Our first milonga experience
Saturday, March 10, 2007
We had a slight delay with our first milonga experience as I wasn't feeling the best on our first night in Buenos Aires (however we had a great Spanish tapas meal at a place called ¨TanCat¨ that night), we finally went to a very popular club called ¨La Viruta¨which is at the Armenian Club in Buenos Aires. It was crazy there are two floors with about 5 areas they utilised on the night to teach beginners (these guys were definitely beginners) some basic steps. We were lucky to secure a table and when the beginners cleared we were treated to a demonstration of how some of the younger people here dance. The quality isn´t too bad, but I get the impression that a lot of them are doing set steps and not necessarily improvising on the spot. I only had two dances (one each with Kellie and Imogen) as I was trying to adjust to the floor which was so very busy (easily about 50+ couples in the space of the Eastwood community centre). Kellie and Imogen were getting a lot of cabaceo action though which is where people ask a potential partner to dance with a gesture from the eyebrow or a tilt of the head and they both were asked to dance about 5 or more times. I think they had some hits and some misses with the quality of the experience... but all up it was a great introduction.
Andrew.... out! =) Until next time.
Posted byAndrew at 11:30 pm 0 comments
Our first tango show.
We went to see a show called ¨Tanguerra¨ the other night which was a great stage play of the history of tango. It was highly dramatised (!!!) narrative through dance (am I boring you yet?) of the settlement of Buenos Aires and the introduction of migrant workers and influences. It was a pretty racey show, with the story of the prostitute population of Buenos Aires helping to develop the style of tango as it is, being demonstrated as accurately as a family show would allow... I think my eyebrows are still raised. =) The dancing was reasonable and the costumes excellent! We also had a reasonable coffee afterwards but it was a lot more expensive than the norm ($6 pesos compared with the usual $3 pesos for a black espresso).
Posted byAndrew at 10:00 pm 0 comments
Aaaargh Taxi!!!!!
In a way I think going to Thailand and riding the Tuk Tuks there has prepared us slightly, but in no way has anyone telling us about taxi rides in Buenos Aires exaggerated in the least!! There have been many experiences already but there have been two standouts already.
- Jump in a Radio taxi after a very good milonga at a hip hop and happening venue in Buenos Aires called ¨La Viruta.¨ There are a lot of buses in Buenos Aires and they don't give way to anything except possibly a Boeing 747. Our taxi driver had taken it upon himself to get us home as sprightly as possible and was trying to overtake the bus on the outside lane. Now not so bad, but this was a 2 lane, one-way street with cars parked on one side and the tyres of the taxi kissing the curb on the other. To make matters worse... the road shortly turned into a one-lane street and the taxi driver had to slam on the brakes to many cries of ¨Oy!¨ and ¨Mas lento, por favor¨ (loosely --and probably incorrectly-- slower please!).
- Taxi driver turning around to chat with us even though we'd pleaded our ignorance of not knowing Spanish as we were getting in the cab. This happening quite a lot and the drivers in Buenos Aires are pretty crazy.... They will turn a 4 lane road into 6 lanes quite easily. Anyway, just as we are approaching 9 de Julio one of the main roads of Buenos Aires do we find out (marginally earlier than our taxi driver as he was trying to tell us something... not quite sure, but it must have been important!) that the lane we were in was blocked off.... Someone had helpfully placed a road block in the middle of the road we were travelling along. With an apologetic ¨disculpe¨ our driver weaved around the obstacle (to the fury of many other drivers behind us) and continued along the road. I think it only took another two or three intersections before he was turning around again attempting to educate us on the ways of Buenos Aires.
I am in no way having a go at these people. I love it here. Like Buenos Aires ... the system they have for their roads just works. Take a driver from here and introduce them to an Australian road and there would be chaos and I think the same would happen in return. I am so so glad that we are not hiring a car over here.
Posted byAndrew at 9:26 am 0 comments
Sin gas, Con gas
One more funny story about our complete ineptitude in Spanish. Water with gas or without gas both looks awfully like normal bottle water at home (Mt Franklin etc). We went to the grocer while in Chile to get some bottled water to drink and brush teeth with etc and ended up with two big 2.25L bottles of water con gas (¨with gas¨) . Pretty much means we were brushing our teeth with carbonated water... yum. Now in Buenos Aires, being slightly older and wiser, we are making sure we order the right kind of water or at least read the labelling really well =)
Posted byAndrew at 8:00 am 0 comments
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Friday, March 09, 2007
We needed groceries.... Moving into an apartment is great but there are a few things that usually you need to stock up on to make it a comfortable stay.
We went around the corner of Av. Sarmiento to our local grocer which is owned by Chinese people to buy a few necesities.... Bread, Milk, Cheese (hmmm lots of that in meals here already), Ham (same again), Crackers, Coffee, Tea, Toilet Paper... you know the usual.
THE GOOD:
I was very happy with myself by learning the Spanish to purchase things from the deli counter so that I could order 200g of Cheese and 300g of Ham.... not too hard but for someone whose been learning for only 4-5 days I was very happy. Anyway it all went well for me except forgetting to add the word ¨of¨to my requests, but that was no disaster.
THE BAD:
We received a phone call (¨we¨meaning ¨me¨since I have charge of the apartment's phone, which happens to be a mobile affair) received a call from the land lord to let us know that she was coming around to drop off a new key. About 15minutes later and me passing the phone to Kellie in frustration I still had no idea that was what she was requesting. We ended up giving the number of another Australian who is staying her to the landlord as a translater however I don't think she used it.......
THE UGLY:
Our landlord did a surprise visit (well at least it was for us as we didn´t understand her original Spanish request) with her daughter in tow. They had come to change the locks to a more functional mechanism and (I think) check us out. A lot of gesturing and phone calls to our Spanish speaking Australian friend and we finally worked out that we had to exchange keys for the new lock.
Did I mention that Kellie was in bed having a rest? =) It was very hard.
* It was very frustrating not being able to understand basic Spanish.... I can request things reasonably well, but when I am trying to determine what someone is saying to me, is where it gets interesting. I think that while we are immersing ourselves in the culture, when we get back home, we'll start Spanish classes properly.
Posted byAndrew at 8:00 pm 0 comments
First day in Buenos Aires....
It hasn't hit me that we are in Buenos Aires yet....
On the way to the apartment from the airport, it is obvious there are a lot of disadvantaged people living here. The accommodation they live in is pretty sketchy and it doesn't look very stable... like the apartment blocks will topple like dominos in a stiff breeze.
The apartment is very secure and is turned out beautifully. We even received a gift from the owner when we arrived of some bottled water, soft drink and chocolates.
We met up with Lisa from Sydney and Imogen our travelling partner and went out to Neo Tango to check out some local tango shoes.... very impressed. Their prices are a bit dearer than a lot of the other stores here apparently, but still translate to about AUD$100 which is still muy bien! They had some bizarre looking men's shoes in purple bristle material... Strange. Will be coming back here as we didn't buy anything just yet... want to get a feel for what else is available.
Lunchtime was spent at a small local eatery around the corner from our accommodation where we shared ravioli, steak and salad for only about AUD$18 in total. The salads here are a bit strange but the pasta and steak were really good. The steak especially is of a really good quality and this one was quite large too (better get used to it I think). Bought some groceries from just around the other corner and I tried my very best to order our smallgoods from the counter in my best Spanish.... I think I did pretty well considering I've had no lessons. Understanding what people are saying to me is another story.
More on that later.....
Posted byAndrew at 3:30 pm 0 comments
Come fly with me
We arrived at the airport at 8am to catch our 9:30 flight to Buenos Aires. Very excited. The flight was delayed slightly but we ended up having enough time to grab a quick coffee and tostado (toasted sandwich). Luckily this flight was short (only about 1.5 hours) and the views are amazing. I wish I had my camera but we were seated in an exit aisle and had to stow our luggage in a really hard to get to compartment. Maybe on the way home.
We got to Buenos Aires around 12.30 in the afternoon and things are reasonably organised here. I didn't feel as pestered here as we did arriving at Santiago by taxi drivers etc. We waited in line at the ATM and had some problems with our cards, but after a short walk and some broken Spanish/English queries, we managed to find another ATM which worked. One of the tips we had was to use the remis service rather than the taxis as they can be safer and you don't have as many problems with the fare... only problem is that they are run by private firms who charge a lot for the privelige. Oh well... $85 pesos lighter (AUD$35) we arrived at our apartments in the Downtown area of Buenos Aires. I hope that in the next few days I might have time to post some images as it is very cool.
Posted byAndrew at 12:00 pm 0 comments
Labels: buenos aires, travel
Forming a new culinary tradition
Thursday, March 08, 2007
I don't know why this started but it seems that everytime we visit a new place, we instantly seem to seek out the local Indian restaurants. We ate at one while in New Zealand and came very close in Thailand. For dinner on the first night in Santiago we ate at the closest place we found, which funnily enough was an Indian restaurant called the Majestic. Not quite the South American experience we were after but the food was amazing (both in taste and price). We had raita, roti paratha, rogan josh and dal. Followed with some local beers called Austral which were a bit malty for my tastes but still a good accompaniment to the food. I think the bill was around $10,000 Chilean pesos which is about $25 Australian.
Posted byAndrew at 8:00 pm 0 comments
A full day in Santiago
We started the day with a wholesome (!!!) breakfast of cheesy and bread-laden delights. The fresh fruit here was actually really good (so it was good to be able to make the most of it while we still had the chance). The other offerings were a bit weird. Different place... different tastes.
The staff at the hotel we were staying were not the most helpful on our first day here and seemed more interested in their other duties than helping us with our queries. We decided on taking things into our own hands today and left for Downtown and a walk around the main pedestrian malls. Lots of offerings but it is amazing the number of pharmacies and cafes over here. The architecture is interesting and a mix of old-world and new, side-by-side. We finally found the tourist bureau on a side street and got a few tips. We ended up at the Museo de Nacional in Army Plaza which gave us a great insight into the beginnings of the city.
I am a bit sad that we didn't organise to stay in Santiago longer. It is a really interesting place. We have a tour booked for the afternoon so we will see how that goes.
Posted byAndrew at 12:36 pm 0 comments
Tour of Santiago and final hours
Our tour guide was a local with a good grasp of English and a 7-seater bus. We were the only ones so we were spoiled a bit. We went through the different Barrios of Santiago showing the Spanish and French influences and also found that there is a very prominent population of German people. We went through Sanhatten which is Santiago's commercial district with obvious envy of Manhatten in the US. Also saw the city from one of the many vantage points North of the city. It is quite large and diverse... also very polluted. We finished up with a bit of deja vu when he took us to see some of the 'local handicrafts' which was basically a jewellry store I would assume paying a handsome offer to any driver bringing tourists along to spend their imported dollars -- the same thing happened in Thailand :) A lot of the locals here speak english with a US accent which makes sense given the proximity but still seems a bit weird.
We got up at 5:15am on Friday morning to pack and get ready to catch our transfer... running late as usual.
Posted byAndrew at 12:00 pm 0 comments
Our first use of Español
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Disappointingly our first official use of Spanish was at a bookstore where Kellie was having a bit of trouble getting an attendent to understand and asked if anyone spoke English (in Spanish) Something along the lines of ¨¿Hay alguien que habla inglés?¨ He smiled and said ¨No¨. Back to the drawing board then :) Amazing how many people have a basic grasp of english over here. I think we may have more difficulties in Brazil though.
Posted byAndrew at 6:19 pm 0 comments
Locks busted
I was amazed on arrival at the hotel and trying to open up our luggage when I found that two of my combination locks have been bent and broken (one is so bad, even the casing has burst open). This has happened before and I'm glad that I remembered to pack a spare set of locks just in case this happened again (also see Packing Techniques). The tamper tags are intact so the luggage gorillas have just been having a bit of fun with the suitcase. I won't be buying anymore of these fancy schmancy travel-safe combination locks again. Three strikes and they're out.
Posted byAndrew at 6:12 pm 0 comments
Touchdown: First day
Hello everyone. I have no real recollection of the amount of time on the plane or of the waiting in transit lounges but I think all up we've been in transit for about 28 hours after getting up at 3.15am on Wednesday morning. That's not too bad I guess (and I think it's a little longer on the way home).
The flights were fine and seats about as comfy as you can expect. Kellie and I also had great company on the way from Imogen -- one of our friends from Adelaide also following the pilgrim trail and going to Buenos Aires to dance -- luckily also a bit of a light sleeper on flights so that we had someone to talk to along the way.
The stopover in Auckland wasn't long enought to get enough oxygen flowing through the system, but we still managed walk through the terminal to get some cool-ish bottles of beer while we were waiting. Hmmm maybe not so great an idea.
We have finally landed in Santiago de Chile. The approach in the plane gave us a good look at the surrounding mountains which looked awesome... albeit hard to see through the smog. In going through ¨the process¨, we had to pay a US$56 entrance fee and everywhere else we walked throughout the airport we were asked by people working there ¨Australian Passport? Have you paid the entrance fee?¨ while directing us to the right line with wide cheshire-cat grins. The immigration officer immediately translated my puzzled expression as ¨No entiendo¨ as he pretty much immediately switched to english. Haha. Before letting us go he of course also asked whether we'd paid our entrance fee? I think this is a bit of a joke on all of the incoming Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and US visitors as we are the only ones required to pay.
The airport is exactly as I imagined it with taxi drivers looming around the exit with rather dubious looking ¨Taxi Official¨ placards around their necks. Even the official booking counters look a bit dodgy :) We climbed into our taxi bus after one of the attendents checked up on our booking while another entertained us by humming along to a long forgotten techno/house tune (it's on the tip of my tongue) and dancing around the floor in a really funny & subtle way like he's been told off for doing it in the past or something. Hehe.
Hotel is a little ordinary but we're not paying much for this leg and it's not too far away from the central area of Santiago.
Posted byAndrew at 5:54 pm 1 comments
Packing techniques
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Kellie was laughing at me as I was double checking all of my packing tonight as it was a rather cavalier approach to take. She made a list, packed, repacked, checked the list, made some amendments, repacked... etc. I had a little bit of time the night before so started packing things into my suitcase with a rough idea of what I needed. I know what went into my suitcase and carry-on luggage. =) On double checking tonight, rather than ticking or crossing items off the list as I made my way down the list, much to Kellie's dismay I was taking the visual approach. ¨Cap....yup, T-Shirts...4...errrr, yep. Trousers... sure.¨
Posted byAndrew at 11:30 pm 0 comments
Blog updates
The blog will be updated as much as possible but on the way home from dinner at Mum and Dad's I had to stop myself for a bit... You know you are a bit of a nerd at heart when you begin wondering whether you can keep everyone up to date on the blog and email from your mobile phone´s WAP browser... Sheesh. Need some sleep. Just think of the fees from South America.
Posted byAndrew at 10:00 pm 0 comments
Labels: travel
"Eat Cilli!" (chilli)
Monday, March 05, 2007
I almost forgot.
One of Kellie's students wrote her a farewell card before she left school last week which is absolutely top-notch. It says "Have a happy holiday to Chilli" on the front with an appropriately coloured picture of a chilli.
The inside says "To Kelly, you are the best teacher in the whole world. Hope you have a happy holiday. Eat cilli!"
Posted byAndrew at 11:41 pm 0 comments
Countdown: only one day to go
At the time of this post, it is officially only 30 hours until we board the plane which commences our journey to Buenos Aires.
We leave at 6am in the morning on Wednesday, which means a horrendous 3am start in order to get to the airport with enough time to make sure our baggage is booked straight through to Santiago, Chile. I have done this flight for work a few times now (although I usually have to disembark at Sydney), but it is just not the same this time around.... I don't even know if we'll sleep that well at all.
We just got home from catching up with some friends for a last drink at the Gilbert in the city and it was nice to relax in that calming environment before leaving and throwing ourselves in the deep end.
Posted byAndrew at 11:30 pm 0 comments
Farewells, BBQs, drinks and dinner invitations
We have had the opportunity at the weekend just gone to mix with pretty much everyone we've had the privilege of knowing for the last few years. I'm sorry that we couldn't see everyone and we both appreciate the effort that people have gone to in organising or suggesting drinks, bbqs, milongas and dinners before we leave. I hope that when we get back home we can do something to get everyone together again.
Posted byAndrew at 11:28 pm 0 comments