Whew! We made it!
We’re in Buenos Aires. Hard to believe. After all the talk, the procrastination, the second thoughts, we’ve arrived. I’m sitting in a tiny apartment in San Telmo, watching our socks dry in bus fumes on the balcony while Peter and Ila nap off a big morning of wandering about. Neither Peter nor I have been out of the U.S. much in ages and it’s already been an adventure trying to navigate the basic differences – milk in a bag, keys that look as though they might open a treasure chest, no apparent traffic laws, and the tiniest, thinnest, least absorbent paper napkins you’ve ever seen. They’re essentially a square of that eco-toilet paper you can buy at Berkeley Bowl.
Adventures started early when we missed our connection to B.A. in Miami. We had fifteen minutes to traverse the entire airport and gave it our best shot despite signs indicating we had at least a 16-minute walk ahead. Too much carry-on, a three-year old, foot-injuries not withstanding, we made it before the departure time, but found that the LAN flight had left five minutes early. So much for the mañana mentality we keep hearing applies to all things South American. In the end, a little pleading with the airlines and we (and our bags!!) made a later flight. Thanks to our amazing contacts here, we even had a driver waiting when we arrived the next morning.
Our apartment is on the sixth floor of an ugly, corner building on a busy street. Ten stories make it a high-rise in this particular neighborhood. The hallways are dark, it has no character, and it certainly doesn’t appear luxurious by American standards, but there’s a doorman and an elevator and I’m thinking it’s probably on the well-to-do side for the area. We feel very safe, it’s very clean and it was cheap. So it works.
In the nearly 36 hours we’ve been here we’ve mostly kept to the San Telmo neighborhood. It’s an area known for antiques, narrow cobblestone streets and beautiful older buildings. There are loads of cafes, bars and restaurants. We ate a very late dinner in a plaza packed with tables of people of all ages and backgrounds drinking wine and enjoying the warm night. Ila and a little girl name Juana played with Juana’s My Little Pony collection for an hour, laughing and singing together despite the fact that they didn’t share a language. Peter and I drank cold beers and slowly took in the fact that we’re so far from home. This morning we had a late breakfast, bought a stroller and walked until we could walk no more and poor Ila had a meltdown at the supermercado when we couldn’t find peanut butter. Does anyone know how to say peanut butter in Spanish? Do they make peanut butter in Spanish?
And so it begins. We’re tired, overwhelmed, homesick and very happy to be here. So far so good! Adios for now!
Ila's first empanada:
5 comments:
That sounds fantastic, you guys. Enjoy the adventure! Anyways, I did a little research for you on the peanut butter problem and you're right, it is scarce in Argentina. Here is what one site said:
'...there’s a big grocery store right near the Alto Palermo mall in Buenos Aires (close to the Bulnes subte station) that has most of the Yankee-friendly food that we found. When we were there, which was a year ago [summer 2005], they even had peanut butter, but, as you know, these things do tend to come and go.'
Another post suggested making your own by throwing roasted peanuts into a blender.
Or, you can just e-mail me your address and I'll send you a care package.
Keep posting!
l.
Hi Jessica and Peter. Bienvenidos al BA. I believe that peanut butter in Spanish is just butter of peanut- mantequilla de cacahuate'.
Have a great time, be safe, and DO NOT start pronouncing your ll's like j's!
Hey Guys...Glad to see you having fun. Perhaps you will find the equivalent of what may be peanut butter like staple in Argentina. I would be curious what that is...and it may be time to give up paper napkins and wash hands more frequently instead!
Good Luck.
hi jessica,
you've brought back memories of my three week trip to buenos aires about ten years ago. i was working on some commercials so only had a few days off to explore but i loved the city. i was staying in recoleta on a walking only street near the ancient cemetery.
one day someone on the crew told me that *lavache* was a nice street to explore and told me roughly how to get there. so i ventured out and walked some and took the old wooden subway and ended up being chased by a couple of junkies for three blocks up that twenty lane wide boulevard - all good exploring. the whole time i looked for and never found *lavache* but had a nice time checking out all the shops on lavalle ;). i also explored san telmo and la boca - seeing first hand the tango on the streets - as well as the government buildings and squares.
it took a while to adjust to eating late and having a 5am call time until i realized that everyone else was napping after work until dinner.
somewhat related, my girlfriend vanessa's brother jan just went down kite boarding in brazil and the ex-pats down there requested he bring two things: more sails and ... PEANUT BUTTER. so i'm guessing it really is hard to find in south america in general.
good luck with the adventure.
oliver
ps - we're off to explore mayan ruins in a few weeks... very excited.
Hi Jessica!
Buenos Aires is definitely an amazing city!
I rented a Buenos Aires apartment and had a great time in the city!
BTW, peanut butter is translated as "mantequilla de maní".
Cheers
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