Gualeguay and Galarza in Entre Ríos

Entre Ríos is a provence in the north of Argentina, between the parna and paraguay rivers. We went to Entre Ríos one saturday morning, first we had to take a train to Martinez and from there we went by car. We drank mate in the train and also in the car. In Argentina they drink mate all day, everyday and everywhere!

First we went to Gualeguay and bought food for a picnic then drove to a farm close to the Gualeguay river. It took about one hour of walking through fields to get to the river then we stayed there for the afternoon in the sun. Walking, drinking, eating, swimming and drinking more mate and eating facturas.

Gualeguay River

Afterwards we went to Galarza, a small town near Gualeguay. On the way we stopped in a guacho bar but there weren’t any gauchos there at that time of day. We had a beer and bought beef for the asado. The bar was also a shop and a butcher, for some reason it reminded me of the shop in Father Ted.

Bar, shop, cafe, butcher etc.

Then we went to Tommys family farm. We had an asado that night and after went to the local disco. They played cumbia and reggaeaton all night! We decided to leave early, around 5am, early for Argentina but late if you were in Ireland. As we got close to Tommy's house we realised that it wasn't possible to go further in the car. It had been raining all night so we had to abandon the car because it wasn't going to make it up the hill. We took off our shoes and socks in the car and then walked/ran in the rain for about 2 km to Tommy's house.

It was after 7am by the time we got home so we didn't get up until about 2pm the next day. We had lunch outside in the farm. I noticed that they had a motorbike on the farm. Tommy said I could use it if I wanted so I rode around the farm for about an hour or more. I took a lot of photos as it was a sunny day and the landscape looked great in the sun. Thanks to Tommy, Ariel, Seline and Andrea for a great weekend.

Mate for breakfast.

A long lunch on the farm.

A sunny day in Entre Rios

So what do you do?

Seamus called me one day to say that Jason had invited us to an Irish party. He was a bit vague on the details but I said I’d go. Although I had a question.... “Do we need good clothes?” because at the moment the only clothes that I have are tshirts, shorts and jeans.
I was assured jeans and converse would be fine so that night we headed to the party. When we were walking past the hotel (because we couldn’t find it) a guy asked in spanish if we were looking for the Irish party. We obviously look Irish!


The party was on the 6th floor of an Irish hotel. When we walked out of the lift we could see into the party and everyone was in dressed smartly and drinking champagne. The men were in suits and the girls were in dresses. But it was too late, we’d come too far so we had no choice but to go in. Once we entered a guy says hello to us. Seamus say a few words in Spanish but the guy interrupted and said you can speak English if you want cause we’re all Irish here. So we spoke in English, lots of questions about who we are, where we are from and what we were doing in Buenos Aires. Then there was a little silence so Seamus asked him - What do you do? I think this is a very typical question asked by Irish people when they meet someone for the first time. In China they asked how much money do you earn but that’s another story.


Anyhow the guy seemed to think this was a strange question, well based on his facial expression and his reaction. Anyhow he said that there are a lot of people in Argentina with Irish heritage and that there are many people living in Buenos Aires from Ireland. Later we found out that the guy we were talking to was the Irish ambassador in Argentina. I think he assumed that we knew he was the ambassador and thought we were asking what does the ambassador do!In the end we had a good night, we talked lots about Ireland and traveling and so on. There was free champagne, wine and food as well so that helped.


Want Spanish?

Que hacés?

Una día, Seamus me llamó para decirme que Jason nos invitaba a una fiesta irlandesa. Dije que sí pero pregunté: “¿Necesitamos vestirnos mejor?". Porque no tenía buena ropa; solamente remera, pantalones cortos y jeans. Jason me dijo que estaba bien. Más tarde a la noche fuimos a la fiesta. Cuando caminabamos para el hotel, un chico nos dijo: "Fiesta irlandesa?" ¡parecíamos irlandeses!


Tomamos el ascensor al piso 6 y cuando llegamos vimos mucho gente, todos bien vestidos: los chicos de trajes y las chicas devestidos. Ya era tare y habíamos llegado lejos.


Seamus comenzó a hablar en espanol con un chico que nos dije que podíamos hablar en inglés porque éramos todos irlandeses! Entonces hablamos en inglés y el chico nos hizo muchas preguntas. De rempente hubo un silencio y Seamus le preguntó: "Que hacés?”


Creo que el chico pensó que era una pregunta rara. El chico nos contó que en Argnetina había muchas personas de origen irlandés e irlandeses viviendo acá. Después nos enteremos que el chico era el mismísimo embajador y que él pensaba que nosotros lo sabíamos.


Al final la pasamos muy bien, hablamos con mucha gente de Irlanda, comimos mucho (gratis!) y tomamos mucho (tambien libre!).


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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