Entries Posted in April, 2008
April 30th, 2008
Tango In Buenos Aires: What About The Tango
We have linked to a few web sites (below) in English which talk about the tango experience in Buenos Aires, but we’ve really only seen Tango in a few places. Cafe Tortoni (where they put on a show for tourists), the San Telmo market and street fair (where they dance in the square with the purpose of getting you to come and do tango with them at a club/ballroom), and Confiteria Ideal.
Our favorite place was, by far, Confiteria Ideal. People actually go there to learn, meet new partners, make new friends, and generally have a good time.
We’re sure there are other places to tango dance in Buenos Aires. In fact, there are probably hundreds of other places to dance tango, and learn tango, in the city – we just didn’t visit those places.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Continue reading "Tango In Buenos Aires: What About The Tango" »
April 27th, 2008
Mendoza, Argentina: Wine trip to Mendoza
BoRyan asked Carrie and I if we wanted to travel in Mendoza, Argentina with him.
So, for our last weekend in Argentina, we decided that we would leave Buenos Aires and head to Mendoza.
Why go to Mendoza? Because Mendoza is wine country: Argentina’s equivalent of Napa valley.
And when in Rome, you do as the Romans, right? Well, when in Mendoza, you do as they do… which means enjoying wine.
We’ll be adding pictures and text stories soon, but for now you can watch this video if you’d like to see what it was like in Mendoza, Argentina, (and to see how we got there).
Popularity: 2% [?]
Continue reading "Mendoza, Argentina: Wine trip to Mendoza" »
April 22nd, 2008
Vegetarian vexed while visiting Argentina
 |
| Meat Eaters’ Paradise |
I knew before coming to Argentina that the country was known for its beef. The meat in Argentina is supposed to be some of the best in the world. For all you carnivores out there, that’s great news; however, for those who eat less meat, it can be a bit daunting.
Now I’m not 100% vegetarian. I still eat meat, just very occasionally. I do eat cheese and eggs on a regular basis though. Because I don’t consider myself super strict when it comes to meat consumption, I can generally find a few vegetarian options (3 or more) on every menu, at least in the United States.
Here in Argentina, it’s a different story. About 90% of the restaurants here do have an option for vegetarians. The challenge lies in that there is only ONE choice. (Even a majority of the salads here contain some form of meat.) So, if you’re not feeling like spaghetti for the 3rd night in a row, then you’re out of luck. For example, three of the last four restaurants we ate in offered only one vegetarian option. All of them were a variant of pasta. (Pumpkin ravioli is the most popular option.) I’m not a huge pasta eater. I like it occasionally, and usually for lunch. However, down here, I have eaten more pasta than probably anything else.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Continue reading "Vegetarian vexed while visiting Argentina" »
April 17th, 2008
Buenos Aires Is Burning: Smoke Is Everywhere
Okay, so it’s not quite as dramatic as the subject line would suggest. But it is VERY smoky in Buenos Aires today. Seems that hundreds of thousands of acres of land are being cleared to the West and North of here (primarily along Route 9 (the route we took to Cordoba) from what we can understand with our limited Spanish) to make room for grazing cattle.
The land that was once used for cattle to graze is apparently now being used for Soybean production, so they need to have more land available for use.
Not really sure how all that works, or who controls what happens in the provinces outside of Buenos Aires. There is a 400 year old history of the provinces not really getting along with the city/province of Buenos Aires, so the provinces may not care that much if their smoke is engulfing Buenos Aires. Difficult to say really.
One thing is for sure. Carrie and I don’t smoke, but our apartment smells like someone smokes, and the visibility here is pretty poor at the moment. The smoke got REALLY thick last night, and has done some clearing today, and hopefully the fires will die down so that we can be without smoke once again.
(More interesting news is coming soon from the variety of things we’ve been doing over the past few days, but just thought we’d update you on the latest in Buenos Aires.)
Popularity: 2% [?]
Continue reading "Buenos Aires Is Burning: Smoke Is Everywhere" »
April 14th, 2008
Iguazu Falls, Hotel Esturion, and Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
The magnificence of nature is so easy to see when you look for it. However, at Iguazu Park and Iguazu Falls in Argentina, it’s impossible to miss.
Puerto Iguazu, the town closest to the falls, is the kind of place Carrie and I could live for a while. While a bit touristy, kind of like Estes Park in Colorado, it has a small-town feel and a welcoming atmosphere.
One thing we were surprised about is that Puerto Iguazu doesn’t seem to have much fresh produce, which we thought it would, since it’s in the middle of the jungle where lots of natural produce should grow easily.
When we got to our hotel, Hotel Esturion, we thought that it was going to be about $60/night cheaper than what they had listed online. We had thought, based on what we saw online, that we were going to have to spend $130/night. After requesting reservations online, we arrived at Hotel Esturion to discover that they did not have our reservation. But at check-in, they wrote down on a sticky that we would be paying $200 (pesos) per night. That equates to about $65/night for a room that sleeps three, and a pretty good breakfast (by Argentinian standards). Hotel Esturion is a nice place for sure.
We had a three person room, because we were traveling with Carrie’s sister, Michelle, who came to Argentina for a week to stay with us and see what Argentina was like. We really enjoyed the time we got to spend with her!
Popularity: 2% [?]
Continue reading "Iguazu Falls, Hotel Esturion, and Puerto Iguazu, Argentina" »
April 11th, 2008
Crazy Crunched Cockroach Continues to Crawl in Buenos Aires: Plus A Weekend In Cordoba
We had a cockroach in our apartment. It was big. Not huge, but big.
I suppose this comes with living in a big city.
But it was actually rather comical. I was sitting at the table in the main room, and Carrie was in the bedroom with the twin beds.
Suddenly I hear this “Whoa! Whoa! Yuck!”
Followed by a couple of swats with what sounded like a flip flop.
Jonathan: “You okay?”
Carrie: “Yep. Cockroach.”
Jonathan: “Yuck. Big one?”
Carrie: “Uh-huh.”
So I get up and go into the room where there is a cockroach which has clearly been smacked because it’s sort of oozing. (Sorry to be gross.)
Carrie: “I’m just surprised how fast it moved!”
Jonathan: “You’re sure it’s dead?”
Carrie: “Yep. I heard it pop.”
Jonathan: “Want me to throw it away?”
Carrie: “Yes, please.”
Jonathan: “Sure it’s dead?”
Carrie: “Yep.”
So I moved a suitcase to get closer to pick it up. Despite the oozing nature of it, the thing took off and freaked both of us out.
So I asked Carrie for a bigger shoe.
Carrie: “But I heard it pop.”
Jonathan: “I know. I saw it oozing.”
A few solid heel swats later with a dress shoe, and the cockroach was definitely dead.
Mostly, he just freaked us out with his erratic moving. We didn’t know just how crazily or fast a big cockroach moved.
I wrote a poem/limerick (below) in response to this incident.
Popularity: 2% [?]
April 2nd, 2008
Buenos Aires: Galleria Jardin, The Botanical Garden Cats, San Telmo Market, and the Casa Rosada
So now that we’ve had a little time to get adjusted into our home for the rest of the time we’ll be in Argentina (although we’re still getting acclimated to our new surroundings… just takes a while to settle in), we are getting out to do some of the toursity things. Kevin and Annmarie are down here, and like us, they like to walk.
It’s really the best way to see things, and really experience the place where you’re at.
(Not to mention the health benefits of walking.)
So, this post will catch you up on what we’ve been up to over the past few days.
But first, since most of the visitors to our site are American (and Americans are notoriously bad at geography) and because it might help someone wanting to visit Buenos Aires, we’d like to offer a little refresher about where in the world we are, and familiarize you with the neighborhood a little bit.
Popularity: 4% [?]
- February 03, 2012 04:08 AM : Giveaway Friday: Chinese Chopsticks Can Create A Cornucopia of Quality (Free Baskets!)
- January 31, 2012 07:45 AM : Buy My REI Backpack!
- January 27, 2012 01:01 AM : Giveaway Friday: Protecting Your Pictures Is Particularly Painless (How To Watermark Images)
- January 23, 2012 11:32 PM : Miracles of Unparalleled Proportions...
- January 20, 2012 09:55 AM : Giveaway Friday: Impaling Instruments Necessitate Inhibitors (Cutting Boards)
- January 18, 2012 10:56 PM : Visiting IKEA for the first time - In Centennial, Colorado?
- January 15, 2012 09:54 PM : What Are SOPA/PIPA, and Why Should You Care?
- January 13, 2012 06:19 AM : Giveaway Friday: Carrie’s Curious Chai Can Cure
- January 08, 2012 12:11 PM : Funny Improv Video
- January 06, 2012 04:09 AM : Giveaway Friday: The Potter's Hands Picture Poster Is A Perfect Presentation of Pastoral Proclamations
- January 02, 2012 04:19 AM : It's 2012! See What We're Giving Away (For Free!)
- December 30, 2011 11:18 AM : Amazing Video: Native Northerners (Eskimos) Harvesting Mussels
- December 27, 2011 11:26 AM : Poem by Jonathan: Old Smokey
- December 23, 2011 12:18 PM : Getting To Decorate Sugar Cookies With My Cousins and Grandma
- December 21, 2011 10:09 AM : Funny Video! Silent Monks "Sing" The Hallelujah Chorus
- December 14, 2011 12:20 PM : Watching The Lunar Eclipse From Venango, Nebraska
- December 12, 2011 11:00 PM : We’re In The News!
- December 11, 2011 10:48 PM : Touch Screen Everything
- December 09, 2011 10:53 PM : Enjoying Colorado (in Photographs)
- December 07, 2011 10:56 PM : Returning To Snow (And Cold)
- December 05, 2011 07:35 AM : The World in Food
- December 03, 2011 01:34 PM : By The Numbers: How Much Does This Cost?
- November 27, 2011 11:03 PM : In America, Everything Is A Big Deal
- November 27, 2011 09:28 PM : A Farewell to Dustyn Kraft: Someone Who Made Me Laugh
- November 25, 2011 11:28 PM : GET OVER IT!
- November 23, 2011 11:36 PM : Recognizing So Many Complaints
- November 21, 2011 08:36 PM : 101 more places to see
- November 18, 2011 01:50 AM : Would You Give Up The Internet For 1 Million Dollars?
- November 12, 2011 11:46 AM : Internet On-Board Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur Of The Seas
- November 10, 2011 11:40 AM : In Pictures: 3 Americanisms that are now strange
- November 07, 2011 11:45 AM : A Cruise Vs. A Mortgage
- November 07, 2011 11:43 AM : 29 Places I’d Love To Go Back To
- November 01, 2011 11:38 AM : What I found most interesting about Mallorca
- October 30, 2011 11:37 AM : 3 Days in The German Section of Mallorca, Spain
- October 29, 2011 07:47 AM : City Style Apartments, Tallinn Estonia
