Buenos Aires, still

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Geo: -34.6177, -58.3621

We had a restaurant lunch yesterday after our tour. Meat eating is a big deal in S.Am, almost an art-form! I haven't seen so many different cuts of beef on a menu and they looked amazing when served. The beef is served on warming platters to keep it hot, so it's not as rare as we often have it but they somehow keep it moist and juicy. Also Argentina's Malbec grapes make a fine red wine. The other ubiquitous food here is "Dulce de Leche" a sweet caramel spread that also flavours ice creams, milkshakes, liquor, biscuits, etc. I am a sucker for it!

On our travels so far we have found prices to be similar (or higher) than in Oz. $40+ for a steak and $8 for a beer, for example. Wines are a little cheaper.

After all this tango talk, we went last night to the premiere tango show in town: Rojo Tango at the nearby Faena Hotel. In Rio Thommo highly recommended the Rojo and suggested we switch from the show already on our itinerary. We took local expert advice and had a great experience, see pic and commentary.

Today we were guided by Marcella around the inner northern part of the city, principally the neighbourhoods of Palermo and Recoleta.

Federal elections are later this month and the people are keen to kick out the government that has given them a basket economy and high inflation.

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Photos

Rojo Tango
No photographs but I snuck this one in with no flash (just like at the Moulin Rouge). The setting was very intimate with a small stage that could fit four dancing couples, and perhaps twenty customer tables. It was an all-inclusive event; return hotel transportation, three-course dinner with wines and the tango show. The meal was great and I can't remember eating a better steak. The show was very sensuous but fully-clothed except for one short act. It was all about tango dancing (very serious) and glamorous costumes, with a couple of fillers by a male and female vocalist. An experience not to be missed!

Dog walkers
Marcella said she would like to be reborn as a dog walker. This girl only had ten dogs, but we saw 16 dogs and more being walked at once. The walkers charge 2,000 pesos per dog per month and often have several "packs" to walk each day. They have a healthy lifestyle, don't pay taxes and are well off.

Palermo Park
Lovely floral displays in this well manicured, 200Ha central park.

Recoleta Cemetery
As much museum as cemetery, BA's rich and famous have been buried here since 1822. In many of the sites wooden coffins can be seen stacked on shelves above ground; in others the coffins are in underground crypts. Families own the mausoleums in perpetuity but the plots are so incredibly valuable they can be sold and a small space leased back for cremated remains.

Maria Eva Duarte de Peron
Eva Peron's body is buried here. After her tragic death in 1952 of cancer at age 33, her president husband was overthrown by a military dictatorship and Evita's embalmed remains were spirited away. Eventually they were located in a grave in Milan, Italy. When Juan Peron regained the Presidency in 1973, he and his Vice-President third wife Isabella exhumed Eva's body and had it re-buried in Recoleta. According to Marcella, Evita is revered in Argentina as if she were a saint. The people are very unhappy with Andrew Lloyd Weber's sometimes unflattering portrayal of Evita.

Comments

[Morag]

Loving your stories and pics. Should have taken pics of the food (steak/beef dishes) and the caramel sauce has my full attention too!

[Morag]

Challenging and definitely a sense of humour and patience required. Wonder how many times she got tripped up before she got a handle on it.

[Morag]

Wow, what beautiful structures