Buenos Aires

28th March 2009
The flight was at 10:30 in the morning – didn’t have to wake up too early and had a good nights sleep. Every one was bright and chirpy at the airport – the holiday mood, I think. Plus I had a great avocado sandwich. I’ve grown to like it so much that I have a craving for it, right now, as I’m typing…

Flight to Dallas
Then we embarked on our journey – in the worst airline ever. American. Even air deccan is better with its service (despite their promise not to offer much of it). About 10 minutes after take off, my throat got dry and I was coughing. I had to beep to ask for some ( since they don’t let us carry any anymore). The stewardess came with raised eyebrows , somehow not appreciating having to work this early on the flight, I think. I asked for water (still coughing – picture me with a red face and watery eyes among other things) and she says “just wait for 20 mins and they’ll come around with the drinks” . This was the moment for me to raise my eyebrows and the kind lady sitting next to me joined in. Im not sure what it was that knocked sense into that stewardesses head, she came back with a cup of water in about 5. Not a very good start. Soon a view of the snow capped sierra Nevada range had me totally rapt. It was a clear clear day – a beautiful one. Was hoping weather was going to be as good as this every place I was visiting.

Dallas Fortworth to Ezeiza
Landed at dallas fortworth. I thought the airport was huge!!! We were taxiing for 25 mins after we landed ! I contemplated calling shruti dash and when I reached out for my phone, I realized I had checked it in. It was now that prashant chose to tell me that he hadn’t specified our meal preference for the 12 hr flight we had to Buenos aires. Was flying from texas to Buenos aires – was pretty sure they wouldn’t have anything vegetarian. We now had to hunt for some place to grab a substantial bite – enough to last us till the cup of fruit they would offer next morning. ( it was American airlines, wasn’t sure if even that would come)

In Buenos Aires – March 29th
The 12 hour flight was not too bad. Landed, got immigration done in a jiffy and we were soon looking for the ezeiza taxi booth. There are 2 money exchange counters, one right after immigration – somewhere near baggage claim and another just before the exit gate. The first one offers really bad rates. Thanks to lonely planets tip ( and the queue at the second one) we didn’t make a mistake. 3.72 it was, I think.

First Impressions
Also, we were now in the land of espanol. We knew a few words to get around but its just very hard to communicate! So we had the address written on paper and headed right out. It was a Sunday. driving through the by lanes reminded me a lot of driving through Bombay – very similar looking. The width of streets, the sidewalks, the kind of trees . Just cleaner and les crowded. There wasn’t much traffic that day and most establishments were shuttered down – except essential services, restaurants and cafes. Again, very similar to India. I started loving the place already.

And the people – the most wonderful, hospitable, friedly, warm – I love them. The first person we encountered was our cabbie from the airport. What I loved about this guy was that we didn’t understand each other but he continued to try and make conversation eith gestures etc. I would soon come t realize that theyre a very patient lot. Being a non-english speaking person here in the US wouldn’t be nearly as pleasant, im sure! Once we reached outr destination, the sweet cabbie waited with us and said he’d stand around till somebody answered. We were told that cabbies were not normally tipped – but this fellow was too nice!!! We thought for a moment about the Chennai automen and immediately left him a handsome tip. May be we shouldn’t be spoiling them and making them expect it when they don’t right now…but what the hell!!!

Our home in BA
The place we stayed in – el edifico Los Pavos reales. http://www.elpavorealbb.com/
We knew what the place looked like (after having ogled at it in their website) and recognized it in an instant. It was right there with the entrance door on the street. We buzzed and waited at the door. In a few moments Kevin greeted us at the door.
As soon as we got into the heavy metal and glass door under the colonial façade, there was this beautiful painted ceiling and another door right after which lead to this vintage elevator. There was a spiral stairway around it and then the house we were staying in on the first level. The moment we entered the house, our jaw dropped. It was a vintaghe colonial house. With high ceilings, tall doors, heavy wood walls and wonderful Victorian furniture. It was lit up really well – not too dim that you’ve to strain your eyes to see , but yet nice and mellow. The entrance to our room was from the patio. The room was not too big but the bathroom was very large with mirrors all around making it look larger still – as large as our room! But we had a comfortable bed, enough storage space and nothing to complain about. I think Kevin and diego did a wonderful job of decorating the place . everything was in sync, the furniture and accents looked hand-picked and there was good colour coordination – just the way I liked it .

First breakfast in BA:
Our room wasn’t ready yet – we were there at 9:30 and were supposed to check in only at 12:00. Kevin said he’d get it ready in about an hour and that we could spend that time getting a bite at this vintage Italian café just 6 blocks away – La violettas. It has umpteen pillars, creepers around pillars, glass doors, a lot of wood and gold and painted glass near the ceilings. It wasn’t like it was some sort of an upscale boutique café. It was just a café where everyone went. The Spanish menu was staring back at us in a few moments. We read that dulce-de-leche (milk caramel) was something of a national obsession. But we only saw it under “additionals”. I tried desperately to ask the sweet man to waitered our table for some café-con-leche ( coffee with milk) with a hint of dulce de leche. he was looking very puzzled with my request. And made some suggestion when I didn’t understand at all. After a painful back and forth I finally resigned to a combo of café-con-leche + 3 medialunas (croissants) and Dulce de leche on the side. It was when all of this came to the table that I realized that dulce de leche was like a spread for the medialuna and that medialunas that the argentinians eat are tiny!!! I think anyone who is used to the croissants here in the US would have a hard time getting used to the medialunas there. We spent about an hour there and walked back down avenida rivadavia to claim our room.

San Telmo:
In less than 90 mins we were all showered and ready to hit the roads. It was a Sunday and our only Sunday. We decided to visit the fames antiques and craft market in san telmo. It was just 6 subway stations from loria to Plaza-de-mayo. The subways were made by the English and still ran the vintage wooden trains. It was very unique. Right out of the station at plaza–de-mayo and left onto defense, and we were right there. On the street where the fair was held. I think its good to knows numbers 1-10 and multiples of 10 upto 100 and once can manage a decent bargain. The market was a platform for craftsmen to sell their goods directly past the middlemen. Basically – offering wonderful guilt free shopping. And youre dealing with artists and craftsmen here – not aggressive salesmen. So the experience is very pleasant indeed. There are all bonding with each other over mates ( its their verson of green tea sippied out of a gourd cup through a straining straw – it’s a very prevalent local preference.) come 4 o clock and performers and out on the streets. Music , painting, tango – the whole place is suddenly alive and starts getting crowded. I picked up a couple of mates and we hailed a cab right after to head to La Boca!

La Boca:
On our drive to La Boca we passed the futbol stadium. We had just missed a boca juniors match scheduled on saturdday evening (damn! Wish we had planned around it!) whats hit me first when I got off there was the riot of colour and spirit. The one place to stroll around there is the “Caminito”. Its one street with all the colourful buildings, cafes that spill on the streets, tango preformera everywhere, kids playing futbol, music dogs. This places also gives you a hint of how futbol-crazed the nation is! A little play area where a band was playing music, kids playing futbol wearing their team uniform (mostly #18 and #10) futbol graffiti on the wall, stores selling merchandize. Interestingly one guy on the streets looked at us and asked “India?” and with our confirmation showed us his cell phone with a DDLJ picture for the wallpaper! He then told us – “shah rush, kajol. Vey nice. Namaste!” It was amazing. Right after that we walked along the canal and soaked up the whole place.It was spirited and alive. Viva la vida.

Day 2 in Buenos Aires – March 30th
A Walk through the city – Congresso and Microcentro
It was about 5 subway stops to get to congresso. We rode the train with the lonely planet in hand bookmarked on the “walking tour of microcentro and congresso” . Depending on how long our stops were , it was to last anything between 4 hours to a whole day. Ours lasted a whole day. We started off at Plaza del congresso. A colossal structure modeled on the capitol building in D.C. right across were monuments honouring the congresses which led to argentine independence. A bit of a stroll away was Av. De Mayo – one of the more important streets lined with offices buildings, museums and other public offices on both sides. The place however, looked like it might have been all museum! The buildings were all vintage – all of them and people were walking out in business suits and with mobiles in their hands! We stopped by at Café Tortoni – another vintage café, just like La violetas we visited yesterday. After a brief coffee we continued our stroll and went past all of the subway stations that lead to plaza de Mayo – the final stop. We decided to take a small detour at this point into this street called “florida” to have lunch at Granix ( a vegetarian buffet!) . florida is like the “shopping street” – it’s only pedestrian for its entire stretch and has stores on both sides and street performers and astists in the center. We were coming back to walk down florida a bit later, so we just grabbed a quick bite here and headed bac onto av. De mayo through diagonal norte. Our next destination, the cathedral and Casa rosada.