our new years eve

wow - whtat a fantastic new years eve (and our 10th anniversary!)

the surgeon (Pablo) who organised my placements here in argentina, invited us to the family farm for an asado (argentine style bbq). what a fantastic insight into argentine family life it turned out to be.

the farm was only about 50km north of the city, but feels very peaceful, up a long dirt road, passing cows and horses. the farm used to be used for training polo horses, but now it's just a retreat.

It was really interesting to see how they cook the (whole) lamb, they use charcoal and just spread out a few coals under the meat and cook it very slowly ( over 3 hours), in the meantime much wine, beer, and champagne flowed. conversation was interesting,we sat on the veranda for hours talking - including to some people from Belgium also stayed the night, in the beautifully decorated farm house.

The hospitality was fantastic, we're very greatful to Pablo and his family for taking us in, and making us so welcome.

The countryside outside of Buenos Aires was strangely familiar - it's quite dry, has massive eucalyptus trees, and all the familiar smells of cows and horses. Sitting outside Dad would feel very much at home here.

las canitas and palermo

we've been told these areas are leafy and trendy and have good food, so yesterday we made the expedition. 11 stops on the underground (whole way underground) train, took us to the other side of las canitas, we then walked back zig zagging through the side streets.

wow - it's a different world out there, wide streets, clean air, huge elm trees, massive parks, beautiful houses (on their own land) and heaps of nice cafes and restraunts. it'd be much more livable out here for a long term stay, but we're glad we're in the action.

as you can see we didnt starve - again.

i need to join a gym here ...

oh - these photos are from my iphone so sorry for the quality.

a trip to la boca

la boca is home to these colorfully painted corrugated iron buildings. the story being the owners couldnt afford paint, and got left overs from the docks - the multicolored buildings became a tourist attraction and a tradition.

this trip was on a saturday morning, and the market was in full swing - plenty of artwork for sale, and tango and flamingo shows. it was nice to duck into "La Perla" cafe for a break from the crowd for a quiet cerveza and a beef sandwich.

xmas in san telmo

Xmas eve was a bigger event for us this year than usual, after spending the day strolling the streets of BA, we headed home for a siesta. siesta lasted a little longer than we'd planned so we didnt head out to find dinner till 11:00 - a little nervous that we'd go hungry with everything booked out.

no such problem though, in dorego square there was a real party atmosphere, with the surrounding restaurants putting tables in the square and a flamingo danicng show. we ate well, drank well, and really enjoyed the show.

then back to the apartment at 2am to find a party on the rooftop of our apartment block - great fun and made for a very slow xmas day.

san telmo

san telmo is one of our favorite parts of buenos aires, it's full of old intricate spanish style buildings some beautifully renovated - most in varying states of decay, which only adds to the charm.

a particular favorite is what we've come to label "the poets", a beautiful cafe on the corner of chile and bolivar streets. the friendly staff tolerate our mangled attempts at spanish with good humor and serve up copa de vino tinto de la casa (glass of house red wine) in such volumes that 2 glasses feels like a bottle. olives are tasty and fresh too. apple strudel and cafe con leche (coffee with milk) is pretty good too.

Buenos aires

So we arrived in BA after a 13 hour flight from sydney, got to say the flight wasnt as bad as i expected. the on demand movies in the seat back ahead of you is great for passing time on long haul flights - i watched 5 movies, there goes 9-10 hours.

on arrival we went to the long term apartment rental stand of bytArgentina at the airport, they were friendly and patient and found us a really clean tidy apartment in montserrsat. after a harrowing trip down the freeway at warp speed in a clapped out taxi, we arrived at our destination. while the location was ok, we found we were walking 2 km each way to get anywhere exciting.