La Boca

On Saturday, a small group of us planned to head over to La Boca (means mouth; it sits at the mouth of the Riachuelo (little river)) for a late lunch. La Boca is a poor, working class barrio in the Southeastern part of Capital Federal (city of Buenos Aires). I had been to La Boca once before to visit Caminito, a small section of beautifully colored buildings, tango dancers, artisans selling their wares and restaurants trying to lure you in for a bite. Caminito, literally little street/little walkway, as it is today is actually a recreation of what the neighborhood once was. The rather poor Italian immigrants who settled here in the late 1800s used scrap metal and wood to build their homes and whatever paint was left over from the nearby shipyards. This is how the neighborhood became so colorful. However, over the years the neighborhood lost its splendor. In the 1950s, local artist Benito Quinquela Martin, unhappy with the state of disrepair, began a project to re-beautify the buildings (many old convetillos = communal housing) in the small section known as Caminito. And today, this section of La Boca provides the eye something pretty to look at, but is not a true picture of La Boca. Because all of the guide books only show photos of Caminito, many tourists (myself once included) believe this is La Boca. And, most people who visit Buenos Aires will know nothing more of the La Boca barrio than this small, yet vibrant tourist trap. Don't get me wrong, there are perfectly good reasons someone would choose only to visit Caminito (safety is a REAL concern in La Boca), and even though I just labeled it a "tourist trap," I would still recommend an afternoon in Caminito. Today, though, we were headed to the real La Boca. The La Boca that the guide books warn you is not safe, not really even in the daytime.

Because of safety concerns and because we were running the risk of not making it to the restaurant before it closed for its late afternoon siesta between lunch and dinner, we decided to take a taxi instead of the colectivo (bus). Our cab driver told us the moment we got in that he didn't know exactly where we were going...just the general vicinity. A couple of us had a good idea of how to get there once we got to the barrio, so we told him to press on. We were looking for El Obrero, a restaurant appreciated by local working men (el obrero actually tranlsates to the working man), brave tourists and celebrities alike. In fact, when U2 visited Buenos Aires and asked to be taken to a place that authentically represented Argentine culture, they were taken to this place. I have a feeling they were not disappointed.

After a few wrong turns and some helpful locals, we found our way to El Obrero. Despite the popularity of this joint, the street itself was eerily quiet. Once inside though, there was quite a bit of energy from other patrons and our lively waiter as well. The interior walls are decorated with Boca Juniors (the local futbol (soccer) gods (team)) paraphernalia, photos of celebrities who have visited and chalkboards decorated with a handwritten menu. 

The food, as you might expect from the name, was reasonably priced. It was also incredibly tasty. We started off by sharing rabas (fried calamari), which I hadn't had since arriving in Buenos Aires nearly three months ago. They were lightly breaded, kissed with lemon juice and delicious. For my main course, I had ojo de bife (ribeye). I've been to a lot of parillas (steak houses) in Buenos Aires and have consumed quite a number of steaks. I think this may have been the tastiest piece of beef I have had yet. Other dishes at the table included chorizo (sausage) and salad, bife de chorizo (similar to NY strip steak) and squid ink pasta with squid and tomato sauce. All were enjoyed! Pictures of some of the dishes are shown here:

Aside from one older couple who I am convinced are barrio regulars, we closed the restaurant's lunch shift around 5 pm. Our waiter was kind enough to call us a taxi without us even asking...another reminder of the neighborhood we were in. We did wait outside on the deserted street, but we definitely wouldn't recommend walking around. 

If you make it to Buenos Aires, I hope you'll visit Caminito and El Obrero. Both are worth it.

An Unexpected Visitor from Chile

On June 4th, 2011 in southern Chile, the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle eruption occurred and the volcano has been periodically releasing ash ever since. On a number of occasions, flights coming to and departing from Argentina have been postponed because of an ash cloud (nube de ceniga) hovering over Buenos Aires and other parts of the country. Even Australia, New Zealand and South Africa had ash clouds overhead, disrupting their flight schedules as well. It actually seems as though Chile has been less impacted by the volcanic eruption than its southern hemisphere neighbors, near and far.

This past Saturday (more than four months after the initial eruption), another ash cloud erupted from the Chilean volcano and, sure enough, it made its way to Buenos Aires. On Sunday, its presence was ominous - a thick, grey cover over the city. You could feel its grittiness on your skin and see it on the dust covered cars parked along the street. Many flights were grounded until the cloud cleared just a day later.

When I returned to my apartment Sunday evening, I realized that I had left my balcony and bedroom windows open all day. The last time I did this, an uninvited bird came to see me. This time, a visitor from Chile stopped by. There was volcanic ash over every exposed surface in my apartment! While it's actually quite difficult to see, you can feel it when you swipe your finger across a table, the floor or the screen of my iPad. As much as I'm not enjoying cleaning it all up, it's pretty neat to think this came from a volcano...one located in another country to boot. Two lessons re-learned: we live in a small world AND mother nature is one powerful chica. Oh, and don't leave your windows open when the day's forecast from weather.com says "ash cloud."

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Last week I was lucky enough to have my favorite person south of the Equator with me! Brian was here for his first week-long visit after having to return to the states without me in mid August. We had such a great time together, most of which was just spent living...you know: walking to work, sitting in cafes, picnics in the park, wandering around the neighborhood, enjoying great steak and sharing stories over local malbecs. All of this alone would have been perfect, but we decided to mix it up a bit with some adventures outside of the city as well. One of those was a short ferry ride across the Río de la Plata.

Colonia del Sacramento is a colonial town in southwestern Uruguay, across the Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires. It was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese and is the oldest town in Uruguay. Over the years, claimed ownership of the land bounced back and forth between Portugal, Spain and later Brazil. Now it is part of the independent country of Uruguay. It is most well known for its historic quarter, a Unesco World Heritage Site. And, it is only a one hour ferry ride away from Buenos Aires! With a population of only 22,000, it was a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires.

When you're in Colonia, the thing to eat is a Chivito, which is the national sandwich. Chivito actually means little goat in Spanish, but the Chivito sandwich consists of beef, ham, cheese, tomato, egg, mayo-like spread and olives. Another one of those heart attack on a plate meals. We ordered ours al plato (literally, "on the plate" - no bread). Of course, it came with french fries. The Chivito tasted good, but there was a bit too much going on for me.

I highly recommend experiencing the historic section on foot. It's a nice way to see everything, wandering at a relaxed pace. The winding, cobblestoned streets are best appreciated this way. Plus, you can then at least try to convince yourself that you've burned off the calories from the Chivito (maybe if you swim back to BsAs!). But, once you've taken it all in, go and rent a carrito de golf for $20 or $30 USD and venture a little further into Colonia. We rented one for a couple of hours at the end of the day and it was tons of fun! We drove the cart up la rambla along the river which provided a beautiful view. The beaches along here are quite nice and we stopped off a couple of times to take in the beauty. We followed la rambla out to the Plaza de Toros, an old bullring, and also saw the Hipodromo (horse racing track). Brian left his driver's license back at the apartment, so I had to do all of the driving. I think he was a little jealous of my sweet wheels. 

We had such a nice time in Uruguay. The people were so friendly, the pace of things very relaxed. It started to rain in the evening, so we headed into a quirky bar for a Mastra, a delicious Uruguayan beer, to finish the day. Then it was time to head back to the station to catch the ferry back to Buenos Aires. The tranquil beauty of Colonia is hard to describe, so I'll let a few photos do the talking for me: