Buenos Aires: Que incredible!

Dear Friends and Family,

Not sure if you have noticed, but we are a bit behind schedule with our blog...I am sure you are all suspended on the edges of your seat awaiting our next installment. Alas, here it is. A couple reasons have caused this delay. One, Noah arrived this past weekend, and we have had much ground to cover during his time here. I mean that literally. We are currently at the end of the earth, or so it feels. We are in a town of 500 people called El Chalten in Southern Patagonia, surrounded by mountains and feeling the harshness of the environment. 40-60 mile an hour gusty winds are a normal state of affairs from October through March. However, the natural beauty inspires one to look past the weather and focus on the ruggedness of the Andes and the spectacular sights and sounds of magnificient glaciers. But I digress, I am supposed to be reporting on Buenos Aires.

The other reason for our delay was a nasty stomach bug that I acquired somewhere along the way. It was bound to happen given my body´s sensitivity to such things. All took good care, even the emergency room where I wound up one night due to the cramping in my stomach which I was convinced was my appendix bursting, ha ha. Get this...a slight difference between the US and Argentina. The doctor saw me, was very thorough and helpful, gave me a shot (anti-spasmodic, which helped), and then, they didn´t charge me for the visit..nothing....Can you imagine? Meanwhile, Ajay and I heard two women giving birth in the next room, or maybe it was a woman giving birth to two babies. The nurse tried to explain, but it was late and our Spanish is far from perfect. Either way, I have a new found respect for all you moms out there :-).

I am feeling better now (thanks for your concern), so it is time to comment on the other city that never sleeps: Buenos Aires. If you took certain parts of New York, London, Paris, and Chicago and mixed them together, then added a little Santa Fe, New Mexico (arts, Spanish influence) and set such a city in South America with the policitical, revolutionary, activist environment so uniquely known to this part of the world, you would envision Buenos Aires. It is a very large city of 3 million in the city proper and 10 million with the surrounding area. Distinct neighborhoods dominant the city center, each with its own strength, challenge, and unique personality. There is an obvious emphasis on art, culture, history, design, music, and cuisine. There are people from all over the world who live here. The people who live here are called Los Portenos. They speak there own version of Spanish where the y sound (and ll) are pronounced as a cross between a j and a z...very passionate, and difficult to understand at first.

Ajay and I were in BA for 8 nights and rented an apartment. We were in a neighborhood called Recoleta that is very close to the city center and that people often compare to the Upper West Side in New York. The neighborhood boasts some of the city´s most luxurious residences, hotels and shops. Also, many of the finest art museums and cultural venues were in this area. Our apartment was on the 11th floor with a wonderful view of the city and sunsets, which happen around 10 pm here! Our building was typical of most in the hood, small marble lobby, door man, etc. Our apartment was very cute with all the comforts of home. It was a refreshing break from guest houses during our 5th week of travel. It was truly an amazing location to explore the city. We mostly walked (miles each day) and took taxi´s which were extremely affordable, unlike NYC.

The first day of our arrival, we went to an arts market (a true arts market without the ¨crap¨that Ajay refers to) in a park a block from our apartment. I was so grateful that I saved most of my shopping until BA. Wow. The market also offered live performances. We saw a quartet with electronic violins, kind of a classical mixed with Devotchka sound, if you will. We bought their cd for 5 bucks and listen to it when we can. We also saw a capoeira comedy troupe. We couldn´t understand half of what they were saying but it was a beautiful sunny day, sitting on the lawn of the park, and their body language alone was hysterical. What a wonderful introduction to the city?!

I can`t remember exactly what we did each day that followed. But I do remember overall. The city of BA offers so many museums full of art and history. Throughout the week, we went to the Museo de Arto Latinoamericano de BA, the Visual Art Museum, the Xul Shuler museum, the Eva Peron (Evita), the Benito Quinquuela Martin Museum, and several other art galleries and exhibitions including at the Cultural Center in our neighborhood. We had the gift of time and were so grateful to be able to leisurely saunter through these spaces contemplating the works, reading the history, and absorbing the culture.

Tango is another incredible cultural resource here in BA, where the dance was born. There is tango on what seems every street corner. Ajay and I took a lesson, it is quite a difficult dance! One night, we dressed up and went out to Bar Sur, which was one of the original tango bars back in the day when men and women would go to their neighborhood milonga (dance) to talk politics and news of the day, and tango. In Bar Sur, there were maybe 15 tables total crowded around a very intimate dance floor where we watched two different couples, a tango orchestra (piano, violin and accordian), and singer perform for FIVE hours straight! We also ordered a ¨cheese¨ board (of which I only ate the meat and bread), a common bar food in this part of the world. It was a lovely, special night out with my hubby.

Other highlights of our time in the city included eating in some lovely intimate gourmet restaurants both in our neighborhood and in Palermo (akin to NYC´s Greenwich Village). We could have a high quality dinner including appetizer, wine, dessert for maybe $20 a person...ridiculous. The service and food were remarkable.

Then there was the shopping...I will leave that for you all to view when I return with my BA leather collection (I know the cows are destroying the rainforests and killing our planet. It was a bit of an ethical dilemma having just been to the Amazon and seeing the deforestation by the cattle industry. I really should behave better).

Lastly, I will mention the neighborhood of La Boca, because it deserves mention. This is the port area of the city where all of the houses are brightly colored b-c in the old days folks would use left over paint from the ships to paint their homes. It is an impoverished part of the city, but has a character of its own and was worth checking out. The other notable part of this hood is that the La Boca Juniors stadium is located there. This is BA´s soccer team on which Maradona got his start. The area of the city blasts their theme song and displays statutes of Maradona in front of stores. It is pretty classic!

Needless to say, Ajay and I LOVED Buenos Aires. I could go on and on describing the jewels in that city, just as one could go on and on discovering them...(like the book store, voted 2nd best in the world, that is housed in an old opera house / theater with the stage as a coffee shop and the political protest that marched through the cultural center on the free museum night). We of course kept fantasizing about living there, but the air pollution alone is enough of a deterrant at this point.

Hope you are all well. The next chapter will be written when we head to Bariloche, after Noah heads back to the US around the 28th of October. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!