Buenos Aires, Take two

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Buenos Aires, Take two: December 29, 2010
After arriving at Buenos Aires from Ushuaia we found ourselves in a hotel/apartment. It was one bedroom designer loft with a fancy little kitchen. From there it was the time for a dinner as we were running on empty. It turned out a bit deliriously picky - we surveyed several places, and then a few more, and finally after an hour of wandering around we found the perfect place. See pictures bellow. Who knew black noodles in Argentina would taste so good.

Tango show - December 30th, 2010
Maria has picked a Carlos Gardel tango show for us. She was excited to see the show and put her new dress on (that only took us a half day to find). We got to the show by bus, usual delay, and with 10 other slightly annoyed people. The venue was crowded, but pretty impressive. The truly old-time style dining room and a large elevated stage with a live orchestra on top of it created a great tango environment. The seats for everyone in the regular price range were placed very close together along long, long, loooong tables...but at least we had a good view of the stage. The dinner was served with the speed of light and with the same speed the plates were taken away from us.....no need to ask, as soon as you finish - the plate is gone. I can't tell that I appreciate it very much, but hey, the show must begin. The show was enjoyable. It had a bit of everything - a bit of an old style argentine tango combined with more modern and acrobatic tango routines and songs in-between. While we liked all of it, we were only truly impressed by the 2-3 numbers when the dancers really showcased the difficulty of a tango with various spins in the air, lunges, sharp changes, and impressive poses. All in all, perhaps a bit commercial, but certainly quite enjoyable.

A vacation from our vacation - December 31, 2010
After two weeks of touristy stuff it was time for a relaxing, no effort day at the pool. We slept in, had a late breakfast and walked back to our old hotel (Novetel) to use the pool. At first, they said no, but we asked the manager if we could pay a rate just to use the pool and he agreed. We worked out a bit, went swimming, ordered lunch, and read. It's the first time ever we were out in the sun on a New Year's Eve. Awesome.

Buenos Aires: New year's in a t-shirt December 31st night, 2010
That was the first time we celebrated new year during the summer time. For the special celebration, little chef (Maria) was ordering around big chef (Matt) in preparation of golubtsui- russian dish of cabbage rolls with mix of rice, meat, and fried onion inside. We had a minimum number of items to make golubtsui, but even so, they turned out pretty darn good - golubtsui never fail. We also argued that Maria was probably the only one person in Argentina making golubtsui this time. Our table was additionally decorated by a salad, bottle of red wine, bottle of pink champagne, and chocolate. Yumm! Until 11:50 we ate and watched "lost in translation", movie that somehow was very timely and to which we could relate at a different level having traveled for 2 weeks and celebrating new year by ourselves in a different country. On the new year, Matt skillfully popped the champagne and we were standing on a balcony listening to sudden and loud popping of fireworks everywhere. I am not exaggerating the loudness of Buenos Aires New Year's celebration. The city turned into what sounded like a "war zone" with small pops following big ones and a series of mini pops. The most fun was listening and observing all of this in a t-shirt with my bare legs and arms feeling the warm air. I am so used to celebrating new year in a cold weather. That day in Maria's home city - it was -30 farenheit. So you can imagine. New year in a t-shirt felt pretty special! 😊

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