Day Sixty-Nine: Last Day in Buenos Aires Reflections

Street art in Buenos Aires

I enjoy my last meal in Buenos Aires with Laura at Casa Cruz. 

Laura insists on coming with me to the airport.  On the ride, we laugh about the things we did on our trip and talk about her upcoming trip to New York in June. 

Orlando, our quirky driverIt doesn’t hit me until we pass through the toll into the EZE international airport that I’m leaving now.

Laura and me on my way to EZE international airportI think about all of the people I’ve met.   I remember what Nacho said about the connections we make. 

NachoIf I had never met Nacho in Miami, I would never have met Lolo, then Jonathan, then Max, then Kike, then Sergio and then finally Laura.

Lolo in CartagenaJonathan with his bullet proof car in Bogota

Max in Bogota

Sergio at Wherever bar in Buenos Aires

Kike and LauraThey are all connected to each other and I am a link.   We are all connected.    Some people come in and out of our lives, but there is a reason we meet. 

Me and Kate in Miami

Arturo, Mark and Ruben and the Standard in Miami

Alejandro on our way to Villa de Leyva

Me and Kika in Bogota

I set out in search of new perspectives and I’ve found many.  I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.  And with the right attitude and an open mind, anything is possible.  We’re never alone.

Me and Lisa at the Box in NYC before I left on my road trip

Jay, me, Inez, Chris and Sammy at the Standard in Miami

I think back to December, when I was in a really bad place.  I had just been betrayed by a couple that I thought were my close friends.  I was hurt.  I was frustrated in my job and  confused about what I wanted in life.  I didn’t know what to do.  However, I did know that I would be up again and the feeling wouldn’t last.  Despite how bad it may have felt at the time, I reminded myself of how lucky I am.  Knowing this lessened the sting.  

And now, I am up again. 

Me and Laura in Mendoza

Me and Lyla in MiamiGetting my car towed in Miami and having my flight cancelled in Mendoza resulted in some great memories.  Despite how frustrating these things seemed at first, they were fun once I changed my attitude.

Chris and Jay after my car was towedI’ve made great friends, reconnected with old friends and realized that there is a world of opportunity out there for me. 

Federica, me and Marine in Buenos Aires

Me and Cat in Charlotte

Meghan, Julia, Alanna and me in Tayrona, Colombia

I don’t need to have it all figured out.  In fact, I prefer to embrace the unknown and trust that I will find my  way, pursue my passion and always love life.  Life is good.  I must always remember that.

To all of my friends who shared this adventure with me, new and old:  Lisa, Maddie, Cat, Craig, Sammy, John, Chris, Jay, Dan, Mimi, Bob, Kate, Ruben, Arturo, Nacho, Lolo, Roman, Alanna, Julia, Meghan, Jonathan, Kika, Max, Nicholas, Alejandro, Kike, Consuelo, Pato, Sergio, Laura, Ezekiel, Fernando, Diego, Judy, Katharine, Tano, Parker, Emily, Ana, Federica, Marine, Juan, Jules and Manuel.  Whether we meet again in this life, you will always be a part of me.  You have taught me so much.  Thank you. 

In South America, I learned the importance of having balance in life and following your passion.   Latin Americans have balance.  New Yorkers could use a dose of it.   Work hard, but enjoy life first.  If it’s possible,  find a way to do what you love everyday.

Fernando and me. Fernando quit his job as a lecturer to play and teach polo.Laura and Alejandro pre-launch in Mendoza. Alejandro sold his trucking company to start a paragliding company so he could fly everyday.

Diego, Judy, Parker and Katharine. Judy spent a month in Buenos Aires for a different life experience. Parker moved to BA and started Oasis BA.Diego and his wife have a restaurant in their home and bring it with them as they travel around the world. I’m sad to leave, but once again, it’s time to go.  I miss Lyla.  I am ready for New York.  I’m ready to focus, always remembering these things I have learned.

This trip may be over but the journey continues. 

Lyla on the roadNext stop: Miami

Day Sixty-Eight: Parapente in Mendoza

Over breakfast, Laura and I discuss what to do today.  More wine? Perhaps bikes and wines. Then I have an idea. “Parapente!” I say. Laura calls Mendoza Parapente. They can pick us up at 10:30. It’s a good day for paragliding.

As I glide with Alejandro, I ask him how he got into this business. “I went paragliding once, like you today. Then the next day I starting taking lessons and I loved it.   I started this company so I could go and do this everyday,” he explains.

Before he started Mendoza Parapente, he had a trucking company, which he sold. “The money was good, but the life was not,” he tells me.  I’ve met so many people from this country who have pursued their passions. He tells me about his friend in New York who works all of the time and never has time to himself. It’s a familiar story.  See more pictures. 

See video of Laura’s launch. 

See video of my descent.

Day Sixty-Seven: Sipping Vino in the Uco Valley

We eat breakfast and get picked up by a van for a wine tour in the Uco valley. It’s a new growing region, about 100km from Mendoza.

We arrive at Andeluna, where take a tour of the winery and taste a rose, a malbec and a blend.

At AndelunaNext we head to Clos de Los Sietes. It’s a huge project, started in 2003 and still growing. 8,000 hectors and five wineries. Each winery has it’s own wines and also contributes a portion of its grapes to create the Clos de Los Sietes blend.

The map of Clos de Los Sietes. The different colors represent different varietals.

Flechas De Los Andes winery

We taste a Pinot Noir, a Malbec and the Clos de Sietes blend.  I love them all. I buy a case.

We head to Fournier, the last winery of the day, for lunch. The architecture was inspired by star wars. It feels like a spaceship. A massive spaceship in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by vineyards.  It’s eerie.

Fournier

The cave where the wine ages in barrels is also an art gallery.

Lunch at FournierThe lunch is fantastic. It’s 3pm and we are all very hungry so its good to finally eat.

 

Our flight is at 10:20 tonight.  On the ride back to Mendoza I receive an email from tripit that the flight is delayed.  Ok, no rush. Laura gets a text from her mom saying that all of the flights coming into BA have been cancelled because the radar at both airports is broken. We call the airline to try to figure out what we should do.  We don’t get an answer.

We come back to the hotel to get our bags and Karen at the front desk advises us to go to the airport.

At the airport there is a film crew and a line of people are waiting to talk to the aerolineas Argentinas representative at the counter. When we make it to the front of the line and learn that the flight is cancelled and all of the flights tomorrow morning are fully booked. We get tickets for a flight tomorrow at 5pm. Another day in Mendoza.

I dont mind, I’m on vacation, but Laura was supposed to work tomorrow. “Are you ok?” I ask. She doesn’t seem stressed about it. “When you can’t solve a problem, it’s not a problem,” she says. There is nothing else to do but embrace the new situation.

Vamos a Mendoza!” I exclaim and we head back to the city.  See more pictures.

Day Sixty-Six: Malbec and Mountains in Mendoza

Apparently Mendoza shuts down on Sundays and there aren’t many wineries open today.  Victoria at the front desk makes a reservation for us at Balasco de Baquedano, one of the wineries open today, and schedules horseback riding for the afternoon.  What better time to ride a horse than after a large lunch with lots of wine?

We head to the winery and get there at 11:30am, an hour before our reservation.  Victoria, our guide, is free so she gives us a private tour before lunch.

 

The winery has a room full of glass stands with different aromas we find in the wines and descriptions of what creates those aromas.  “Ohhh buttermilk!!” Laura exclaims.

At lunch we have our tasting.   Balasco de Baquedan only produce Malbecs, so we try different Malbecs, each paired with one of our five courses.  My favorite is the dessert wine.  I buy a bottle of to bring home.

My Spanish teacherMarcelo, our driver, picks us up and takes us into the mountains for horseback riding.  The drive is about an hour and it’s beautiful.  On the ride, Laura continues my Spanish lesson.  She’s a great teacher and has really helped me improve my Spanish.

 We get to the ranch and hop on our horses.  I’m riding Currachin.

We trek through the desert on the horses for two hours before taking a van to pick up some rafters on the way back to Mendoza.  We have some wine and enjoy the view while we wait for the rafters to finish.

We have dinner at Grill Q, an Argentine grill.  The food is great and the wine, even better. Alta Vista Malbec Terroir Selection 2007.  I highly recommend it.

We call her brother Sergio.  He tells me how grateful he is to me for inviting his sister.  “are you crazy!?” I ask him.  “I’m so delighted she is here!”  I really am.  See more pictures.

Day Sixty-Five: "Mendoza! Vamos a Mendoza!!"

Laura and me the night before we head to MendozaLaura told her patients yesterday, “On Monday, don’t come, I won’t be there.”   That’s because we’ll be in Mendoza.  I’m so excited she is coming with me.  She reminds me how amazing it is that we are going to Mendoza.  With all of the traveling I’ve been doing this month, I hate to say it but the excitement of it, while still there, has become routine.  She brings it back.

We land in Mendoza and drive to our hotel.   “Mendoza!” she exclaims.  “We are in Mendoza!”

Laura“For me, this is so special,” she tells me.  I’m so happy I convinced her to come with me.   I imagine being here alone.  That would be ok.  But it’s infinitely better to have Laura here with me.  She is so eager, happy and excited.  It’s infectious.  “These moments, we will never forget,” she says.  I am so grateful for my new friend.

Laura with my paintingWe settle in the hotel and get ready for dinner.  I give Laura the painting I made in Bariloche.  It means so much to her.  She is very sentimental. “I hate that I can’t find the words in English to describe how I feel right now,” she tells me.  But her eyes tell me.  She has an amazing heart.

We head to Azafran for dinner for the first of many good meals and conversations to come.

Dinner at Azafran

Day Sixty-Three: Back to BA

Due to the weather yesterday I didn’t go outside in the afternoon.  It’s cold today, but its partly sunny, so I take a kayak out and then go for a bike ride before heading to the airport.

Alanna’s friend Juan, reaches out to me when I arrive in BA.  He invites me to join him for his friend jule’s birthday tonight.  He comes by my hotel and we walk to the apartment together.

Fernando comes downstairs to let us in.  Apartments don’t have buzzers here, so when there is a party, the last person to get there goes downstairs to let the next person in.

In the apartment we are greeted by Jules, Manuel, Lola the dog and a few of their friends.  I sit down to join the conversation.  They are talking about something funny.  They are laughing, smiling, gesturing.  It’s a good time, but I can barely understand a word they are saying.  Juan tells me that they are talking about the wedding. Jules and Manuel just got married last week.

Juan explains that the girls are discussing what colors the women were wearing at the wedding.  Jules points to herself and says “blanco,” the girls laugh and say “claro, claro!”  I get it!

Then I realize that Juan is the only male in the room and he is surrounded by eight women, including myself. Twenty minutes later, he explains that they are still talking about the dresses.  He looks as confused as I am that this topic could go on for so long.  Then I notice that all of the other males are in the kitchen.  That’s odd.  Eight ladies and Juan.  I imagine that he’d be in the kitchen too if I weren’t here, but he is being a good host to me.

I watch Jules as she tells a story.  She is beaming.  A glowing bride, married a week ago, surrounded by her best friends.  I’m so happy for her.  It’s a pleasure to be around such happy people.

Manuel brings home made pizza into the living room and everyone grabs a slice before he brings in another pie and another one after that.  I realize and confirm with Juan that this is why Argentines go out so late.  They do this beforehand.  Good friends get together.  They aren’t in a rush to meet anyone at a bar.

Juan invites me to another one of these shindigs on Saturday for friends who just moved into a new house.  They are all in their late twenties or early thirties.  It seems like the natural age to get married and settle down with a dog in a house.

I thank Jules and Manuel, say goodbye and head to wherever bar to meet Laura.  I arrive before her and find her brother Sergio working in the DJ booth.  He works here four nights a week playing music for the place.

Sergio. CD is Oasis. It’s just a pub, but for this group of friends, it is their hang out.  Everyone I’ve spoken to about the bar notes that they play really great music, thanks to Sergio of course.  “I play whatever I want. No one tells me this band or this genre.  Someone at the bar might request the police.  I say ok!” Sergio tells me.  ”Roooxanne, you dont have to put on the red light,” he sings.

Laura arrives and we sit down and order something to eat.  Ezequiel comes by and joins us.

After we finish i find Kike at the bar.  He is a little sad tonight.  He just came from a tribute concert for Pappo, a legend here.  Pappo’s brother asked him to play a song at the show, so he performed.  After a beer and some laughs Kike’s spirits are lifted and he is dancing.

Kike

Kike and LauraHe has a peculiar way about him.  It’s not easy to describe.  He moves to his own rhythm.  “He has music in his body. He’s a rock star,” Laura says.

Kike, me and LauraShe explains that her brother Sergio is a rockstar too.  He is one year older than her and he was this way his whole life.  When they were growing up, he would play his guitar until five in the morning while she was trying to study or sleep.  She would complain and he’d say “I have to practice!”  I can appreciate the adolescent sibling rivalry.  Now he is a musician and she is a psychologist.

I persuade Laura to join me in Mendoza.  We are going to leave on Saturday.  I’m excited to have a travel buddy. 

Kike’s friend Maggie, his sister Rosario and a few other friends show up.  It’s an Argentine version of Cheers.  We head to Franks before I call it a night.

See more pictures.

Day Sixty-Two: A Rainy Day in Bariloche

In townI took the hotel van into town this morning.  I want to go paragliding today but my hotel doesn’t organize it because of insurance.  I am looking for a place in town that organizes paragliding.  The town feels like it belongs in Swiss Alps.  I go to two different excursion offices and learn, to my dismay, that I can’t go paragliding today or tomorrow because of the winds.  Friday is the earliest I might be able to go, but I’ll be gone.

As an alternative, I decide to head to the chocolate museum.  Bariloche is known for it’s chocolate.  The museum is disappointing.

Chocolate factory

I start to walk into town and I see a chairlift and advertisement for a toboggan, so I ride up and toboggan down before heading back to the hotel.

At the top of the chairliftI am catching up with emails over lunch and I receive an email from Tom.  He asks when I will be back in the city so we can reconnect.  I’m really excited to meet again when I get back.

It starts to rain.  So much for hiking, biking and kayaking today.  One of the activities at the hotel is painting.  A good rainy day activity.  So I go and paint for an hour before some spa time, vino and early bed.

My paintingWhat I was attempting to paint

Day Sixty-One: Horseback Riding, Canopying & My One-Way Ticket Home

I wake up, open the blinds and I am greeted with sunshine.  I am picked up in a car and taken to a farm where I meet Huho.  I am the only person riding this morning.   Carancho takes me up a mountain.  It’s beautiful here.

After lunch, Nahuel picks a group of us up in a van for canopying.  As we head up the mountain, I meet another lone traveler, Tamar.  She is 24 and from the Northwestern Territories in Canada.  She landed in Lima in January and plans to travel throughout South America until May.  Before coming here, she worked as a travel agent and then in an outdoor store.  She works so that she can travel for extended periods of time.  She would travel all the time if she could.  I suggest that she work for Lonely Planet but she prefers photography.  She was offered a job working at a hostel in Peru and seriously considered staying there awhile and working. 

Tamar and me I try to imagine myself living life as she does.  I can’t help but feel that I would be missing something if I were traveling all of the time.  I need to have a home base.  Perhaps if my home base were the Northwestern Territories of Canada, I’d feel differently.  But my home base is New York.  And I have sweet baby Lyla, friends, family and a job opportunity waiting for me there.  I love to travel.  I think in order to learn about myself and the things I want in life, I need to step back from my world and try something different.  But I think it is also important to come back.  I want to come back.  I’m ready.  It’s time.

CanopyingWe get back to the hotel and I book my one way ticket back, with a stop in Miami for Nacho and Lolo’s birthday.  I still have one more week here.  Up next: wine tasting in Mendoza.  See more pictures.

Day Sixty: Bariloche

The plane descends below the clouds and the landscape comes into view.  Its surreal.  Mountains, green hills, no roads.  A little sun shines through the clouds onto the mountains.  I’ve arrived in Patagonia.

I go to the hertz counter.  The compact car is $200 pesos a day.   A car with an automatic transmission is available for $700 pesos per day.  I need to learn to drive manual.  I hop in a taxi.  We drive a scenic hour along the lake through Bariloche to Llao Llao.

As I am checking in I ask Guadelupe who to talk to about the activities for tomorrow.  She hands me a schedule for the hotels activities and directs me to the concierge’s office to make some plans before it closes.  The man at the desk is getting ready to head home for the day so I apologize and promise to make this quick.  I book horseback riding in the mountains in the morning and canopying for the afternoon.  I consult the hotel’s schedule of activities as well.  I could easily spend the entire day here; tango lessons, windsurfing, golf lessons, hiking and bird watching are on the agenda for tomorrow.  I definitely will need to make some spa time here.

I’m on my own again, but I am completely comfortable with being by myself for the next few days and experiencing this place.  I’m less anxious about being on my own.  I know enough Spanish now to get around.

I settle in and head to the restaurant for dinner.

“Just you?” the hostess asks.

“Just me,” I respond.

Day Fifty-Eight: At Home in Buenos Aires

The sunset from my new place in Palermo Hollywood. The clubhouse was booked for the weekend.One week ago, I was lonely.  But now I have friends here.  

I have a drink with Juan and he tells me that when he was in college here he and his friends would go to an Irish bar.   “Now Irish bars are all over, but then there was one.”  He would meet Americans and foreigners and become friends with them, whether they were in town for a week, a month or a semester.  He’d invite them out with him and his friends.  It didn’t matter that they were leaving.  I suppose that’s the Argentine mentality. In the moment.  Who knows where we’ll be tomorrow?  “It could be a crisis, but people would still be going out to dinner, drinking,” Juan tells me.

I head to Marine’s apartment where I am greeted by Marine, Federica and their friends.  Their friends ask me where I am from. I answer New York and huge smiles come across their faces, “New York!!” they exclaim.  It’s not the first time I’ve received this reaction here.   Argentines love New York. “Now I’m in New York!” they sing.  When I tell them I heading to Miami on my way home they start to sing, “Welcome to Miami, bienvenido a Miami”  They love America.

We all head to Milion for drinks.  I met some great people here.  I am going to Bariloche on Monday but I can’t wait to then come back here next weekend.   I love this city.


Day Fifty-Seven: Learning to Play Polo

I meet Fernando at Chile St and Lima Av, a huge intersection where a socialist party is marching this afternoon.  He explains that these demonstrations are very common. 

We are joined by Ashing and Willy, a couple from Ireland.   We drive about an hour and arrive at the Tristan Suarez polo club.

Fernando shows us how to instruct the horses before we get on and try it ourselves. 

Chola, such a cute pup!I am riding Cumparsita, one of Fernando’s six horses, all of which are named after tango dances.  “I like to tango, but I don’t have time, so my horses are tango,” Fernando tells us. 

The horse are beautiful.  Polo horses are a mix between thoroughbreds and workhorses.  “Thoroughbreds for speed and workhorses for strength,” Fernando explains.  They are also incredibly well trained.  They don’t begin their training until they are four, then after two years of training they are ready to play.

It is hard to hit the ball at first but I start to get the hang of it.  Cumpersita knows to follow the ball.  After practicing the technique, Fernando explains the rules before we play a match.  The rules and strategies are quite complicated but we play a relaxed game.  

I have a new found respect for polo players and horses.  I imagine it gets easier with practice but there are so many things to keep track of when you first learn something.   At least I know how to ride though.  Ashing and Willy have never rode horses before and have a hard time just getting comfortable on the animals.

Cumpersita, me and FernandoOn the drive back into the city Fernando tells us about his previous job as a lecturer at Buenos Aires University.  He taught macroeconomics and business law.  He started playing polo four years ago and it soon became his life.  Now he plays semi-professionally and he plays or teaches everyday, or “everyday that it’s not raining,” he explains.

Day Fifty-Six: What Brings You to BA?

Future soccer starsI take a long walk this afternoon, check out the MALBA museum and stroll through the parks. 

Lots of dogs in BA.Dogs appear to have a great life in BA.  I bet Lyla would love it.  I wonder what she is doing.  I picture her romping around in the countryside.  I miss her.

Fernando emailed me on ASW and invited me to a dinner with other ASW people at La Fonda Del Polo in Las Canitas tonight.  He is a polo instructor and I am taking a lesson with him tomorrow.

A Small World is a great network to plug into for traveling.  You meet all kinds of people from different places.  At dinner I sit across from Michael.  He is a journalist currently producing a pilot for show about ex-pats in BA and other cities around the world.  I tell him about where I am staying and suggest that he check it out.  It is the perfect place to find a few interviews.

Denidsia and Desislava are sitting across from me.  They are from Bulgaria and played polo at Fernando’s farm this afternoon.  Desislava tells me that in Bulgaria you need to pick your major before you finish high school.  She studied business administration and then realized she hated it, but she was stuck.  “What do I do with it now?” she asks of her degree.  She wanted to travel and she saw the Emirates was hiring so she became a flight attendant.

Denidsia and DesislavaAfter dinner I meet Kike and pals at Wherever, Kike’s friend’s bar in Palermo.  I meet Consuelo.  She is 26.  She married when she was 22 and is now divorced and lives with her parents 50km outside the city.  Consuelo is one of many twenty-something Argentines who lives at home.  Pato also lives with his family about 30km outside the city.  For Argentines, everything revolves around family.  You live at home until you get married.  In Consuelo’s case, you move back home when it doesn’t work.

Pato, Kike and Consuelo and WhereverKike tells me about his band, Misticos (see website).  He is from another time and place.  London in the sixties.  The Beatles or the Ramones. 

KikeWe head to Franks, Kike’s new favorite spot. 

The telephone booth to get into FranksI am talking to Consuelo and Pato and somehow we get onto the subject of Ninja Turtles.  They are my age and grew up with the same cartoons as me.  He-man, Ninja Turtles, Thundercats.  It’s surprising.  They grew up a world away but we watched the same television.

Sergio’s sister, Laura, helps me with my Spanish.  She uses Italian as a bridge and it’s really helpful, although I start to confuse the languages.

I’ve met so many people in BA from all over the world.  Everyone has an interesting story about how they ended up here.  It’s a diverse city.  I’m really excited to see what the weekend has in store.  See more pictures.

Day Fifty-Five: Cooking With Diego Felix

There are no stop signs here.  Getting through intersections involves negotiation.  Give and take a little, but you can’t stop.  I am walking around looking for a Movistar or Claro, local mobile phone providers, to buy a phone.  I discover an Argentinian quirk.  If you ask someone for directions and they don’t know, they don’t tell you that they don’t know.  Rather, they give you directions to a place sufficiently far away so that you won’t come back and ask again.  It happens to me four times before I catch on.  I finally wander long enough to stumble upon a Claro, where I play a successful game of charades and get the cheapest phone and a prepaid sim card.

I come back to the clubhouse for the cooking class tonight.  I meet Diego Felix, the chef.  He and his wife run a restaurant out of their home which they call Casa Felix.  He uses indigenous ingredients. Everything he makes at his home is from his garden.  He also travels with his wife and brings Casa Felix on the road.  They call it Felix Colectivo.  When they travel, he uses local ingredients to prepare the meals.  It’s a lot of improvisation.  It’s a great way for him to do what he loves to do, cook, without the difficulties of the restaurant business.

Steve arrives for the dinner.  Steve is a screen play writer who lives here and works from LA remotely.  “Nothing works here,” he tells me. “But you just have to embrace it.” He owns houses here and Oasis BA rents them for him when he travels.

Diego pours us mimosas with lemoncello, an herb that is typically used for beauty products.  Yummy.

Steve tells me that people here don’t think about the future.  It is very much about enjoying the present.  They drink their wine, eat their steak and they are happy.  To think about the future is a headache.  Who knows where Argentina will be in two years.

Judy arrives.  She is staying at one of the Oasis BA apartments for a month. She has four children.  Two of her sons are here. One son is starting a business and the other is spending his semester here studying abroad.  She thought it was a good opportunity to come and stay a while.  Her daughter and her husband are coming to visit soon for her daughter’s spring break.

Judy is originally from the UK but now she lives in Princeton, my hometown.  What a small world.  I admire what she is doing.  She doesn’t want to sit at home with an empty nest.  She is here, living in Buenos Aires, learning Spanish.

We talk about Princeton.  She likes the town.  She lived in Westchester before and complained that people there were too materialistic.  She didn’t fit that mold.  Princeton has more to offer in that regard.

It really was a wonderful place to grow up.  I had the forest in my backyard.  It is safe.  People are nice.  Education is held to the highest standard in the community.  Whereas in Westchester, your status is measured by the car you drive and the size of your house, in Princeton your status is measured by the intellectual value you add.  I can see myself raising a family in Princeton one day.

Parker and Katharine join us and we move to the kitchen, where Diego tells us more about his vision.  We take notes on the recipes we are preparing.  I have trouble keeping track of which dish we are working on but I just focus on the task at hand.

The Team: Diego, me, Parker, Katharine, Steve and Judy

After we finish, we sit down to enjoy the fruits of our labor.  It’s a really good vegetarian meal.   A healthy break from steak for me.

I head to Rumi, where I was invited by Alexis on ASW.  I am exhausted but I want to go and meet a few people before calling it a night.  I sit at the table and chat with Cory.  Shes an M&A lawyer from New York.  She somehow convinced her firm to let her take a paid sabbatical here for a month.

I don’t stay long before heading back for a good night of sleep.  See more pictures.

See NY Times articles on Casa Felix:

Pop-Up Gourmet - Buenos Aires Comes to You

Travel:  Buenos Aires: For Those Who Shun Steak

Day Fifty-Four: New Friends

I feel more at home in BA.  It took 3 days, but now I’m beginning to feel situated here.  I checked the sites off of my list and now I can experience Buenos Aires the way I like to experience a place.  I’m a cultural tourist.

I sleep in and head down to the pool.  There are about 10 people here.  I start chatting with Victoria, she went to Georgetown to study foreign policy and now she is here working for a political campaign this year before going to Paris for her masters.

I meet Federica, Marine and Ana.  Ana is a member here.  Federica is from Milan and Marine is from France.  They are both students studying marketing here.  Ana buys some ingredients and we make guacamole.  They invite me to dinner later tonight.
Federica, Marine and Ana

The girls making guacamole and snacksEzequiel, Kike’s friend who I met last night, picks me and takes me for a drive around the city.  He is a musician.   He played the bass in his band, Mole, but his passion is playing the drums. 

Ezequiel is on the far leftI ask him to play his music for me.  I like it.  Click to listen.  He wrote all of the lyrics, which he translates for me. He uses a lot of metaphors.  El Bato is about a boat that capsizes and the only thing to do is swim.  He wants nothing but to survive.  It’s him or the sea.

Y el bote se volcó
en nuestro océano gris
No hay nada que decir, solo nadar.
Y todo terminó
y nadie pudo elegir
más que sobrevivir.
Soy yo o el mar

He has a background in classical music so he composed the arrangement as well.  He isn’t in the band anymore because his other job has taken up too much time, but its clear that his passion is music. 

Cups for Mate, an Argentinian drinkHe takes me to a little dessert place called Dulce where we have a delicious cake.

Cake at DulceWhen I get back to my hotel I decide to have a drink at the bar before heading to dinner.  I am talking Gus at the bar.   He plays the drums and is going to play here next Saturday.  He worked for Accenture but quit to follow his passion, music.  Maybe its just today and yesterday, but it seems like there are a lot of musicians in this city.

Parker, the owner of the clubhouse, comes by to say hello.  He is from New York.  I ask him how he ended up here.  “I came a few years ago on a trip and I loved it, so I came back.  When I was supposed to leave, it was mid-January in New York.  I decided to stay.”  He first stayed for four months and then another four.  Then he decided to do something, which is when he founded Oasis (see website, www.oasisba.com).  The company rents apartments in Bueno Aires, Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Rio De Janiro, Colombia and Punta Del Este.  He decided to open his own property, which is the clubhouse. 

I meet Federica and Mary at La Cholas, where we have three massive steaks and a good bottle of Malbec for 179 pesos, about $44.  Apparently this kind of deal was once easy to find here, but now things have gotten more expensive at most places.  La Cholas is a gem.

Steak + wine = $15 per personThe girls tell me how rare it is to meet a nice girlfriend here.  “Argentine woman are all so beautiful, but they aren’t very friendly,” Federica explains.  “They want to be the best and they don’t want you around.”  I am reminded of the rude customs lady when I first got here.  I am happy to find such nice girls here.

Dinner at La CholasI quote Nacho (see post), “good energy attracts good energy.”  These girls have a great energy.  Marine is 21 and Federica is 26.  They don’t know what they want to do with their marketing degree.  I tell them to just meet as many people as possible and network.  I am not worried about them though.  They are beautiful, outgoing and intelligent girls.  They shouldn’t have a problem.

Marine and FedericaWe come back to the house where it is last call.  I say goodbye to Emily.  She is leaving tomorrow for Thailand for a holiday with her family.  I’ll miss her.    See more pictures.

Day Fifty-Three: My Move To Palermo Soho

After two nights in the center of the city, I feel it’s time to move to Palermo on the recommendation of my cousin Ali, who lived here for her semester abroad. She sent me pages of tips and recommendations I plan to use.

Urban art in Palermo

I am on my way to check into the Palermo soho clubhouse. Palermo is about a fifteen minute drive from the center of the city. It is green and residential. It’s also a chic part of town, with cute boutiques and good restaurants.

Palermo SohoI arrive at the address I was given. it wasn’t posted on the internet. I find an unassuming facade. I must be in the wrong place. I call before leaving the taxi. This is it. I’m not optimistic.

Behind the unassuming facade is a chic lobby and pool. The hotel pool is a members club, similar to the Soho House in New York. They don’t have a sign. It’s hidden. I found it in Time Out. It is a property managed by Oasis BA, a company that rents out luxury apartments in the city. It was advertised as a place to lounge by the pool, but the article said they had rooms. I thought it looked like a cool place to stay, so I inquired this morning and here I am.

There are three rooms and I am the only guest staying here. It is open Tuesday through Sunday so it’s empty today, Monday. But the staff is very nice and helpful.

I can’t check into my room until two so I spend some time wandering around my new hood. There are lots of boutiques and trendy restaurants. I settle at Mama Racha for lunch. I order a caiparinha and wow, it is strong. Maybe it’s just me this afternoon, but i am afraid if I finish it I will be out of commission for the next few hours. It starts to rain so I pay the check and head back to the hotel.

When I return to the hotel I am offered at 25% discount because the tv doesn’t work. I am the first guest to stay here. It just opened as a member club two months ago. This place is unbelievable. I have my own sauna, bath tub, two showers and a terrace. Yes, my own sauna, in the bathroom. Most importantly, Emily, who works here, is so sweet and helpful. She is so accommodating. “You are our first guest, we are so excited to have you!” she tells me. 

My bathroomIt’s three o’clock and I’m still slightly tipsy from my super strong caiparinha. But I decide to take a little jog. I am heading to the recoleta cemetery on Emily’s suggestion. I run through park after park after park and in about ten circles before I get there an hour and a half later. I must look a little silly running with a map in front of me.

On my runI walk into the cemetery. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s a little town of homes for graves. Small alleyways, ornate little buildings, each with their own character, trying their best to outdo their neighbors, like the houses on ocean drive in palm beach. Some of them are at least three stories high. I wonder if they have air rights and what the market is like for one of these places. It’s amazing what people do for their dead bodies to be remembered. I think about the pyramids.

I am an organ donor. When I’m gone, I’m gone. I don’t want a shrine to be remembered.  I don’t have a view on the afterlife because anything I could come up with would only be speculation. Life is too short to spend it preparing for when you die. Heaven, purgatory, reincarnation, endless sleep or maybe something we haven’t even considered yet.  Sure, you can hedge yourself, but it seems pretty silly to me.  You should live your life so you feel good about yourself and the decisions you make along the way. Whatever that may mean to you. And doing so shouldn’t harm others. Treat people with respect, no matter their walk in life.  I’m pretty sure I’ve found my heaven on earth.  I’m not perfect of course, but I love my life. I do realize how fortunate I am though. I cant fully understand but i do appreciate that many, if not most, people in this world are born into hard situations and believing in the afterlife is all they have to get them through the day. I don’t doubt that we are all connected, I am just not sure what it is and I choose not to guess.

Recoleta Cemetery

This cemetery is a pretty creepy place. I wander through endless rows and find myself alone at the dead end of a long corridor. I get the heebie jeebies and decide it’s time to go. I walk around recoleta. My cousin Ali likened it to the upper east side of BA. I can see that. It’s not quite as pretentious however, just really nice.

In RecoletaThe buildings are much bigger than in Palermo, about 10 to 15 stories. After about 15 minutes I find myself back at the cemetery. I am really not very good at following this map. I try again. Twenty minutes later, another large circle back to the cemetery and I decide to wave down a radio taxi to take me back. The driver is friendly and teaches me some new words. Mujer Bonita. Muy Bonita. He is harmless though.

I shower and head out for a bite to eat. First I catch up with Catherine and Emily. They tell me about a chef coming to teach a cooking class with members and guests on Wednesday. Sign me up! They are so accommodating. It’s fun to be the only guest. They stack the fridge with yogurt and the cabinets with cereal and snacks. It’s not a mini bar. I can help myself. “Please make yourself comfortable and at home,” Emily tells me. I love this place.

I also love this neighborhood, Palermo Soho.  I wander around for about an hour before I settle down at Minga where I enjoy a delicious Argentinian steak.  I am not coming back from here skinny.  So much for all of that yoga.  I did run About 12 miles today though.

In PalermoFinally I hear from Inez.  She is in Cordoba.  I am relieved to hear she is ok.  I need to figure out my plan. Perhaps we will meet in Bariloche or Mendoza.

I meet Kike, Max’s friend, at Franks in Palermo Hollywood.  He is with his sister Rosario.  Kike is a musician. Franks is a lounge.  You walk in the door and type number into a telephone booth to get in the door, similar to PDT in New York except that there is a sign outside and you don’t need a reservation.  It appears that the place is trying to be exclusive, but it isn’t.  It’s a cool place though.  Good drinks and good music.  A few of Kike’s friends wander in, mostly musicians, all from different bands.  They all meet backstage and become friends.

Sergio, Ezequiel and me at Franks

After a few drinks I call it a night around three in the morning when Kike and pals head to a club.  My room is dreadfully hot and I can’t sleep.  I go to the room upstairs.  The door is unlocked and the air is on.  Like goldilocks, I’ve tested the options and this room is just right.  See more pictures

Day Fifty-Two: Tourist in BA

In Plaza de MayoI walk down Florida Ave to Plaza San Martin and then back to Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosado, where Evita would address the people from the balcony.  Don’t Cry For Me Argentina plays in my head as I wander.

Casa RosadoI head to San Telmo, where my guide book tells me there is an antique market on Sundays.  I walk down Defensa, a cobblestone street where local vendors sell their wares.

At the market in San Telmo

I stop for lunch at a cafe and I continue to read my spanish book.  I order a steak, because I’ve been told I must eat beef here.  Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t really eat steak, but I may have been converted this afternoon.  It is delicious.

The city is very European.  Parisian. The buildings are beautiful but unkept.  They are rundown, dirty and boarded up.  I can imagine how different it would be if these places were restored.  There is so much potential.

You can only imagine this building in its former glory daysKids rolling down the hilll in the park

Lots of urban art in BAIt’s 4 o’clock and the sun is still high in the sky.  Summertime :)

I take a stroll through Parque Lezama and then check out the museum of natural history.

The Museum of Natural HistoryI make my way to Puerto Madero, where there are many new high rise buildings and an ecological park.  It’s a marsh.  Very peaceful.

Puerto MaderoPuerto Madero

Weird photo shoot going on at Puerto MaderoAfter walking for 8 hours, my legs are tired and I feel pretty oriented in the central part of the city.  I come back to my hotel to rest for a bit before heading to dinner by myself in Puerto Madero.

 I’m a little lonely.   I thought Inez would be joining me at this point but I haven’t heard from her.  I’m beginning to worry.  She doesn’t have a phone or ready access to the internet so it’s been tough to get in touch with her.  I hope she is ok.

After dinner I walk along the water and see couples everywhere.  It’s a very romantic city.  I don’t mind being on my own, but it would be nice to share this with someone.  See more pictures.

Day Fifty-One: En Route to Buenos Aires

I wake up at 6am, after maybe two hours of sleep.  As long as I get myself on that plane, I’ll be ok.  I can sleep on my flight.

Gilberto picks me up and we fly to the airport the same way we did the first time.  I have no trouble checking in and getting through security and I am at my gate at 7:15am.  I have about an hour and a half to kill before my flight to Panama.  I don’t want to sit down because I am afraid I will fall asleep and miss my flight.

I wander around, back and forth through the duty free shops.  Two men notice me and it appears that they think that either I’m crazy or lost as I pass them for the eighth time in ten minutes.  I also look like a zombie.

Finally it’s time to board and I am off to Panama.  The flight is pleasant, but why do flight attendants wear excess amounts of make up?  They must spend at least an hour every morning to look this way and it isn’t very attractive.

I make my connection to Buenos Aires.  I buckle my seat belt, put my ear plugs in, pull my eye mask down and I’m out for the next six hours.

I land and fly through immigration where I am greeted by a very rude Argentinian customs lady.  “You must pay $140,” she tells me.

“Hola! ¿cómo estás?” I respond.   “Just curious, what is it for?” I ask.

“When we come to the US, we must pay for a visa.  When you come here, you must pay too!”

I’m not sure where her resentment comes from, maybe a bad experience traveling to the US, but I pay the fee and move on.

All of the customs people are women and they are beautiful.  As are the woman who sell taxi rides.  It seems like an odd profession for such beautiful people, but perhaps the service industry didn’t work out for them because they aren’t very good at service.  I shouldn’t judge though.  I don’t think I would be very happy in their job either.

I take a cab to my hotel, where I quickly make my way to bed.  Sadly I don’t have the energy for a Saturday night out in Buenos Aires.