My A-Z of Buenos Aires

Posted on November 18, 2012 by bexbatorio

My A-Z of my time in BA, my experience and my opinion only!

A-Asado….(BBQ) had my first of many to come!

B-La Bomba de Tiempo-see previous post…Monday nights, live percussion band, great crowd and atmosphere.

C-La Cabrera best modern Parrilla, and between 7-8pm 40% discount off bill including wine…otherwise known as Gringo hour as mainly tourists take advantage of the early offer.

D-Don Julio-best traditional style Parrilla. Had my best very rare “lomo”…fillet here in my final night.

E-Empanadas- Boniato!! I tried ALOT of empanadas and for me these were head and shoulders the best!

F-Fernet- A strong digestive drunk with Cola. It’s a bitter herbal drink that you will hate the first, second and third time… But then you end up somehow liking it!!

G-Graffiti…see previous post about Graffitmundo tour.

Helado-icecream. My favourite Persicco banana split or Dulce de Leche con Nuez!!

I-Irish bar “The Shamrock”. Not a touristy bar at all, and weirdly a banging techno club in the basement…good couple of nights spent here!

J-Jazz Club “Thesalonious” Jazz is not really my thing, but this is a very cool club, and excellent pisco sours to boot..with a bartender from Bristol?!!

K-Kilt…struggling for K.., random chap I met in a “Kilt” from Portugal who had lived in Manchester for eight years, very funny guy!

L-Lanes…..the streets and avenues of six lanes like the one outside my room! When I first moved in I had to sleep with ear plugs, not helped by the apartment being within 1km of four hospitals and constant sirens. But by the end of seven weeks there I was completely accustomed to it all, in fact I found it quite relaxing!

M-Mar Azul-weekend to the coast, see previous post.

N-New Friends- met some great people in BA, in particular Chris, Susanne and Ilana!! Thank you for many shared nights out… we will always have Club 69!

O-Olivas de Lustres- great tapas restaurant with a taster menu of 14 courses!

P-Pizza- the bad… Thick bread with huge amounts of cheese. The excellent Siamo Nel Forno proper Italian super thin stone bake!! Heaven

Q-Quince- a local desert. Slices of set Quince preserve with cheese.

R-Recoleta cemetery-amongst others burial place of Evita.

S-Superclásico see previous post, a definite highlight of my BA experience!

T-Tango-I attended a taster class, went to a show and a Milonga Hall. I had thought it might be something I try and learn a bit more.. But it’s just very hard! Think I’ll stick to jumping around raving and having fun and leave the serious stuff to the locals!

U-Umberto and Mathias- my two housemates. Great guys and pretty easy on the eye also!

V-Verbum- my second Spanish Language School which I really enjoyed and found I progressed much more with.

W-Weight problems- as predicted I am putting on weight! From hitting the gym back home four times a week to nothing now (apart from one run), drinking most days a little and empanadas, pizza, cheese, bread, Icecream, meat etc… Let’s just say I’m glad I bought two pairs of leggings with me!!

X-Xalapa- best Mexican Restaurant just off Plaza Serrano

Y-Yuck…dog crap in the streets. One if my “pet” hates, no pun intended! The people of BA love their dogs! One chap told me jokingly they love their dogs more then their children. Wearing Havianas is a risky business with that much poop in the streets.

Z-Zapatos- I do miss my shoes!! Going out to bars or clubs in flat shoes is just not the same!! If my feet don’t hurt at the end of the night I’ve not had a good night! I just hope when I return I’ll still be able to walk in 5inch heels…

Rocks

Posted on November 16, 2012 by bexbatorio

After the eight days with Ilana and Susanne, Susanne headed back to BA for Uni, and Ilana and I took a few days in Salta at a really great hostel to relax, organise laundry and generally chill out. I’m now on my eighth hostel and the last one we stayed at in Salta for those two days is so far my favourite. “Hostel Salta Siempre”. Really friendly staff, great garden courtyard area to relax and on the Wednesday night they had a huge Asado followed by some local folk music. We also met some lovely people there. Ilana was heading north to Bolivia and I was heading south so we parted ways last Thursday. I took a bus at 1.30am and arrived in the forgettable city of San Juan the following evening at 9pm. The next day I had a few hours to kill before taking a four bus to Valle Fertil.

Valle Fertil is a very small town which is primarily the tourist destination for visiting the two national parks in the vicinity Ischigualasto & Talampaya national parks. I checked into a basic but very friendly hostel, in my room was a girl from Quilmes just south of BA. She didn’t speak much English so had the whole weekend practising Spanish which was great. We were best buddies for the weekend, and hopefully when I’m back in BA I’ll meet up with Lorena again.

The parks were pretty awesome and it was nice to get off the gringo trail a bit for a couple of days. Apologies for laziness of below copy & paste and link!

“These two contiguous parks, extending over 275,300 ha in the desert region on the western border of the Sierra Pampeanas of central Argentina, contain the most complete continental fossil record known from the Triassic Period (245-208 million years ago). Six geological formations in the parks contain fossils of a wide range of ancestors of mammals, dinosaurs and plants revealing the evolution of vertebrates and the nature of palaeo-environments in the Triassic Period.”

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/966

Club 69…..simply amazing!

Posted on November 13, 2012 by bexbatorio

I had a brilliant final week in Buenos Aires, and amongst other things on the Thursday night went to “Club 69” at Niceto Club which was a definite highlight. I’d been in Buenos Aires for seven weeks and all though I’d (We’d) had some fun nights out in bars and clubs we hadn’t actually done a great job of discovering any places that I’d write home about. When you’re a tourist you stumble or find places based of slight recommendation, but for the most part the clubs we were ending up in are the type of places I’d never go back home. We always had a good time, untill the local reggatone music came on, which just doesn’t really float my boat!

So the final Thursday was our big last night out, as myself and another friend were leaving BA the following Sunday. After a great dinner at an Italian style thin base pizza place, and drinks somewhere else pretty ropey, we went to Club 69 just after 2pm….which is relatively early for people here! From the moment we got in the club we knew it was going to be a great night. For starters we got drinks in two minutes instead of half an hour in some other overcrowded places we’d been to. And the music was good! What really sets this place apart is the stage performance that goes on all night, it flip flops between a crew of break-dancers and a group of cabaret style dancers (mix of transvestites, very tall, short, fat, or very sexy girls). The night was titled “The nightmare before Halloween”, and the costumes reflected this. The break-dancers were just brilliant and I did video a lot of them!

I proudly lasted the longest in the club and left just before six, (which again is pretty early for BA people to call it a night), I got a taxi home and the birds were singing…finally felt like I’d transitioned over to BA time.

If you are in BA now, or at some point, and you like house music get yourself to club 69 for Thursday night, you will not be disappointed! The Dj group are called “the fun machine”, and you can listen to them on soundcloud.