rhkkmk's visit to South America as reported on the SA board
May 13th, 2009, 04:08 AM
#42
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I just hope that when Bob posts some photos he has some photos of the food he describes. Skip the beautiful mountain vistas. We want to see parilladas, spreads of antipasto and the table setting at the vineyard in Mendoza. Also, while many have posted on the increasing costs in ARG, and the rising inflation, in truth, the prices Bob mentions (which are very helpful), seem reasonable on many of the meals. You would be very hard pressed to find anywhere a meal like he describes at that vineyard for about $60 US for two people, with matched wines.
Also, he has to tell us if rumors that he will begin carpincho farming in the wilds of Massachusetts are greatly exaggerated.
Also, he has to tell us if rumors that he will begin carpincho farming in the wilds of Massachusetts are greatly exaggerated.
May 13th, 2009, 04:46 AM
#43
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i have the first herd of carpincho arriving next week.... i have hired a shepherd, named gpanda, to tend the flock so we should be all set. The first line of shoes, bags and suitcases will be ready next year. Carpincho will be killing each other off just to get away from gpanda so we expect a great crop next year.
these will be a new breed of carpincho however, unlike any in the past. rather than existing in streams and ponds mine will live in a hot tub in the back yard.
these will be a new breed of carpincho however, unlike any in the past. rather than existing in streams and ponds mine will live in a hot tub in the back yard.
May 13th, 2009, 09:01 AM
#48
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Sunday 3rd
Breakfast in the club. Out to take pics around the PM area. One thing that makes the restorations interesting is that the developers have left many of the old structures and things like huge cranes used to lift cargo scattered around the area. There are also large reproduced pictures of scenes from earlier days.
Did our e-mails and showered. Took a taxi to our new hotel, the Sheraton Park Tower. This is back nearer to san martin park area and the English tower. This hotel is part of a larger complex with a convention center and a huge regular Sheraton. This is the lux arm of that complex. It starts with the doorman in tails and top hat and the lux marble lobby where there is no reception desk but rather ornate individual desks for check-in. Each room has a personal butler. Its quite lovely and a great way for us to finish our trip. Great deal with points and cash---$90 plus 4800 pts.
After unpacking we took a taxi to the San Telmo area to enjoy the weekly Sunday market. We had not been there 5 minutes when a mature lady tried to pick my pocket… Did she think I was stupid. I left my wallet in the safe. I yelled at her and she just stood there and looked at me. I warned everyone around me. There were tons of people and it was a beautiful day. We looked at many of the stalls, selling antiques and crafts and food. We settled into Todo Mundol for lunch. It overlooks the main square in ST. We were lucky enough to get a open window seat so that we could observe all the comings and goings, which was fun. The lunch was delicious: steak sandwiches and fries washed down with H2O.
After the lunch we walked around some more and walked almost the entire length of Defensa St. There were artists, shops, tango dancers and sales of all kinds for the entire length of the street. Karen helped out the economy as we went along.
At the hotel we had some wine in the room from Mendoza, a little nap and some lazing around. We wanted something different for dinner and asked the concierge for suggestions on Indian and Mexican. We settled on Mexican. We took a taxi to the DF Restaurant in Puerto Madera. We both had nachos and they were terrible. The salsa was nothing more than tomato sauce with chuncks, no spice, no hots… THIS IS A PASS and turned out to be our worst meal on the trip, even worse than what was on the bus.
But we slept very well in our lux room.
Breakfast in the club. Out to take pics around the PM area. One thing that makes the restorations interesting is that the developers have left many of the old structures and things like huge cranes used to lift cargo scattered around the area. There are also large reproduced pictures of scenes from earlier days.
Did our e-mails and showered. Took a taxi to our new hotel, the Sheraton Park Tower. This is back nearer to san martin park area and the English tower. This hotel is part of a larger complex with a convention center and a huge regular Sheraton. This is the lux arm of that complex. It starts with the doorman in tails and top hat and the lux marble lobby where there is no reception desk but rather ornate individual desks for check-in. Each room has a personal butler. Its quite lovely and a great way for us to finish our trip. Great deal with points and cash---$90 plus 4800 pts.
After unpacking we took a taxi to the San Telmo area to enjoy the weekly Sunday market. We had not been there 5 minutes when a mature lady tried to pick my pocket… Did she think I was stupid. I left my wallet in the safe. I yelled at her and she just stood there and looked at me. I warned everyone around me. There were tons of people and it was a beautiful day. We looked at many of the stalls, selling antiques and crafts and food. We settled into Todo Mundol for lunch. It overlooks the main square in ST. We were lucky enough to get a open window seat so that we could observe all the comings and goings, which was fun. The lunch was delicious: steak sandwiches and fries washed down with H2O.
After the lunch we walked around some more and walked almost the entire length of Defensa St. There were artists, shops, tango dancers and sales of all kinds for the entire length of the street. Karen helped out the economy as we went along.
At the hotel we had some wine in the room from Mendoza, a little nap and some lazing around. We wanted something different for dinner and asked the concierge for suggestions on Indian and Mexican. We settled on Mexican. We took a taxi to the DF Restaurant in Puerto Madera. We both had nachos and they were terrible. The salsa was nothing more than tomato sauce with chuncks, no spice, no hots… THIS IS A PASS and turned out to be our worst meal on the trip, even worse than what was on the bus.
But we slept very well in our lux room.
May 13th, 2009, 12:18 PM
#51
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Sunday 3rd
Breakfast in the club. Out to take pics around the PM area. One thing that makes the restorations interesting is that the developers have left many of the old structures and things like huge cranes used to lift cargo scattered around the area. There are also large reproduced pictures of scenes from earlier days.
Did our e-mails and showered. Took a taxi to our new hotel, the Sheraton Park Tower. This is back nearer to san martin park area and the English tower. This hotel is part of a larger complex with a convention center and a huge regular Sheraton. This is the lux arm of that complex. It starts with the doorman in tails and top hat and the lux marble lobby where there is no reception desk, but rather ornate individual desks for check-in. Each room has a personal butler. Its quite lovely and a great way for us to finish our trip. Great deal with points and cash---$90 plus 4800 pts.
After unpacking we took a taxi to the San Telmo area to enjoy the weekly Sunday market. We had not been there 5 minutes when a mature lady tried to pick my pocket… Did she think I was stupid. I left my wallet in the safe. I yelled at her and she just stood there and looked at me. I warned everyone around me. There were tons of people and it was a beautiful day. We looked at many of the stalls, selling antiques and crafts and food. We settled into Todo Mundol for lunch. It overlooks the main square in ST. We were lucky enough to get an open window seat so that we could observe all the comings and goings, which was fun. The lunch was delicious: steak sandwiches and fries washed down with H2O.
After the lunch we walked around some more and walked almost the entire length of Defensa St. There were artists, shops, tango dancers and sales of all kinds for the entire length of the street. Karen helped out the economy as we went along.
At the hotel we had some wine in the room from Mendoza, a little nap and some lazing around. We wanted something different for dinner and asked the concierge for suggestions on Indian and Mexican. We settled on Mexican. We took a taxi to the DF Restaurant in Puerto Madera. We both had nachos and they were terrible. The salsa was nothing more than tomato sauce with chuncks, no spice, no hots…The chips were floating in meted cheese and liquid. THIS PLACE IS A PASS, and turned out to be our worst meal on the trip, even worse than what was on the bus.
But we slept very well in our lux room.
Monday
Up late and with no provided breakfast we walked out onto the near-by walking street and found some breakfast on Paraguay St, 501—Blell Café. The best pastry we had on the trip. We shopped around a bit on the streets adjacent to Florida St. We then took a taxi to Recoletta to get my belts from Arandu. They were ready and I am very pleased with them. They are both brown thick leather. One has a woven greek key design woven into it in cream and the other has a red and tan design woven into it. A steal at 210 pse for the two. Karen managed to buy some jewelry there as well, plus we bought a double 5X7 Alpaca folding picture frame for a christening gift next month.
From there we just had to head back to El Sanjuanino for some more of the best empanadas in BA. They were even better this time!! Make sure to try the spicy beef. And their French fries are freshly made and delicious. Back to the hotel.
We were a bit uncomfortable the nite before as the bed, as do most beds in Argentina, had a heavy duvet on it. We asked the butler to remove it and put just a normal blanket on the bed.
Out for some more shopping, but this time K knew just what shop she wanted to go to, to purchase some shoes for gifts. Accomplished quickly.
Upon our return to the hotel, trouble was brewing. Barricades had been set up preventing entrance to the hotel. We jumped out on the drive and showed our room card for entrance. Seems that there was to be an announced demonstration against the hotel industry at the Sheraton having to do with wages. We could hear the drums, firecrackers and shouting across the street in the park. This was too good to miss so we flew to the bathroom and returned to the lobby for observation. Soon the mass of demonstrators surged onto the main road next to the hotel and stopped traffic. They were beating loud drums, waving signs, yelling and letting off fire crackers. They approached the main entrance to the hotel where they were held back by the barrier. TV cameras were there to record the event.
There were tons of both uniformed and undercover police and security people all over the hotel grounds. There was a group of perhaps 15 men in riot gear with shields and plastic masks and protective clothing standing in formation in front of the hotel… There were water cannons on large trucks parked beside the hotel. WOW. Just then who crosses the picket line from a side entrance but Avrooster. He was returning my sweater.
The demonstration went on for at least an hour. Then one of the leaders spoke and gave some demands over the loud speaker they brought with them. This fired up the crowd even more and now they started throwing more and bigger fire crackers into the hotel property. They threw thousands of leaflets over the barriers and the place looked like a confetti machine had gone berserk. They also threw a few paint bombs onto the driveway making a mess. They rattled the barriers and dragged a couple of them out into the street. The police retrieved them and put them back in place. Then from about the 7th floor of the main hotel a banner was lowered (must have been a maid in one of the rooms). This brought huge cheers.
Just as quickly as the demonstration had started it ended. It was all reported on tv that nite and it also was reported that they moved to another place where things got more difficult and some people were hurt and 60+ were arrested.
We returned to our room and packed things up a bit as we were to leave the next day.
For dinner we decided to return to Ligure, the site of our first meeting with Avrooster. The original meal had been so good that this seemed like a good place for a final dinner.
We had chateaubriand for two, beer, malbec and flan. The meat was perfectly cooked at medium rare to rare and the accompanying veggies were all delicious. Good beginning and good ending…We only missed our new Argentine friends at the meal.
Tuesday May 5
Our last day in Argentina. Back to Blell for breakfast. Walked around a bit and ended up behind the Marriott Plaza in the church near the site of my first assault. This time we were able to go into the church. Its magnificent.
We returned to the hotel and did internet and had a quick snooze. Headed to Las Nazarenas, which is just across the street from the Sheraton, for a large late lunch. We shared an order of filet mignon (lomo) which was just the right amount, a spinach salad, and water plus a ½ bottle of malbec for K. I asked for and was granted late check out at 5PM.
We went into the lobby bar at 5 and listened to the harp music and had tea and goodies. Our car, driven by Pedro, arrived about 6:15.
Our flight was at 9:50PM. We did the formalities at the airport and everything went smoothly. The Contential flights retraced our arrival: BA-Houston-Newark-Boston. All were on time and the planes were even newer and more comfortable.
BTW, the wine box held up perfectly, even though one corner is slightly dented from airline mishandling.
Thank you for listening
If there are any questions, please ask them here or at [email protected]
THIS CONCLUDES MY TRIP REPORT.
I will let you know when the pics are ready
Breakfast in the club. Out to take pics around the PM area. One thing that makes the restorations interesting is that the developers have left many of the old structures and things like huge cranes used to lift cargo scattered around the area. There are also large reproduced pictures of scenes from earlier days.
Did our e-mails and showered. Took a taxi to our new hotel, the Sheraton Park Tower. This is back nearer to san martin park area and the English tower. This hotel is part of a larger complex with a convention center and a huge regular Sheraton. This is the lux arm of that complex. It starts with the doorman in tails and top hat and the lux marble lobby where there is no reception desk, but rather ornate individual desks for check-in. Each room has a personal butler. Its quite lovely and a great way for us to finish our trip. Great deal with points and cash---$90 plus 4800 pts.
After unpacking we took a taxi to the San Telmo area to enjoy the weekly Sunday market. We had not been there 5 minutes when a mature lady tried to pick my pocket… Did she think I was stupid. I left my wallet in the safe. I yelled at her and she just stood there and looked at me. I warned everyone around me. There were tons of people and it was a beautiful day. We looked at many of the stalls, selling antiques and crafts and food. We settled into Todo Mundol for lunch. It overlooks the main square in ST. We were lucky enough to get an open window seat so that we could observe all the comings and goings, which was fun. The lunch was delicious: steak sandwiches and fries washed down with H2O.
After the lunch we walked around some more and walked almost the entire length of Defensa St. There were artists, shops, tango dancers and sales of all kinds for the entire length of the street. Karen helped out the economy as we went along.
At the hotel we had some wine in the room from Mendoza, a little nap and some lazing around. We wanted something different for dinner and asked the concierge for suggestions on Indian and Mexican. We settled on Mexican. We took a taxi to the DF Restaurant in Puerto Madera. We both had nachos and they were terrible. The salsa was nothing more than tomato sauce with chuncks, no spice, no hots…The chips were floating in meted cheese and liquid. THIS PLACE IS A PASS, and turned out to be our worst meal on the trip, even worse than what was on the bus.
But we slept very well in our lux room.
Monday
Up late and with no provided breakfast we walked out onto the near-by walking street and found some breakfast on Paraguay St, 501—Blell Café. The best pastry we had on the trip. We shopped around a bit on the streets adjacent to Florida St. We then took a taxi to Recoletta to get my belts from Arandu. They were ready and I am very pleased with them. They are both brown thick leather. One has a woven greek key design woven into it in cream and the other has a red and tan design woven into it. A steal at 210 pse for the two. Karen managed to buy some jewelry there as well, plus we bought a double 5X7 Alpaca folding picture frame for a christening gift next month.
From there we just had to head back to El Sanjuanino for some more of the best empanadas in BA. They were even better this time!! Make sure to try the spicy beef. And their French fries are freshly made and delicious. Back to the hotel.
We were a bit uncomfortable the nite before as the bed, as do most beds in Argentina, had a heavy duvet on it. We asked the butler to remove it and put just a normal blanket on the bed.
Out for some more shopping, but this time K knew just what shop she wanted to go to, to purchase some shoes for gifts. Accomplished quickly.
Upon our return to the hotel, trouble was brewing. Barricades had been set up preventing entrance to the hotel. We jumped out on the drive and showed our room card for entrance. Seems that there was to be an announced demonstration against the hotel industry at the Sheraton having to do with wages. We could hear the drums, firecrackers and shouting across the street in the park. This was too good to miss so we flew to the bathroom and returned to the lobby for observation. Soon the mass of demonstrators surged onto the main road next to the hotel and stopped traffic. They were beating loud drums, waving signs, yelling and letting off fire crackers. They approached the main entrance to the hotel where they were held back by the barrier. TV cameras were there to record the event.
There were tons of both uniformed and undercover police and security people all over the hotel grounds. There was a group of perhaps 15 men in riot gear with shields and plastic masks and protective clothing standing in formation in front of the hotel… There were water cannons on large trucks parked beside the hotel. WOW. Just then who crosses the picket line from a side entrance but Avrooster. He was returning my sweater.
The demonstration went on for at least an hour. Then one of the leaders spoke and gave some demands over the loud speaker they brought with them. This fired up the crowd even more and now they started throwing more and bigger fire crackers into the hotel property. They threw thousands of leaflets over the barriers and the place looked like a confetti machine had gone berserk. They also threw a few paint bombs onto the driveway making a mess. They rattled the barriers and dragged a couple of them out into the street. The police retrieved them and put them back in place. Then from about the 7th floor of the main hotel a banner was lowered (must have been a maid in one of the rooms). This brought huge cheers.
Just as quickly as the demonstration had started it ended. It was all reported on tv that nite and it also was reported that they moved to another place where things got more difficult and some people were hurt and 60+ were arrested.
We returned to our room and packed things up a bit as we were to leave the next day.
For dinner we decided to return to Ligure, the site of our first meeting with Avrooster. The original meal had been so good that this seemed like a good place for a final dinner.
We had chateaubriand for two, beer, malbec and flan. The meat was perfectly cooked at medium rare to rare and the accompanying veggies were all delicious. Good beginning and good ending…We only missed our new Argentine friends at the meal.
Tuesday May 5
Our last day in Argentina. Back to Blell for breakfast. Walked around a bit and ended up behind the Marriott Plaza in the church near the site of my first assault. This time we were able to go into the church. Its magnificent.
We returned to the hotel and did internet and had a quick snooze. Headed to Las Nazarenas, which is just across the street from the Sheraton, for a large late lunch. We shared an order of filet mignon (lomo) which was just the right amount, a spinach salad, and water plus a ½ bottle of malbec for K. I asked for and was granted late check out at 5PM.
We went into the lobby bar at 5 and listened to the harp music and had tea and goodies. Our car, driven by Pedro, arrived about 6:15.
Our flight was at 9:50PM. We did the formalities at the airport and everything went smoothly. The Contential flights retraced our arrival: BA-Houston-Newark-Boston. All were on time and the planes were even newer and more comfortable.
BTW, the wine box held up perfectly, even though one corner is slightly dented from airline mishandling.
Thank you for listening
If there are any questions, please ask them here or at [email protected]
THIS CONCLUDES MY TRIP REPORT.
I will let you know when the pics are ready
May 13th, 2009, 12:32 PM
#52
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Great report as always. So you ignored those travel warnings that say to stay away from local demonstrations?
Looking forward to the pix. If only I could get my VN ones done (waiting for the boss to sort hers).
Looking forward to the pix. If only I could get my VN ones done (waiting for the boss to sort hers).
May 13th, 2009, 05:53 PM
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Hi Bob and Karen,
I've really enjoyed reading your trip report---makes John and me regret even more that we had to postpone our trip. But you have certainly done a great job of detailing the high points, the fabulous food and the great experiences. South America will remember you---and your multiple contributions to the economy of shops and restaurants!!!! Hope we soon follow in your footsteps!
Maggie
I've really enjoyed reading your trip report---makes John and me regret even more that we had to postpone our trip. But you have certainly done a great job of detailing the high points, the fabulous food and the great experiences. South America will remember you---and your multiple contributions to the economy of shops and restaurants!!!! Hope we soon follow in your footsteps!
Maggie
May 13th, 2009, 06:32 PM
#56
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OK, so i have paired down the pics into 3 seperate groups. I have titled important ones but others you will have to use your imigination (gpanda, remember when you had one?)
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqOLo
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=BauXDJw2aqONw
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=BauXDJw2aqOP4
hope you enjoy them....some are good, many are only marginal, especially the ones of the falls
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqOLo
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=BauXDJw2aqONw
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=BauXDJw2aqOP4
hope you enjoy them....some are good, many are only marginal, especially the ones of the falls
