Puerto de Frutos

As spring emerges I have found myself in such a better mood-it’s really amazing what the weather can do!  John and I both have been itching to get outdoors and into the sun as much as possible, especially before the *unthinkably* hot heat hits. 

On Saturday we grabbed our “to do” list and ticked one more off the list by heading out to Tigre to the outdoor market.  I had read that it was an outdoor market full of baskets, fruit vendors, handmade artisan things, and local treats.  Upon arrival quickly learned the difference between a market with frutOs and a market with frutAs.  One has fruit (fruta) as we know it-apples, bananas, etc. the other (fruto) has “fruit from the earth”-things like nuts or “offerings from the earth.”  Confusing!!  

The market itself was interesting-it was full of wicker baskets and chairs, furniture, and other decorations for the home.  We said it would be the perfect place to find things to decorate a cabin.  Along with wicker there were lots of dried flowers and fruits, leather and wood.  Anything you can imagine that can be made out of wood was there - anything from bowls and spoons to trunks and wardrobes.  My favorite wood piece was a long and skinny platter to serve finger foods like cheeses and crackers-complete with little wooden reusable toothpicks!    

While we were intrigued by the home wares, we both grew tired of it after a while as we don’t have a cabin to decorate J  We decided to grab some cokes and sit by the river, soaking in the sun and spending the afternoon watching the boats go up and down the river.  It was an entirely relaxing afternoon and I’m so glad we made it out to enjoy the sun and the river. 

I love that we live in a big city but sometimes it’s really nice to escape for the afternoon to a much more tranquil life – that’s exactly what Tigre has to offer!

Opera Pampa

All jobs have their perks - some are better than others.  When I interned at VML we had half day Fridays, free bananas and apples, free soda, free beer ON TAP…the list goes on.  Obviously, VML has its perks. 

While at the current job we do not have free draft beer, nor do we have half day Fridays, we do have the chance to go to the shows and tours throughout Buenos Aires.  My coworkers and I love to take advantage of our passes to tango shows, kayak tours, city tours, etc.  Because there happens to be somewhere around 100 tango shows in town, it obviously keeps us rather busy J.

We recently went to a show called Opera Pampa which really turned out to be a great show and evening. 

The evening starts at “La Rural” right in the heart of Palermo.  You are escorted into a large room with horse stables, a giant dining area and some local artisan kind of shops.  The smell of horses and hay is immediate and instantly transports you (mentally anyway) to a farm outside the city.  The people are dressed like gauchos and offer wine and empanadas.  The empanadas were humita and carne and so so tasty, we all had three!

After the reception it’s on to the show!  The show tells the story of Argentina from its history.  The performance bounces back between a traditional stage and a large arena.  They incorporate dancing, singing and horsemanship, yes, I said horsemanship!  The arena is quite large and in order to help tell the story of the original natives being taken advantage of and murdered, it’s best done with horses and men dressed in military uniforms.  Both the Indians and the “white men” show off some excellent horse skills and kept us all very entertained. 

After the show we went to the dining hall and had a really great meal.  We started with chorizo and morcilla as an appetizer.  Well, I didn’t start with morcilla because it makes me gag, but everyone else did.  Then we went on to ribs, steak, salad, and dessert.  Of course the wine is flowing the whole time too. 

Overall it was a really lovely experience and I’m excited to be able to recommend it to my clients.  The only downside is it’s all in Spanish.  I think anyone gets the general gist of the songs and story-but obviously subtleties are lost with the language.  Maybe that’s part of travel though, no?

Dear Argentina

For the good and the bad, Argentina has things that are different from what we know in the States, or anywhere else for that matter.  Being a foreigner, this seems to be a topic of at least half the conversations.  At work I have a rather eclectic mix of co workers from all over the world-France, South Africa, fellow Americans, Finnish and a few Argentines.  Its always interesting to see their views on things and compare our ideas of “normal.”  The other day I was introduced to a game called “Dear Argentina.”  Dear Argentina basically goes like this:

Dear Argentina,

Oh, actually I was planning on wearing that coat again next season…

Sincerely,

Lindsey

We’ve found that clothes here are not always never made at the best quality standards.  I don’t think I have one thing that still has all its buttons, loops, stitching, etc. that it originally came with. 

My coworker had:

Dear Argentina,

Ketchup does not belong in bags. 

Sincerely, William

It’s funny that he mentioned that, and was frustrated with it because it’s not something that even crosses my mind anymore.  It is, however, funny-nearly all the condiments here are in bags.  This includes mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, barbeque sauce…

One that I think about nearly every day while walking around is:

Dear Argentina,

Way to go with the marketing tactics, love the empty jug on the car!

You see, it’s very interesting the way people go about selling their car here.  With so many cars on the street it’s often hard to know which ones are for sale and which ones are not.  The general public has devised a scheme to identify “for sale cars” really easily-just put an empty jug on the top of the car!  If you are in the market for a car simply look for jugs on cars.  There are two ways you’ll be able to get in touch with the owner after you have seen the prospective car you are after.  Sometimes a really crafty owner will have cut a hole out of the jug and put little scraps of paper in it with their contact information; it’s kind of like the pieces of paper where you rip off the number at the bottom--but cooler.  The other way would be from the eco friendly owner, who doesn’t want to waste scraps of paper-he just puts his phone number on the window of the car and hopes for calls.  Either way it's a nice way to advertise the car and draw attention