mai estori March 5, 2008
Posted by andeandaremos in Argentina.add a comment
Madrid: Estuve 3 dias y 2 noches en la Capi. Gracias muchas de nuevo a Simon, Santi, Ariel, Sky, Jackie, Xabi, Karen, etc., que me acogen tan bien siempre que voy a Madrid. Fue un autentico placer verlos y sobre todo verlos tan bien.
Peter y yo fuimos hilvanando momentos con unos y con otros, y todos nos dedicaron atencion y amabilidad.
La gran novedad es que al estar Peter delante gran parte del tiempo hable con ellos en ingles, y me senti muy comodo . Como se nota que han trabajado enseñando ingles por lo claro del acento y por la paciencia que demuestran al escuchar. Que gusto da y que contraste con la mayoria de la gente con la que he tenido que comunicarme en GB.
El lunes por la noche volamos hacia Buenos Aires. El vuelo fue de maravilla, la llegada bien. Por alguna razon tuve un sueño muy liviano, casi etereo (inexistente) pero la adrenalina que te da empezar un viaje permitio que no bostezara en todo el dia.
La primera impresion de BA no fue muy alagueña: llegamos a una estacion desangelada al lado de una avenida de rascacielos feos y polucion. Pronto comprobamos que la ciudad tenia mas encanto que todo eso. Por ahora lo que mas nos ha gustado es San Telmo, un barrio tranquilo con aire artistil. los edificios son todos de su madre y de su padre, hay muchos cafes y restaurantes interesantes. Luego esta el mercado, lleno de quincalla kisch. Serrat y Sabina han sacado un disco doble, ¿lo sabiais? (no puedo creer el exito que tienen esos dos aqui, si en España estan sobrevalorados aqui ya ni te cuento)
He visto tango dos veces ya. Como me gusta ese baile. en uno de las veces el bailarin invito a alguien del publico. Una madre de familia muy seria se ofrecio. Me fascino el aire improvisado que tomo aquello, sin grandes florituras, pero con elegancia y belleza. ¡Que bonito!
Hoy, mas descansados y orientados estuvimos en Recoleta. Primero en el cementerio. Me parecio que es un lugar super fotogenico. Me encantaria saber mas de fotografia y una camara mejor. Un dia de estos me pondre a ello y volvere este lugar maravilloso para sacar unas fotos que le hagan justicia.
En el cementerio ¡ como no! segui una de las visitas guiadas. El señor que daba la explicacion es autentico. Con un espanol imponente narra incansable leyendas de aparecidos y recita poemas de Borges sin parpadear. Al final de la explicacion dijo que si acaso volvemos al cemeneterio siempre lo encontraremos apostado solicito en la puerta, y si asi no fuera, solo nos bastaria golpear una de las tumbas para que su alma nos guie por el recorrido de nuevo (servicio post-mortem, muy indicado para un cementerio).
Buenos Aires! March 4, 2008
Posted by andeandaremos in Argentina, English, photos.Tags: buenos aires, pigeons, san telmo
5 comments
Ok, I am sat in the noisiest Youth Hostel ever. Grand statement I know, but at this moment I believe it to be true…
Going to flashback to a moment earlier in the day when I was armed with a notepad and pen courtesy of a dear friend 
At about 7ish, Dom and I were sat in a lovely square in San Telmo, Buenos Aires, enjoying a cold glass of beer and recovering from a Hitchcockian experience involving some peckish pigeons.
The waiter had kindly brought us some nibbles to accompany our drink – salted peanuts and a corn snack of some sort. I had barely managed to swallow my first bite before a swarm of pigeons descended on our table and began attacking the savouries! Domingo began to out-flap the pigeons so I tried to shoo them away with the aforementioned notepad to absolutely no avail. More persistent shooing resulted in a couple of pigeons getting a firm smack on the beak (not intentional, dear RSPB members) but the resilient buggers refused to let up.
Finally, the kind waiter came to our rescue with another plate to cover the snacks. The pigeons then spent the remaining time circling our table ominously, waiting to mount their next attack at the first smell of corn. We decided it best to keep them waiting…
San Telmo is definitely the greatest discovery of our time in Buenos Aires so far… We´d enjoyed a smooth landing in BA at 7.15am and a short bus ride to the centre where we went to check in to our hostel. Irritatingly, they had no record of our reservation, despite having confirmed it twice by email. So, packs on back, we went in search of accommodation, finally settling on this place which seemed good (hadn´t been noisy then).
The bathroom. I´m still processing it actually. I´ll get back to you on that.
We left our belongings and headed out to eat lunch and explore. We ate well but, as we strolled, decided we felt slightly underwhelmed by BA. High rise building and lots of cars made for a smokey start so we decided to head out to the eco-reserve. We passed by the nice docklands area but the propensity of skyscrapers felt a bit oppressive and it seemed the city had yet to project much character. Once we were in the wetlands looking back, however, the skyscrapers looked hugely impressive towering above the reeds.
It wasn´t til San Telmo that we really started to admire the city though… Comprised of cobbled streets and colourful shop fronts, it evokes an old-world charm remiscent of Salvador and Cuba.
Off one street we discovered a huge indoor market with dozens of bric-a-brac stalls – I could have browsed for hours but (un)luckily they were near closing and I was beginning to feel parched.
Despite the pígeons, the square in San Telmo is a must for any visitor. Keep your bag on your lap, your snacks out of sight and relax to the sounds of tango in this leafy haven…
right – got a queue waiting for the comp so see ya later!
Sunning in Madrid pre-flight March 3, 2008
Posted by andeandaremos in English, Spain, photos.5 comments
Counting down the hours before heading off to the airport to catch our flight to Buenos Aires.
We´ve been blessed with unseasonably good weather for our Spanish sojourn and I´ve already managed to gain a slight tan. Yesterday, Dom and I managed to catch up with lots of friends and enjoyed a long stroll around the city, stopping off to munch on bocadillos de calamares (delicious deep fried calamari sandwich), a chocolate tasting menu and a delicious roast lamb with potatoes, pepper, salad and deep fried baby squid!
We´ve been really lucky to stay in Ariel´s spare room and use her internet connection to check my online scrabble games… Felt I ought to make a post!
We fly in a few hours. I´m hoping that this time I won´t be sat in front of an excitable 2 year old insistent on making as much noise as possible. Just in case, I´m arming myself with sleeping pills and a bribe for the steward/ess…
