Final Post from BA

On Saturday when we got home from Palermo Soho after saying goodbye to our new friends, while thinking about our final two days ahead in BA, I said to John, "Let's see if Shirley and Gary want to meet us for lunch on Monday at Quintaro down the street where they have the pretty good pizza."  He agreed and, I sent off an email to them. At the exact same moment, I received an email from them inviting us to their apt. for dinner Sunday evening.  So, good bye was not quite good bye yet.  We accepted all around.

Sunday morning I made a last visit to the Coto supermarket for a few edibles to get us by until Monday night.  And, our rental agent Alfredo, stopped by to chat and return our deposit.  I am pleased to give a plug for Alfredo - he's a great guy and we were very pleased with the apartment and his services.  If you ever plan a visit to BA, here's his web site:  http://discoverba.com/  Tell him Jeannie & John sent you.

We caught the bus to Plaza Italia again and walked to Shirley and Gary's  They also invited their other new friend Enid, whose apartment they rented when they first arrived.  She is a delightful lady from Vail, Colorado and we enjoyed meeting and visiting with her.  Dinner was cooked by chef Gary (lucky Shirley) - it was a country paella with toasted garlic tomato bread and lots of vino.  The paella was absolutely delicious and we have to congratulate Gary on this accomplishment in their tiny kitchenette.

After dinner we took our wine up to the roof top terrace for the sunset.  I did not bring my camera along (can you believe that?) and so Shirley, who is as avid a photographer as I am, sent me some pictures of a previous sunset and it looks just about like what we saw.  She also took pictures of the paella for me.  So - all the pictures on this blog post are by Shirley.  Thank you sister!

Today, our last day, Shirley and Gary came over and we went to the pizza/pasta restaurant.  We shared good conversation, food and wine for the last time before our departure in just a few hours.  We surely enjoyed having new friends while in BA - and we know that we will see them again.

We loved Buenos Aires and I don't know how five weeks went by so fast.  BA, of course, has many problems but if they ever straighten out their economy, corruption, graffiti and trash in the city, it will be out of this world.  As it is right now, it's a wonderful and beautiful place to visit. It has color, character and soul.  I hope that we can return some day.  We shall see.

New Favorite 'Hood - Palermo Soho

Our friends Shirley and Gary are renting in Palermo Soho and it sounded like an interesting neighborhood to explore.  There is also a great restaurant there that we wanted to try. It's only a block from their condo.  So, we made plans to go there for lunch with them and they offered to guide us around the neighborhood.  Gary and Shirley have been in BA for a month, like us, and so are now very familiar with this interesting area.

Typical cafe in Palermo Soho

We hopped on the 37 bus for the short distance to Plaza Italia and then walked about 3 1/2 blocks to Shirley and Gary's condo. They have a lovely modern apartment overlooking the street with lots of light and trees giving them a peaceful view.  We all headed out through the streets of Palermo Soho enjoying the architecture, street art, shops, cafes, restaurants, parks and lots of trees.  At lunch time we settled in at Don Julio to try their steak.  I ordered the Bife de Chorizo while the others had lomo. Gary said that this restaurant is packed at night but it was very peaceful for our lunch.  We all shared a salad, fries (actually more like freshly made potato chips) and veggies.  And, of course, there was a lovely bottle of Malbec to enjoy with our steaks.  We agreed that it was the best steak we have had so far in BA and it was cooked just the way we ordered it.

Don Julio

Shirley in Don Julio

Bife de Chorizo 

Don Julio

 After our very leisurely and enjoyable lunch, we walked through the streets of Palermo some more, visited a couple of markets, admired the street art and architecture and had some laughs. I, of course, had my camera and took a shot at everything that caught my eye.  I have to change my mind now - in my San Telmo post I said if we returned to BA, I would like to stay in that part of town.  Now, having seen Palermo Soho, this is where I want to be. We have enjoyed being in Recoleta and its location is very central and we only go 1/2 block to catch a bus.  However, Palermo has a lot more life and color to it - we like it a lot.

After a long walk we said fond farewells to our new friends and headed back to our apartment.  We are so pleased to have met these two charming people and are sure that we will get together again - hoping they will come to San Miguel.  Spending some time with them added an extra dimension to our visit to Buenos Aires.

In order to get a sense of the neighborhood - please see the rest of my pictures:  TAKE A WALK THROUGH PALERMO SOHO.    

A Breath of Fresh Air in Tigre

Train station - but ours was next door

The last couple of days in BA have been beastly hot and humid.  We planned a little excursion to Tigre - the river delta at the north edge of town - away from the skyscrapers and crowds - well, sort of.  We arranged to meet our friends, Shirley and Gary, at the train station.  They took the subway there and we found our way easily by bus.  However, there are actually two train stations next to each other.  We, of course, went into the wrong one to begin with but not seeing our friends and not seeing any signs to Tigre, we asked and yes, the other train station was the one we needed.

Shirley and Gary were already there to greet us and we went to the ticket window to buy our round trip to Tigre - about a 50 minutes train trip and with the SUBE card, it was really cheap - practically free - at less than 3 pesos each.  We had read that the trains depart every 10 minutes or so.  But, perhaps because this was a holiday (Constitution Day) in BA, we waited a half hour or more for the train.  As we boarded with the masses, we were jostled out of all getting seats so Shirley and I sat while Gary and John, being the gentlemen that they are, stood.  Shirley and I had a great chat - Gary and John did not have such a pleasant ride - no a/c and surrounded by sweaty bodies.

Exactly like the one we were on

However, we arrived and almost immediately felt a refreshing breeze from the water.  There were lots of people wandering along the river deciding what to do - where to go.  There were collective ferries that you could take - long lines at the ticket counter and waiting for the boats.  There were private excursions available and then we noticed a booth advertising a restaurant we had read about - El Gato Blanco.  We paid them 60 pesos per person round trip on the collective - a nice profit for them - but we were taken immediately to the head of the line to board.  The ferry cruised along the various rivers and branches for about 50 minutes until we were let off at El Gato Blanco.  The trip there was quite interesting - viewing lots of weekend cottages, campgrounds, an amusement park at the edge of Tigre, restaurants and parks.  We only traveled part of the area - there were many little rivers branching out of Tigre.

The restaurant looked even better than the pictures we had seen and I would say we were pleasantly surprised.  We had a comfortable table overlooking the river and enjoyed a lovely meal and good conversation.  John and Shirley had the flatfish with shrimp on top - good but somewhat lacking in flavor, they said.  Gary had a pink trout with black butter and capers - he liked it.  I ordered the lomo which was the best I've had here so far - covered with Hollandaise and they cooked it on their huge grill exactly right.  We paid a lot more than usual for this lovely lunch but can understand why - everything has to be boated in.

A ferry was due around 4 p.m. for the trip back and we were on it.  It was less crowded than the trip out and seemed to be faster.  We walked around the town of Tigre a bit - not much open because of the holiday  but Gary thought it would be fun for them to come back another day and explore a little more - they will be here another two weeks.  We just missed a train but that turned out to be a good thing since we were first on to the next train and all had seats together.  But, it was very hot and humid and we were ready to go home.  It was a nice little new adventure and we're glad we did it.

It was overcast all day - not the best for pictures but maybe a little less warm than it would have been without the clouds.  HERE ARE THE REST OF MY PICTURES - A LOT, I KNOW, BUT I CAN'T HELP MYSELF. You don't have to look at them or maybe just a few.