Back BsAs

Back in Buenos Aires, we did more exploring. Sunday was THE day for a huge flea market/crafts fair in an area known as San Telmo. This place shuts down on Sunday. It consists of blocks and blocks of people selling everything from old junk and magazines to cowhides, and clothes, and handmade jewelry. You could find anything here I imagine.

We went to more art galleries including the MALBA, went to most of the major monuments now that it wasn’t raining, and ate dulce de leche ice cream when we could.

Our last dinner was at a recommended and cool parilla(steak house). Upon entering, you see wine bottles on shelves lining the wall of the restaurant with writing on the labels. People were occasionally allowed to put a bottle on the wall and decorate as they wanted.

We found a bottle on the wine list called “Finca de los Nobles” so of course we bought this hoping we’d get the chance. At the end of our meal, the waiter(best we had in Argentina) asked if we would sign the bottle for the wall. We of course highlighted the Nobles, added small map of TN and a star near Murfreesboro, and wrote Go Vols! Much classier than the “Roll Tide” that was carved in a bathroom stall from a previous dinner.

After a few more days in BsAs, its time to head home. Back to reality, the real world, work, and steaks ¼ the thickness and must less tasty. Anyone know about importing cows?

Don Julio

Mendoza Day 3

Day 3 in Mendoza was much the same. We again had an early start and headed about 1.5 hrs out of the city towards the Andes. Known as the Uco Valley, the altitude here is higher and the grapes have different properties to the pros in the wineries. Most of the larger wineries take grapes from several Altitudes and mix them, even if it is the same grape, for desired effect.

As before, the wine tours were great and we continued learning about wines and developing our noses and taste buds. The best part of the day was lunch. We stopped at a small winery, Altus, down a gravely tree-lined road; the kind of road that people take pictures of with old tall trees that make a beautiful fall canopy of green, orange, and gold. The winery was nice, but the lunch was the show. Prepared by a real chef that refused to leave this place, we had a 5 course lunch with paired wines with each course. The best empanadas in the world. Unreal.

We finished our day touring and went to dinner late that night. We are sad to leave. Back to Buenos Aires in the morning.

Mendoza Day 3

Wine Tours

So the next days in Mendoza consisted of wine tours. We were picked up by our driver Ernesto, the Argentinian version of Johnny Cash, and CeCe our guide. Although he didn't speak English and had no idea who Cash was, Ernesto was an all black shirt wearing cool guy. CeCe is possibly the best tour guide/translator/host/anything we have ever had. She is the type of person you would want to be friends with and hang out with. Awesome to have around, knows everyone, and knew more about some of the the wineries than the actual employees.

We spent our days touring wineries. We would see the vineyard and the grapes, learn how they process them, see the machinery and the barrels(wood and metal), and last try their different wines. I didn't expect this to be fun(actually thought it would be monotonous) but it was great. After 2 days, I know so much more about wines and how to taste and what I like.

At lunch each day we had food paired with specially selected wines to enhance the flavor. Who knows if it worked, but the food was spectacular.

After three or four wineries, purple teeth, and good food, we headed back to the hotel.

Mendoza Day 2

Mendoza - Day One (Kelley)

After I begged our way through long lines at the counter and through security (see post mi esposa es loca), we made it to Mendoza. The first thing outside the airport is wine barrels and a vineyard.

Mendoza is located in the desert and borders the Andes Mountain that divde Argentina with Chile. We took a tour of the city and were able to check into our hotel early. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around attempting to shop at local stores. We quickly learned that this would be impossible. Medozans are very unique in that they work from about 9 or 10 am until 1:30 pm and then take a nice, long siesta break until about 5:30 pm. So, this is the schedule of many of the businesses other than restaraunts. We returned to our hotel and decided to enjoy a short siesta ourselves.

We had reservations at a highly recommended restaurant called 1884 Francis Mallman. We took a taxi and drove to the outskirts of town. We ened up in a residential neigborhood and the taxi pulled up to a huge, industrial looking garage door and flashed his lights. This really looked like the garage door to some wharehouse and I looked at Michael and asked if he was worried. It felt like we were going to locked inside some garage and robbed. However, the door was open and we pulled in to an interior courtyard where someone verified our reservation time. We got to the entry doors for the restaraunt and I tried to pull--no luck. So, I tried to push--still no luck. I was worried there would have to be some secret knock to get in when the hostess finally unlocked the door and let us in.

Mendoza

The restaraunt is very charming and quaint. The food was phenomenal! Michael's ribeye looked like it weighed three pounds. I ordered a steak that I'm not sure of the cut, but it was thin and crusted with salt--it was amazing! Both steaks were cooked on a grill out in the courtyard and we could watch the experts at work while we sat and enjoyed our dinner. I had noticed the menu that one of the items was called "giant rib for two". Someone near us ordered this and when came out it truly looked like it had to have been a dinosaur rib. I don't know what animal it came from, but it appeared to be at least three feet long and the circumferance of a cantaloupe!

That was it for Mendoza day 1. We headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep for our four winery visits the following day.

Mi Esposa es Loco

So funny airport story.

We got to the local airport on time as directed, but we had a huge line to check in and check bags. No way we were going to make it. Kelley flagged down and important looking gentleman who instructed us to use the first class check in line so we could make the flight on time. Great, VIP service here we come.

We walked on over and made it to the counter after 1 or 2 other families. Greeted by an Hola, Kelley starts frantically explaining how we were late, and a guy had told us to use that line, and we werent first class or frequent fliers and we needed to hurry and...

I just handed here the passports.

She spoke no English and had no idea what my wife was so frantic about and could care less. She didn't even give us a second look. Just handed us the tickets and took the bags.

Maybe you had to be there, but I found it funny.

She Did It All for the Gnocchi

After getting a late start, we were greeted by a grey, rainy, drizzly day. We had planned to wander around the famous sites, take pictures, and just explore. So what did we do? We wandered and went to a mall and just explored. We just skipped the sites.

The day was not very exciting nor glamorous, but dinner was awesome. We went to an Italian restaurant called Sotto Voce. I know very little about Italian food, but I loved my dish. Kelley oredered the gnocchi and said it was the best she had ever had. All the pastas and meatballs and everything possible was made from scratch. A nice bottle of wine, some crazy picture jacking waiters, and good food made for a great night.

Sotto Voce

Tuesday in Buenos Aires (by Kelley)

This post is a little late. We have been so busy it has been hard to find time to blog! Tuesday morning we met with a local guide to do a shopping tour. This was a very neat experience. She took us to multiple places that we never would have been able to find. Most of the "shops" were located in people's apartments. The buildings would not have signs and we would think we were walking into someone's home and it would be a store. I was able to find a purse that was handmade of local leather at a manufacturer who sells to very expensive stores. It was less than half the regular retail price. I also bought a pair of "limited edition" shoes. This shoe designer only makes a few pairs of each shoe in limited sizes, so it was a rare find. After the shopping tour, we shopped some more and headed back to the hotel for a nap since dinner was not going to be until late.

This evening we attended a local tango show. Rojo Tango. This show was amazing! This show was designed to resemble the Tango of old. The room was lined with red velvet curtains around the front, the tables covered in red, and red lighting illuminted the dimly lit space. They even pumped in gas from a smoke machine to make it feel like a smoky old bar. There were only about 20 small tables and the feeling was quite intimate. The live band consisted of a piano, string bass, violin and two accordians dressed in white 50's inspired outfits. The tango dancers were incredible. Needless to say, they put anything related to Dancing with the Stars to shame! The tango is a very complicated and fun to watch when done correctly. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed.

The tango show ended late and we decided to head back to the hotel get ready for our early morning the following day!

Buenos Aires

Dinner the First Night

Dinner the first night in BsAs was eye opening. First of all, dinner here does not start until late. Really late. They eat breakfast normal, lunch normal, afternoon tea around 2-4 with a snack, and then dinner starting at earliest around 9pm. It takes some getting used to. Our dinner reservation was at 9pm and we were one of the first people there. When we were leaving at 1030, the place had a long line waiting for a table.

Dinner was at La Cabrera, a traditional parilla(steak house). WOW! We started with Provletta, a small iron skillet of grilled provolone cheese with seasoning. Outside is crisp and inside issoft, warm cheese. So good. The steaks were even better. Kelley had a pampolona, steka stuffed with cheese, roasted tomatoes, and prosciutto. Not only was it delicious, it was the size of kids football. Unreal. Nice boittle of wine with dinner, too. After we had some dulce de leche gelato, the local specialty, and went home for some sleep.

Argentina

We are traveling again. This time we decided to head south and are in Buenos Aires Argentina. The plane ride was great. We had lots of open seats and even open rows on the plane. We were able to spread out and get some sleep on our 10 hour ride from Atlanta to Buenos Aires. Smooth flight, no problems, bad movie. Only option was 17 Again with Zac Effron.

We arrived in BsAs early and cleared customs without any issues. We arranged a pick up at the airport followed by a guided city tour. There is nothing better than walking out of a foreign airport, tired and a bit confused, and having someone waiting on you with your name on a sign. It always makes feel like "I'm kind of a big deal" a la Anchorman.

We toured the city, saw all of the main historical monuments and sites, and killed time until hotel check-in. We went to La Boca, famous for its soccer team, and saw the only black and white coca cola sign id ever seen. The oposing teams colors are red so they dont allow any in the stadium. Serious business here.

Dinner tonight and we will post some pictures tomorrow.