Steak, Wine and Tango

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Unlike most Gremio fans who returned to Porto Alegre as quick as possible after Wednesday night’s game, I decided to take a long weekend in the city and enjoy my first visit to Buenos Aires. The trip didn’t get off to the best start but I guess after 20 some odd different countries in the last two years that it was bound to happen sometime: 10 minutes after I got off the bus from the airport some young thug tried to rob me but I politely told him in broken Portuguese/Spanish that the limit wasn’t scared of thieves without weapons and he needed to get the hell on.

After the shaky start and loss for Gremio, it was a great weekend. The more I travel, the less interested I become in “touristy things” so this trip was especially nice because of some friends in Buenos Aires. The first day after the game, I met my buddy Billy for lunch. Billy is a good friend of mine from Germany who is studying in Buenos Aires for a year. He has been living with a host family since February so he was a great tour guide. It was also nice to get to practice the german again. We started the first meal off as anyone should in Buenos Aires: with a nice big steak. And it didn't stop there, I had atleast one large steak everyday in BA. Chick-Fila’s eat more chicken ads would simply not work in Argentina. They love their steak and for very good reason! I would not recommend this city for vegetarians.

The second connection in Buenos Aires was through a friend of mine from home. She put me in touch with her friend, Stevi, who is living in BA and it was actually our first time meeting. But Stevi was awesome and it was even a little scary how many mutual friends we have back in NC and things we had in common, including both of our desires to eventually own stock in the USA’s greatest fast food establishment, Taco Bell.

I also must do a quick promo for Stevi’s work because I think it is very cool and I actually looked for a company just like it to help me before my job with ROGON came about. Road2Argentina is a company that handles all of the details for anyone who wants to do a Spanish immersion trip to Argentina. They help with everything from housing, classes, cell phones, internships, etc. for anyone whether you are 18 or 60 years old and trust me, these things can be a pain to handle yourself when you are in a foreign country. Check out the website and don’t be scared of a trip to Argentina.

Buenos Aires is best described as the Paris of South America. It is a huge city with tons of different neighborhoods and a very European feel to it. The highlights of the trip were the meal Saturday night with Stevi and the Tango show, both because they were very typical Argentinian and not at all touristy. Stevi took me to a great little restaurant where we could fully indulge in the best steak and Argentina’s answer to merlot, Malbec. It was great company and pretty much meat heaven, can’t ask for much more than that.

After the show, Billy’s host mom invited us all to a tango show at her friend’s house. The show was in the basment of a very neat old house and there was only about twenty people in the audience. Definitely not a show you can buy a ticket for at the tourist information desk. And there was of course more red wine and empanadas during the intermission.

As normal, I’ll sort of let the pictures do the talking but all in all it was a great trip and I definitely think I’ll be making a trip back in the near future.

Click to see all the photos from the game and Buenos Aires

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Photos

Dinner with Stevi
Stevi and I posing with our feast. We just ordered the salad and french fries for looks

Lunch with Billy
Meeting up with good ole Billy again and enjoying my first steak

Obelisco
Standing on 9 de Julho with the Obelisco in the background

The Prez's house
Standing with Billy in front of what is basically Argentina's "Pink" house

Cool statue
Posing with the Liberator of Argentina but I forgot his name

Does it get better?
The beginning of our feast

Anybody want some cheese?
Stevi showing off our block of cheese. Really, it was just cooked cheese but damn good

Wait a minute..
Stevi making sure that our meat will be medium rare and not well done ;)

Can we try?
They even let us help cook

More Malbec
Intermission at the tango show with the Germans, Stefan and Billy, Stevi, and the Pole, Jan

Tango show
The lady singing is who owned the house and put on the show

Evita
The grave of the famous Evita in La Recoleta. Really was a cool cemetery

Comments

[Mom]

So glad you survived the game too!! Stevie is a Carolina girl???!!! Thanks for the informative blog-love following your adventures...and seeing photos of you!! Looks like Brazil is being good to you!! I love you!!! Mom