Buenos Aires

  Buenos Aires, Argentina
Thursday, December 18, 2008

Thursday 18 December

Buenos Aires (BA to the well travelled)

Plumbing

Arrived at our bijou "Che LuLu Trendy Hotel", which is a triumph of style over function, especially as far as the plumbing goes. The loos had an ingenious swing-out "bidet" spray attachment with a crude tap to control water flow. A good idea in theory - but if you get the aim or water pressure wrong you get covered in confusion !
The hotel is in the "Palermo Soho" barrio (district), with its cobble stoned, tree lined streets, trendy clothes shops, cool bars & superb restaurants. This is where the best shopping, eating & drinking is - I can't think why we chose it ! They say Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America - I think this is true judging by all the beaten-up Renaults & Peugeots.

Mingers

Our first meal was at a restaurant called "Minga", although the clients didn't look that ugly. The Porteņos (as the people from Buenos Aires call themselves) don't go out to eat until 10:00pm & they are still turning up to eat at 12:00. This is quite sensible as it has cooled off by then & is still quite pleasant to sit outside.

Huge Steak

We didn't have a steak the first night, however the second night we went to a traditional "parrilla" (grill) & I had the most enormous rib-eye steak - it completely covered my plate, was 1.5 inches thick & melted in the mouth. It's interesting that they don't ask you how you want it cooked - they KNOW how steak should be cooked ! On Saturday we caught the subway into the centre for the princely sum of 18p. We fought our way along a long pedestrianised road (Av. Florida) which is the main shopping drag, looking for leather jackets. I didn't find any I liked but one shopkeeper gave me some very good advice about Malbec wine from Mendoza. I got another touch of golfers ring as it was very hot.

Evitas Balcony

We trudged our way back to Plaza de Mayo to see the Casa Rosada balcony where Eva Duarte de Peron (Evita) appealed to the masses.
The Plaza de Mayo is also where "Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo" peacefully demonstrate every Thursday against the "disappearance" of 30,000 of their sons in the "dirty war".
It's ironic that this orgy of state-sponsored violence was only ended when the military government tried & failed to win a real war, the Falklands War.