Yerba Mate With A Hairdresser, Hello Buenos Aires
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
77
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Buenos Aires, San Telmo,
Argentina
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Hello Buenos Aires! We love you. We love the lively people. Buenos Aires locals refer to themselves as portenos because many of their immigrant forebears arrived by ship to this port town. Known as thinkers, portenos launch readily into philosophical discussions. With 85% of the Argentine population of European origin, there´s a blurred sense of national identity here, South American or European? Portenos greet each other with a kiss on the left cheek and even men follow this pattern. Everyone smokes. They all look marvellous and many value looking good above feeling good. Heavily armed policemen (male and female) stand guard on nearly every corner. BA is a large city but the sights are within the compact downtown area that we are to focus on.
Crossing the streets is an extreme sport, roads are packed, traffic rules are openly flaunted, drinking and driving is the norm and no-one wears seat belts.
We arrived at the Retiro station and checked out the old cast iron subway before catching the underground train to the historical San Telmo. Our hostel, Hostel One was a big old house with loads of character, big brass old-fashioned keys, large doors, floorboards, rooftop terrace and a small winding staircase that lead to our private room that was a little shabby. We spent some time planning a whole week of activities because there´s so much to do here including restaurants, art exhibitions, musical events, colourful neighbourhoods, galleries, shopping, Tango culture and nightlife. Another top week was on the cards.
Getting cash was a problem. The ATM´s only allowed us to withdraw 300 pesos at a time ($US 100) so you had to withdraw a few times, no good for the overseas banking fees. We later learned that the reason for this was that on December 19, 2001, the country´s economy crashed and the state froze all bank accounts sparking massive, violent riots in the streets. The peso devalued alarmingly. People do not trust the banks as they retained everyone´s savings and now only let people withdraw small amounts at a time.
Nadine had her hair cut at a tiny, old barbershop where photos of the hair stylist and his glamorous clients adorned the walls, as did numerous awards. The Stephan impersonator performed a miracle cut considering we couldn´t communicate with him. While the cutting was being done, a friend of the barber arrived, prepared some yerba mate tea and offered me a cup. Yerba mate is a herbal infusion that has long been an integral part of the people of Argentina´s culture and diet. The grass-like drink serves as the basis of social interaction, people drink it at all hours of the day and it´s often extended to strangers as a welcoming gesture. Typically ground up yerba leaves are placed in a carved out gourd then hot water from a thermos and sugar is added. You drink the infusion through a metal tube with a filter at the bottom. When the drink is finished, the gourd is refilled and is passed to the next person in line. Many portenos get around all day with their cup, metal straw and thermos.
Food is a priority for us and we were looking forward to trying the gastronomic delights on offer. Dining in BA is an art, a passion and a pastime. Argentina is cow country. The beef is so good that most Argentinians see little reason to eat anything else. They will order meat with no accompaniments. There is carne asado (roasted cuts of beef), parrillada mixta (mixed grill) which is the quintessential Argentine meal for two in a restaurant, asado de tira (ribs) and other meats like chorizo sausage, innards, blood sausage, intestines, kidneys and roasted sweetbreads. Provolone cheese and empanadas are also popular as is flan (cream caramel) and dulce de leche (a caramel-like spread that all the hostels serve with bread in the mornings). Most portenos have Italian ancestry which is evident in the many pizzerias all over town. Given the high consumption of beef, portenos understandably drink a lot of vino tinto (red wine). Argentine vineyards are firmly on the map and we are really looking forward to exploring the wine region of Mendoza later in out travels. The most popular types of wine are Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, which Argentina is famed to do better than anyone else. Cafes are also a big part of BA culture as is heladerias (ice-cream shops). Dining is done late (between 10pm and midnight) and the dinner is often long. We were keen to get started and agreed that we could get used to this foodie lifestyle. You could spend weeks trying the food of the rich culinary heritage from the forests, mountains and coastlines of Argentina.
We started the food exploration tonight with a restaurant on a corner in San Telmo that we don´t remember the name of. There was dim lighting and a husky-voiced, female jazz singer who kept us entertained. We ate true BA pizza and a pink salmon and pepper spinach ravioli and drank mint champagne cocktails.
After dinner we took a taxi to The Roxy Theatre to attend a party called Club 69, the night is a riotous occasion with a Rocky Horror Picture Show type performance, actors, a DJ and many colourful characters, freaks, sophisticated people and office clerks mingling. The problem is that we were not quite in the Buenos Aires night time frame yet. This is a late night town, BA loves it´s nightclubs. People generally rest until 11 o´clock pm, go out for dinner at midnight and wouldn´t be seen dead at a club before 2 or 3am. Sometimes they party till 9:am. Tango too, gets going at midnight and doesn´t stop. We thought this was an exaggeration of times but it is true and we couldn´t last the distance so we went home to catch up on our snoozing while the city danced the night away.
