return of the enemy
January 29, 2008 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
Unseasonably cool summer temps have caused the early blooming of the palo borracho… much to my chagrin. I wondered why my eyes were irritated. We shouldn’t see these for another month.
It’s almost invisible in the last photo, but in the original size a big spider is crawling along the stamen. Right place, right time:
Vacations: Malargüe revisited: La Payunia
January 29, 2008 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
Since I visited Malargüe last year, I won’t describe it all over again. I can’t help recommending the place, again, to anybody who wants to sit back and rest and enjoy a very fair climate in the summer, or simply likes the dry Patagonian landscape and doesn’t mind long walks. That’s your basic Malargüe package if you don’t want to spend lots of money.
As I explained in my previous post, we lost most of the first day we’d planned to spend in Malargüe because of a delay. We arrived in time to check in to the Hostel Internacional (the same as last year, in the countryside a mile from town), unpack our bags into a room, and cook some rice with vegetables we’d bought in San Rafael for dinner.
For the following day (Tuesday, January we booked a trip to La Payunia, a nature reserve that consists of a huge […]
7 Random Me, Me, Me´s
January 28, 2008 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
I was tagged a couple of weeks ago by a few other bloggers for 7 random weird things about me.
The Rules:
1. Post the rules on your blog 2. Link to the person who tagged you (see above link). 3. Share seven random and/or weird things about yourself. 4. Tag seven people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. 5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a on their blog.
1. I have been a muse to random artists, an unpublished novel which I only discovered on the sly, a painting, poems…I am just waiting for a hit record.
2. Like Joan Crawford I hate metal hangers, and will not use them.
3. I can really be a stickler for drinking cocktails out of the proper glass, it truly does not taste […]
Vacations: Getting there is half the fun
January 28, 2008 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
The title is ironic, of course. The weather was oppressive the day when we departed from Rosario. We took the Chevallier bus to San Rafael, Mendoza, at 8 PM (in full afternoon glory, thanks to our crazy DST scheme). There’s no direct bus from Rosario to tiny Malargüe so we had to make a combination.
Off we went, west and south. Some time afterwards it began raining lightly, and then a T-storm broke out. Nothing serious. Around 1 AM, near Venado Tuerto (I’m guessing), the bus stopped. A tree or a branch or something had fallen over the road, so all traffic was stuck.
At first nobody told the passengers what had happened, so we speculated it was a car crash. Then we learned about the tree and started waiting for whoever was in charge of removing it.
We stayed there for over an hour, possibly an hour and a half. I slept […]
pirovano in belgrano
January 28, 2008 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
Estanislao Pirovano has me running all over the city, trying to photograph all his buildings. He was a busy guy. So far I’ve posted works from San Telmo, Balvanera, Recoleta, Retiro, Palermo, & Belgrano. I still have to get out to Flores & Caballito… at least it’s a good excuse to take a walk.
The apartments at the corner of Mendoza & O’Higgins fit in with all the beautiful architecture in this part of Belgrano. It’s hard to miss:
Predominantly Neocolonial with an odd bit of Tudor thrown in, it seems like Pirovano couldn’t stick to just one style. Note that the doors are not the wide, pointy-arch kind he usually designed, but the Tudor comes out with a coat-of-arms & knight. There’s a lot going on here… mermaids with wings instead of arms add to the eclectic appearance:
He signed this building too:
Most of the windows are carbon copies of each other […]
Like Veggies? Chow Down at La Escondida
January 28, 2008 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
A parrilla might seem an unlikely place to head for vegetarian options, but La Escondida in Palermo Viejo hides a fabulous self-serve vegetarian meal – in the form of a salad bar. Yes, a salad bar. I never imagined that I would recommend a salad bar. When I think salad bar, I think hospital cafeteria. This salad bar, however, is totally different. This salad bar had roasted eggplant, roasted potatoes, bitter micro-greens, leaf lettuce, radicchio, curly endive, flageolet beans, chickpeas, lentils, pickled vegetables, and – get this – candied shaved fennel, yummmmm! And there was more. (more…)
Update from the Private Vineyard Estates Client Services team
January 28, 2008 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
This month the Private Vineyard Estates Customer Service team has been working diligently creating once in a lifetime programs for our owners as well as organizing the logistics of their vineyards and coordinating trips for visiting owners. One amazing program is our owner’s Custom Crush Program -which includes a barrel of wine sourced from neighboring property grapes and produced under the guidance of Santiago Achaval as well as blending sessions with our in-house Sommelier, Mariana Onofri. For our visitors, it is summer here, so the best time of year to visit with fantastic wine tastings, and asados, barbeques. We are eagerly approaching the harvest or Vendimia, and are in full swing for the high season. It’s been a whirlwind, but the development has been remarkable at our Private Vineyard Estates and we are excited to show it off! Our project is not just about growing […]
Back from the south
January 27, 2008 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
Here I am! After a three-week break I’m ready to blog again… sort of. I have so many things to recount and so many pictures to display, I don’t know how I’m going to handle it. “Begin by the beginning” just doesn’t work.
So this is how I’m doing it. First, a general review, and then a few individual posts, and then (if possible) a wrapup. I’ll be off the local news/ topics for a while, but this is worth it. I intend to write a post facto travel diary in Spanish for my own use in parallel, so be patient. I’m still partly over there.
The general review goes as follows: vacation trip to northwestern Patagonia, starting on the late afternoon of Sunday, January 6, ending on the early afternoon of Thursday, January 24. Places where I spent nights (except buses): Malargüe, Neuquén, Junín de los Andes, San Martín de los […]
buenos aires color palette
January 27, 2008 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
Since so many lisboetas enjoyed seeing a color palette of their city, it’s time for a porteño version. With most buildings in Buenos Aires covered in concrete due to a lack of stone, I’ve always thought the city was fairly monotone. Very beautiful but not very colorful. The palette below actually surprised me… small color details play an important part in breaking up the concrete mass of Buenos Aires.
Most everyone who reads this blog is interested in Buenos Aires, so I’ll detail each color selection:
Jacarandá blossoms
Background of older street signs
Casa Rosada pink
Crushed construction bricks used as gravel for most plazas
Gauchito Gil
Palo borracho blossom
Sky
Sun in Argentine flag
Edificio Kavanagh (& most buildings in BsAs)
Copper dome patina
Café con leche
Tram along Puerto Madero
Brick from CIAE buildings
Sunset
Riachuelo
Subte, Línea H
Trees
gobBsAs PR signs
Wrought-iron doors
Recoleta Cemetery main entrance symbols
Granadero uniform
PFA jackets
#132 bus
If any of the explanations aren’t familiar, you’ve not been reading my blog for the last year […]
On Playing Pro Basketball in Argentina, an Interview with Chris Jeffries
January 27, 2008 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments
Dining at a 24-hour McDonald’s in Buenos Aires’ wealthy section of Nunez, you’d think Chris Jeffries would stick out like a sore thumb. He does, but no more than the two or 3 other 6′+ tall athletes headed for the brightly lit golden arches on Avenida Libertador. Jeffries’ basketball team, Obras Sanitarias de Nunez, just won their 3rd straight home game, and on his way back from the stadium, the 27-year-old small forward from Texas stopped in for a victory burger and some fries.
“You’ve got to order everything modified, or else they’ll give you the sandwich that’s been sitting there since last week,” said Jeffries, as he made his way through the packed restaurant to find an open table. With a stat sheet in one hand, big mac in the other, Jeffries sat down to talk to me about what it’s like to play professional basketball in a foreign country, […]
Categories
Archives
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- May 2004
- November 1999
- December 1969