solution was to relace the BAIT breakfast (which we’d missed!) with ice cream and coffee at a street café. We strolled straight past Mark’s Deli on the corner of Armenia and El Salvador, as (despite the misleadingly chavvy name) we felt too skanky and shabby to be admitted into its pristine white portals. Instead, we plonked ourselves down in wicker chairs on the pavement outside a Gelateria and café down the road; and felt much more at home.

I was sent in – being more of an ice-cream connoisseur than the Welsh one – to procure some suitable gelato, and order the essential coffees, so that we could function again. I was faced with an entire wall outlining the many many flavours, and felt decidedly overwhelmed, until the guy behind the counter took one look at me, said ‘dulce de leche bonbon?’, lifted one of the stainless steel lids which hid the multitudinous and sinful puddings, and then proffered a small plastic scoop my way. One taste and I was utterly sold. The order came: one scoop of dulce de leche bonbon and one of Italian chocolate (I would have gone for Swiss but he doesn’t like almonds, Italian is obviously the next best choice). It was absolute ice cream heaven. The guide books and websites say that outside of Italy, BA is the place for ice cream, and after pooh-poohing

David’s idea of Hell, and his new Love

 

San Telmo fast food

6th Nov

Today’s spreadsheet:

Tasks: None!!

Day: San Telmo Street Market

Night: Calden del Soho  (Parilla) Honduras 4701 Almagro/Palermo (9 mins walk from BAIT)

Breakfast as usual, where I was astounded that they only had one tiny cafetiere, which just about produced 2 cups of coffee, albeit strong and good, before it needed to be refilled… This meant that my unfortunate timing this morning resulted in me having to wait for about 15mins before I could get my caffeine hit. Not a happy camper until I’ve had my coffee, I grumbled away in an armchair during the wait, and almost rugby tackled a French guy who looked like he might make it to the refill before me.

San Telmo street market was the order of the day today – hailed as a treasure trove of antiques, tat and tango, it sounded like heaven to me; obviously, David’s idea of Hell. We worked out it started from Defensa, a street branching out from the Plaza del Mayo, so off we trotted on our usual Subte route, me full of the joys of Spring, David trying his best not to slit his wrists on any sharp object at hand.

Just off the Plaza de Mayo, hidden inbetween giant dark buildings and lining their shadows, is a line of market stalls. This line continues for almost 3km along Defensa, Past Av Independencia, and into the heart of San Telmo. It was totally magical; like Carnaby Street on acid. Everything from precious stones, tribal jewellery, and hand made shoes, to leather goods, Granny’s wardrobe, artisan soaps, street art and old medal collections…. All interspersed with impromptu bands, quartets, juice sellers, and pancake vendors.

As the street market turned into San Telmo proper, the stalls were augmented by

It’s all about pink in BA….

one of the assembled shows his appreciation for a long trunk

5^th

Today’s spreadsheet:

Tasks: Check out Don Julio & get laundry

Day: City Centre part 2: Museo del Cabildo ($1 10.30-5 Tues-Fri; 11.30-6 Sun), Catedral Metropolitana, Casa Rosada (museum open Weds-Sun, 11-7), Plaza de Mayo and Manzana de las Luces, west end of Av de mayo is Palacio del Congresso, and the Plaza del Congresso and monument.

Night: Minga  Parilla  Costa Rica 4528 Palermo – Seems cheap & awesome (everyday from 9am) VERY CLOSE…. 8MINS WALK FROM BAIT !!!!!

We made it up for breakfast, and it was today that I noticed – although kept spotlessly clean by the petite Argentine lady I kept running into in my towel – that there was a slight air of drains about the bathroom block, and that the best shower to get was the right hand one, as the fan pushed the shower curtain in a wet suck around your legs in the other one. I also remembered how much I hate communal bathrooms: for the consideration you have to show when leaving your stuff on the side, making sure you are decorous with your dressing and undressing so as not to scare the fellow inhabitants, that you mop up the water on the floor after yourself, that you time your toilet visits so that there’s no one else in there and you can have a bit of peace and privacy (and also not scare the other inhabitants), etc etc. I like to spread out, drop stuff wherever I feel like it, and generally laze about until the shower wakes me up; the enforced organisation first thing pains me! I will say this for them though…. The hot water was seemingly endless and definitely hot. Lovely.

And we were off! It was still a little cloudy today, but the sun breaking through promised a hot day later, and we set off for Minga and Don Juilo, to check them out and see if we could get a booking for Minga tonight. Don Julio looked good, but Minga was open and looked amazing, and we duly booked ourselves in for a table on the rooftop terrace for later tonight. Result!

Next stop, the Subte, to explore the other part of the city centre: the famous Casa Rosada, the little museum on the same square, and the plaza de congress at the other end of Av de Mayo and Av Rivadavia. I was

Subte, shopping and steak

the plain jane of obelisks

4th Nov

Today’s spreadsheet:

Tasks: Laundry, Buy shampoo, Buy make up wipes.

Day: See the real downtown area, La calle Corrientes and Lavalle etc where there’s theatres and cinemas, and the business district. SHOPPING FOR CLOTHES TO BE SEEN OUT IN: Av Florida, Galerias Pacifico (for architecture too!) Then south to Av Corrientes go west to Av 9 de Julio, see Obelisco, just beyond is the theatre district. 

Night: La Estancia Parilla, Lavalle 941 Centro – go when visiting centre of town

After a breakfast of mini toasts with butter and incredibly strong coffee in the light filled lounge upstairs, where we overlooked an amazing row of flats with beautiful shuttered windows, we headed out for a day of shopping and seeing some of the downtown area. The tasks were straight forward enough; as we walked down Avenue Santa Fe passing the little green crosses, we found what we needed, but the clothes issue was still a mission! We ventured onto the Subte, and I loved the wall and ceiling art that was to be found everywhere; the familiar tube-like rush of heat from the bowels of the system; and the beeping of the turnstiles as we fed our Paris style tickets into the machine.

We stood a head above everyone else, and rode the D line (loving the fact that it’s the green one!) from Plaza Italia, right the way to Catedral, the end of the line. We emerged into a cloudy day and the hectic shopping area of Av Florida; where shops lined the streets, and street vendors lined the floor with tat. Our first stop was the immense edifice of Galerias Pacifico – a beautiful building with grand entrances and arcades, and a beautiful Christmas tree on display! It was pretty much the same story as Alto Palermo in that there was nothing in our price range, but it was a lovely place to visit, and when it started to rain, I was glad of the refuge! At the top of the building was the Centro Cultural Borges, with

Back in BA

dinner debacle

3^rd Nov

We arrived back in BA, and managed to get a taxi (understanding the procedure this time!) to BAIT hostel; bizarrely, it almost felt like a return home, seeing the familiar sights we passed on our first foray into the city before and I was still entranced by the beautiful, lilac jacaranda trees exploding in bursts of colour, and the professional dog walkers with their myriad mutts trotting along the streets.

We arrived at BAIT and ensconced ourselves in our ground floor room – just next to the courtyard and the toilets, it meant I didn’t have to parade around in my towel to go the shower, and that

Stuck in the pool and sitting in chewing gum

 

As long as there’s manjar

2^nd Nov

We had to check out, and it was with a heavy heart that we said goodbye to our little hutch. It wasn’t all bad though – our bus wasn’t til 4pm, so we sat by the pool, sunbathing and reading, and I finished off with a dip in the cool blue waters. It felt quite glamorous to be in a pool after all the bare-bones hostels we’d stayed in, but I have to say my exit was incredibly ungainly; I got stuck in the pool! The steps down were a bit rickety, but fine to get me in, however, they were too high for me to climb back out! In the end I managed to haul myself out, knees up round my ears, scrabbling for a purchase on the side, but it wasn’t pretty.

El Rapido was our vehicle back to BA and although it had served us well on the way up, we had an inauspicious start as David discovered

Amazing Iguazu: Day Two

Falls so good we even named our food after them…

1^st Nov

The breakfast. OMG. I did the same as yesterday, and although it felt a bit naughty, I didn’t care – these cakes and pastries were too good to pass up! Then off to Iguazu again to complete the full journey: today was the lower circuit, which we’d seen briefly from the dizzying heights of yesterday’s walk. The lower circuit was the ‘wet one’. I donned my waterproof to go under the waterfalls, and it was such an exhilarating feeling to be dwarfed under the biggest shower in the world, looking out at the crowds and rainbows in front… Wonderful! The lower falls were definitely an adventure, and when we’d bought our eco boat ride yesterday, we got a reduced price ticket for the speedboat into the Falls today. I saw people coming up totally drenched in everything from bikinis to ponchos and wondered if it was actually going to be fun for me and my contact lenses, but ever curious, and never wanting to miss out, off I went with David to find out….

Down a million steep steps dripping with moss and slick with water, we finally reached a craggy path which led us around the basin of the Falls to the launch point for the speedboats. From this angle, the Falls looked even more huge and awesome than they had previously and I realised why the boats had looked so tiny and puny from the upper circuit; it’s because against the power and size of the Falls, they are! Life jackets on, waterproof bag for our daypack, and camera temporarily out, we boarded, and I was so glad we had middle seats, so I had time to see what was coming,

Amazing Iguazu: Day One

Perfect end to a perfect day

31^st  October 2011

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, we went for a Yreta breakfast. I hadn’t wanted to get up at the crack of dawn, but at the same time, we didn’t want to waste time for going to the Falls, so at about 8.30 we walked through the underground car park (?) and climbed the stairs to the breakfast block! Oh.My.God: various types of croissants covered in sugar syrup glaze, pieces of jammy cake, all manner of freshly shopped fruit, cereals, ham, cheese, different breads, strong fresh coffee, three kinds of juice; and even a Breville toastie maker!! With such goodies on offer, I could not decide what to have, but settled for a small square of cake, a croissant and a bowl of fruit. It was all so amazing, I literally had to exercise an iron will not to go back for more, and more, and more!

The bus station was just around the corner from the supermarket, and off we set, DEETed and sun tan creamed up for our adventure. The bus station queue was long, and the bus rammed with tourists when we elbowed our way on, but luckily we managed to get seats, though it was only about a half hour ride to the Falls. Another long queue for the ticket office, and then we were in!

It had the air of Jurassic Park as we walked along

Home, sweet tropical home

Our tropical pad

30^th October 2011

I awoke to the sight of the countryside turning decidedly more tropical – with red earth and brown rivers dotted by lush greenery. The music was something else – very Mexican sounding and incredibly cheery; it all made me feel like I was about to embark on a Mardi Gras…. To top it all off, I saw a swimming pool shop outside the penultimate town Edorado (!) where a series of blue mouldings stood end up, like a line of dominoes, along the side of the road. Hello to warmer weather at last! 

As we pulled in to Puerto Iguazu, we spotted Gui and JB sitting outside a pub enjoying a beer, so