Week 1: Hola!

Hello!

So! It´s really really real. I am in Buenos Aires. I flew here on a one-way ticket from Sydney. I will be living overseas indefinitely. I don´t know the where or the what or the how. I should be apprehensive but I´m not in the slightest. I am so frickin excited!

Anyway.. this is my blog. I´ve never blogged before. It´s a very hip thing to do isn´t it? Frickin hipsters. I´m blogging because a) I´m too lazy to email everyone separately; and b) I thought it would be a good way of keeping track of what I get up to. I´m just going to whack up some words and some pictures when I think to. It won´t be well written or witty or funny. And I´ll probably resort to dot points more often than not. Apologies now for the boring and for giving stupid detail. It´s pretty much going to be a factual recount. Anyway.

Ok. So. It´s been almost a week. This is what I got up to:

1. Flight from Sydney was tops! I watched Midnight in Paris. Loved it. Watched all the 30Rock Episodes. Slept a shedload. Arrived in Buenos Aires at 10am. Met a lovely missy called Tori while waiting for my bags. She was staying in Sam Telmo so I said she could share my ride. Andy (the driver my friend Jim had put me on to) picked us up and I arrived at Lo de Rick (Rick´s Place) in San Telmo at about 12. I dumped my bags then went into town to sort out a local phone. I also got my re-growth done (it cost about $35). Slept, facebooked etc etc

Rick´s Place (named for Casablanca) is pretty sweet. It is situated on Defensa, which is the oldest street in Buenos Aires. It is all cobbled and romantic with gorgeous old buildings. Rick´s looks on to the old mint. I might find out how old it is and write it in HERE later. Might.
Rick´s is John´s home and guest house. John only invites people who are friends of friends. John is a former Stockbroker from England who first came to Buenos Aires 14 years ago following his passion for tango dancing. He´s lived here ever since. Also living at Rick´s is Rick and Louis (German Short Haired Pointers GSPs) and 3 cats the only one whose name I know is Henry. This is the website for the guesthouse: http://www.loderick.com/ Here are some photos I took on the roof.

2. Tuesday: John took me on a walking tour of san telmo as we walked the dogs. There are so many purebreed dogs in Buenos Aires. There are also professional dog walkers. Insert name in spanish HERE. The record for the most number of dogs I´ve seen a dog walker with is currently 22.

After breakfast I walked to Recoleta, supposedly BA's wealthiest neighbourhood. The key attraction here is Cementerio de la Recoleta ( Cemetery) which is the final resting place for Maria Eva Duarte de Peron aka Evita (don't cry for me etc etc) and the rest of Argentina's most illustrious stiffs. There's hundreds of immaculately maintained marble mausoleums, decorated with bronze statues and nameplates, with stairs descending down into basement crypts (is that the right word?). Some of them, especially the ex-presidents are incredibly ornate. Anyway, I really enjoyed channelling my inner year 12 history student. It also reminded me of Buffy. Here are some photos.

There's also this photo of a poster for coke light that I saw. It has no other significance apart from the fact that I thought the guy looked like a dude.

Next I walked to the Museo Nacionale de Bellas Artes – free art gallery with a compact but pretty impressive collection of classical art. My favourite was the Gaugin but the Degas works (ballerinas etc) are probably the most famous. I got hit on by an Argentine museum operator who wanted to take me for a drink. Hmm.. After that I walked to Floralis Generica which is a giant silver flower sitting on a circle of water that rotates along with the direction of the sun and closes at night. At night the inner stalks light up red and there is this awesome warm glow. This is one of my favourite BA attractions.

Food time! I went to a place called Cumano to try my first argentinian cuisine. I opted for lomo piccante empandas (spicy beef pastry parcels) and also some locro which is a kind of stew made with meat and corn and beans. It kindof tasted like a really good pea and ham soup. Home for siesta! I LOVE how the Spanish have institutionalised the afternoon power nap. It is the business! My power nap actually extended from about 6-9 (I think 3-5 is more common) at which time I woke up and had some malbec on the rooftop with Nick and Kelly before heading out to dinner around 10. This is totally the norm. Dinner 10ish and then out afterwards from about midnight. It is so commonplace to see primary school aged children out at dinner on a Wednesday night at 1am that you stop noticing it after a while. The tango shows, the bars etc don't really start til 12. Daily nanna naps are therefore entirely necessary.

Dinner was delicious pizza from Sr. Telmo. Because of the enormous italian heritage, Portenos do pizza (and italian food generally) very well. We shared an anchovy pizza (so good!) and some more Malbec. After dinner I went out to the Gibraltar Bar where the owner shouted me a vino blanco. I met some pretty fun portenos and carried on to about 2 practising my non-existent spanish and getting laughed at a lot. So that was my first full day.

Hmm.. I'm actually writing heaps. I guess cos I'm remembering out loud and doing the whole stream of consciousness thing that I do. Oh well, I've already apologised for being boring. Skim ahead etc etc

3. Walked dogs around Peru (beautiful paris-modelled tree-lined avenue), then scored a lift to Palermo. Here I checked out Palermo Chica (as in chic/smart), home of mega mansions and a lot of embassies. Then I walked down to the Jardin Japon (Japanese Garden – tranquil, serene, meditative) before heading to MALBA. I forget what the acronym stands for but it's a modern art gallery with a lot of latin american artists and it's AWESOME! It's normally about $10 to get in but because I'm living this charmed life over here, it happened to be free for students on this particular day. Sweet. They had an exhibition by Carlos Cruz-Diez (El Color en el espacio en el tiempo – I'm guessing this means colour in space and time) which I loved. I loved the whole gallery actually. Kickass.

Afterwards I walked around Palermo (which is massive) trying to get a feel for it and whether I would want to live here. As I walked, I chowed down on a bag of Arandanos (blueberries) which they have only recently started growing here but are available now everywhere cheaply and in plentiful supply. I then caught the bus to Belgrano accidentally (I got the right bus, but in the wrong direction) but it meant I could check out this leafy, hilly suburb for 20 cents and then I had the most amazing tour guide for my ride home – this LOVELY, impeccably groomed grandma who spoke excellent english and pointed out all the sights and explained the significance of a lot of buildings. Home. Siesta. Then out to Bar Dorego, a bar sitting on the Plaza Dorego in San Telmo, to meet Chris for a drink. Was joined by El briefly, before heading out to dinner at the gorgeous Rivas Cafe (piano-player, french-y interior, french-y food). Met some aussie friends of Chris' for a wine at La Brigada afterwards, then we all went back to Chris' place for a whisky nightcap whilst looking out over the Square. Good day.

Day 4. Walked dogs around Porta Madeira, a new area of BA that kindof has the feel of Melbourne's SouthBank about it. A lot of the new, modern Phillipe Starke-designed bars, restaurants and hotels are found here. Then it was time to do a bit of wheeling and dealing to score some polo tickets through an argentine website called mercado libre (free market). It's kindof like ebay. A guy promised to deliver the tickets in an hour, so we killed time by sunning ourselves on the rooftop terrace listening to this awesome CD of guns and roses songs done bossa nova style. Somehow it worked out and the guy actually delivered 5 legitimate tickets. Tick. Then Chris and Andy picked me up to take me out to see the polo at Pilar. Pilar is about an hour north of the city and it is like Polo Mecca. There are 300 + polo fields within a 100k radius. And they are all perfect. The most famous ranch is Ellerstena which was established by Kerry Packer. Old KP actually had a profound influence on polo since taking up the sport after one of his earlier heart-attacks. He even developed a special kind of grass that they use on the polo fields that regenerates quickly after the wear and tear of the horses hooves. When he died he left Ellerstena to the Pieras family who have continued to build upon the already formidable polo empire. We had a drive around the Ellerstena estate (it is enormous and perfect) and then went to Indiana to watch some Australians play a semi final in a local tournament. The two Aussies, Alex and George (Brothers-in-Law from Scone) were playing with 2 professional players; Rob Archibald, also an Aussie, and James Biems. The match finished in a draw which meant they advanced through to the final.

Side-note: the next few days are very polo-flavoured because a) the Argentina Open is on which is the biggest and best polo tournament in the world and b) almost everyone I have been put into contact with in BA is polo-affiliated. I have had a pretty intensive induction into the world of polo and now know a LOT about it. Crazy.

After the game we went for a drink at the Chapa Una Bar – a wooden-decked place that overlooks the polo fields that was built by the owner of the Chapa Una team and a former 10-goaler: Bautist Heguy. (Polo players are handicapped or graded – a 10 goaler is the best possible. I think australia's best player is around 7 or 8). I got home about 9, cooked myself some baked eggs with chorizo, tomatoes, chilli, white beans and coriander that I'd bought at the local fruit and veg market earlier that day. I was meant to go to the tango with John at 12 but we were both exhausted so decided to postpone that for another time. Crashed into bed.

5. I went for a run sin dogs around the ecologica reserva – giant nature reserve between san telmo and port madeira. I ran the 8km circuit, making friends along the way with someone called Frank Grimaldi. An Italian who moved to BA 14 years ago and is now a TV journalist here. I arrived back home and answered the door to find Daphne had come to visit me (Anna Mei put us in touch).. we went for breakfast ice-cream (my favourite!!) at Nonna Bianca – the best helado (gelato) in BA. Totally acceptable since I had just run 8km. Then we walked into the city to try and find an open phone-store and ATM for Daphne. No luck on the phone due to the public holiday. I also showed Daphne Cafe Tortoni, a famous and amazing and wonderful cafe that is super old and beautifully ornate. It's a tourist attraction but still a wonderful place to sit and sip on a cafe and nibble on a medialuna. I actually played tour guide to Daphne! Pretty funny after 5 days but I do feel like I know my way around quite well already. This is a photo of the narrowest house in Buenos Aires. The story goes that residents of the house on the left freed their slave and built the mega slim house next door for their slave to live in.

 Then it was home for me to frock up for the Polo final – La Dolphina v Ellestena. The match is held at Palermo Campo. I shared a cab in with Chris and El. I have never seen so many good-looking, well-dressed people in one location than at this event. It was incredible. After joking to one of El's friends that it was kindof novel to be at an event where I was guaranteed not to know anyone, I ran into someone I met a couple of times in Sydney. Yup.

The game was pretty amazing in terms of the skill-level on display. The players were all 10 and 9 goalers – the highest level in the world. I was cheering for Ellerstena due to the Australian connection but La Dophina totally outclassed their opponents, winning easily. At the end of the game, the crowd ran onto the field to celebrate with the players and ponies. Then the afterparty kicked on. Fun! Music, dancing, drinking and ridiculously hot men everywhere. I think I stayed til 11 or 12 then we went on to a large nightclub that I don't know the name of and danced until the sun came up. Big fun day.

6. Back out to Pilar to watch the aussie boys (Pinnacle) play their final. Home for early night and sleep catchup.

7. Run around Ecologica Reserva (9km – go me) with my new friend Frank, then walked the gambit of San Telmo markets: these are super popular and are on every sunday. They stretch the full length of Defensa. Vendors sell everything from handmade crafts, jewellery, shoes, souvenirs to dulce de leche and whacky toys. They were packed with tourists but still pretty cool. Then it was back to Palermo for more polo with team Pinnacle. I actually enjoyed this game the most – it was really tough and more physical. It was also closer. We were cheering for La Virgencita due to the fact that Biemsy (Britsh player) was playing with them. The boys actually spent the whole time perving on argentinian women and I spent the whole time perving on argentinian men. Sadly Biemsy's team lost by one-goal in controversial circumstances (horse and guy went down, everyone stopped playing, but one member of the opposition played on and scored a goal, even though it is gentlemans rules that you stop play. Boo!).

After a commiseratory drink, we jumped a cab for dinner at La Brigada – BA's premier steak restaurant. This place was the shit. The steak was like out of the Flinstones and was delicious! We also tried provoletta (grilled provolone cheese.. sooo good), grilled eggplants and capsicum, molleja (sweetbreads) and chorizo. Washed down with a fantasic pinot. Chris, his son and his girlfriend, plus El and her Dad came and ate dinner at the same place and we all went back to Chris' place to drink whisky. Home. Then rooftop rum and cokes in the jacuzzi. Not a bad way to end my first week in Buenos Aires.