Blogs from Buenos Aires, Argentina, South America - page 383

WHY I LOVE BUENOS AIRES by TARA While it's easy for us all to write about the things we don't like, it's sometimes harder to write about the good things that we have. This is my attempt to do that. 1. Buenos Aires is the only city that I'm familiar with whose most important and powerful people are the bus drivers. They are above the law, they are fast and powerful, and they could ram down a cop car in a single swipe. 2. They are more trusting than most cultures. Here, they have a huge problem with change, the stores, the cabbies, etc. Either they don't know that it's necessary to have it, or don't think about it at the start of their day. But if they don't have change, more times than not they ... read more

Day 1: 24 Hours to Buenos Aires Besides the lack of entertainment - which consisted of two films that started again from the very beginning when they reached the half way point, three soduku puzzles and a handful of Fox´s glacier mints - the 12 hour flight was relatively painless. After flying over the never-ending Atlantic Ocean, South America greets you with its sundrenched patchwork terrain and all of a sudden you´re on the other side of the world. The forecast for Buenos Aires looks positive (to say the least) with high temps of around 30 degrees all week. Our summer starts here. Once off the plane we get a transfer to the hostel - having to pay the bloke who´s meant to take us for free. He´s taken us to the other side of town ... read more

Bon, par ou commencer. Buenos Aires est une ville au style tres europeen, ressemblant a Paris en moins jolie ou a Londres avec plus de trafic. Et j'ai pas fais tout ce chemin pour avoir l'impression d'etre en Europe. Donc j'ai decide d'ecourter un peu mon temps a Buenos Aires pour aller en Bolivie. Je pars donc mardi pour la Paz. J'ai aussi abandonner l'idee d'aller en Patagonie car les distances sont trop importantes et le seul moyen resonnable d'y arriver est en avion mais apres un controle des prix sur internet, je prefere renoncer. Ca me prendrait trop de temps et d'argent. En plus, si tout va bien je revois Thea (La Norvegienne) bientot vers le Mexique. Alors d'autres motivations sont la pour aller vers le nord. Mais en attendant il n'est pas interdit de ... read more

Not long after moving to Buenos Aires, i had the good fortune to make friends with dos argentinas who invited several of us exchange students to an asada at one of their (parents) homes (it is not uncommon for argentines to live at home into their 30´s). An argentine asada is an all day barbeque where meats are gradually cooked and served over the course of the party. The portenos (residents of BA) are unbelievably friendly, case and point Flor and Anita, our host, held this asada just for us! The spread they laid out was beautiful, as was their home (it is very uncommon to have a yard in central Buenos Aires). The event lasted about 12 hours and at the end when some tango music started playing, the girls, who are professional tango dancers ... read more

There´s a very good Parilla (grill) on the corner next to my apartment (pictures to come). I´ve been there twice already and each time gotten the same meal (when it´s not broke . . .). I got lomo (which is like a big filet mignon) and mashed pumpkin. The meat is so soft you can cut it with a butter knife, and it´s very tasty. I ate it with no sauce or anything. I´m not even a very big fan of steak in general, but the two steaks I´ve had since I´ve been here have been heaven. Last night I ate with Rashmee, one of the other Rotary scholars, her new Italian roommate, Ariane, and the former distributor of the Onion in Colorado (www.onion.com). The meal was so that I could meet Ariane, and what I ... read more