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

One week volunteering in Argentina

I spent a week in Baradero, working on a range of different tasks each day. They are very flexible in relation to what work you do. You don’t have to do anything you don't want to do and if there was something you interested in then you can ask to work at that.

Some days I was working in the vegetable garden and feeding the animals, another day I cleaned out a room, helped lay carpet and assemble the gym equipment. The room is now the gym! Another two days were spent digging a trench around the swimming pool and another day I helped with some tree’s that needed to be cut down.

Emptying the trailer!

Feeding the Chanchos (pigs)

My time in Baradero was a great introduction to the way of life in Argentina. I was introduced to Mate (This deserves a blog post of its own), how people greet each other (again maybe a blog post in itself), food and meal times.

From the time I had spent in Buenos Aires I knew it was common for people to have dinner late at night. For example many restaurants are full of people eating dinner at 12am in Buenos Aires. Breakfast isn’t really a meal in Argentina, well not like it is in Ireland. Generally people will have a drink such as tea, coffee or mate and maybe a pastry. Lunch is usually around midday and in Baradero was a large meal. Then around 5 or 6pm people generally have an afternoon snack (biscuits or pastries) again accompanied by tea, coffee or mate. And finally dinner is normally around 9pm or later and it is a big meal.

Getting to Baradero and la comunidad

I heard about a project to build a sustainable community (Comunidad Hogar German Frers) on couchsurfing. I arranged with one of the project founders to go and help them out for a few days. The project is in a place called Baradero which is about two hours from Buenos Aires.


I decided to take the train and got to the train station about 45 minutes before the train was due to leave. There were a few different train stations all beside each other, after trying a few I eventually found the correct one and found the correct counter to buy the ticket I needed. But they would not sell me a ticket, I know the Spanish for why so I said that, it was a bit pointless as I still don't know any Spanish so I didn't understand his reason. I concluded it was full as there is only one train per day.


The bus station was nearby so I went there and got a ticket. I had an hour to wait before the bus so I found the correct platform and decided I'd wait there listening to my iPod. 3:00pm, 3:15pm, 3:30pm and still no bus. I knew the final destination of the bus and it was never displayed on the list of departures. Eventually I asked someone if they spoke English (I know this much in Spanish) and they said 'un poco' which is a little. So I showed them my ticket and they said bus not arrived yet. So I waited and eventually at 3:45pm the bus appeared on the departures monitor and soon afterwards it arrived.


2 hours later I was in Baradero. I tried calling the guys who I'd been talking to on email to get them to collect me but I couldn't get in touch with them. So I got a taxi, luckily I was prepared for this and know how to say my destination in Spanish. Baradero is quite a small town and after driving for about 2 minutes the road disappeared and we were driving on a dirt track, eventually we came to a junction with a main road.

Here I saw the sign for la comunidad. I paid the taxi driver, got my luggage and was greeted in Spanish by lots of people. The guys who I'd been talking to that spoke English were away and not due back for another hour. Next week I'm going to start learning Spanish.

Choripán in Buenos Aires

Choripán is an Argentinean sandwich made with chorizo and bread (the spanish for bread is pan).

Choripán

You get a choice of pork or beef. They cost about a euro and are sold by street vendors throughout the city.

Parrilla on the street

Arriving in Buenos Aires sin equipaje

Our plane stopped in Sao Paulo to refuel, some people got off, some new people got on. This took about an hour then we had a 3 hour flight to Bueno Aires. About 1 hour before landing in Buenos Aires the flight attendant came down and asked if I was David. I said yes and he said that I had to contact the ground staff when we landed. He didn't say anymore and he didn't give me the opportunity to ask more. I had no idea what it was about so I figured I'd find Seamus and see if they had said the same to him. On my way to find Seamus the guy we had met earlier from Buenos Aires saw me and decided to join us also. Turns out all 3 of us had been told the same thing. When we were running the get the connecting flight we never considered our luggage. It was probably still being unloaded from the plane when we were taking off.

Our Plane after landing in Buenos Aires

Once we landed in BA we got talking to the British Airways ground staff. They were very helpful, took our contact details and the name of the hostel and said that our luggage would arrive the following day. They also gave us £35 each on a prepaid debit card so we'd have money to buy whatever we needed until our luggage arrived.


Unlike a lot of airports the taxi setup in Buenos Aires is quite good. There is an official taxi desk where you tell them where you want to go and you pay in advance. 45 minutes later we were outside our hostel. The taxi driver thought it a bit strange that we had no luggage as did the hostel staff. My luggage was delivered to the hostel the next day. Seamus was not so lucky, they had some problem finding his so it took a few more days before it arrived.