First day in Buenos Aires....
Friday, March 09, 2007
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
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
[Article] Steak and tango done right, with a little Evita on the side
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
"The sizzle of B.A." Steak and tango done right, with a little Evita on the side.
by Alan Solomon, Chicago Tribune
--
BUENOS AIRES - There's something about this place ... Maybe it's the tango. Those of you who have witnessed the real thing know tango - when done right - is not a dance for sissies. It is aggressive, moody, seductive, sometimes beautiful and maybe a little dangerous. Like Buenos Aires. read more...
Posted byAndrew at 11:58 pm 1 comments
Labels: articles, buenos aires, funny, travel
Steak, steak, steak.... and more steak!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Steak, steak, steak.... and more steak! Beef is said to be the national food and I have a premonition that there will be a lot of it involved in our dining experiences. Plus Empanadas, which are pastries filled with different ingredients. Maybe a salad or two if we can fit it in. I'm a little more worried about us coming back heavier - not just our luggage. Dancing at all hours may negate the effects of all of the excess calories... here's hoping anyway.
The parillas (steakhouses) in Argentina are meant to be awesome and serve an amazing amount of food (read beef). Cafes have parilla menus but the actual steakhouses are meant to be better.
- Wikipedia has a round up of the food awaiting us in Buenos Aires.
- The Lonely Planet guide to Buenos Aires also highly recommends the local cuisine.
- Here is a guide to dining out in Argentina
- A blogsite with photos of some great looking dishes
- ...and a traveller's account of the food
It sounds like most places start serving dinner from about 8-9pm each night which may take some getting used to. We are staying in apartments during our stay in Buenos Aires so we can always buy some stuff to help us acclimatise. Really looking forward to eating out though. We've been warned off of the local pizzas, but I'll give anything a go once.
Posted byAndrew at 5:07 pm 0 comments
Labels: buenos aires, food, travel
Our workshop schedule for CITA
Friday, February 23, 2007
Here is a breakdown of our workshop schedule for the CITA Festival (11 Mar-18 Mar). We are pretty excited about the chance to learn from all of these world-class tango dancers (absolutely no offence intended to all of our Adelaide-based Siempre Tango teachers who are awesome too – plus I'm sure they'd be jumping at the chance to come along!).
This list of 15 workshops is whittled down from an original list of 150!!
- Mon 12/3 Ganchos (INT)
Claudia Codega y Esteban Moreno - Mon 12/3 Diferentes Abrazos (INT-ADV)
Sebastian Arce y Mariana Montes - Tue 13/3 Piernazos (INT)
Sebastian Arce y Mariana Montes - Wed 14/3 Milonga. Introduccion y ritmica (INT-ADV)
Sebastian Arce y Mariana Montes - Wed 14/3 Vals (INT-ADV)
Julio Balmaceda y Corina De La Rosa - Wed 14/3 Colgadas (INT)
Mariano "Chicho" Frúmboli y Lucia Mazer - Thu 15/3 Soltadas (INT)
Sebastian Arce y Mariana Montes - Thu 15/3 Combinaciones de piernazos y soltadas (INT-ADV)
Sebastian Arce y Mariana Montes - Thu 15/3 Sacadas y entradas hombre y mujer (INT)
Julio Balmaceda y Corina De La Rosa - Fri 16/3 Musicalidad. Ritmo. Aceleraciones (ADV)
Claudia Codega y Esteban Moreno - Fri 16/3 Musicalidad. Pausa y contratiempo (INT)
Adrián Veredice y Alejandra Hobert - Sat 17/3 Musicalidad (ADV)
Mariano "Chicho" Frúmboli y Lucia Mazer - Sat 17/3 Ganchos. Disociacion. Posibilidades en el giro (INT)
Sebastian Arce y Mariana Montes - Sun 18/3 Diferentes abrazos. Apoyos y transciciones (ADV)
Sebastian Arce y Mariana Montes - Sun 18/3 Figuras para tango salon (INT)
Julio Balmaceda y Corina De La Rosa
The only couple we have had the privilege of learning from so far has been Adrian and Alejandra who are absolutely amazing! There are some photos of their successful visit to Adelaide on the Siempre Tango web site.
We also plan to record as many steps as we can remember on video so we have a visual record to refer to later on.
Posted byAndrew at 10:31 pm 2 comments
A few articles about our desinations
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Have found some local newspaper articles on some of the countries we are visiting.
- "Easy steps to good life". Geoffrey Williams, Sunday Mail (SA).
- "Slumming it in Rio". Patrick O'Neil, Courier Mail (QLD).
- "It's Bargaintina". James Shrimpton, The Age (VIC), October 30, 2006.
- "A fine fleecing in the jungle of Rio". The Sun-Herald (NSW), Feb 12, 2007
Posted byAndrew at 1:07 pm 0 comments
Labels: articles, buenos aires, rio de janeiro, travel
Amazing Foz de Iguazu... can't wait!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Just discovered some cool images and videos of one of the most amazing waterfalls in the world....Iguazu Falls at the Argentinian, Brazilian and Paraguan border. Apparently more spectacular than Niagara Falls and not quite as wide as Victoria Falls. The Flickr site has some great photography from many of its users and I found this cool narrated snippet from a documentary at YouTube.
I also discovered a story from The Age which details the experience nicely. Then there is Wikipedia which as always has some great user-contributed information and links to other sites. Oh and here's the link to satellite images from Google Maps.
Posted byAndrew at 10:53 pm 0 comments
Labels: iguazu, sights, travel
ATMs in Buenos Aires
I just heard the unqualified rumour today that some if not all of the ATMs in Buenos Aires have recently been updated to limit withdrawal amount to 100 pesos per transaction (which is about $40 AUD). Not only is there the inconvenience of being unable to withdraw enough money for a few day's use (I assume this is to thwart express kidnappings involving ATMs) there would also be excessive fees from needing to use the ATM more to get enough money. Craziness. :)
Update 24/02/07: According to the Buenos Aires Herald this was a glitch by Banelco which should be fixed albeit still restricted to 300 pesos a transaction and 3 transactions a day... better than nothing.
Sources at Banelco, Argentina’s electronic funds transfer company, told the Herald that the glitch arose because a ruling by Plus had been misinterpreted by local officials and that this had resulted in the capped withdrawals yesterday.
"The glitch is being worked on and the system should allow tourists to make up to three withdrawals a day of up to 300 pesos each," the source said.
A similar confirmation was received by the Visa card company, whose spokeswoman, Carolina Samudio, said that the system will return to normal by today.
Posted byAndrew at 10:24 pm 0 comments
Labels: atm, money, rumour, travel
Google Maps and Local Live
I've had a little bit of fun in the last few days looking at the physical locations of where we are staying and visiting on the Google Maps (GM) and Microsoft Local Live (LL) tools. Both have their limitations (GM doesn't have street details but decent satellite imagery of Buenos Aires, where LL has the reverse) but between the two I have managed to get a good idea of what the areas are like.
One of the major highways in Buenos Aires is called 9 De Julio and it is a monster.... 12 lanes of traffic ... don't want to be caught in the middle of that one. The area around our apartments looks nice with some parks and city squares in the area of both. The Recoleta cemetery is visible and just looks just like another neighbourhood in the area from above.
Map for Buenos Aires Downtown centred near where we are staying during CITA. Google Maps, Local Live
Map for Ipanema beach, Rio de Janeiro where we stay for 6 days before flying home. Google Maps, Local Live
You can click and drag around the map to change the view point and also zoom in and out. A cool feature they both have (if the data exists) is to overlay the street map onto the satellite imagery. All you need to do is click on "Map/Road", "Satellite/Aerial" or "Hybrid" to see the different view points.
Posted byAndrew at 10:19 pm 0 comments
Labels: buenos aires, map, travel