Passion Pit in Buenos Aires

I saw an advertisement saying that Passion Pit would be playing in Buenos Aires. This would be their first time to play in Argentina. Passion Pit are one of my favourite groups at the moment, I've seen them play 5 times in Ireland over the past 3 years so when I heard they were playing in Buenos Aires I wanted to go see them.

An Advertisement for Passion Pit in Argentina

I bought the tickets on the internet but I didn't pay for delivery as there was a place near my house where I could collect the tickets thus avoiding the delivery charge. I'd paid 30 euros for 2 tickets, almost the same as the cost of one ticket in Ireland but Passion Pit would not be as popular in Argentina.


I never collected the tickets until the day of the concert because I went to Uruguay and because I was lazy. When I went to collect the tickets on the day of the concert there was a problem. There are always problems when I want to buy ticket in other countries. The computer in Groove wasn't working so they couldn't sell the tickets but at least this time I understood the girl when she told me this. She told me to call back later.


I noticed that the door was open so I went inside. There were a few guys working but they didn't say anything to me only "hello". I walked around the bar area then went up stairs and watched the sound check for Passion Pit. There were a few guys from the band on stage for this. There was a guy beside me taking photos and after he walked past me I noticed that he was one of the guys from Passion Pit. By the time I realised this it was too late to say anything.

Passion Pit Sound Check

That night I went early to Groove as I needed to collect the tickets before the gig would start. There were already a lot of people queuing outside. I got the tickets and went for dinner. when I got back there was a massive queue. We waited for about 1 hour until we were allowed enter. In Ireland we have support bands that play before the main act but in Argentina this does not seem to be the case. So once inside we waited for another 2 hours listening to a DJ and watching an empty stage. In the end Passion Pit came on stage and played for about 2 hours. At this stage Groove was full and it was really really warm. I don't think I've ever been at a concert where it was this warm before but the music, crowd and the atmosphere was great.

Passion Pit in Buenos Aires

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Passion Pit en Buenos Aires

El mes pasado vi un anuncio para Passion Pit. Decía que Passion Pit iban a tocar en Buenos Aires por primera vez. Passion Pit es mi grupo preferido ahora, fui a verlo cinco veces en Irlanda hace tres anos. Entonces cuando vi que ellos iban a tocar en Buenos Aires quise ir.

Un anuncio para Passion Pit en Argentina

Yo compré dos entradas en Internet pero no pagé el delivery porque hay un lugar cerca de mi casa donde vos podes buscar las entradas personalmente. Yo pagé más de 30 euros para las dos entradas, casi lo mismo que una entrada en Irlanda pero allá Passion Pit son mas populares que en Argentina.

Yo no fui a buscar las entradas hasta el día del concierto porque fui a Uruguay y no tenía ganas. El día del concierto fui a Groove a buscar las entradas pero había un problema. Siempre hay problemas cuando quiero comprar entradas o boletos en otra piases. La computadora en Groove no andaba entonces no se podía vender las entradas pero al menos esa vez yo entendí cuando la chica me explicó no como otra veces cuando yo trataba comprar boletos y entradas cuando viajaba. La chica me pidió que volviera más tarde.

Yo me dí cuenta que las puertas estaban abiertas entonces yo entré. Había muchos chicos trabajando adentro pero no me dijeron nada solamente “hola”. Entonces caminé por el bar y subír la escalera y ví el ensayo donde estaba uno de los chicos de Passion Pit. Había otra chico al lado mío que sacaba fotos. Despues el pasó por al lado mío, yo me dí cuenta que el era un chico de Passion Pit. Yo no le dije nada porque no tuve tiempo.

El ensayo

Esa noche fui temperano a Groove porque necesitaba buscar las entradas cuando llegé habia cola afuera, mucho gente esperarando la apertura de Groove. Yo busqúe las entradas y fui a cenar. Después volví mas tarde, la cola era muy larga. Nosotros esperamos una hora hasta que nos permitieron entrar. En Irlanda hay bandas o grupos que tocen antes del grupo principal pero en argentina no hay. Entonces nosotros esperamos dos horas, escuchamos al DJ y vi el escenario vació!

Al final Passion Pit vinío al escenario y tocaron dos horas. En ese momento Groove estaba lleno, había mucho gente y hacía mucho calor pero estuvo muy bueno!

Passion Pit en Buenos Aires

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Same same but different

One photo is from Buenos Aires and one is from Dublin. Which is which?

Lo mismo pero diferente

Un foto es de Irlanda y el otro es de Buenos Aires. Cual es cual?

Two random nights in Buenos Aires

A week ago I went to meet with Eugenia (the girl who sat next to me on the plane to Buenos Aires) in the downtown but I went to the wrong place. I waited for an hour but I never saw Eugenia. While I was waiting there, Eugenia waited an hour for me in the correct place.
Eugenia didn't have a phone so I went to a cafe that had wifi and sent a message on Facebook. When Eugenia got home she got my message and replied. We decided to try meet again, this time in a place that was easier for me to find. When Eugenia was walking from her house to meet me she met a friend on the street. Her friend was going to a concert where another friend of theirs was singing. She invited Eugenia and me to the concert as she had spare tickets.

Patricio Arellano in Teatro Astral

This was my first concert in Buenos Aires but it was not the sort of music that I would normally listen to but I still enjoyed it a lot. Thank you to Eugenia and her friends for inviting me.

Patricio Arellano

Another night Mic (an Italian guy that I met in Mendoza so is on an around the world trip) were invited to a birthday party on a boat. The boat was leaving from Olivos, which is about 5 stops on the train from my house. On the boat we had pizza for dinner then once dinner more people arrived and around 12am the boat left. There was lots of drink, fernet and coke (a very popular drink in Argentina) and lots of music but it wasn't possible to leave the boat.

Fiesta!

They played a mixture of music, some international but mainly cumbia and reggaeton. The boat reminded me of Coppers in Dublin except you couldn't leave.

Fiesta en el Barco

We went to Tigre and then about 5am we returned to Buenos Aires. It was a good night. Thanks to Claudia for inviting us.

Dos noches diferentes en Buenos Aires

La semana pasada fui a encontrarme con una amiga en el centro pero yo fui al lugar incorrecto. Mi amiga es Eugenia, la chica que se sentó al lado mio en el avión a Buenos Aires.
Yo me quedé una hora pero yo no me encontré con Eugenia. Mientras yo me quedé allá, Eugenia me esperó en el lugar correcto también una hora.

Yo fui a un café a usar el wifi porque Eugenia no tiene teléfono entonces yo le envié un mensaje por facebook. Cuando Eugenia volvió a su casa ella vio mi mensaje. Entonces nosotros decidimos tratar de encontrarnos otra vez. Esta vez en un lugar fácil de encontrar para mi. Cuando Eugenia iba en camino a encontrarse conmigo ella se encontró con otra amiga que tenía entradas para un concierto donde otro amigo iba a cantar. Entonces nosotros fuimos al concierto!

Patricio Arellano in Teatro Astral

Fue mi primer concierto en Buenos Aires pero no era la música que yo escucho generalmente pero estuvo muy bueno. Gracias a Eugenia y sus amigos.

Patricio Arellano

Otra noche Mic y yo estábamos invitados a una fiesta de cumpleaños en un barco. Tomamos el tren cerca de mi casa a Olivos, después caminamos al barco. Fuimos en el barco y comimos la cena - pizza, mucha pizza. Entonces mas gente llegó y alrededor de la medianoche nos fuimos.

Fiesta!

Había mucha cerveza, mucho fernet y coca y mucha música y mucha gente bailando. No era posible irse del barco. Ellos pasaron mucha música - música internacional y música argentina.

Fiesta en el Barco

Yo pienso que es lo mismo que “Coppers” en Dublin pero no podés irte!!!! El barco fue a tigre y mas o menos a las 5 de la mañana volvió a Buenos Aires. La pasamos bomba!

Colonia, Montevideo, Punta del Este and Punto de Diablo

I decided to take a break from Buenos Aires and make a trip to Uruguay. The fast boat takes one hour or the slower cheaper boat takes about 4 hours both taking you to Colonia del Sacramento.
Colonia is the oldest town in Uruguay and is a World Heritage Site. We arrived in time for lunch and then spend the afternoon exploring the old town. Lots of cobbled streets, some nice views of the coast line and overall a nice town to spend an afternoon in.

Colonia Coastline

Old Town Colonia

Basilica del Sanctísimo Sacramento

More Colonia Coastline

That evening we took a bus to Montevideo. I was a little disappointed with Montevideo. I'm not sure what I was expecting but Montevideo didn't match my expections. My expectations were probably influenced by the Lonely Planet guide as it says "Kick back in what may be South America's most liveable city". It didn't really strike me as somewhere I'd like to live. Maybe I didn't give it enough time. I didn't take any photos!


Along with Colonia, Punta del Este and Punta de Diablo are the two places that everyone says you must go in Uruguay. It is possible to do a bus tour and visit both places but I didn't want to do another bus tour after the one in Mendoza. So instead we hired a car and decided to make the journey ourselves. The weather had been great the past week but about 2 hours into the journey it started to rain. It eventually cleared up but it was unfortunate that the one day we choose to hire a car and make the trip that we get rain.

Punta de Diablo

Punta del Este

Sunset in Punta del Este

Tango in la Boca

I've been in Buenos Aires for almost two months yet last weekend was my first time to visit la Boca. It is a very popular tourist spot in Buenos Aires yet it has a very bad reputation.

La Boca

I took the 29 bus there and got off in the touristy area. I could see how if you ventured outside the tourist area that it could get dangerous pretty quick but once you stick to the main tourist streets its fine.

Probably one of the most photographed streets in BsAs

Maradona Street Art

We stopped for a drink in one of the many cafes with live tango. Mic had the best view so he recorded some of the tango.

More Mendoza - vineyards and mountains

On Monday I did a wine tasting tour, visiting two vineyards. The first was a traditional vineyard that only used traditional methods for their production. The second was a new modern vineyard that used modern techniques and processes for production. Both vineyards export almost all of their production to Europe and Brazil.

wine, wine, wine

more wine

Malbec

Mendoza offers a range of outdoor activities such as mountain biking, rock climbing, quad biking, rafting, sky diving and paragliding. They needed a group of people before they would do the downhill mountain biking or the quad biking so I didn't get to do either. Its not high season yet so think I'll return again when its busier. Instead I did a tour of the mountains. Mic (Italian guy), Joe (English guy) and I decided to do the tour as it was the best way to see the Andes, Puente del Inca and Parque Provincial Aconcagua in one day.

can't remember where, one of the many photo stops

Puente del Inca

Parque Provincial Aconcagua

This was my first "tourist bus tour" and probably will be my last. I didn't like the idea of being herded around for the day, 2 hours on the bus stop, take photos get back on drive for another few hours, stop take photos, eat in the restaurant they choose (although we didn't), more bus more photos. The rest of the tourists on the bus were considerable older than us and they spent their time taking photos or videos, even when they were on the bus. When we stopped at a shop there was a queue of them wanting to buy batteries for their cameras!

life through a lens

Paragliding in Mendoza

I decided to take a holiday from life in Buenos Aires and visit Mendoza. Seamus had other plans for the weekend so decided I'd go alone. Maybe use it as an opportunity to practice my Spanish. Mendoza is in central Argentina, right in the middle of the region that produces 70% of the countries wine. As well as the wine the other attraction of Mendoza is its proximity to the Andes.
I took a 15 hour overnight bus to Mendoza, arriving Saturday afternoon. I soon met two other Irish guys  who were traveling alone around Argentina. The 3 of us decided to go paragliding on the Sunday.

Ciaran and Ronan paragliding

I have never been paragliding before so it was a new experience for me. It was tandem paragliding so there wasn't much for me to do but enjoy the view once we were airborne. Getting airborne was a bit weird, the guy tells you to run and you run off the side of the cliff. Eventually you are in the air and still running but there is nothing under your feet!

Nice view

Don't look down!

A clown that is not a clown

A clown in south America is more like a comedian than a children's entertainer. I've been to two clown shows since arriving in Buenos Aires. The first was a one man show by one of the guests at the opening party in Baradero.

The second was a bigger show by the students of a clown school in Buenos Aires. The show was held in a theatre and lasted about 2 hours. The entire performance was in Spanish. I could only understand some words but the combination of the music, sounds, lights and gestures meant I could understand the show.

The opening scene.

Asado does not mean Barbecue

Asado is considered to be the traditional dish of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and southern Brazil. I had heard about it and read about it but I had not experienced one. On one of my last days in Baradero I heard we were going to be having an asado for lunch. I asked Agustin if this was the Argentine barbecue that I'd heard about. He agreed that it was somewhat like a barbecue but advised that it was best not to compare it to a barbecue as some Argentines may take offense to this!


So what is an Asado? There appears to be a cut of beef that is called asado but it is also a way of cooking and is somewhat like a barbecue but after seeing the amount of work and effort that goes into preparing an asado I can see why people may get offended when someone says "oh its a barbecue".


Preparations for the asado started early on Sunday morning. A wood fire was started and constantly topped up with firewood as the morning progressed. Close by a small pit was prepared and a grill was setup. The grill appeared to be an old metal frame from a bed but I maybe wrong on that!

Preparing the asado

The meat was not marniated just well seasoned with salt. There were lots of different cuts of meat (all beef) and also some chorizo like that used in choripan. I got a picture of the last few cuts of beef before they went on the asado.

Beef for the asado

The cooking process lasted for 3 or 4 hours. New coals were taken from the fire and placed under the grill as required whilte the meat slowly cooked.

Asado coals and the asado grill

There was always someone tending to the asado ensuring the temperature was correct and everything was in order. The result was some really tender, juicy steak.

beef cooking over the coals

More beef!

Almost ready!

Tables and chairs were moved out to the garden and about 25 of us had a lunch that lasted about 3 hours! I never got a photo of this :(

Almost Famous in Argentina

One of the last tasks I did in Baradero was to paint their logo on a big tank. Daniel knew I liked sketched so he asked if I’d like to do it. It was challenging due to the size and height of the tank. Normally I sketch on paper so sketching on the side of a tank while on top of a ladder was quite different. Once I was happy with the sketch I painted the design in white.

Work in Progress

The end piece worked out quite well and is visible from almost everywhere on the site. In hindsight it probably would have been much easier to have sketched the design on paper and created a stencil to paint the design on the tank.

Swimming pool and sports grounds with Logo visible in background

After a week I left Baradero returned to Buenos Aires, moved into my apartment and started Spanish school. My intention was to return to Baradero for their official opening which was a weekend a few weeks later. I went to the bus station after Spanish class on the Friday to get a bus ticket but they were all sold out. Baradero isn’t a popular tourist destination, actually I should say it isn’t a tourist destination so this was surprising. Turns out the weekend in question was a long weekend in Argentina so the same as in Ireland everyone goes away from the long weekend. All buses for Friday and Saturday were booked out so the earliest I could get was Sunday morning. I’d miss half of the party but seeing as it was a long weekend it wasn’t too bad. When I got to Baradero I saw their invite/flyer for their opening party. I am now famous in Baradero.

Almost Famous