Ephemerica

One of first priorities when we arrived in Buenos Aires was to buy jeans. We had been wearing quick-dry travel pants exclusively for over a year and were excited to feel a bit less like travelers. Once we were happily wearing jeans, we set out to explore the city.

The Boca Juniors soccer match that Matt mentioned in the last post exceeded our expectations for out-of-control fans and good soccer. We opted to join a tour group to the game so that we would feel more comfortable sitting in the general admission (the wild side), which the guidebooks tell you not to do alone. The game started with an amazing amount of confetti, balloons and streams thrown down to the field from the highest seats in the stadium. (We didn’t bring our camera, but you can see some pics here, here and here.) I was happy that the home team (Boca) won so that we would have to deal only with happy fans! The opposing fans (for River) were seated in the tier above us and were peeing over the edge onto the Boca fans below! We were happy to be sitting where they couldn’t reach us. The stadium security also didn’t let any Boca fans leave the seating area until all the River fans had left the stadium after the game.

We decided to take some more Spanish classes while we are here in order to solidify our progress. We speak English to each other too much to have become fluent, but we are both doing pretty well. The classes have been good and we have both improved mucho!

The highlight of our time here so far was a week-long visit from Jenn, all the way from NYC. We saved most of our big sightseeing for her and we had a great time. We started right after Jenn arrived on Saturday, first visiting Recoleta Cemetary (which houses Evita, as well as some fantastic tombs and scupltures) and the crafts fair there. Then on Sunday we explored the antiques and crafts in San Telmo, and watched tango on the streets while exploring the crafts fair in La Boca. We spent several days just wandering around town visiting the different neighborhoods, visiting museums and seeing the important government buildings in town. We caught some live rock music one night and a dinner and tango show another night. We also had the most relaxed wine tasting in a little boutique wine store. The tasting included a giant tray of meats and cheeses, as well as four different wines with as many refills as we wanted. We were there for several hours and finished one of the bottles in addition to one or two glasses each of the others. Of course, the store knew exactly what it was doing and we purchased several bottles to take home.

Jenn and I are friends after sharing adjoining lab benches in the Nathanson Lab, so we made it a real lab reunion when Juan, another former member of the Nathanson Lab, invited us to visit his lab here in Buenos Aires. We didn’t get to help with any experiments, but we got glimpse into the world of science here. After the lab tour, we all went out for dinner and had a fun time catching up.

Since Jenn lives in NYC and is used to big cities, she wanted to experience a bit of the country life of Argentina. So, we went to nearby San Antonio de Acero, home of the Gaucho. We visited a couple museums of Gaucho culture and learned about their tradition of making silver jewelry, belt buckles and knives. We browsed leather and silver shops and generally enjoyed the quietness of the town (well, Matt and Jenn did, I was feeling a bit sick and spent a lot of time sleeping.) On the second day, we headed to a nearby Estancia (kinda like a ranch) for a “Gaucho Party.” We wandered around the grounds a bit waiting for all the day-trippers from Buenos Aires to show up, and then joined in on a short horseback ride. The main activities of the day started with a giant asado lunch, featuring a ton of meat and a few salads. After lunch, there was a show with music and dancing traditional of the Gauchos, including a fun dancing duel. Then we headed outside to watch some Gaucho games. The point of the game was to use a stick to snatch a small ring dangling from a string. Can you picture it? Put the stick through the ring, not entirely easy because the ring is fairly small and dangling from a string…and because you are at rushing towards said ring at full gallop on your horse. The Gauchos were pretty talented and managed to get the ring at least half the time. Unfortunately, unlike with the music and dancing, they didn’t allow crowd participation.

The other most important part of Jenn’s visit (for us at least) was to make sure she ate all of our favorite treats. We had alfajores, several kinds of empanadas, milanesa (we cooked some too), dulce de leche, and lots and lots of meat in different styles and cuts. Oh, and hot chocolate with churros and several argentine wines and beers.

We have one week more in Buenos Aires. Then we head out on a short bit of bus travel before coming back to the city for a final soccer match and our flight home.

Posted by cindy on May 28th, 2008 | Filed under: Argentina