Posted 9:52 AM by MelanieandSteve
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, AND ALSO URUGUAY, 18-24 March

HOLA QUE TAL FROM IGUAZU FALLS, ARGENTINA: Since the last entry, we have spent six days in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, and two exploratory days in tiny Uruguay.

THOUGHTS ON ARGENTINA: Argentina is a curious economic microcosm. Within its borders, living standards are high, infrastructure is strong, goods are high quality, and people appear comfortable, friendly and happy. But the country is a bubble - a prospering society inside, but an undervalued society outside. Thanks to Argentina´s devalued peso in 2001, people are almost imprisoned within its borders, unable to afford the cost of travel abroad. People lost homes and jobs in the economic crisis and they are still struggling to get back on their feet. As a result, exports are good, but imports are expensive so stores are stocked with local made goods, usually of high quality thanks to standards persisting from former days of economic glory. The juxtaposition of internal prosperity and external lack of monetary value is curious, and it remains to be seen what the future holds.

BUENOS AIRES: ONE CITY, TWO EXPERIENCES: While the two of us were together at all times in Buenos Aires other than Melanie´s early morning explorations, we each walked away from it with totally different feelings. For Melanie it was practically love at first sight for a sensational city full of the friendliest life-loving and passionate people. For Steve, Buenos Aires was a tedious metropolis in which disorganization and dirt obscured the finer points.
In MELANIE'S BUENOS AIRES, there was an interesting dynamic city with several faces: that of a metropolis, a historical Mecca, a recovering center of economic crisis, and a playground, all in one. Subdivisions of the city each exuded unique personalities: the metropolitan City Center, the slightly seedy Boca, the Glassy river front Puerto Madera, the upscale pretty Palermo, and the quaint blue collar San Telmo exemplify a few. Each area centered around a plaza lined with atmospheric pubs and restaurants. These localized areas, many within walking distance of each other made the city feel small and warm. Getting around was easy and cheap by bus, metro, and taxi. People were patient with our Spanish and often initiated conversation. Food was phenomenal, service was good, and ambiance was everywhere. Also, it was the land of the passionate dance of Tango. The city air was cleaner than smoggy Santiago Chile. To Melanie, Buenos Aires was a relaxed city where it seems like things happened naturally, parties started, markets spread out all over.
In STEVE'S BUENOS AIRES, he was initially unimpressed by the ad hoc Saint Patrick´s day party with mobs of people but no decorations or organization. In the rain, taxis were in short supply and there was no shelter. Crowds were uncontrolled and riotous. A bad first impression of the city. Further, Steve found taxi drivers rude and he disliked that people threw their bags of trash in the streets at night. It seemed to him that Buenos Aires was an attempt at becoming a fancy European City, but falling short of the task.

DESPITE OUR DIFFERENCES in overall perspective, we both shared in some super memorable fun times during our six days here.

SAMPLING SECTIONS OF BA: There is a lot to see in Buenos Aires. Each day for us was a chance to sample a different flavor of the town.

CENTRAL: The menu of the day on Saint Patty´s, our first day in town, was craziness. On another day, we absorbed presidential history at Casa Rosada, the location of Evita´s 1940 speech from a State Building balcony.

RETIRO: We saw the business side of Buenos Aires in sky scrapered Retiro where we applied for Brazilian Visas. Even there, we found a central square and sunny outdoor cafes.

PRETTY PALERMO: We spent one evening with friend Nimrod in upscale Palermo seeking classy Pizzaz and live Jazz. We never found the jazz, but even in the night, the central square was packed with bohemian musicians and artisans. Vendors refreshingly focused on friendly conversation more than making a sale. We cafe-hopped in the plaza and then meandered the surrounding stone streets. One friendly security guard engaged us in a long conversation about Buenos Aires culture and history. Later, learning from a local about ''the best restaurant in Buenos Aires´´, we went back to Palermo with friends John and Nimrod for a most amazing meal.

RICOLETTA: Near the riverside, we encountered a surprisingly unique cemetery with ornate overdone sarcophagus practically as big as houses. The rows between them were like alleys of a city. Many of the mausoleums were shining marble edifices with windows through which we could see coffins, ash boxes, religious icons, or photographs of the deceased. In the older section, run down sarcophaguses were erie with broken glass, crumbling marble, and holes in the cement. We visited the well-preserved grave of Eva Peron.
Outside the cemetery, among a sea of street merchants, we were in the land of Tango. We found a plaza front cafe with a view of performers dancing this dance of passion.

SAN TELMO: This was Melanie's favorite area of Buenos Aires; a former upscale town in which a series of epidemics caused the rich to flee leaving it to the blue collar class. For us, live music in a woody pub completed a perfect evening.
On a Sunday, we watched street Tango shows in the crowded antique markets of Durango Square. Then Monday, it transformed into a quiet shaded plaza where we ate lunch to the gentle sound of live guitar.

RIVER FRONT AND PUERTO MADERA: On Saturday and Sunday mornings, Mel explored the river front with its nature reserve and the port with BBQ stands that smelled like a weekend.

BALL GAME AT BOCA: Sunday afternoon was the big game in Boca. Futbol is first in Argentina, and for us the spectators were as interesting as the sport. Our hostel and various locals warned us of crazy crowds with horror stories of theft, violence, and mob melee. Armored vehicles and shielded cops at the stadium underscored this warning, but what we found was an uneventful game with high energy but tame enough crowds. You could sit down in our "standing" section of the stadium, but no one did. The crowds yelled, chanted, and sang the entire time. Sometimes they all jumped up and down in rhythm and the stadium shook enough to make Mel sea sick. We hoped the foundations were earthquake safe. There were probably only six women in our section. Thus the male oriented entertainment included a cheerleader in a g-string bikini gyrating her hips and hugging the stoned-looking star-costumed mascot. Melanie thought it was gross. John loved it. Steve and Nimrod made no comment.

BARICADED IN BOCA: Home team Boca won 2 to 1, and as the game ended high security kicked in. We got up to leave, but the cell-like stadium doors swung shut and we were virtually imprisoned in our cement block section. Opposing team fans concentrated in one section had open doors and a head start getting out of town. The rest of us (ten thousand) waited twenty minutes -- a bizarre pause where a once boisterous crowd became a captive collection of quiet bodies. Meanwhile, swat teams with batons and shields lined up military style and ´´ushered´´ the visiting crowd out fast, ready or not. Once they were gone, we were slowly released.

URUGUAY:

SWITZERLAND OF SOUTH AMERICA: Next it was destination Uruguay. Sometimes referred to as the Switzerland of South America, it was clean, well preserved, safe, and sweet. Unlike Switzerland, though, there were no Alpine mountains and the Uruguayan budget was unbelievable cheap.

COLONIA: We boarded a three hour ferry ride across the La Plata river, so wide that in the middle we could not see land on either horizon. Our first stop was in Old Town Colonia, a former smuggling town. We meandered along the European style streets with architecture exuding Spanish and Portuguese heritage and we delighted in exceptional Uruguayan cuisine.

CAPITAL, MONTEVIDEO: Then a three hour bus ride East took us to the capital of Montevideo in time for evening celebrations of Holy Week. In the area called Prado with wooden houses and botanical gardens there were gouchos and local folklore in every corner. Not only performers but patrons donned boots, belts, and blousy pants. Music concerts and dance shows graced the three stages of the Fiesta de la Patria Grande (Party for the Great Nation). Uruguay considers itself oriental because it is East of Argentina and Chile, so the Country and Western sounding songs often referred to ´´oriental gouchos´´. Between stages were open-flamed BBQ´s for cowboy comida (food).

OLD MONTEVIDEO: Old town Montevideo is known for coming alive at night so we stopped in the Ciudad Viejo (old town), walked the hopping pedestrian streets with outdoor sitting and indoor music and we picked a pub for some live music. We were actually glad when the band stopped at 1 am (the starting time for bands in Buenos Aires) so we could make it an earlier night.

DAY OF MONTEVIDEO MEANDERING: All morning in Montevideo, we wandered square to square, street to street, and coast to coast in the peninsula shaped town. At the central square of Independencia, we paid respects to an old presidents mausoleum and admired surrounding old eclectic architecture. Montevideo is a mellow capital city with all the fixings but a friendly flavor and lovely layed back attitude.

BACK TO BA: We had a flight to catch from Buenos Aires, so we caught another ferry back to a home-base that now felt a bit like home. Familiar faces greeted us at our hostel and we spent a final Buenos Aires night out on the town before take off to our new destination, Iguazu Falls.

FIRST FLIGHT MISSED: There are two cities of Iguazu Falls (one in Argentina, the other in Brazil) and in Buenos Aires, there are two airports. We got both wrong. Our inexplicit itineraries and tickets didn't help so we asked for assistance and even telephoned in our flight number, but we got all the wrong answers. So an hour before our international flight we found ourselves at the domestic airport, a fifty minute drive from the international airport. Despite our cab driver's fast and furious speeding, we missed our flight. To make things worse, it was a holiday, so all other flights were booked. But with persistence, we found two seats on a special charter flight scheduled specifically for the busy holiday (of course, ... leaving from the other airport.) Our flying confusion topped off "Steve's Buenos Aires."

NEXT TIME: Big Water, Beautiful Landscape, Hiking away from Holiday Crows in Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: Clay P., Mom, Cheryl S., Aaron H., John L., Libby, Julia M., Julie J., and Joe Z.

Posted 9:42 AM by MelanieandSteve
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, AND ALSO URUGUAY, 18-24 March

HOLA QUE TAL FROM IGUAZU FALLS, ARGENTINA: Since the last entry, we have spent six days in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, and two exploratory days in tiny Uruguay.

THOUGHTS ON ARGENTINA: Argentina is a curious economic microcosm. Within its borders, living standards are high, infrastructure is strong, goods are high quality, and people appear comfortable, friendly and happy. But the country is a bubble - a prospering society inside, but an undervalued society outside. Thanks to Argentina´s devalued peso in 2001, people are almost imprisoned within its borders, unable to afford the cost of travel abroad. People lost homes and jobs in the economic crisis and they are still struggling to get back on their feet. As a result, exports are good, but imports are expensive so stores are stocked with local made goods, usually of high quality thanks to standards persisting from former days of economic glory. The juxtaposition of internal prosperity and external lack of monetary value is curious, and it remains to be seen what the future holds.

BUENOS AIRES: ONE CITY, TWO EXPERIENCES: While the two of us were together at all times in Buenos Aires other than Melanie´s early morning explorations, we each walked away from it with totally different feelings. For Melanie it was practically love at first sight for a sensational city full of the friendliest life-loving and passionate people. For Steve, Buenos Aires was a tedious metropolis in which disorganization and dirt obscured the finer points.
In MELANIE'S BUENOS AIRES, there was an interesting dynamic city with several faces: that of a metropolis, a historical Mecca, a recovering center of economic crisis, and a playground, all in one. Subdivisions of the city each exuded unique personalities: the metropolitan City Center, the slightly seedy Boca, the Glassy river front Puerto Madera, the upscale pretty Palermo, and the quaint blue collar San Telmo exemplify a few. Each area centered around a plaza lined with atmospheric pubs and restaurants. These localized areas, many within walking distance of each other made the city feel small and warm. Getting around was easy and cheap by bus, metro, and taxi. People were patient with our Spanish and often initiated conversation. Food was phenomenal, service was good, and ambiance was everywhere. Also, it was the land of the passionate dance of Tango. The city air was cleaner than smoggy Santiago Chile. To Melanie, Buenos Aires was a relaxed city where it seems like things happened naturally, parties started, markets spread out all over.
In STEVE'S BUENOS AIRES, he was initially unimpressed by the ad hoc Saint Patrick´s day party with mobs of people but no decorations or organization. In the rain, taxis were in short supply and there was no shelter. Crowds were uncontrolled and riotous. A bad first impression of the city. Further, Steve found taxi drivers rude and he disliked that people threw their bags of trash in the streets at night. It seemed to him that Buenos Aires was an attempt at becoming a fancy European City, but falling short of the task.

DESPITE OUR DIFFERENCES in overall perspective, we both shared in some super memorable fun times during our six days here.

SAMPLING SECTIONS OF BA: There is a lot to see in Buenos Aires. Each day for us was a chance to sample a different flavor of the town.

CENTRAL: The menu of the day on Saint Patty´s, our first day in town, was craziness. On another day, we absorbed presidential history at Casa Rosada, the location of Evita´s 1940 speech from a State Building balcony.

RETIRO: We saw the business side of Buenos Aires in sky scrapered Retiro where we applied for Brazilian Visas. Even there, we found a central square and sunny outdoor cafes.

PRETTY PALERMO: We spent one evening with friend Nimrod in upscale Palermo seeking classy Pizzaz and live Jazz. We never found the jazz, but even in the night, the central square was packed with bohemian musicians and artisans. Vendors refreshingly focused on friendly conversation more than making a sale. We cafe-hopped in the plaza and then meandered the surrounding stone streets. One friendly security guard engaged us in a long conversation about Buenos Aires culture and history. Later, learning from a local about ''the best restaurant in Buenos Aires´´, we went back to Palermo with friends John and Nimrod for a most amazing meal.

RICOLETTA: Near the riverside, we encountered a surprisingly unique cemetery with ornate overdone sarcophagus practically as big as houses. The rows between them were like alleys of a city. Many of the mausoleums were shining marble edifices with windows through which we could see coffins, ash boxes, religious icons, or photographs of the deceased. In the older section, run down sarcophaguses were erie with broken glass, crumbling marble, and holes in the cement. We visited the well-preserved grave of Eva Peron.
Outside the cemetery, among a sea of street merchants, we were in the land of Tango. We found a plaza front cafe with a view of performers dancing this dance of passion.

SAN TELMO: This was Melanie's favorite area of Buenos Aires; a former upscale town in which a series of epidemics caused the rich to flee leaving it to the blue collar class. For us, live music in a woody pub completed a perfect evening.
On a Sunday, we watched street Tango shows in the crowded antique markets of Durango Square. Then Monday, it transformed into a quiet shaded plaza where we ate lunch to the gentle sound of live guitar.

RIVER FRONT AND PUERTO MADERA: On Saturday and Sunday mornings, Mel explored the river front with its nature reserve and the port with BBQ stands that smelled like a weekend.

BALL GAME AT BOCA: Sunday afternoon was the big game in Boca. Futbol is first in Argentina, and for us the spectators were as interesting as the sport. Our hostel and various locals warned us of crazy crowds with horror stories of theft, violence, and mob melee. Armored vehicles and shielded cops at the stadium underscored this warning, but what we found was an uneventful game with high energy but tame enough crowds. You could sit down in our "standing" section of the stadium, but no one did. The crowds yelled, chanted, and sang the entire time. Sometimes they all jumped up and down in rhythm and the stadium shook enough to make Mel sea sick. We hoped the foundations were earthquake safe. There were probably only six women in our section. Thus the male oriented entertainment included a cheerleader in a g-string bikini gyrating her hips and hugging the stoned-looking star-costumed mascot. Melanie thought it was gross. John loved it. Steve and Nimrod made no comment.

BARICADED IN BOCA: Home team Boca won 2 to 1, and as the game ended high security kicked in. We got up to leave, but the cell-like stadium doors swung shut and we were virtually imprisoned in our cement block section. Opposing team fans concentrated in one section had open doors and a head start getting out of town. The rest of us (ten thousand) waited twenty minutes -- a bizarre pause where a once boisterous crowd became a captive collection of quiet bodies. Meanwhile, swat teams with batons and shields lined up military style and ´´ushered´´ the visiting crowd out fast, ready or not. Once they were gone, we were slowly released.

URUGUAY:

SWITZERLAND OF SOUTH AMERICA: Next it was destination Uruguay. Sometimes referred to as the Switzerland of South America, it was clean, well preserved, safe, and sweet. Unlike Switzerland, though, there were no Alpine mountains and the Uruguayan budget was unbelievable cheap.

COLONIA: We boarded a three hour ferry ride across the La Plata river, so wide that in the middle we could not see land on either horizon. Our first stop was in Old Town Colonia, a former smuggling town. We meandered along the European style streets with architecture exuding Spanish and Portuguese heritage and we delighted in exceptional Uruguayan cuisine.

CAPITAL, MONTEVIDEO: Then a three hour bus ride East took us to the capital of Montevideo in time for evening celebrations of Holy Week. In the area called Prado with wooden houses and botanical gardens there were gouchos and local folklore in every corner. Not only performers but patrons donned boots, belts, and blousy pants. Music concerts and dance shows graced the three stages of the Fiesta de la Patria Grande (Party for the Great Nation). Uruguay considers itself oriental because it is East of Argentina and Chile, so the Country and Western sounding songs often referred to ´´oriental gouchos´´. Between stages were open-flamed BBQ´s for cowboy comida (food).

OLD MONTEVIDEO: Old town Montevideo is known for coming alive at night so we stopped in the Ciudad Viejo (old town), walked the hopping pedestrian streets with outdoor sitting and indoor music and we picked a pub for some live music. We were actually glad when the band stopped at 1 am (the starting time for bands in Buenos Aires) so we could make it an earlier night.

DAY OF MONTEVIDEO MEANDERING: All morning in Montevideo, we wandered square to square, street to street, and coast to coast in the peninsula shaped town. At the central square of Independencia, we paid respects to an old presidents mausoleum and admired surrounding old eclectic architecture. Montevideo is a mellow capital city with all the fixings but a friendly flavor and lovely layed back attitude.

BACK TO BA: We had a flight to catch from Buenos Aires, so we caught another ferry back to a home-base that now felt a bit like home. Familiar faces greeted us at our hostel and we spent a final Buenos Aires night out on the town before take off to our new destination, Iguazu Falls.

FIRST FLIGHT MISSED: There are two cities of Iguazu Falls (one in Argentina, the other in Brazil) and in Buenos Aires, there are two airports. We got both wrong. Our inexplicit itineraries and tickets didn't help so we asked for assistance and even telephoned in our flight number, but we got all the wrong answers. So an hour before our international flight we found ourselves at the domestic airport, a fifty minute drive from the international airport. Despite our cab driver's fast and furious speeding, we missed our flight. To make things worse, it was a holiday, so all other flights were booked. But with persistence, we found two seats on a special charter flight scheduled specifically for the busy holiday (of course, ... leaving from the other airport.) Our flying confusion topped off "Steve's Buenos Aires."

NEXT TIME: Big Water, Beautiful Landscape, Hiking away from Holiday Crows in Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: Clay P., Mom, Cheryl S., Aaron H., John L., Libby, Julia M., Julie J., and Joe Z.