Feliz Navidad... and some endings

Hello all,

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! I have decided to skip the Bariloche story for now and first write about our last couple of days here in Buenos Aires. It's Christmas morning and there are no stockings or trees here but instead suitcases beside me which we've been packing. We are leaving Buenos Aires today for the last part of our trip (to Iguazu Falls and then Rio - Ariel's parents are in Iguazu now) and it's a very emotional time. I've been thinking back on the last 4 months here in Buenos Aires and all the memories we had here. It's really been wonderful and I'm so glad we were able to have this experience.

I think it really started to hit home that we were leaving when Carla, the woman who works downstairs and reads the magazines, rang our doorbell with a gift for us (see last photo of us together - note that I am eating ice cream again). It was super sweet of her to do this-- she got us a tile that says Buenos Aires Tango as well as a couple of mugs. She told us that no one ever talks to her and we talked to her so much. Little does she know that I love talking to the people in my neighbourhood. She then got a little teary-eyed and left. After this,it really started to sink in that we were going. Yesterday we also said goodbye to Luis (Senor Laundry). He told us that he was glad that he met us and hopes to see us one day again.

Yesterday was also my final spanish class with Jose-Luis. I decided to buy him a Christmas present to thank him for all his help. I was looking for the perfect t-shirt that wasn't plain black or white. Finally I found it-- they were selling a shirt identical to one I had so I bought it. Now, as you can see from the photo, Jose-Luis and I have matching skater t-shirts!! (because I am such a skateboarder dude of course)... Jose Luis, if you are reading this I am going to keep up my Spanish I promise!!!

Unfortunately I didn't get to say goodbye to Senora Sandwich so if she's reading this (or her assistant) I'm sorry and Feliz Navidad... Besos. One other person I didn't get to say goodbye to yet is hot Andy the landlord. I hope he drops by today but I have a feeling we are not his top priority at Christmas. If he does drop by I certainly will take photos and post them of hot Andy.

Of course every day this past week I've been having ice cream and empanadas. They really have formed a staple diet. Luckily, the ice cream shop across the street is open today and we are going to go for a final photo shoot with our friends there. Man, am I going to miss Buenos Aires ice cream!!!

Last night we went to a Christmas party for foreigners hosted by a friend of a friend (yes we crashed it). There is a Christmas tradition in BA to have fireworks on Christmas eve. As you can see from the video, they opted for the cheap fireworks which almost killed us a couple of times. See video of me filming fireworks until I got sprayed and burnt by one... It was a nice evening with a great turkey dinner. Ariel made guacamole mmmm...

After dinner I was really tired and sleepy but still went to Amerika with some of the guys (see right for super cool posing with our drinks). Amerika is the only club I haven't been to yet so I was happy to get to go finally. We didn't stay long as we were wiped out....


On the 23rd we went out for our last BA steak dinner, to Don Julio. Wow they have amazing meat. We had our usual lomo and entrana with a malbec. Delicious (see photo for us chowing down)! Man I don't know what it is about the meat here but I will need to come back one day to taste it again!

One new thing we were able to do this past week was check out this drum circle which happens every Monday night in Buenos Aires. It was a great experience with lots of energy as you can see from the photo (ok so the picture doesn't look like there is a lot going on but it was really rowdy I swear)...

They also had very large beer for sale here (15 pesos for a litre - that is the only size you can buy - YUM!). You can see someone here new in the photo, Mr. Short Shorts. Someone should tell him never to wear those pants. But interestingly enough... we have seen him before!!... and he was wearing the same short shorts at that time (see other photo)....
Mr. Short Shorts is just another one of the great BA celebrities that make the city so special...

Well over the last 4 months I think I have officially fallen in love with BA. It wasn't any one thing in particular or any one person or one event... it was a combination of many things, ups and downs, and new experiences...

Most of all I say... MUCHAS GRACIAS BUENOS AIRES!!! We will be back!!!

Our bus tonight leaves at 7pm for Iguazu where we will spend 2 nights before heading to Rio de Janeiro for New Years! I can't wait for the BEACH!!!

Love Miguel!!!

Hot Ape on the Bus

We're baaaaaaaack.... in Buenos Aires, that is... We have just come back after spending a week long mini-vacation in Bariloche, which was beautiful and worthy of a least one future blog (stay tuned for hot pictures of me in a wet-suit). I am significantly behind on my blogging so I must catch you up with what we did last weekend before we left for Bariloche.

However, great news in terms of my blog and future career as a writer (I'm looking for job offers)... today I went to visit Senora Sandwich and her sandwich-making assistant (see prior blog) told me she had been recently visiting my blog. I am thrilled that I have some local fans now!

Last Sundy we accompanied Ariel's parents to the Feria de Mataderos, a local festival in the Mataderos suburb of BA. The festival, unlike San Telmo's antique market, is geared more for locals. It took us about 1 hour to get there by bus, but when we arrived, we saw the locals in action, dancing away to some folk music dressed in traditional "gaucho" clothing. They say it's a festival for families but look at this gaucho about to spank his dance partner's bum.


Speaking of gauchos (latino cowboys), later on we were treated to a gaucho show at the Feria. It was very impressive as you can see from the picture on the right with the underage gaucho riding a horse and trying to put a peg in a very small ring (you really had to be there).

Here is a picture of the head gaucho man putting up the "ring hole" so you can see how it works. The galloping gaucho races towards the ring and tries to put the peg in while the horse was galloping.

Overall the Feria was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There was yummy food (empanadas and some choripan) and a mini market where I bought some dulce de leche.


A great suprise this past week was a visit from Jenn, Tobias, and baby Lauren. Tobias' dad lives in BA and they were visiting him over the holidays so we were able to see each other. I used to work with Tobias and Jenn and it was great to reconnect and introduce them to my favourite past time, eating pizza, beer and ice cream (did I mention my tiny pot belly which is growing and I have named Juan since it started in Argentina)!

After the visit, Ariel and I boarded the 20-hour bus to Bariloche. Bariloche is a city in the south of Argentina close to the border with Chile. It is known for its outdoor scenery, chocolates (YUM!) and charm. After this trip, I may win the award for Mr. Urban turned Mr. Outdoors!

Normally, the bus ride is slightly boring (other than the movies, but I am getting a little sick of watching Made of Honor). Interestingly this time, we were treated to some entertainment. The guy in the seat across from us, who looked a bit ape-ish, decided to do some sun tanning or maybe put on a show, so we decided to snap a picture of him (see photo above). We were giggling as we took it as we were trying the get the best angle. I'm not sure he realized its a bit difficult to get a tan through a window, but we didn't want to disturb his heavenly bliss. Plus the view wasn't bad!

Before we knew it the bus ride had finished and we had arrived in Bariloche, which reminded us of a Swiss-village mixed with some Western Canada scenery (and cooler Canadian-like weather). We knew we were going to have a great time there. Here is a photo of us in the main square with the typical lodge-type building in the background.

There's so much to write about Bariloche that I will save it for a separate blog.

Until then. Besos,
Miguel

Muuuuuuuuuy Lindo!!! (en Mendoza)

Hola,

I met the cutest woman ever, Analia, in Mendoza (see photo). She was one of the owners of the hotel and we did a lot of talking so I could practice my Spanish. Everything she described was 'muy lindo' (very beautiful/cute/pretty) with a lot of Argentinian body language so sooner or later, I was copying her in the hopes of being a true Argentinian.

Below is a video of us practicing together... Please provide your comments if you think I have gotten the hang of the muy lindo.




Anyhow, our hosts at the hotel really made us feel special, especially after we bonded over the fact that Dolores had taken advantage of us (they didn't like her either). The ladies even helped us book a Bike Tour called Bikes & Wine for our third and final day in Mendoza. The tour logo (above) is of a person drinking wine while simultaneously riding a bike, which as you may expect, is not something you normally do. I don't ride bikes much but it seemed like the perfect way to explore the Maipu valley in Mendoza so long as we didn't get too intoxicated. So we decided to go for it, especially since the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day!

We got a taxi to the bike shop and rented the bike from the cute Argentinian guy with the long hair in the photo. Long hair (and jean shorts) are very "in" here. In fact, a lot of the people are floggers, a term that I have never heard of but apparently it's the style here. I am not turning into a flogger, don't worry.

We got on our bikes and rode to our first stop, a winery where we tasted some Cabernet Sauvignon (see photo)... Keep in mind that it was only about 11 am at the time.



After this winery, I was a bit peckish so we stopped at a chocolate store and tried some chocolate liqueur and of course some chocolates. I was in heaven being in a chocolate store, and as usual, decided to take a photo of us behind the counter..

We then rode by this pretty house and stopped for a nice lunch in the garden. We later found out that the owner of the house is a woman from Vancouver BC (a bit of a hippy). The food was quite delicious and we bought a bottle of Torrontes white wine. It went great with my gazpacho soup.

For the main course we had a steak (lomito) sandwich with papas. This is starting to be a staple for me here in BA. Also starting to notice that I have a tiny little pot belly (HELP!)...


The scenery around us was really fantastic. Here is a picture we took from a third winery we visited...

Here is another one, with the happy couple in front of the nice scenery...

We really enjoyed the wine of the third winery. So much so that we started to feel tired. Thinking about biking back to the bike rental place was not turning my crank, especially since the bike seat was not very comfy (yes I am used to the finer things in life). So, being the VIPs that we are, we opted for the Option B : leaving our bikes at the winery and taking a cab back home. It was only 10 pesos more and well worth it.

We arrived back to our hotel and bonded a bit more with the friendly ladies there, then boarded our bus back home to Buenos Aires...

We got back in BA and spent our last weekend on the town, where we checked out some clubs and had a great dinner with Sandra and Silvina. They have been great hosts to us while we have been here (Sandra works for the same company as me, but here in BA). Sandra told me she reads my blog often which is the best thing you can possibly say to me other than you love my grey hair (both will earn you many brownie points).

The two told us about their upcoming meditation retreat to India and it got me thinking that would make an EXCELLENT future trip, especially since I am constantly on the go and can't relax.

Well... looking back on Mendoza we had a great time there and will remember it as being MUY MUY LINDO! Our next trip coming up is to Bariloche on Tuesday. Time is really flying and I am going to need to take more pictures to capture everything we do....

Right now, I am happy to report that I have a tan from sitting on my balcony and reading in the park, plus all the time in the sun in Mendoza - YES!

Hugs,
Miguelito

Tasting Dolores.. (in Mendoza)

Editors note: It's our last weekend in Buenos Aires which means I'm killing the pain and depression by overdosing on my favourites: Alfajores, Empanadas, Helado, Lomo, even agua con gas... But still want to
catch you up on things...

Mendoza Trip: Dec 9 -12

Mendoza is a wine-lovers paradise which produces some of the country's (and continent's) best wine. We loved Napa Valley so of course, we had to hop on the 12 hour bus ride to taste Mendoza. As part of the trip, I organized a luxurious VIP wine tasting package with a woman by the name of Dolores (more on her later). We also were joined on the trip by Mick (see right), the Auzzie that Ariel met in his Spanish class (editor's note: I am still not fluent in Spanish, sorry I am trying though).

We arrived early in the morning on our first day after a 12 hour bus ride (easy for us now - we are experts in long haul buses!!).

Frommer's Latin American guidebook says:
Mendoza is an artificial oasis, receiving no more than 5 days of rain per year.

The hard truth:
NO FAIR - we got 2 rainy / cloudy days!!!



We spent our first day wandering the city, walking through the main square which was like a park, and stopping for delicious lomito sandwiches. As you can see the sandwiches are very yummy -- and large-- and shortly after this, we fell into a lomito coma state.

There were some very unusual things in Mendoza, including this one-of-a-kind alien cotton candy dispenser-->









That night, we had a nice Middle Eastern dinner, then got a good sleep for our VIP tour the next day. We awoke the next morning, had breakfast, and were greated by our private driver (he was shy for photos, and actually barely spoke). Our winery tour was in the Uco Valley, which apparently is the up-and-coming area of Mendoza wineries. He drove us to our first winery where we posed near the vineyards.

Here is another photo of the vineyards with the beautiful mountains in the background. (Please ignore the clouds, that wasn't happening...)

We then got a tour of this winery, called Salentein. The winery was huge, immaculate, and had very high tech processes. During the tour, we contemplated staying behind and opening all these barrels of wine...

Then it was time for the wine tasting at Salentein. But.... gasp!! We were only being allowed to taste 2 wines. We wanted to try some more but apparently Dolores had placed a limit on us (even coca leaf chewing Christian had gotten us 4 or so per bodega). We were not happy with this development but focused our attention on drinking the 2 wines very thoroughly and told the driver to alert Dolores that we were feeling our VIP status fade quickly (actually the tour cost more than our Madonna tickets and the hotel combined so we wanted to ensure it was going to be worth it).

However, this winery had a free art gallery/ museum so we wandered around and really enjoyed ourself. This is a picture of me posing with some outdoor art.


Then it was time for the lunch at the second winery, Altus. The lunch was absolutely delicious. First we had appetizers and some wine out in the countryside.... We are drinking some Chardonnay here and later had some Rose. Thank goodness they kept the wine flowing at this winery...

Here are some pictures of some of the appetizers we had as they were so delcious...


<-- Fancy sausage (not kosher) on nice bread and fancy cabbage on spoon (not cole slaw I swear)

Scrambled egg inside of egg shell (actually quite creative and very tasty) -->





Then we moved into the cute house for our main meal, which was some steak, papas fritas and dessert was rice pudding (which I don't usually like but really was so delicious). We are a bit drunk at this point in time.

Again, however, we found out that Dolores was getting in the way of our VIP tasting... we were told that we would need to pay extra to have the 'good' wine. I actually liked the wine we had but it was driving me crazy that we were not getting the good stuff. We decided that we needed to speak to Dolores later at the hotel...

It was then off to winery #3, Azul, which is a small boutique winery and the host of the wine tour was a 18 (or so) year old son of the owner and his friend. The wine here was very good but all of a sudden, we couldn't find Mick anywhere. Then we walked to the chemistry set behind the wine vats and found Mick flirting with the hosts, who, as you can see, were also slightly drunk from tasting their wine at each tasting. Amateurs!!

We knew we had to keep an eye on Mick for the rest of the tour...

We then were driven back to our hotel in Mendoza city and prepared to meet Dolores to pay her and provide feedback. We wanted to tell Dolores that we liked the tour but really hoped to have access to more wine. We sat her down at the table to talk to her and before we knew it, she had an anger meltdown on us and things got very ugly (see right for simulation of event with actor playing Dolores). In the end, Dolores left in a huff and we realized we really didn't like the "taste" of Dolores...

However, we looked back on the day and realized we really did have a wonderful lunch and we were quite drunk throughout the day (definite objective of the tour). So, all and all, we really did enjoy ourselves and our first two days in Mendoza were quite special... we looked towards the future and hoped the next day would only be even better -- our day of biking through the vineyards on our own bike tour...

Love Miguel...

Give it to me... Madonna!!!

It was probably the most crowded, stickiest, sweatiest 5 hours I can remember in recent history... I dont' know what you were thinking about but I'm talking about MADONNA. Yes, the Material Girl brought her show to Buenos Aires and of course, we were there! Madonna always puts on an incredible show, and she did not disappoint her fans. Here is the best picture I was able to take of Madonna at the concert (I know, don't quit my day job)... However, concerts in Buenos Aires appear to be organized slightly differently than those in Canada.

First of all, the best seats actually are not seats at all on the floor-- it is standing room only. There are two floor sections --
1) Campo: lower class, which unfortunately we fell into this time as did thousands of Madonna's other Buenos Aires fans
2) VIP: must have slept with Madonna or her tour managers to get access to these seats. (I would have resorted to this in retrospect)

Basically, they sell a zillion tickets and it's first come, best seat, standing room only in both sections, with the VIP section being closer to Madge herself. For this reason, Ariel and I (along with our trusty latino sidekick team) arrived early (around 5pm) to mark our place on the floor... Loyal bloggers will recall that Madonna switched her concert dates at the last minute so the show we ended up seeing was the last Buenos Aires show due to the date change...

Then we waited, drinking our 8 peso water bottles and eating popsicles... until about 8pm when DJ Paul Oakenfold came on to spin. Unfortunately, he wasn't very impressive to say the least and really it could have been any one of us playing a mixed CD. However, the crowd began to bounce up and down and suddenly we were in a GIGANTIC MOSH PIT. We started to get very very sweaty and were bouncing around with the latinos... Some people had to be picked out of the crowd by the security and hauled off to be treated for dehydration as it was really sweaty and the popsicles weren't doing it for them obviously... Luckily Ariel and I are very butch and can handle any environment we are thrown in. There were some communal water cups that began to be passed around which we were very happy for.

DJ Paul Oakenfold ended at 9pm and we waited until 10pm for Madonna. In that time, it started to rain and the crowd was getting slightly rowdy. The cheers began for Madonna and the rain was cooling us off a little. Some just looked up into the sky hoping that they could drink the rain.

Finally Madonna came on stage and she did not disappoint. She sang some of her best songs, and of course the dancing was unbelievable as well. Madonna did a lot of guitar playing and we were distracted looking at her massive biceps. She really is pumped!!! Here is a photo of Madonna in the midst of a jump rope number where she demonstrated her double dutch skipping abilities. A special treat for the Argentinians was how she sang her famous "Don't Cry for me Argentina" with the Argentinian flag in the background. The crowd went nuts. In fact, the crowd was going nuts the entire time and the Mexican girls we were with decided to move to a separate area to avoid being trampled on.

Madonna sang for about 2 hours, and did some of her best songs including: Music, 4 Minutes, Like a Virgin, Give It To Me, Like a Prayer (my favourite number of the night) and an amazing Spanish interlude of La Isla Bonita. The special effects were unbelievable, including videos of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. All in all,
I really enjoyed the show, despite being pushed, shoved, and sweating like a beast. By the end, we left the stadium and grabbed some pizza and much-needed agua.

Ariel and I agreed on the following factors:

1) Argentinians LOVE Madonna
2) Madonna doesn't disappoint
3) We may not wear those clothes we wore that night ever again
4) We will get VIP next time

Also, knowing I am going back to Canada in about 4 weeks time, I contemplated an alternative career choice (see above)...

We then went home to pack for our 3 day trip to Mendoza, wine country where we were going to be treated like royalty in the Argentinian countryside.

More on that soon,
miguelito

5 weeks left...

Gasp!!! It's official... 5 weeks left and then Miguel and Ariel-Jose return to reality (and SNOW). How depressing!!!

What this really means is that we will be trying to cram a lot into the next month or so, in particular some great travel and going out a lot to the clubs. I think it really hit home for us that our time left is very finite when Sean and Katrine (pictured right) recently left to go back to Norway. Of course we decided to have one last helado together in my favourite ice cream shop across the street.

For any of you who have doubt, yes we are definitely going home. I am really loving being a man of leasure here, where I spend my days learning Spanish, and eating empanadas and ice cream. We have bought our extremely overpriced one-way tickets back for January which actually ended up costing more than a round trip ticket. We obviously should have bought round-trip tickets but at the same time weren't sure when we would be coming back (or from where). In fact, we will be flying back from Rio de Janeiro where we will be spending 10 days and NYE there... and even better, my friend Jodi is flying from Ottawa to meet us there. Jodi loves to go out and dance, which will be great since I've had to find some bad substitutes for blond dancing girls here in BA, for example the girl in this photo above.


We really have been going out a lot lately to experience the BA club scene, where you don't go out until 2 or 3 am and a power nap before is a must. Someone once said that you really haven't experienced the nightlife of a city until you find yourself puking outside of a nightclub. Well that was me the other night here in Buenos Aires but first I took this photo (but didn't remember doing so) with another member of the Mike & Ariel fan club, Latin American division.

Speaking of Latin American, my Spanish is definitely improving. Jose-Luis and Paula have been tag teaming me for the past couple of weeks, and now I know most of the Spanish tenses (YAY!). I still have some trouble speaking fluently but I have noticed that I really can understand most things when people are talking...

One thing I don't love about the clubs here is that people smoke a lot since I am used to the smoke-free clubs in Toronto. Now, I have to deal with my cool clothes smelling like smoke at the end of the night. Here is a photo of the smokey club (editor's note - it may actually be dry ice but at least there is a cigarette in the background for artistic expression)

To keep us company here, Ariel's parents Annie & Elie have arrived from Montreal and are here for the month of December. They are living down the street from us for now but I think eventually we will be sharing our apartment with them later in December, which may be a bit too close for comfort - we will see... Here we are having dinner at a kosher restaurant... Little do they realize that earlier that very day I was eating some jamon y queso empananas with a choripan (pork sausage yum)...

Also we recently had a bit of a cold snap for a couple of days. As you can see, I was back to wearing my "latino winter uniform" (i.e. the grey hoodie I wear in every photo). Don't worry, it is back to 30 degree weather now. We know for sure that Annie is related to us as she shares our bad luck -- she was pickpocketed on the street the other day.

What better way to spend a 30 degree sunny Friday than kayaking on the Tigre river. This is what we did yesterday with Ariel's MBA friends to celebrate the end of their school term. It was such a beautiful day and we got some sun and a great workout. I didn't realize that it would be a 2 hour kayak to our lunch and siesta location so after about 30 minutes of paddling and my shoulder aching, I would start "taking in the beautiful scenery" which essentially meant taking a break and making Ariel paddle by himself. He didn't appreciate this very much...

Here is a picture of us posing in front of our cute green kayak. It was super hot and now my arms are brown. With a tan, I am one step closer to blending in better with the latinos, especially now that I have my amazing Spanish skills. I may get some other photos to upload soon which actually prove we are kayaking and not just hanging out on a beach. PS - the water is really gross and not something that I would swim in.

Here is another cute picture of Ariel pretending to drink mate while he is researching for our upcoming trip to Mendoza next wee. Mate (green tea, but stronger) is another big culture aspect in Buenos Aires... in the parks, people bring their mate container and some hot water, and they share it with each other... Ariel is also sporting his new glasses which he had to buy to replace the ones stolen in Salta.

Our trip next week to Mendoza (wine country) had to move slightly due to Madonna, who has switched her concert from tonight until Monday. We are seeing her Monday and tonight we are heading to Moonpark, an electronic music festival. We are willing to make the change for you Madonna but you better not disappoint! Tonight should also be great and this time, I am taking my camera so I can show you all the great pictures!!

One last note, Senora Sandwich's assistant was jealous that she wasn't in a photo in the last blog so we took one of her as well... The assistant actually is the one who likely has to cut the crusts off the bread... hopefully she will be happy if she is reading this blog...

Hugs,
Miguelito