Day Tripping

Dia de Campo (Day in the Country)
 We booked a trip (yes folks an organized tour - it's the only way to tour the countryside) out to an Estancia (a large ranch) which was located 1 1/2 hours south west of Buenos Aires in the Pampas region. The name of the ranch was La Candaleria. The estancia was once 8,000 hectares but through family in-fighting it is now 400 hectares. It is run as a hotel with some 22 rooms located in several low hacienda style buildings and a French Chateau. Apparently in the late 1800's the original family visited France and were so taken by one of the chateaux there, they decided to have one built on their estancia. Everything was imported from Europe by boat, then by train down to the closest town, then by cart.

When we arrived, we were greeted by a lovely older "Gaucho" couple dressed in turn of the century Gaucho clothing. We were offered empanadas (the best we've had to date) and wine when we arrived.  This was followed by a cooking demonstration and a tour of the Chateau. We were then served a lunch which consisted of various salads and an asado (barbequed meat) and more wine. The asado was served on individual grills and consisted of steak, pork ribs, chicken, chorizo sausage and innards (passed on the last). The meat we were served for lunch could have fed 6 people easily....we made a stab at it, but didn't quite finish....they actually asked us if we wanted more!!

After lunch there was a show of Gaucho folkloric dancing featuring three young couples in traditional clothing. Claire got picked by one of them to get up and dance!!  Also, the older couple that had greeted us when we arrived, danced a courtship dance....found out later, they have been married 36 years.  After the show, we went out to the grounds and saw some of the young Gauchos' perform various riding tricks...these guys can really ride; the horses just seem to be an extension of themselves. We then tried our hand at driving a horse drawn carriage for a short loop. The horse responded to Robin's commands...o.k. ...somewhat!! Also got to try Yerba Mate.....well....not on our list of favorites. This herb- like tea, which the locals drink in large quantities (they even carry around thermoses of the stuff), is very bitter. We are sure that it is an acquired taste. We did notice that the locals do put in about a pound of sugar in one cup....they do like sweet things.

On our way back to B.A. our bus got caught up in the final day of the Dakar Rally. There were thousands of people lining the sides of the road and a number of the racers passed us. A real carnival atmosphere.  Just an update on the Dakar...the Canadian car racing team scratched, but a Canadian motorcycle driver came in 55th in his category.

El Tigre
Spent a day traveling up to Tigre, a city 35 km. north of B.A. We met our guide Pablo, a university professor, near the Mitre train station. A very eloquent middle aged man, who gave us a different view of Buenos Aires in its Belle Epoque period. He even had some black and white historical photographs on his I-phone of the original downtown area where the rich settled. We then went to the train station and took the train (one hour) to Tigre;  during which time he continued his history lesson covering politics, the various economic crises and recent happenings in the country. He offered us some of his home made mate. He told us that his is very good; as he adds herbs and a little sugar. Claire tried some again...still not a fan. Must say that he was a very interesting man to listen to. He dropped us off at the station in Tigre and we proceeded on our own to board a launch to go up the many channels in the delta. The river water is a muddy brown, rich with iron from the waters flowing from inland South America. All along the various channels of the river  houses are built on stilts; also some beautiful colonial homes . People from B.A. come here to spend weekends and some with families to spend summer vacations. There are no roads here and everything needs to be brought in by boat. The boat we were on was indeed a working boat. Not only did it carry passengers, it dropped off mail, water, parcels and groceries at various boat docks.  It took us a little over an hour to get to our location. We arrived at Bonanza (all the houses have names) where we had booked lunch and where we spent the afternoon. The house was built in the late 1860's and has been converted into a small rural guest house. When we got there we took out a canoe out for about an hour and paddled up the river and into a small lagoon. Parts of the river were chocked by water hyaciths. Robin said that anybody from Guyana would certainly love the trip up the river. Certainly a different way of life and a wonderful way to spend a day.

Colonia, Uruguay
Took a high speed ferry to Colonia in Uruguay, which is some 50 k.m. across the Rio Plata River from B.A. and only took one hour. Colonia is a small colonial town established in 1680 and its' historical town centre is a Unesco World Heritage site. The streets are lined with sycamore trees which offer protection from the summer heat; and it was very hot the day we spent here. We opted to rent bikes....must have been built in 1680 as well...what clunkers! Riding down the narrow cobbled streets was quite an adventure on the bikes we had which also did not have brakes and don't think the chains had ever been oiled! Damien, Logan and Michelle, the bike techs at MEC would be appalled. Guess renting bikes for the price of $5.00 a day, should have told us something. The historical town centre juts out into a peninsula and consists of well preserved modest colonial style structures made from stones some of which are now restaurants, shops and hotels.  On the riverfront there was a lovely breeze coming off the Rio Plata and as it was so hot, we stopped for a liquid refreshment. Although it was only 11 a.m., luckily Colonia is one hour ahead of B.A. so we could justify the drink as it was really noon!  All the shops and restaurants here were very accommodating, accepting Argentinian pesos, Uruguayan pesos and U.S. dollars. As Colonia is just a one hour trip from B.A., they get a lot of day visitors. We spent a couple of hours in the afternoon, sitting by the river relaxing and enjoying the breeze, as it was so hot when walking in the main town. A lovely way to spend a day visiting this quaint colonial town.

B.A. - everyday life continues.....

As we are spending a month a B.A., there are everyday things we need to look after....getting laundry done,  getting  haircuts (dye job for some of us), new sunglasses to pick up, going to the movies (Sherlock Homes, Two Lovers), visit to the book exchange, going to the gym, etc.

It has been very hot and still some days, so on these days we usually take it slow. Not everything is always rosy when you travel. Our apartment does not have air conditioning, although we do have a couple of fans; it cools down enough at night and with the fans we are able to sleep well. As mentioned earlier, we went to air conditioned movie theatres to escape the heat.  Have also had a few power outages in the neighbourhood. The power seems to stay on in the downtown area where the businesses and tourists hang out. We are told that these power outages happen on a regular basis in the summer, and were especially bad during the last economic crisis.

We also have to tell you about the apartment where we are living. There are about 8 apartments in this building and the owners live on the main floor. We think this is how they make their living. When we first arrived, we noticed loud music about every 3rd night and on Sunday afternoons, which lasted a couple of hours. We then noticed that at the end of the hallway on the main floor was a large dance type studio...hard wood floors, mirrors, glass doors. So we started thinking that maybe Ingrid, one of the owners, was teaching free dance or something, as the music went from loud and fast to soft and slow.  Well....one night we were leaving for dinner and we peeked in. This is really hard to describe.....a bunch of adults were "writhing" on the floor and sometimes on top of one another...not sure what we should call it. Think we might actually ask her before we leave what it's all about. Don't want to ask any sooner, as they might ask us to join in! Claire's brother Denis would just call them  a bunch of old hippies!!

Sheri, our sister in law, asked how we were managing after our Spanish lessons. Well, with the previous spanish lessons that Robin had taken, we were doing quite well already. We did however, both learn quite a lot during our spanish classes here. One of the major things we learnt, is that the pronunciation of certain words in the Rio Plata area (Buenos Aires and some northern parts of Argentina, and parts of Uruguay) is totally different from what we had both previously learnt.  Good going forward!!

On the political scene, Pinera won the Presidential election in Chile, earning 52% of the vote. He is the country's first democratically  elected right wing ruler in 52 years. Once you are registered to vote in Chile, you must continue to vote over the years at each election or you could be fined.  This is also the case in Argentina. With the voter apathy in civil, provincial and federal elections in Canada, mandatory voting strikes us as something to consider!!

Here in Argentina, the infighting and debates continue in regards to President Madame Kirchner still wanting to get her hands on the reserves to pay off debt. The courts in the U.S. have frozen financial assets that are on deposit in there.

There was a large Italian migration to Argentina in the early 1900's and pasta is offered in most restaurants.  There is also a tradition of eating gnocchi in Argentina on the 29th of each month.  This tradition dates back to tough economic times when everybody was paid at the end of the month. By the time the 29th rolled around the  only thing that people could afford to cook were these delicious potato dumplings. Think about that the next time you go to an expensive Italian restaurant!!

Another piece of interesting news in the Buenos Aires Herald (the only English newspaper that is published here, founded in 1876) is the fact that Britain recently issued a diplomatic rebuke to Argentina following a new challenge to the alleged sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands (otherwise known as the Falklands) and a section of Antarctica. Will these people never learn...they lost 649 Argentinians and 258 Brits in the 73 day war in 1982 and it threw Argentina into an economic crisis. Wonder why this issue has raised its ugly head again? Guess what....seismic  surveys  have shown there could be 18 billion barrels of oil in the Malvinas area!!

We have posted pictures.