"Don't Cry for Me Europe, I'm in Argentina"

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I had every intention of returning to Europe this year. I researched Vienna thoroughly; I toyed with cities in Belgium. I even devised a way to visit Berlin while stopping over in Iceland to stay a day or two to visit friends for a mere pittance. But when Argentine expatriate friends from NYC chose to return to Argentina in March, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to research a continent that is ripe for literary exploitation. But could I survive in a place where the streets are not paved with blondes? What would the reckless gluttony of dinner be like? Would it satiate my insane need for too much?

But oh, did we North American migrants suffer on the Aerolineas Argentinas “direct “11 hour flight that stopped in Miami to pick up stranded refugees, bumping the travel time to 17 hours. The flight was turbulent as we crossed the Amazon rain forest in a lightening storm that lasted all night, then more nausea over the Andes Mountains of Peru. We touched down (my Euro-transplant friends had their doubts we would make it at all) to a bleak, rain-soaked but lush and green Buenos Aires (it is still summer in March down there at the bottom of the globe). Another immigration snag: although all travel sites say Americans only need a passport to enter Argentina, this is not true. We are sent away from passport control with just our passports. We must fill out an impromptu visa from the Republic of Argentina giving the address we will be staying. You must fill this out entering the country and another one when leaving. Of course the four of us couldn’t produce a pen or pencil between us, leaving us stranded in limbo, not in the USA and not in Argentina either until a kindly flight attendant gave us one. Retrieving your luggage is a two-hour ordeal at the dilapidated Ezeiza international airport. No one speaks English: bring a Spanish speaking person with you. Buenos Aires from the airport to the hotel was a shock: bleak, decayed high rises in need of infrastructure repair.

Our hotel in the Microcenter on Calle Florida 944 was a clean and needed respite. In an upscale, contemporary, renovated, clean and,yes, touristy neighborhood, it was a little bit of home away from home. The rooms were nicely renovated in matching mahogany woods with burgundy and green fabrics and by far the largest tourist hotel room I have ever seen. In Argentina, there are rates for locals (cheap) and rates for Americans and Europeans (expensive). We paid the foreign surcharge of $160.00 US per night, outrageous by Argentinean standards as a local could have the room for $25.00US. Restaurant prices in the hotel restaurant are at local rates (a gift). The buffet breakfast in Argentina is disappointing as most Argentineans just have coffee and a croissant. Why in a country where croissants are offered both dulce (sweet) and sencillo (plain), were all the baked goods leaden and cold? But there is plenty of juice (only orange and grapefruit served), four types of cereal, bread pudding, chocolate brownies, distinctive yogurt, good coffee, croissants galore and ham and cheese thrown in as an afterthought.

With our flight 3 hours late, our hotel rooms still not ready; we took refuge in Piacere, 702 Viamonte, an Italian resto bar for a wonderful selection of pretty torte pies and pasta. My ravioli in green pesto sauce was a steal at 6 pesos ($2.00 US) for a portion that even a permissive glutton like myself couldn’t finish. Bottled water is everywhere and no big deal at 5 pesos ($1.66), even less at 2 pesos (0.66 cents US) at a convenience store. All restaurants, resto bars and confiterias are packed at lunchtime with workers who seem affluent enough to eat out every day.

Florida Street is an all-pedestrian boulevard that extends to what seem to be miles with shops, restaurants and confiterias, and galerias (indoor malls with one storefront entrance off the street). Some shady, some quite nice. None can compare with Galerias Pacifico (Florida @ Avenida Cordoba) covering an entire city block, it dates back to 1889 and boasts vaulted ceilings with murals done in 1954 by various muralists, all adherents to the nuevo realismo (new realism) school of Argentine art. For many years the building was semi-abandoned, but now sports upscale international upmarket shops and products proving that some Portenos (residents of Buenos Aires) are quite well off. Add some interesting restaurants in the massive food court (down a grand staircase), we made dinner out of the offerings at Brazita Parrilla, an Argentinean grill type restaurant that can offer up huge quantities of grilled meat. I made a meal of 6 servings of vegetables at their salad bar (16 pesos/$5.33 US). Mondo Pasta, also in Galerias Pacifico, offers your choice of pasta (gnocchi, tagliatelle, ravioli) with your choice of salsa (sauce) (Bolognese, Alfredo, classico (tomato) and a drink thrown in, all for 17.5 pesos/$5.33 US. Note that vegetarians will have a problem here. You cannot get a serving of any vegetable, so pasta may be the only convenient option for vegans as you won’t find even a small bubble of vegetarian sanctuaries. An evening walk on Avenida Sante Fe (the street reminded our foursome of Rome) is a perfect excuse to burn calories.

No one should pass up the three-hour bus tour of Buenos Aires. In this short time you will cover all the neighborhoods that matter in this metropolis of 3 million people: the Microcenter, San Nicholas, Recoleta (yes, the neighborhood has the same name as the cemetery where Evita is buried, look for the Duarte mausoleum), Palermo Viejo, Palermo Hollywood and Palermo Soho, Retiro, Barrio Norte, San Telmo (where the tango originated-tango is not an Argentinean but a Porteno phenomenon), Puerto Madero, the city’s most fabricated and safest zone (the waterfront docks that have been revitalized with luxury condos ($4000. per square foot), designer stores and 50 good restaurants, sort of like NYC’s Battery Park City), and of course, La Boca, the immigrant community with brightly colored corrugated iron houses. You will walk along Caminito, the barrio’s most famous street. Do not stray from this street, the river walk, Del Valle, Iberlucea and Magallanes and never come at night. This can be a very dangerous area, no one comes to this zip code after dark, and please don’t flash expensive camera equipment. San Telmo is supposedly full of charm and personality. Translation: I felt uncomfortable there as well, missing its charm totally. The bus tour will save you a separate trip to Recoleta (a beautiful, clean, affluent section of the city with the poshest shops). Older people and finicky types will only want to book their hotel here. The Alvear Palace Hotel located here rents rooms to Americans & Europeans for $700.00 US per day. Palermo exploded into a wonderful, safe, clean, but slightly removed barrio and boasts uncongested parks and woods (Bosques de Palermo) for nature enthusiasts. This is a blessing in BA, where buses and cars spew black smoke in the other neighborhoods, asphyxiating me during long walks on narrow streets with tall buildings. The local Portenos have found what I guess to be their anidote: chain smoking while walking in the trail of exhaust fumes. I did not notice any inspection stickers on any cars or buses. But don’t miss Plaza de Mayo: on one end Cathedral Metropolitania, a baroque church that contains the tomb of General Jose de San Martin, Argentina’s most revered hero and Casa Rosado on the other end, the pink presidential palace where Evita would address the crowds from the balcony.

After the tour, we chose to have an expansive lunch at Carrousel in Galerias Laretta on Florida Street. a pub/resto bar with homestyle cooking like beef cutlets Milano with fried potatoes, Merluza with a green sauce (like tilapia or flounder but with more flavor). The British influence can also be seen on Florida Street, which had its own Harrod’s Dept. Store (now closed) and Richmond’s Confiteria (just like Harrods, the only thing that’s still British is the name.) An unsubtitled Spanish menu was an exercise in frustration. I could not survive without my companions who spoke Argentina’s own brand of Spanish.

No trip to Argentina would be complete without a long trip to the countryside to one of the estancias (ranches). The one chosen for us was Estancia Santa Susana, a thousand-acre ranch with a farm museum, eating hall and horse farm. You are greeted with homemade empanadas and wine. Then off to the dining hall for a rare treat: vegetables, well, salads at least: red cabbage, carrot & potato, all served separately followed by grilled Argentinean steaks (distinctively tough), chicken, sausage and blood sausage. Topped off with espresso, and you are good to go. Do not expect any culinary fireworks here. The estancias entertain as you are there all day: tango dancers, acrobats, a band providing indigenous music and song, even sexy dancing. Then it’s off to the “rings” where gauchos on horseback skew tiny rings suspended in the air while traveling at fast speeds on horseback. If you are female, pretty and leggy, the gauchos will invite you to join them on horseback. This may not sound like your cup of tea, but the estancias should be seen as it is an integral part of Argentina’s heritage. Plus, on your way there, they may stop at a rest stop that will serve you a free cup of hot mate (pronounced "mah-tay") (the indigenous yerba tea that traditionally is served in a gourd only in Argentina and Uruguay).

If the beauty of country life doesn’t faze you, stay in the heart of Buenos Aires on Florida Street and sit in the outdoor café under umbrellas (it frequently rains and the humidity is horrendous) at Il Gran Café. Graze on inconsistent (brilliant to shoe leather) Italian food while watching the parade of fashionistas from Galerias Pacifico across the street). Be forwarned: this restaurant has two prices for every appetizer, main course, dessert or cup of coffee – one price for eating it indoors, another price for eating it outdoors. I have never seen this outrageous conceit anywhere else in the world. Their eggplant is flawless and their tomato sauce sweet and balanced, but their veal cutlet Milanese was DOA. I ordered it because it was accompanied by pumpkin, but there was no such vegetable on the plate, just meat and potatoes. Another annoyance: my main courses are served after my dinner companions have finished theirs. And what about the pigeons perched on the edge of my table umbrella looking longingly at my veal cutlet? Was I wrong not to share? Though the prices outdoors were 15% higher, there was no lack of occupancy. More tables and chairs were put out to accommodate the faithful. Their motto could be: room for two more. But they do take credit cards and our quartet dined admirably for 170 pesos ($57.00) plus tip. Il Gran Caffe only serves Illy coffee, a plus, and their café crema (7 pesos/$2.30 US) is the best coffee you will have in this town. After your meal, watch the tango dancers performing for free in the all-pedestrian street. Or better yet, knowing sybarites head for Freddo, the sleek, upscale ice cream emporium, where even plain vanilla is a decadent indulgence. The mini-chain specializes in ice creams made with dulce de leche (caramel). They are surprisingly good even to someone who doesn’t like caramel. The smallest cone costs 7.5 pesos/$2.50 US.

One of my traveling companions had previously visited Recoleta to exhume her father to have him re-interred in New York with her mother.The cemetery referred her to the US Embassy (Av. Columbia 4300) in the Palermo section of BA. Let me just say that you had better hope you will never need a US Embassy when traveling abroad. It’s like visiting DMV, but with high security. You will need to bring your US passport to get inside (so don’t ever lose it). After going through metal detectors, you sit for hours in a nondescript room with cashier windows, mostly shuddered. They take credit cards, by the way. No one seems to speak English at the American Embassy, only Spanish. You take a number, which is never called. Many leave before their number is called, as we did.

Here are some tips for dealing with Ezeiza, our “favorite” third world airport. There are 2 terminals A & B. Your taxi driver will invariably take you to the wrong one and you will be carting your heavy luggage on your own outdoors to the next terminal. The scene in the terminal is a zoo. Do not get on any line if you don’t know where it leads. The check-in procedures are endless: 2 passport checks before getting to the ticket counter. You must then go to a separate window to pay an airport tax (surprise!) 57 pesos/$18.00US. For those who thought their trip was prepaid and didn’t need money are in for a shock. Then on to security, then to the gate where all carry-on luggage is riffled through unapologetically (the water you bought after the security check is confiscated as well) and all persons are frisked manually again. There are no flight announcements, so pay attention to your boarding time. The security personnel cackled at me in Spanish. I just stared at them quizzically.

Now let’s compare the hype about Buenos Aires with what I’ve actually seen. They say it’s just like Europe-it’s not, well maybe like some of the areas of Rome or Paris you wish you didn’t find yourself in. They tout the French architecture. Yes, it’s ornate and classic, but it is by no means the most common type of building. Weathered concrete and glass is more like it. The infrastructure can be crumbling-streets, buildings and apartment houses, though the northern sections are clean, well kept and the parks are manicured, beautiful respites with exotic trees, but nothing will save you from bus fumes and cars spitting out black smoke (pollution controls are lax). Argentineans though are known for their extraordinary friendliness and I basked in their sunny care. They are friendlier than their European counterparts, though 97% of Argentineans claim European heritage. The crush of people on Florida Street means you cannot deviate from your step for one second. People swirl around in aimless clots. My 3 companions were amused that a beggar pleaded his case to me, the only person in the group who had no idea what he was saying. Another myth: prices are cheap in Argentina. Hotels are expensive, airfare is more than Europe, clothing is more expensive than in New York, but food is still a bargain, especially at resto bars. I was disappointed in the baked goods. For gourmands and food world bloggers who wonder how ethereal the ultimate puff pastry could be, those who thrill at the sensual silk of a great foie gras or even those who seek by the peppery persuasion of spicy food will be disappointed in Argentina.

Aerolineas Argentinas 1-800-333-0276

Howard Johnson Plaza Florida, Calle Florida 944 tel: [phone]

Piacere Resto Bar, Viamonte 702

US Embassy, Avenida Columbia 4300

Carrousel, Galeria Laretta, north end of Florida Street

Galeria Pacifico, Florida Street at Avenida Cordoba

Ricmond Confiteria, Calle Florida 468

Il Gran Caffe, Calle Florida @ Av. Cordoba

Alvear Palace Hotel, Av. Alvear 1891 Tel: [phone] www.alvearpalace.com

Buenos Aires Bus Tour, morning 10am or afternoon 2:30pm – book with concierge

Estancias – book with concierge

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Photos

European inspired architecture
architectural details on Florida Street. Not all buildings are this exquisite.

Florida Street
heading North

Galerias Pacifico
The ultimate shopping mall in BA

Plaza de Mayo
also Cathedral Metropolitania

Cathedral
architectural details

Estancia
Take a trip to an estancia outside BA to experience a quintessential Argentinean experience.

Northern Buenos Aires
One of my favorite parks north of my hotel

The scene on Florida Street
Clots of tourists abound on Florida Street

Park in BA
One of the many parks to enjoy in Buenos Aires

Puerto Madero
New development on the waterfront

Comments

[Roseanna]

mom and dad's backside
CJ-Splendid article. Publish London!!!!