Back in Buenos Aires

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Today I am doing a rare two days in one entry. Mainly, because not much happened yesterday, it was basically just getting back to Buenos Aires. A quick summary of the day, checked out, tried to find something worth eating at the hotel breakfast. Then returned the rental car.

Travel Tip: More than any other country, you need to be extremely vigilant with the rental car. They do an inspection at the beginning and end. When they did our initial inspection they completely missed the crack along the front window, which I took a picture of and sent to them as soon as we discovered it. When we brought it back, the second inspection was trying very hard to find things to charge us for. Jerry finally chimed in, “they missed the crack in the window, so I am sure they missed much more.” Then they tried to charge us for gas, which we prepaid. The point is, they will take advantage of you anyway they can, especially when your Spanish is not very good.

We had a couple of hours to kill so we got a couple of sandwiches and continued the rework of our itinerary for the rest of the trip. The flight home was uneventful and we were the only passengers in premium economy. I did get a good overhead view of the falls as we took off.

Back in Buenos Aires, it was about a 20-minute taxi ride back into the city. Given that we were supposed to be in Montevideo today, and not back until late, we had no dinner plans. Jerry unpacked and started the process of gathering laundry which needed to be dropped off the next day. I had a work meeting, yes an actual meeting with three of my co-workers. I of course had a class of wine during this meeting. I am going to have to spend 8 hours working next week, I really never get a total vacation, retirement cannot get here soon enough.

We had dinner in the hotel, another Milanese for me, this time veal with ham and cheese melted on top. Jerry had a Pizza, not very good, the waiter noticed and inquired. Jerry commented that the cheese wasn’t melted and the pepperoni was very fatty (it was pretty greasy). They kindly took that off the bill. We finished our wine and went back to the room.

Just as we walked in the phone was ringing. It was the night manager, he was very upset that we did not have a good dining experience, “this is just not acceptable in our hotel.” Ten minutes later a voucher for a free dinner and bottle of wine was slipped under our door. The service in this hotel is really quite exceptional and they go out of their way to accommodate you. It might be because we are here for 3 weeks.

Today, Saturday, is a hectic day. We have an empanada class, laundry and dry cleaning to deal with, pesos to obtain and high tea. (more about that later)

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Even though we had a busy day, we didn’t have to really get up to early. While Jerry finished getting ready I went down to have a small bite to eat, but more importantly coffee. This morning was a café con leche with espresso. They always ask for your room number so they know if its included or they need to charge you (ours is included). This morning, when I gave the room number in Spanish, the hostess complemented me on my perfect punctuation, and asked if I Spoke Spanish, I honestly replied, “un poco.” While at breakfast I observed the other guests, again, the rudeness of certain nationalities amazed me. One many wanted tea, so he just got up went to someone else’s table and took the teapot (they didn’t happen to be sitting there at the time). The poor waiter was trying to explain that he would bring him his own pot, but that wasn’t good enough for this ass. Entitled behavior just runs worldwide anymore.

I went back up to the room, finished getting ready and we were off. We didn’t think the place we have been getting our pesos was open on weekends, we were surprised that it was as we walked by, again misinformation abounds, That’s Argentina.” This time armed with fresh $100 bills, we got the good rate of 1000 to 1.

Next stop, the laundry. It was only a short walk and it was opened, again the website said no, google maps said yes. When we got there we also discovered it was open on Sunday for pick up. That’s Argentina. It was reasonable priced 14,000 pesos, the same service in the hotel was 300,000 pesos. Not paying $300 to have our underwear washed. We made that mistake in La Rochelle last spring.

From there we hailed a cab and were off to our empanada class. This was done by the same couple that did our wine tasting the first day. We arrived exactly on time, and they were ready to go. We started with a Yerba Mate workshop. Yerba Mate is like tea but made very differently. It is really a type of herb that you had water to and then drink. You will not find this in any coffee house or restaurant. This is something that is only shared amount friends and family when you visit. The tradition is the host makes the Mate, adding their own extra’s, (spices and herbs) then adding some cold water, then hot water. The water must be a very precise temperature. The tea kettles even come with a Mate setting so you get it just right. A type of straw (I forget the official name) is inserted before the water is added. There is not steeping, after the hot water is added, the host takes a drink then passes it to the next guest who takes a drink then hands it back to the host. The host always initiates who is next to take a sip. When you have had enough, when you hand it back to the host you say gracias, to indicate no more please. We each had our own Mate cup, since you don’t really want to go through the tradition with strangers. Jerry didn’t care for it, but I actually liked it a lot. They even gave us some to take home. So as soon as I get the Mate cup, watch out the next time you’re at our house.

Next up making the Empanadas. This is the cooking class I wanted; we did everything from beginning to end. Chopped the meat, onions, vegetables, cooked, the filling made the dough and stuffed the empanadas. I was in charge of cutting the meat and cooking the filling, I even got the honor of making the decision of how much of each spice was added. The spices were salt, thyme, oregano, cummin, sweet paprika and a hot paprika. I was a prefect mixture if I do say so myself.

The making of the dough was not difficult, well rolling out the perfect circles that Abby was able to do was difficult, but the dough itself is very basic. Stuffing, and folding them on the other hand is an art form, about every third one I made looked decent.

While we made the empanadas we nibbled on some chipa stuffed with cheese and chorizo. We also sipped on one of the best Rose wines ever. Made entirely from Merlot, it was crisp and dry, no sweetness at all. We had to buy a bottle for the hotel. The winery makes only about 300 bottles a year, we drank 1 there and bought one so there are only 298 left.

After the empanadas were completed, we sat around drank our rose and chatted. Abby had a great food chart of Argentina and she explained what was grown where. It was an excellent cooking class. The empanadas were delicious and we brought some back to the room for later on. The wine tasting and empanada class are highly recommended should you ever be in Buenos Aires, send me a note and I will give you the details.

Next, was a taxi to the dry cleaners to drop more clothes off that required dry cleaning not fluff and fold. Jerry had a bit of translation issue at first, but he was lucky because a teacher and translator walked in and helped him complete the transaction. I waited in the Taxi while he dealt with the dry cleaning. Again, $67, something that would have cost us about $100 or more at home.

The taxi then took us back to the hotel, were we got ready for Argentinian High Tea. Another taxi (we were dressed in jackets for the occasion, so didn’t want to be all sweaty when we got there) and we were at our destination quickly. Taxi’s cost nothing here. The most we have paid is $8 for a trip that is the equivalent from the distance of 144^th street to Battery Park, which would cost much more than $4.

The tea was very nice, not comparable to High Tea in London, but still very nice and reasonably priced. There is only one seating at 5 pm. We started with a black tea with rose pedals, citrus and almonds (the essence of those things, not that actual item). The savory items were very Argentina, the only thing that came close to something you would see on a British Tea Tier, was the cucumber and goat cheese sandwich. The tea finished with a cake of your selection, to many to choose form, Jerry chose an apple concoction and I had a very interesting take on Tiramisu.

That was the day, another taxi ride home and an early end to the best day of the trip so far. Oh, the taxi was rear ended on the way back to the hotel, not damage to us or the car. The person that hit us was, yes you guessed a 20 something texting instead of watching the road.

No dinner tonight, because of the late tea, so just wine, blogging mapping out tomorrow, and to bed early.

Tomorrow we are back to San Telmo for a more in-depth discovery.

Finally, the dish of the day was, what else, empanadas made by us.

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Comments

[Angel]

Love the photos!
Love the pics of you two! Empanadas pic is my fav! So glad you got the class you were hoping for!