buenos aires 2010

Saturday
-Mental soundtrack -> The KLF
-China Clipper day at SFO!  Pan Am 4ever.
-LAN is officially my new favorite airline.  Brand new planes, warm blankets, excellent food on real china, great entertainment, helpful flight attendants and top-notch customer service.  Virgin can suck it.
-Running through the Lima airport to make my connecting flight. 
-Dramamine: my wonder knock-out drug.

Sunday
-Mental soundtrack -> Caetano Veloso
-Goodbye Bay Area winter, hello Buenos Aires summer.
-The wonderful and charming Casa Las Cañitas, who fed my jet-lagged self a lovely breakfast and got me oriented in the neighborhood while I waited for my room to be ready.
-That first walk through a new city, the glorious sensory overload.
-Banana lassi + a veggie thali + a shot of chai at Krishna.
-Unbelievable street art on every available wall.
-Brightly-painted buses that whistle like they're catcalling you when they're about to stop.
-The cheap and easy Subte, that got me wherever I needed to go and pretty efficiently too.
-Piles of art and antiques for sale at the giant Feria de San Telmo plus street performers, a drum parade, and tango so emotionally authentic I finally understood why people get addicted.
-A "chico" cone of orange + lemon ice creams that was still piled almost six inches high.
-I love a city that stays alive after night falls.
-Ginger ade + mushroom stir-fry with chilies and coconut milk over rice + a glass of vino tinto at Bio.
-Unrusting my Spanish.
-Luxuriating in a warm rain storm on the walk home.
-Late-night alfajores.

Monday
-Mental soundtrack -> Menomena
-Medialunas + café con leche: my new breakfast obsession.
-A twisty, windy walk from Plaza de Mayo to Congreso.
-The Plaza itself, where so many protests take place they just keep the barricades on hand.
-A Quilmes + a mozzarella and tomato pizzetta at Café Tortoni.
-Hipsters in Pavement tees from the show the night before.  No luck bumping into the band themselves though.
-Chocolate + tropical fruit ice creams at Heladería Cadore.
-Total splurge on real tango shoes at Darcos.  But oh what shoes.
-Little bit challenging finding a place open for dinner on a holiday Monday.  Had a nice walk in the gloaming around Barrio Norte though.
-Vino tinto + a veggie quesadilla at Las Cholas.
-Found the Dutch pub right around the corner from my hotel.  Random...
-Did I mention Casa Las Cañitas keeps a plate of chocolate chip cookies in the lobby?

Tuesday
-Mental soundtrack -> The New Pornographers
-Holiday over, dog walkers out in abundance.
-A day of death, art, and shopping.
-First, beautiful death at Cementerio de la Recoleta full of elegant statuary, friendly feral cats, and that tickle I get at the back of my neck whenever I'm around coffins and crypts.  Oh yeah, Evita's buried there too.
-Curried vegetable rice bowl + fresh orange-mango juice at Tea Connection.
-The amazing permanent collection at Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, especially the Argentine artists on the second floor.  A special exhibition on Ernesto Deira, Rómulo Macció, Luis Felipe Noé and Jorge de la Vega totally rocked, and I got a little watery in their photography show about Nelson Mandela too.
-Dulce de leche ice cream + a bubbly water on the patio of La Biela.  Too hot for a beer, if you can believe.
-If I make it through this week without stepping in dog poop or getting hit by a bus I will feel very accomplished indeed.
-Grilled margherita pizza + vino tinto at Morelia.

Wednesday
-Mental soundtrack -> Warpaint
-Reading The Anthologist in my spare moments.  Nicholson Baker makes an excellent traveling companion.
-The women of Buenos Aires: totally trying to make the harem pants trend work.  More power to 'em.
-Fantastic all-female group show Me Gustan Chicas at Planeta Cubico curated by Cesar Abelenda.  Especially loved Teresa Pereda's earth pieces.
-Recursos Infantiles tragically closed, newspaper on the windows and with no sign of a forwarding address.
-Reams and reams of beautiful books and paper products at Papelera Palermo.
-Cheese ravioli in mushroom sauce + ginger-mint lemonade at La Esquina de las Flores.
-I make the Argentinians laugh with my Dutch punctuality.
-An afternoon walk through the heart of Buenos Aires, including a tour through the grandeur of Palacio Paz.
-Consumerist overload at Galerías Pacífico offset by incongruous real-art ceiling murals and the Borges Center on the fourth floor.
-The newly-renovated Teatro Colón, where no English tours are currently given but I asked nice and got a peek inside anyway.
-A café con leche at Café Richmond.
-The opening of Marlok's Sweet Candy Aparition at Galeria Ruth Benzacar complete with the artist herself dolled up and welcoming porteños while sucking on a lollipop.
-Vino tinto + a Japanese vegetable stir-fry + dulce de leche-filled crepes with ice cream on top at Novecento.

Thursday
-Mental soundtrack -> Sleigh Bells
-Not only are the buskers genuinely good on the Subte, the passengers actually applaud them and freely give them money.
-Historical saunter through San Telmo, ending up in the hidden tunnels under the neighborhood at El Zanjón de Granados.
-Headed toward El Hipopótamo for a café con leche I stumbled into Disquería Eureka instead and they pulled out their boxes of old 7-inches for me and yeah there went the time.
-Spinach tagliatelle with roasted vegetables + coffee flan at Origen.
-Vino tinto + crispy spring rolls + veggie yaki udon + lemon cheesecake with blueberry sauce at Bokoto.  Happy Thanksgiving to me.

Friday
-Mental soundtrack -> Aeroplane
-A Quilmes + an eggplant foam amuse-bouche + grilled scallops with tomato salsa + rhubarb and fresh berry crumble with cream in the restaurant in Iglesia Santa Catalina.
-A dockside stroll through Puerto Madero and then a tramp through Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur, totally worth it in 90-degree heat just for the views of Río de la Plata.  That's one fucking big river.
-Vino tinto + pumpkin ravioli in thyme cream sauce + a wee lemon meringue pie in a glass at the Museo Evita restaurant.
-Still 80 degrees at night.
-A woman dropping her groceries to feed the stray cats in Plaza Italia.
-Following the sound of a trumpet down the Subte platform to where a young man was playing with two other friends, they on guitar and snare drum.

Saturday
-Mental soundtrack -> Best Coast
-An afternoon of walking the green of Parque 3 de Febrero and environs, killing time until my overnight flight.
-Iced tea + a tartine topped with goat cheese, olive tapenade, and ratatouille at the MALBA cafe.
-Said cafe was almost completely populated by polo players.  In uniform.  Hair slightly mussed.  Yeah.
-A cone of dulce de leche-chocolate chip + vanilla creme ice creams at Un' Altra Volta.
-One last Quilmes in sunny Plaza Serrano.
-Sunset over the city from the back of my cab.