Recoletta park
There are a few important things about the capital city of Argentina Buenos Aries. It is a big elegant place full of great food, cheap shopping, and beautiful people.
Protest blood on statue
It has a few problems. First up, about ten years ago Argentina, who likes to be a very liberal forward thinking critic of the world, went a little crazy. One side of the political process rounded up about 30,000 of the other and then tortured and killed them.
There is a nice little apartment building in the middle my neighborhood with a sign in Spanish saying “sorry no one can buy this place because we used to cut peoples finger off here.” Everyone knows this and no one wants to talk about it. Its like a small elephant in the room.
Second Argentina had a little crisis a few year back where the currency became worthless. In a failed attempt to reverse this situation their leader played the nationalistic card by challenged Great Britain to a show of military strength, over a set of Islands no one gives a shit about. Margaret Thatcher summarily dispatched one ship and kicked there ass quelling any surge of national pride and causing the money to devalue as quickly as their leaders career.
Most of Argentina is of relatively recent European descent. You can safely say they are Italians who speak Spanish and want to be French. In any conversation with Argentinos you are sure to be reminded that they are the most European of the South Americans. This of course amuses the Europeans, irritates the South Americans and means absolutely nothing to the Gringos.
Central Buenos Aires, 9 de Julio
There are two great things about Argentina. Helado and Parilla. Helado is ice-cream. Argentina has the best ice-cream in the world. Its not even a contest. If the second best Ice-cream in the world is a 5 then Argentine ice cream is a an 11. Its a competitive sport and a social statement which ice cream franchise you patronize. I personally ate the stuff every day I was there and miss it to this moment.
Second they have the best barbecue in the world. They call it Parilla (pareesha) which is really a specific way of cooking it. They have about ten different cuts of meat that in general do not exist elsewhere in the world. My favorite is the bife chorizo mariposa (big freakin steak cut to look like like a butterfly). Parilla is excellent everywhere and generally reasonable if you can figure out what hours of the day the restaurants are open. I never did.
Typical Argentine Restaurant
Many of my friends in Argentina are artists. In fact much of Buenos Aries has some artistic leaning. I saw plays by Anton Chekhov and enjoyed my a friend Erico play in his funk band in the park. Another friend pictured below is the standing musical act for a local combination circus and high wire act called Cirque Du Aire which I attended every second Sunday. I witnessed many amazing things musically including his singing of Thriller in Spanish.
Ericos Funk Band
Happy Bobby
I first met Bobby in Rio in my last trip south. Since then he had saddled up with a Swiss sailing captain who has spent the past seven years wandering the globe on a beautiful boat called the Bluevic. On the weekends we would take short ride to Tigre the entrance to the Parana delta where the captain would pick us up. Bobby, Erico, the captain and myself would find a nice spot in the delta and spend the night wailing out blues tunes on three guitars and a harmonica. In fairness I did most of the wailing as keeping up with three talented musicians can only be done through willpower and a boatload of rum.
Pictures below is Ana. She and her husband run a small tour company out of the Parana. The Parana delta is hundreds of kilometers of small rivers pushing into the Atlantic ocean. The captain had befriended these folks and they generously provided us excellent food company and late nigh entertainment. Its a beautiful place where time seems to stand still.
Ana and Bobby at their house in the Parana Delta
The captain is an amazing guy. I ended up on a few solo outing with him and gained a deep respect for his temperament and style. He owned a successful advertising agency in Switzerland and was an accomplished musician prior to selling it to become a sailing nomad. In seven years he had sailed the Mediterranean, both coasts of Africa, across the transatlantic and most of South America. He has a wit and wisdom matched only by his generosity.
I miss the long slow boat rides on the Parana and I hope to join the Captain again some where on down the line.
The Captain of the Bluevic
I took a few weeks and joined with my long time traveling friend Renato to tour Chile. I also made it to Carnival in Rio for a week of general craziness.
Upon arrival in Santiago I was shocked to find that while the Argentinians like to pretend they are Europeans, Chile actually is. They have the highest median income in South America and touching down at the airport you might easily mistake it for Belgium (well if you ignore the 6,000 peaks of the Andes mountain range). The roads, housing, and cars are all modern and European looking. We spent time in the world famous vineyards around Santiago and in general enjoying this relaxed city.
Vineyard outside Santiago
Finally a glass I can appreciate
Santiago has some excellent restaurants. Though I will admit the best food I ate in South America was Peruvian. I plan to make a little voyage there next. This restaurant really struck my fancy with its Viking theme.
Where are your daughters!
I made one mistake in choosing my apartment. I rented it pretty much site unseen in the “nicer” part of town. While nice it was pretty boring and I spent a lot of time in cabs going back and forth to the old city to play pool and drink with the locals.
It has taken me a long time to write about Argentina. It is not that I have nothing to say its that I can’t find a way to express the feeling. My stay there was easy and there where really no sharp edges good or bad. Its a very pleasant purgatory caught between two worlds.
It lacks the new world energy and sense that anything can happen. It also misses the old world feeling of history and self identity. Buenos Aires felt like sleeping with a pretty girl you don’t really like. While she meets the approval of your friends, deep down you wonder if you might have been better off just drinking with your buddies.