Our Buenos Aires Mini Evita Tour

Ashamedly, before i came to Argentina one of the only things I really knew about it was Evita, and that was mainly thanks to Madonna. She is a bit of a notorious figure in her home country. People either hate her or love her.

On Saturday we went to the Recoleta Cemetary in Palermo as Antonio had recommended it to us. It was absolutely amazing and not what I had expected at all. It was row upon row of ornate mausoleums. Each rather more grand than the next. Some looked really well maintained where as others were creepily neglected, forgotten and decrepit. We saw one whose door was smashed and the shelf that held the coffin had collapsed so the coffin had fallen to the floor and smashed. A tour guide we over heard said that it was only Evita's grave that had fresh flowers every day, which shows how much she was loved.

And from the completely different angle, the owner of our current hostel told us that Evita was just like Maggie thatcher, just twice as bad, so he obviously isn't a fan. Either way, exploring the facts of her life at the museum and her death at the Cemetary proved for a very interesting day.

Buenos Aires Bike Tour

Well tonight is the eve of our last days in Buenos Aires, and I've been so busy exploring that I haven't had time to give it the attention that it deserves on here!

I adore this city! At the moment it's incredibly hot here, but there are so many shady parks to sit and relax in, so many little cobbled terraces to drink coffee and eat amazing ice creams.  I love how European the city feels, sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm in South America and not somewhere in Italy. There are amazing old buildings towering over beautiful smelling flower stalls in the streets. Busy taxis whooshing past people who have all the time in the world.

10 days hasn't been enough time to explore everything that there is here, but we've definitely given it a good go!

To try and get our bearings a little, we decided to do a bicycle tour of the city on one of our first days here. There are some bright yellow city bikes that are free to rent, which is a perfect excuse to pedal away! Unfortunately we didn't find out about these until after we'd rented some orange bikes! Maybe next time!

We started at the costanera environmental park which was so pretty and peaceful.



Next we moved through the streets onto to Recoleta which is a leafy neighbourhood where the amazing, huge houses are.




Afterwards, we went through the parks of Palermo, before returning our bikes.


We then had a well deserved beer in Plaza Cortaza.


The only down side to our explorations wass the fact we got so burnt! I spent a few days after our trip looking like a lobster. Oh Dear!
Follow me...

Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal

Well this Christmas has certainly been very different! Just like my birthday, it was my second one in a row away from home. Last year in South Korea it was really chilly and we were surrounded by friends and with everyone's efforts we managed to throw an amazing traditional English Christmas with the food and games and crackers.

This year, however, we learnt that the Argentinians celebrate it very differently. Their big event is on Christmas Eve. The family all get together and eat, and do a toast at midnight, then the younger people go out to party. Our lovely hosts, Antonio and Roxy invited us to join their celebrations with their family so we could get a taste for it.

Antonio's family were so lovely and welcoming and could all speak amazing English. This was handy as I'm still not feeling 100% confident with my Spanish and it meant that Nick could have some good conversations with the other boys. We ate a picnic style meal of sandwiches and salad, which was perfect for the hot sticky weeather.

Afterwards, Antonio's mum had bought us all a tub of ice cream with three different flavours. They were all labelled, but as she didn't know our names, she had called us 'She' and 'He', which we got referred to affectionately a couple of times throughout the night! I had a delicious mix of vanilla, chocolate and raspberry sorbet. Yum!

By that time, the clock was almost striking midnight, so we said salud and then opened some presents. Roxy and Antonio had kindly bought us each a gift, and Antonio's mum had two little packages for 'She'' and 'He' too! It was really thoughtful.

After the fireworks outside had died down, it was time to say good night to Antonio's little nephew, Pedrito, who had the biggest eyes and wasn't sure what to make of Nick, and Antonio's parents left too.

We sat out in the garden and relaxed and chatted into the early hours. Around 4 the buses started up again, so we walked through the streets, passing all the people partying in the parks and on the streets and got home for about 5:30.

Needless to say, we slept incredibly late today, so when we woke up we made lots of Skype calls and Nick went on the hunt for food! Pitta bread and cheese was our lunch! We researched a few bits, then went out for a wander. It was really weird to see the streets of Buenos Aires so spookily quiet. We could wander in the middle of the usually busy avenues without a car passing us!

We eventually found a restaurant that was open, I won't say too much but it was possibly the worst meal that we've had together. We ate to the sounds of 80s power ballards on VH1. It was so bad that we had to laugh!

So, looking for some Christmas Spirit, we bought some chocolate on the way home and watched Home Alone, which is what I fell asleep to last Christmas too.

So, that's another Christmas done and dusted! I hope that you all had a great one!!




Follow me...

Birthdays Away

Wednesday was my 27th birthday, the second birthday in a row that I've spent away from home. This time last year I was having a big party in a rented motel room with music, karaoke and games. This year was a much more sophisticated affair, maybe I'm maturing more than I thought! Although, it's still imperative that I have a piece of cake on my birthday!! Our lovely hosts, Antonioa and Roxy joined in the birthday song and shared some cake.

Then, it was off for a fancy dinner, somewhere Antonio had recommended. The idea behind the restaurant was called molecular dining. Nick's mum and dad had very kindly given us some money as a birthday and Christmas present, so it was nice to spend it on something that felt so special. There were 12 courses, each looked and tasted better than the rest. We had truffle, shrimp rolls served on hot stones, pork served with 5 kinds of apple, trout with lemon bubbles and candy floss for a dessert.

Each course was brought out and the lady would explain the ingredients and the concept behind each dish. I felt like a proper grown up. Although there was a moment where I nearly showed my self up as one course was chicken liver pate balls, served on a bed of pebbles that looked exactly the same. Nick and I had both picked up a pebble and were commenting how heavy the starter was when Nick realised our mistake. He saved us a lot of strange looks and probably a cracked tooth or two!

I've had a great 26th year and very excited about spending the majority of my 27th in South America!

If anyone is reading this in Buenos Aires and would like the name off the restaurant, it's called Aramburu on Salta 1050. Can you guess what the dishes are?!

Here are the said pebbles of chicken liver, prawn crackers, truffles and goat cheese rolls.

This is three kinds of beetrroot with goats cheese ice cream.

Steak tartare with mustard ice cream and bread.

Shrimp roll on a hot plate with shrimp soup.

Calamari and gnocchi with orange sauce and seaweed.

Trout with lemon bubbles and a prawn cracker made of squid's ink.

Pork with 5 kinds of apple.

Steak with mushrooms, potatoes and pork.

A citrus soup with meringue.

Fruit jelly and ice cream.

Coffee and vanilla ice cream with coffee cous cous. Can you see the smoke in the background? They poured liquid onto hot stones to increase the aroma.

Candy floss cake with truffles and marshmallows.

Hola Buenos Aires!

We made it! After 20 hours of flights, a 3 hour slog on the M25 to Heathrow and just enough time to grab some ribs and get grotty with each other in Texas we're here! Showers and clean beds never feel as amazing as they do after travelling for hours!

The apartment we're staying in is breath taking. From the street it just looks like a huge wooden door in the road, but inside are big hallways with black and white chequered floors and open air squares filled with plants. The ceilings are as high as the rooms are wide so it's nice and spacious and the couple who live there are amazing!

On our first night we went to a small cafe called La Poesia that looked like it was right out of Amelie. There was a big piano and a lady playing the accordion. We ate steak and drank red wine before wandering the streets of San Telmo and people watching in the Plaza De Mayo. I love crossing off all the cliches of a country!

We celebrated my birthday on Wednesday, we spent the day in the City Museum where a friendly old man let me practise my Spanish on him. Then, we did a tour of Manzana de los Luces which is a block of buildings that's supported culture in the city throughout its history. It also has a network of tunnels underneath which connect lots of the city's big attractions. I have to say that the highlight of the tour was a siamese cat that usedd the tour as an excuse to get lots of attention.

It was supposed to be very stormy in Buenos Aires yesterday, and the dark sky only added to the city!