ballet and food

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Last night I went to see a ballet, Romeo and Juliet, at one of the large theaters here. I went with two of the other Rotary Scholars. It was a nice show. I don't think I'm a huge fan of ballet, it was a little long, but it was beautiful and the music was nice. It was also surprisingly cheap. The opera, ballet, and orchestra are very popular here, and very affordable. Even for locals, the arts are more affordable here than in the U.S., and with the exchange rate, it's a steal for us. The most expensive ticket for the ballet was $35 pesos (which is about $12 US). My ticket in the orchestra was $27 pesos, or less than $10 US! In Washington, the cheapest ticket to the Kennedy Center was like $50 or $60 dollars. The ballet was not in the main theater here, Teatro Colon, which is the beautiful old opera house. Teatro Colon is one of the reasons BA is called the "Paris of South America" because at the time it was built (and still today) it was as fabulous as anything in Europe. I still haven't been inside, but the opera La Boheme starts there this week, so I plan to go see that. Teatro Colon is one of the last opera houses that still builds all its own sets, sews its costumes, and makes its wigs in-house. Underground, which you get to see on the tour, is a whole factory that keeps the opera going.

One other thing that I've been enjoying regularly here is the fresh pasta and pizza. I never thought there was another country that enjoyed pizza as much as in the U.S., but pizza is everywhere here, and I have to say it's better. It's mostly neopolitan style (thinner, crisper crust) and they use lots of garlic, which I love. They also eat a ton of empanadas, which are like mini-calzones, which can be baked or fried and filled with anything you can think of. There are fresh pasta shops everywhere. Most people don't buy their pasta in a grocery store, but go to the special pasta-shops. I've bought some nocchi, which is very popular here, and some tortalini (sp?). Both were great, although I overcooked them both since I'm not used to cooking fresh pasta.

Last night I ate dinner with my friends Martin and Erin and one of the Rotary scholars, Emily. We went to just a normal restaurant here . . . kind of like a diner. I just got pizza, but Martin and Erin got a "milonesa" which is basically like a chicken-fried steak. They're very popular here. It was huge! It was a large thin piece of steak, wrapped in ham, breaded and fried, covered in cheese and tomatoe sauce. I tried and piece and it was really good and tender. Next time I know what to order.

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Comments

[noah]

i hope you're finding time to excercise there in BA, chris! a few of those milonesas and you'll be coming back here as a "gordita!"

[Gabby]

La Vie Boheme!
I just went to see La Boheme at Lincoln Center a couple of weeks ago. The interpretation they did had it set around WWI. While the sets were relatively simple, I thought the "dialogue" was really clever, and it was much more tragic than Rent. I'm jealous of the prices for cultural attractions there. We definitely paid $34 for 4th ring seats. Also, the food sounds amazing especially when I think that it probably cost about the same as my midtown manhattan priced subway sandwich.