6 days in Uruguay

We were so close, we had to go to Uruguay.  We had to check it out - it has the second largest Carnaval culture in the world just behind Brazil´s, so why not!

Yes, that´s an inflatable bucking bull!

About the size of Florida, the country of Uruguay is across the widest river in the world from Buenos Aires.  We´ve seen the Mississippi and Columbia Rivers; the Rio de la Plata makes both of their mightiness look meek.  We ferried for an hour over to the tiny town of Colonia del Sacramento.  It´s been recognized as a UNESCO heritage sight and couldn´t be more relaxing.  But it was culture shock once again....we went from a city of 13 million to one with 21,000 people (and from our own apartment to our first hostel).  This is BA across the Rio from Colonia, with a very good lense.  And isn´t Colonia picturesque? 

We relaxed, enjoyed the river, the history, rode bikes, discovered new birds and breathed clean air.

Mate (ma-tay) is HUGE in Uruguay.  We thought Americans we´re obsessed with coffee drinks; our obsession is tame compared to what we saw.  Uruguayans seem to never be without their Mate cups and their thermos of hot water.  Mate is kind of like tea but the leaves are used over and over.  The Mate cup is shared, kind of like a joint, and it is an important social practice for Uruguayans.  Evidently there is art to preparing, pouring and passing.  We thought it seemed to be a very high maintenance past time, but, hey, what do we know!

Montevideo is the largest city in Uruguay but only has 1.5 million people.  Our hearts sank when we arrived in our new home.  Our view was the best we´ve had so far, but our "apartment" was the strangest. The "kitchen" was in the bathroom and the marble tub was massive with the shower head propped up with scotch tape.  For $38 a night, you get what you pay for!  Our time in Montevideo was made special with the local contacts we made.  (More on that later.)  Off to Iguazú Falls in Northern Argentina.

Lasting impressions of Buenos Aires

There are far more parks and trees than you’d expect in a city with 13 million peeps.

Each neighborhood is very distinctive in it's vibe, look and character.  As we walked across the undefined borders the change was immediate.

The women like to show off their stuff, whether it is good or not so good (mostly) with the tightest jeans we've ever seen.

All of the Tangoing (and tight jeans) must drive people crazy.  Passion is all around with eager public displays of affection.

 

Whether it be wavy, curly, or straight; most men have the thickest hair.  Not a lot of male pattern baldness or shaven heads in this city  And tobacco profits must be soaring, smoking seems to be the rule.













BA was a perfect city to start our trip.  We loved our neighborhood, the food, the architecture, the parks, the dogs, and the never ending things to do and see.  We tolerated the noise and the challenges of being a pedestrian.  Would we return?  Most definitely!  For now though we are off to Uruguay and the countryside of Argentina.  Nos vemos Buenos Aires!

I could not understand a word, but enjoyed every minute!

Amy and I went out to a local bar the other night to see a show “espectaculo”.  This was advertised as a local Argentina folk show from 10:00 PM to Midnight.  This place is known for audience participation, and after the show, it is common for a patron to grab a guitar and start performing.  We thought that would be really cool.  The show that night was performed by two guitarists and a woman singer playing the folks songs of the Tango.  The songs had a definite feel to them, complex guitar chording and spectacular runs.....very nice.  The melodies were strange, but the singer was totally into them, so they came across with passion. 

Argentinians speak a unique dialect of Spanish influenced by a huge influx of Italians over the years.  I understood about 3 words all night.  And then the show ended.....and the fun began!  As advertised, the two guitarists from the show, came down into the audience, and three or four patrons from the audience started singing old folk songs.  Everyone knew the words and they decided to sit at the table next to ours, less than 5 feet away from us.  I felt we had been invited into their living room to get a taste of Buenos Aires' past.  Everyone was so into it, and here we were sitting among this not understanding a single word, but enjoying every minute of it!

La Madre Naturaleza, finalmente

For a big city, BA has an impressive amount of trees and parks, but it's loud, crazy and busy.  After many miles of pounding the pavement we needed a break.  Our feet cried for a rest from the tiled sidewalks and our minds ached for space from the noise.  Except for the kitchen sink when doing laundry, we hadn't seen a body of water for days.  We were more than ready for nature so we headed to the Reserva Ecológia Costanera Sur.  It's a huge nature preserve in BA and encompasses the Rio de Plata, but if the skyscrapers weren't within eye-shot you'd never guess 13 million people were nearby.  Aaaaaahhhhh.  Finally.  Nature.  Our home. 

After we returned from a fabulous day in nature, Mother's show did not end.  We were treated to a fabulous lightning and thunderstorm.  Loved it!

A Funny Thing Happened on the way from the Museum...

Amy and I just got back from visiting the Buenos Aires Museum of Fine Arts. After a few hours of seeing all the “fine art”, we needed a pick me up and headed for a nearby coffee house. As we were enjoying our snack we realized we had spent most of our daily budget at the Museum. No problem, we thought, we'll pay with a VISA. “No accepta VISA” was the answer we received from our waiter. Oh Oh we only had 20 Argentine pesos ($5 US dollars) left over. That might cover it, but it might not. Amy dug deep in her purse and came up with some coins for another 1.25 pesos. It's going to be close.

Would they let us leave and come back to pay? Would one of us have to hoof it back to the apartment to get the rest of the money we owed them? Could we leave them something of value to guarantee our return? Would we want to leave something of value? Or....wash dishes?

“Tenemos una problema” would be the start of our explanation to the waiter, Amy decided. She's our language 'expert'.  For another 20 plus agonizing minutes we formulated our strategy and determined what to say, in spanish, to our non English speaking waiter. We would let them know that we are embarrassed, hand over everything peso we have and ask if we can return tomorrow to pay the rest of the bill.

The moment had arrived when we had to ask for la cuenta. Our palms were sweaty. The waiter looked at our table, counted out what we owed him and said......Vientiuno pesos por favor. We started cracking up with relief. 21 pesos! Our efforts and worry were not needed after all. The waiter, I am sure, was a bit baffled with the crazy Norteamericanos who were giggling over the amount.  Amy and I high-fived and left the coffee house laughing with a whopping .25 pesos (a US nickel) to spare! Man that coffee was good.

Es Lluviendo

(It's raining.) And we feel at home with this weather. The sun has been so shiny and bright the last few days so the rain is comforting for we Oregonians. We are luxuriating in a neighborhood cafe en el barrio Palermo Botanico cerca de nuestro apartmento. We try our best to understand the local periodico (newspaper). The story interests us as it is about our president Obama meeting with Argentina's president, Christina Kirchner, for a Nuclear summit. From what we understand the article indicates that the relationship between the two has been somewhat contentious and we wonder how the US papers have reported the meeting between the two, the same event. It's these types of discussions that we love to have while traveling. We don't often take the opportunity to think about how our global compañeros report the same news event and we are so grateful to do so on this beautifully rainy morning in a cafe with not another norteamericano in sight.

Where Are We?

We flew all day and all night and landed in a place we recognize but can't quite put our finger on.
Look at that architecture, we must be in Paris.

No wait, listen to all the “ciaos” and see the crazy arm gestures, I think we're in Rome.
Hold on - there's the Washington monument, maybe we landed in DC.

 
NYC is more like it – there are so many taxis and buses and people and grit.
Even the designs of Gaudi are apparent so we've got to be in Barcelona.

Alas, it's Buenos Aires. It's the first time either of us have been in the southern hemisphere and what a fabulous place to start our adventure. It feels similar because we've been to western Europe many times but it's different in so many ways. To land here and get to know a new culture, perspective, history, people is a wonderful beginning for us. Hola Buenos Aires!