Our wonderful time in Argentina

Old Feb 8th, 2008, 01:11 PM
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Our wonderful time in Argentina

hola amigos

well our time in Bs As, Glacier and Iguazu NPs far exceeded our expectations ( which were high!).

We took off from Victoria w/ temp 6 degrees C and landed 24 hours ( after a few typical Air Canada delays) 24 hours later at EZE and 36 degrees. Great for those of us experiencing winter and surprisingly not at all uncomfortable after a days adjustment.

The tone for the trip was set when our young driver had to go into the terminal for some $ and left us w/ his car and keys and great tango music on the radio.

Our apartment in the tall building at 4551 Guatemala ( x Armenia) was exactly how the pictures presented it. And before we went out for dinner we were treated to an exquisite sunset. While the apartment and building were wonderful. The service from apartments ba was not. The usual problems reported here. I won't bore u w/ the details. Michael credited us back some money for our pain and suffering. I sense when he is out of town ( which he was) the mice are off playing instead of attending to renters. Hopefully he will try to get some more responsible staff.

We loved our Palermo Soho neighbourhood: a great mix of architecture;restaurants; shopping and access to the parks for running if one is up early to beat the heat or in my case out all night. People in the neighborhood were extremely welcoming and my castellano quickly surplanted the italiano that was at the front of my brain. While one can travel in Argentina w/o the benefit of castellano, the ability to speak it created some wonderful opportunities to interact w/ local people and opened the door to new friendships

more later
cheers
andrewdavid
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Old Feb 8th, 2008, 02:11 PM
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Hi AndrewDavid,

Glad to hear you had a wonderful trip. Looking forward to reading more about your time in Argentina.

raquel
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Old Feb 8th, 2008, 04:50 PM
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Hi, AndrewDavid!

Glad you had a good time in our country during your honeymoon!

As you know, I would NOT be at all bored by "the details" of the problems you had with your apartment. LOL!!!!



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Old Feb 9th, 2008, 10:35 AM
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Glad you had such a wonderful time in Arg. Its such a fabulous country. We're in the early stages of planning our trip to Argentina and thinking about renting an apartment in Palermo Soho. I have been following the various threads here and on TA re apartment rentals and problems. So I too would appreciate hearing what types of service issues you had with your rental.
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Old Feb 11th, 2008, 12:29 PM
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Well, AndrewDavid, your original post promised "more later".

We are all ears. LOL!!!!
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Old Feb 11th, 2008, 08:43 PM
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amigos,
well we spent our first 8 nights in Bs As and were sorry to leave but knew we would be back intermittently between our trips to patagonia and iguazu. friends of ours from here in victoria were down for 2 months and their apartment on thames was just a few blocks from ours. our friend Ron took us out for a walking tour down santa Fe Ave and Libertador working downtown via design center, bellas artes and recoleta cemetary our first day. we loved the hot weather and felt dressed like many folks comfortable nice shorts and shirts. i expect the city is more formal with the cooler weather. Got down to the cathedral and casa rosada before we pooped out and hopped in a taxi. the cabs were all great and quite reasonable for us and had a variety of music which i could chat about in castellano.

we really liked our palermo soho neighborhood; lots of cool older and newer buildings and lots of construction and renovation taking place which interested me greatly as an architect. i chatted at the edge of job sites w/construction foremen and fellow architects which is always a treat to hear how things r done. anything we needed was convenient and the plethora of parks, shops and restaurants and cafes was great. we ate like kings due to the exchange rate but knew from conversations w/ adjacent tables that it was not so easy for people living about us. whenever we wandered into the Disco supermarket they seemed to be playing either the elevator or techno version of "don't cry for me argentina" which we laughed abit about.

The produce in the Disco and local markets was excellent and great value for us from the frigid north where almost everything is imported at this time of year. Of course i got greedy when i found a 10 kilo hunk of fresh watermelon for 3 pesos and laughed at myself when i missed turning onto guatemala and walked 10 blocks beyond until i realized i wasn't making progress. but the fellow who walked me back part way invited me into his house for a coffee so vale la pena!

more later
cheers
andrewdavid
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Old Feb 12th, 2008, 01:08 AM
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Thank you for great second chapter AndrewDavid!

Don't forget yestravel, who is planning a trip and "thinking about renting", asked "what types of service issues you had with your rental."

I'm just curious, because, as I live here, I most certainly won't do a short-term rental.

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Old Feb 12th, 2008, 06:53 AM
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Av--thanks for the reminder to AndrewD. I may start a thread here and on TA to get some thoughts on rental versus staying at an apt.
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Old Feb 12th, 2008, 07:17 AM
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oops -- that would be thoughts on apt rental versus staying at at hotel.
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Old Feb 12th, 2008, 07:28 AM
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You can e-mail me and I'll tell you all the pros and cons or you can do a little research on the trip advisor Argentina forum, where the subject has been covered extensively.
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Old Feb 12th, 2008, 07:50 AM
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Thanks -- i will have to dig up your email. I have done LOTS of reviewing TA and this site and am still uncertain.
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Old Feb 12th, 2008, 08:54 AM
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That one's easy.

1) Click on my screen name.

2) Find my "The REAL Buenos Aires" thread, which is in about 10th position, at this time.

3) Open it. On the 11th post you will find my e-mail.

Happy digging. LOL!!!
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Old Feb 12th, 2008, 01:06 PM
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the issues were lack of towels and tub for 4 nights; lack of hotwater for 2 nights ( until we just started pressing buttons; lack of response from repeated phone calls. Michael the owner was out of town when he came back the issues were corrected and he credited us back money for our inconvenience. i expressed to him that he needed more reliable staff who wouldn't make promises they wouldn't keep. i believe he is working to avoid the issues we encountered. time will tell
cheers
a/d

ps i wonder about the way respondents focus on the negatives rather than the positives that r the bulk of my entries. none of this was life threatening or prevented us from having an awesome time in Bs As. Personally i never let minor inconveniences rentals; hotels (unless filthy) or transportation delays get in the way of enjoying travel. These often provide opportunities to interact with local folks that is always educational and often hilarious!
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Old Feb 12th, 2008, 03:24 PM
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that should b tub stopper ; we had the tub from the get go!

a/d
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Old Feb 12th, 2008, 05:28 PM
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AndrewDavid! Hola!!
So happy to hear that you enjoyed your time here..
I like to hear all the Good stuff so more details darlin..shopping? where did you eat? Did you buy music while you were here?
I have been listening to Otros Aires .. you'll love it.. Hurry back~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsPr_...eature=related
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Old Feb 12th, 2008, 06:15 PM
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AndrewDavid -- thanks for explaining what your issues were with the apt. Sorry if I appeared to be focusing on the negative...just gathering information for our trip. Glad you had such a wonderful time in a wonderful country and looking forward to hearing more details.
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Old Feb 13th, 2008, 11:13 AM
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golly scarlett now u have me at a disadvantage. i am terrible on restaurant names, but could walk u everywhere or explain via my free phone to Bs As !

we ate mainly in palermo soho: l'ecole ( which was not particularly french ; my friends kept thinking its a cooking school which it is not), a fabulous morrocan restaurant on armenia maybe 6 blocks off santa fe. exquisite meals at bobo hotel where we stayed 2 nights. new years eve at el gardelito on thames i think; us and a lively crowd of locals. a great parrilla on guatamela perhaps corner of jorge borges w/ dining street side down and upstairs

shopped mainly in the neighborhood: shorts , shirts; shoes ( plaid high tops for dancing) in the boutiques; my AFA jersy at the sporting store on santa fe near the plaza italia metro. books at MALBA; cd's ( i guess our tastes r alike as i am listening to Otros Aires now! as i write) at Notorious ( we had been downtown to their record store jazz club a few times for shows

yestravel: i would defintly recommend apartment life better value ( we had a gorgeous one bedroom w/ queen sleeper in livingroom. a/c/ pool and gym; staffed front desk 24/7 for $US 850 for 8 nights. great location guatemala and armenia

cheers AndrewDavid
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Old Feb 13th, 2008, 02:11 PM
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Otra vez, hola amigos

we used our apartment kitchen for breakfasts and pre dinner cocktail parties. our balcony had a lovely sunset view over the neighborhood. we also snuck food down to the pool for luncheon there one day.

Although it took us a few days to adjust to the dining schedule we adapted to dinner at 10:30 I loved coming out of a restaurant at midnight to find people waiting for tables. With the fine weather and long hours of daylight ( summer time in the southern hemisphere is luscious , eh) u could walk about before and/ or after dinner. By the way there was no place we walked day or night and sometime we were out until 4 am that we didn't feel perfectly safe . Our experience was if we looked slightly lost people would approach u to help and the only mis information i received was unfortunately whilst wandering about w/ my 10 kilo chunk of sandia ( great in the blender)

For restaurant we ate mainly in palermo soho: l'ecole ( which was not particularly french ; my friends kept thinking its a cooking school which it is not), a fabulous morrocan restaurant on armenia maybe 6 blocks off santa fe. exquisite meals at bobo hotel where we stayed 2 nights. new years eve at el gardelito on thames i think; us and a lively crowd of locals. a great parrilla on guatamela perhaps corner of jorge borges w/ dining street side down and upstairs

shopped mainly in the neighborhood: shorts , shirts; shoes ( plaid high tops for dancing) in the boutiques; my AFA jersey at the sporting store on santa fe near the plaza italia metro. books at MALBA; cd's at Notorious ( we had been downtown to their record store jazz club a few times for shows.

Palermo soho is full of beautiful shops w/ great window displays and interior architecture. There r not an enormous # of bill boards but many r fairly seductive: i love the hosed down futbol jock model in the AFA jersey that looms above Recoleta cemetary)

One of our nicest days intown was actually just out of town down the rio sarmiento from Tigre. We took the regular train for about 2 pesos from retiro station. entertainers hopped off and on the train to provide music and a group of twenty somethings invited us to share the ubiquitous and delicious mate. we walked 3 blocks to the estacion fluvial and chose a restaurant/ hotel and were directed to the appropriate beautiful wooden waterbus. After about a 40 minute cruise we were dropped at the dock for Dos Ciervos ( or something similar) and had enough parrilla for six before siesta on the lounge chairs above the river. There is a wonderful procession of boats, kayaks, canoes, waterbuses and barges going by : not unlike the grand canal in Venice w/o the palazzi. After awhile we swam in the warm silty brown waters of the river.
Whilst swimming i started chatting w/ a young argentine. it turned out when we came out of the water that he and hiis friend were sitting near us. so Lucas and Gaby invited us to share their cerveza and thanks to my castellano we spoke for a few hours and had a few more beers until the time came for the last boat back to Tigre. We agreed to meet in a few days for dinner. i would love to go back and explore some more branches of the river and stay for a few nights in the modest but extremely friendly resorts scattered about the delta.


to b continued

cheers
andrewdavid
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Old Feb 15th, 2008, 07:00 AM
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hola, I'm a bit out of synch here but wanted to reflect on our new years eve. as i mentioned we ate late at El Gardelito on Thames in Palermo Soho. This is a cosy spot which we shared w/ a crowd of people who lived in Palermo Soho or friends of same. I believe our dinner was 100 pesos and good . At midnight we all took our inclusive champagne out on the street to watch the ad hoc and somewhat frightening firework shows (the news the next day was full of fire works related injuries)

We stood outside for about an hour and the wait staff brought dessert out to us. It was warm and friendly and we enjoyed chatting w/ our fellow diners.

Someone had the bright idea to go down to the Obilisco and see if there was a crowd. By the time we caught a bus and got down there around 2 am the crowd was mainly empty bottles. We roamed around down town and looked for a club/dive in which to dance but most were closed that we checked. At about 3:15 am we started to look for a taxi and thought we might be stranded . My husband was sure we could walk back to Palermo Soho and I was sure we couldn't ( our first married fight!). Luckily just as I was about to lie down on the pavement a cab pulled up ; dropped someone of and picked us up and got back to the apt at 4am. We realized if we had walked we might still be walking.

cheers
AndrewDavid
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Old Feb 15th, 2008, 07:02 AM
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ps
avrooster how is ur knee?
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