Mop Up

With little time left, it was time to 'mop up' those few outstanding items on the list of things I wanted to see before I left Buenos Aires. Off I went today to the Plaza de Mayo to check out El Cabildo and the Casa Rosada.

The Cabildo in BA was a much bigger production than in Montevideo. So much so that I could only digest a portion of the information they presented. It being solely in Spanish didn't help either.

The view of the Plaza de Mayo from the balcony of El Cabildo.

The view of El Cabildo from the Plaza de Mayo (white building on the left).

I took a free 45 minute tour of the Casa Rosada which was really impressive!

Aside from being a spectacularly beautiful building, I particularly liked the press room with black and white posters of influential women in Argentina's history.

An art gallery decorated in the colours of the Argentinian flag inside the Casa Rosada.

President Cristina's desk in Casa Rosada.

I met my friend Mariano in the afternoon to go down to The neighbourhood of Boca to check out the infamous Caminito.

For 'la ultima cena', my last supper in BA, Guille, Alé and I went over to Puerto Madero to an Italian restaurant. It was a great excuse to take out my new, fabulously beautiful green heels (zapatos con tacos altos). Needless to say that after wearing flip flops and sneakers for four months I had to move slowly!!! ;o)

Montevideo

Today was site-seeing day. Javier and I started the day at the Solis Theatre.

There was a photography exhibit that was worth checking out before moving on to see Palacio Slavo, the city's tallest building.

Then we hopped on a bus to Parque Rodo which was a little oasis in the city. It has a lake with paddle boats and lots of green space which I always love.

After we stopped for lunch we headed down to the Costanera, the seaside boardwalk. While there are lots of apartment buildings along the main road, the area has a really nice vibe to it. It's not obnoxious like Cancun or anything. It didn't hurt that it was a glorious day! Summer-like in Montevideo. Winter-like in Colonia. What a difference a week makes!

Our final stop, before heading back to the ferry terminal, was the 'El Cabildo', the old town hall. I enjoyed seeing old photos of Plaza Constitucion and the some ancient artifacts, but I admit I expected more. From what Javier said, Uruguayans don't dwell too much on the past. Many don't know much about their own history so perhaps it's not surprising the Cabildo was a bit lean on history and memorabilia.

While it was a long way for a short amount of time, it was nice to see more of Uruguay and hang out with Javier. Besides, I really wanted to take advantage of my time here. I can't believe it, but Operation Penguin ends in 48 hours when I get on a plane bound for North America. How strange it will be to be Home again!

Tienes que ir

The words from the lady in the tourist centre in Colonia were stuck in my mind. You have to go, tienes que ir, to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. I didn't make the time to go when I was in Colonia last week. It was a challenge enough to get there that I wanted to stay put, thanks very much. That said, my 'FOMO' still kept me wondering about the city.

While I'd originally planned on spending the full week in BA, I opted to 'pop over' to Montevideo for a couple of days mid-week to satisfy my curiosity. Javier is from Montevideo so I knew I'd have a guide and wouldn't be stuck in the touristy spots. It's so much easier to get a feel for a place with local guides.

It's 'only' three hours by boat but the Buquebus company makes the check-in and customs fairly painless. Besides, there's wifi on board. I could easily waste that time in an Internet cafe! Sad but true. Might as well be en-route somewhere.

Montevideo is a capital city but it's a fairly small one. It felt like a town compared to Buenos Aires which was actually refreshing. There were only eight attractions listed in the Frommer's online guide but there's so much more to the city!

The hotel,

and the view from the balcony.

I met Javier for dinner at this funky pub called Matteo (after some famous Uruguayan singer) in his neighborhood. Good food and great music. All good.

The old city gate by night.

I've been meaning to...

...do a lot of things in Buenos Aires. I've always had plenty of time...until now. Gulp. I hear the clock ticking so it was time to make the time to see the things I'd been meaning to.

I was on my own today to zig and zag in the general direction of the green part of the city north of Avenida Del Libertador. The bus dropped me at the Plaza Italia and I headed up to the Parque 3 De Febrero as the first destination.

There were tons of runners, bladers, and cyclists out enjoying the sunshine. The rose park, El Rosedal, was unfortunately closed up for some reason but I enjoyed my wander around the lake and popped in to the Museo Sivori. The museum was a manageable size and was full of funky modern art some of which I really liked.

The next stops were the Japanese Garden...

....and MALBA. MALBA is the museum of latin american art in Buenos Aires. The building is sleek and modern with three floors to explore. I didn't linger too long any any one piece and am certain I didn't give some pieces more than a passing glance. There were some fascinating pieces which really caught my eye. Then there were many others that were just plain weird or disturbing confirming that I'm not a huge contemporary art fan. Just like with opera, I'm optimistic it'll grow on me or I'll have some epiphany about it! One day...

I opted to have lunch in the MALBA restaurant. It was very tasty, but on the expensive side. I needed the energy as I still had much ground to cover. The Floralis Generica, a gigantic steel flower which open in the morning and close at night, was next.

Once I'd seen all of the above, it was time to switch gears and get into shopping mode to pick up a few things before I head home.

By the time I got home at 19h, I was shattered! It's just as well that Guille's birthday dinner was going to be homemade instead of going out to a restaurant. We had malfatis and pankekes con dulce. Yum yum. While I still got to bed earlier than I would have if we'd gone out to a restaurant, 2AM was still late, especially since I was catching a ferry to Montevideo early the next morning.

Sunnies and coffee needed!

We asked for a late checkout. We needed it. We were moving pretty slowly once the alarm went off just before noon. Good thing today was a chill day with no real plans other than meeting up with Guille's mom and cousin and his family in San Isidro at Bike&Coffee, our favourite little restaurant.

While I'd planned on sitting quietly at the table caffeinating, the twins, Lara and Camila, had other plans for me. I got an earful from the munchkins about this and that and everything else! They talked a mile a minute and I kept having to ask them to slow down. It was cute to see them so excitable. Inevitably their energy was contagious and I had a great time playing with them. As always, I do my best to encourage mischievous behaviour in all little people!

After lunch we all hopped on board the Tren de la Costa to Tigre.

We checked out a different part of town where they had more boat rides, playgrounds, boardwalks and parks. It was really pretty but Guille and I were both lugging around our overnight bags on little sleep and we were pooped. Plus I talked in Spanish about 90% of the time so my brain hurt too!

Playing with our food! Copo de azucar=barbe-à-papa=cotton candy...or in this case, a decent moustache!

Los disfrazes

Today was all about the party in San Isidro.

Julían's email mentioned 'customs'. Hmmm? Ah! Costumes! Love it! 'Disfrazes' in spanish. But what to wear? What to wear? Looking at the clothes I already had, I figured going as a hippie would be the easiest to pull together without too much effort. Guille had an outfit ready to go too, so it was perfect.

The party was in San Isidro, in another town about 25km from where we are in BA. I got an invitation from Julían, from the Antarctic Dream. He and his friends were putting it on at the clubhouse for the social club they founded. When I asked him what time the party started, he said to come anytime after 12. That's when all Argentinian parties get started. Even after all this time, I still haven't adjusted to the nocturnal nature of South Americans!

By the time we caught a taxi from the hotel in Vicente Lopez (the closest hotel we could get at the best price) it was 01:30. Julían met us at the door, though I hardly recognised him as a black basketball player!

Both Guille and I were amazed at all of the costumes. There was some serious effort put into these costumes. What a fun group! It's way more fun to go to a party trying to look silly that it is to get all glammed up, in my opinion.

We went straight to the dance floor after getting our first beer. We started out dancing on our own but everyone was so inclusive that it didn't take long to meet some people, including Patricia, who went to the party on her own, brave girl.

The dance floor seemed dominated by inebriated men in drag and I got bumped several times, usually as I was taking a sip of my drink. They do say beer is a good hair conditioner!

My trick of not wearing a watch helped immensely but I was ready to go at what turned out to be 5AM. I thought I'd done so well but I got poo-poo'ed by everyone saying it was too early to go. I tried to rally and ignore my head cold coming on. In the end, we caught a cab around 6:30 and we were back at the hotel at 6:45. We managed to sneak a few items from the breakfast buffet before it opened at 7 and we confirmed that we could have a late check out. It took us about two seconds to fall asleep once our heads hit the pillows.

What a great night!!!

The country-mouse in the big city

Well, it happened before when I came back to BA after being in the peace and quiet of nature. The shock to the system being in a city with 14 million people and concrete everywhere is proving tough to deal with. To make matters worse today is a cold day and I went shopping...along with everyone else. Oops!

I needed warm clothes. I foolishly sent most of my warm clothes back to Calgary with Guille. I amaze myself at my optimism at times. It was 40'C when I landed in January. Today's high is 13'C and I need a toque and mitts.

In any case malls packed with people is never a good thing for me. I lose it when people stop at the end of escalators. I get frustrated when people walk ten abreast. It annoys me when people wander, change directions and stop. And the icing on the cake today is that apparently my size of jeans is the 'largest we carry'. Ouch! And seriously...what IS the deal with skinny jeans?

In any case, it seemed that I wasn't fit for an unsupervised public outing so I took myself home out of harm's way before anyone got hurt. To be fair, it's not Buenos Aires, it just big cities in general. I'm so much more of a "country mouse".

I ended up having a lovely evening with Guille and Sergio. We ordered empanadas and had them delivered to the apartment. Perfect. There were so many flavours to choose from and my initial concern about knowing which was which was apparently not an issue!