Auto Response: REALLY away on vacation

AZ and PB will be away from their busy Buenos Aires location until February 26 on a well-earned sub-vacation in El Bolson, Patagonia. Link
In the meantime, here is a graffito of Our Muscly Savior that we saw in San Telmo (Link), a crumbly but gentrifying neighborhood of BA.

Wine

We like Argentine wine a lot, specifically Malbec (red) and Torrontés (white).

Malbec is the most common red wine in Argentina. It is a very complex dark and spicy wine.The grape was initially grown in France and was brought to Argentina in the latter part of the 19th century. The grapes are mostly grown around Mendoza, an area north and west of Buenos Aires close to Chile.

Torrontés is Argentina's most popular white wine. The wine is as complex as the Malbec but it’s also (somehow) simultaneously dry and sweet. The majority of this wine is produced in the Valley of Cafayate in Salta which is further north than Mendoza and close to Paraguay.

Last weekend we stumbled upon a very impressive wine shop (in Spanish it is called a vinoteca). It is called Lode Joaquin Alberti and is located on Jorge Luis Borges Street (#1772, if you’re going there) in Palermo Viejo.

The picture is of a Rose Malbec we bought at this store (and subsequently drank) as well as PB.

Click for:
Lode Joaquin web site
Information on Malbec
Information on Torrontés

Endless Lanes of Traffic

I took this photo on Avenida del Libertador which is pretty close to our apartment. Count how many lanes there are.. Yup, there are a whopping FIFTEEN (a *cough* correction) lanes of traffic (the first car was parked). This is pretty common on the big avenidas in Buenos Aires. Initally, PB and I were a bit worried that we would not have enough time to cross the street before the light changed. However, then we noticed two elderly folks in front of us and decided to be quite daring and take the chance. Rest assured--we made it.

Gotta Getta Coche

After two weeks of arduous vacationing, PB and I have had it *wink*. We are heading to El Bolson in Bariloche (rhymes with coche (spanish word for car)) next Monday. It is a about a three hour flight to Bariloche and afterwards we'll drive to El Bolson. El Bolson is a little hippie town in the lake district of Patagonia. We'll be there for a week. So far, we made reservations at some sorta remote cabin owned by a French artist for three days. The rest we will play by ear.

Dog walking

The profession of dog-walking seems to be as big here as in New York. The difference is that Porteños (i.e. residents of Buenos Aires) like LARGE dogs and, for reasons of efficiency, dogwalkers walk a lot of dogs at once. This picture was taken in the neighborhood of Belgrano, but we've seen smaller guys with more dogs elsewhere. We saw a dogwalker on the Avenida Libertador with 15 dogs, more than 10 of which were of German Shepherd/Golden Retriever size. I estimated their total weight at a good 750 pounds, which is a lot of dog flesh for a 120 lb. guy to have control of. And, in answer to the question that immediately springs to mind, yes, these dogs leave a fair amount of, um, mementos on the sidewalks. More than you would want, but less than you would expect.

I haven’t been taking as many pictures as I expected to (and certainly not many as would justify the purchase of my new 10 megapixel camera). AZ's been fairly busy at it, though, and I did manage to get this picture of her taking a picture. This is on the Avenida Libertador, which is lousy with luxury car dealerships and very tan ladies walking shrimpy dogs. But it’s also shady, tree-lined and generally beautiful. Though it's a little bit scary, too, with over 500 lanes of traffic going in a single direction it takes almost an hour to cross. Not really, but it’s a whopper of a street.

Updates

Spanish lessons are going pretty well. We're both taking two hours a day of private instruction. I'm having the weird sensation, though, that my Spanish skills are actually regressing. Maybe my teachers should be paying me.
The real lessons seem to come from (get this!) life. The lock on our door was hard to work from the get-go, but it got even stickier after I wedged a bunch of wooden matches into it to keep the knob lock from closing. Finally a few days ago we couldn't get the door open at all. Our favorite portero (whose name we don't know – he’s one of the ones who’s not Mario, the slightly grumpy grey-haired guy) fetched a locksmith. This brought us all manner of lock-related vocabulary (locksmith = cerrajero, lock = cerradura, Ohmygodwhatarewegoingtodonow! = Diosmioquepodemoshacerahora!, etc.). The cerrajero arrived about 15 minutes later, dismantled the lock (shaking his head in wonder as he shook the splintered matches out of the lock box), squirted some WD-40 in it and reinstalled it. The charge for the housecall was 40 pesos (about $13).

Pizza

El Cuartito on Tacahuano St. in the neighborhood of Recoleta. Opened 1934 and probably the most famous pizza joint in the city. Not too noticeable that it's in all the guide books - waiters seemed to be equally surly to all patrons, both locals and tourists (though our 12% tip got a big smile out of our guy). We sat under a jersey signed by former soccer superhero Maradona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maradona). Pizza was very tasty. Fat crust seems to be the order of the day here, as do fat and juicy slices of pepperoni.

Architecture

The architecture in BA is rather surprising. It is quite a mix of more classical European styles and very modern design. I am so facinated by this mix (and how it melds together)that I am going to have little photo project devoted to it. More to come.

Coches Viejos (Older Cars)

Older cars, such as this one, are quite prevelent in Buenos Aires.

Our next door neighbor: the turtle

This is our next door neighbor. The turtle (aka la tortuga) comes out every afternoon and hangs out on the lawn.

Our balcony

Here's a picture taken from our balcony. Not so suprising, balconies are quite popular here due to the nice weather. We have two shades to shield us from the sun during the day. We are out here as frequently as possible.

Estamos Aqui

We are here!

And have been since last Wednesday.

Other than settling in, seeing some sights and eating some yummy food, we've *cough* been consumed with season 5 of 24.

*blush*