Travel Location: Buenos-Aires,Argentina

Nessa cidade existe muitos lugares para sair e conhecer, vou publicar alguns que pesquisei e conheci, é muito legal eu recomendo:

BUENOS “BAIRES”

Barzinho: Entre 22:30 e 01:30 hrs.

Boate: Das 02:00 até quando aguentar.

QUINTA-FEIRA (Jueves):

Barzinho: Ásia de Cuba, Calle Pierina Dealesi, 750: Restaurante, barzinho e dança depois. Som é um Rip Hop a galera acha muito massa, tem boliche também eu acho. Primeiro rola um restaurante, daí eles arredam as mesas e tem boate.. Alrededor de la 1:00 de la mañana, se corren las mesas del centro, sube el volumen de la música y el clima de disco se impone. Además, si se quiere comer sushi, Mariano Nakar prepara deliciosos rolls, y recomienda a combinaciones a quienes quieran iniciarse en esta costumbre gastronómica. El público que lo frecuenta está en sus veintes y treintas años. Además, este espacio también es elegido por modelos, futbolistas, y gente del mundillo fashion.

Boate: Museum. É uma balada em San Telmo, uma boate enorrrme com musica eletrônica Dizem que dá muita gente bonita…

SEXTA FEIRA (Viernes):

Barzinho: Hard Rock Café, Ricoleta: Ótimo lugar para tomar uma gelada com amigos. Não existe melhor dia, todos os dias são bons.

Boate: Mint, mint, mint!! Av. Costanera, s/n – Punta Carrasco: É Baladão..no mínimo três mil pessoas. Pra quem gosta de música eletrônica…uma ótima pedida! O sol está nascendo e a festa ainda tá rolando… ou opera bay também é massa nesse dia, mas a MINT é bem mais legal…

SABADO (Sábado):

Barzinho: The Kilkenny Irish Pub! Calle Reconquista 1000: O melhor pub de Buenos Aires, tem a cerveja Guimmes, que só existe na Irlanda mesmo, é uma cerveja preta, dizem que é ótima.

Boate: PACHA!!!!! Av. Rafael Obligado e La Pampa – Costanera Norte: Aqui o negócio é música eletrônica, uma das melhores da cidade! Dá 09:30 da manhã e a boate ainda tá lotada! Essa é imperdível!!!

DOMINGO:

No domingo a tarde os barzinhos de Plaza Serrano sao muiito legais. Também tem os barzinhos no Puerto Madero que são ótimos.

Boate: INK: Só tem que ver se ta aberto porque um tempo parou nos domingos. Ink é mais pra dancar, mais top, a musica e comercial do tipo dance, um pouco de eletronica e alguma vezes botam regueton meio no final… nos domingos tipo 22:00 hs tem uma janta com show e depois começa a festa…

Outras opções interessantes:

Segunda-feira: A única coisa que funciona é a The Kilkenny.

Terça feira: A La Cigale é massa.

Quartas: A mais famosa de quarta é a Opera Bay, A entrada custa 30 pesos, sem dúvida, Opera Bay. Segundo o que dizem turistas e moradores: é incrivel!Exige uma roupa mais arrumadinha, nada de tênis, boné ou jeans. Nesse dia a balada começa mais cedo, por volta de 20:00, e acaba as 02:00 pois as pessoas já vão direto do trabalho. E tem uma mais UNDERGROUND pra quem gosta de rock – Salon Pueyrredon esta buenoBahrein (fica na calle Lavalle, 345) entrem e descam para o subsolo! Salón Pueyrredón es Under (bastante punk…) Queda en Santa Fe entre Godoy Cruz y Oro (a mitad de cuadra)

Quintas: imperdível é o Club 69!! Los jueves tambien te recomiendo Pinar de Rocha, en ramos mejia. Shamrock se pone de lo mejor los jueves tambien.

Sexta: O dia é do MINT mesmo…

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Travel Location: Buenos-Aires,Argentina

I arrived at my hostel at 2pm and knew that I only had 24 hours in BA so should make the most of it, despite feeling totally exhasuted! My hostel was in the city centre so i didn’t get time to chec out the cuter more characterful neighbourhoods but I diod a fairly good job of covering off the Obelisk, the Plaza de Major and Corrientes St where all the big theatres are. Ba struck me as being just another european style city- I’m sur eit has its charms which i will no doubt discover when I return for Christmas, but i didn’t feel as if i ws leaving the “ordinary” or get any flavour of latin america.

I decided to try out the legendary nightlife “just for a few” as i didn’t want to go too bed too early and get jet lag, so i paid to join in an organised pubcrawl. The first bar ws all you can drink red wine and all you can eat pizza so i think i got my moneysworth there! when i first arrived it was just young local guys who just wanted cheap beer and had no interest in socialising with me so I thought it was going to be a bad night but then I met an aussie guy called ohil and a Trinidadian called Riche and we had an absolute blast! The actual pub crawl got cancelled as there weren’t enough of us, but we all went on to several bars anyway and I must say, before i went out i didn’t know how people stayed out all night but now I do! I got in at 6am and didn’t even realise the time until I sqw it was light outside! Crazy night! I also managed to fall out of my top bunk bed and dislocate my finger… this is why i ALWAYS get the bottom bunk if i can!!

The next day I staggered up and got myself to the airport for my flight to Ushuaia, the worlds most southernmost city- quite literally the end of the world!

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Travel Location: Iguazu,Argentina

Travel About: park,hiking,travel-tips,getting-there,waterfall

DAY 48 – 20 JANUARY 2008

Well yet another Groundhog Day. We headed out from the hotel for desayno and almost unbelievably found a place that actually served cafe con leche that wasn’t Nescafe. That must be a first here in South America.

The falls are spectacular and you need to see them from Argentina and Brazil to experience the awesome power

We headed to Cordobas main bus terminal and tried to sign up for Murdoch activities but as usual the website is crap and you cant do anything without getting errors.

Scott is progressing well with his bracelet making and is starting to fill up my arm – obviously I am his best friend as he keeps making them for me.

We confirmed accommodation in Iguazu and let them know the eta for manana. Our bus arrived and left about 10 minutes late. The bus wasn’t packed and you could definitely tell the difference between the bus company we took yesterday – very good, and this one – very basic.

The journey was fairly uneventful, except for the really annoying family behind us, who filled their kid up on biscuits and coke and then he went nuts.

The scenery changed to very green with lots of water and from crops to cattle. Had Scott licking his lips.

DAY 49 – 21 JANUARY 2008

We arrived in Puerto Iguazu at 12.10 which was only 20 minutes late. Not bad for a 24 hour bus journey. We got off and walked to our hostel, which was about 10 minutes away. The room is fairly basic, but it was ready so we dropped our stuff off and kept moving and headed back into town to get details on tours, buses etc.

We decided that doing a guided tour of Iguazu is a waste of money so we will be getting up early to catch the local bus. Also saves a huge amount of money. The tourist office advised we need a visa for Brazil, but the local bus driver said we dent, so we are going to give it a go and see what happens at the border when we head to Foz de Iguassu. We have also changed our travel ideas we will head to San Ignacio for the jesuit ruins and then straight to Rosario, a dream destination for me.

We headed to a local restaurant, where Scott had another delicious steak (well he told me, I haven’t yet decided to eat the local dead animals). We also shared a bottle of vino blanco which was really nice, although my wine diet isn’t exactly causing me to lose loads of weight, damn.

We headed to the local Mercado and bought sandwich supplies for the trek in Iguazu tomorrow and went and had a siesta as we are now totally shattered.

Dinner was at an all you can eat Parilla bar and I made sure Scott ate his AUD$8 worth. I also had a huge plate of salad and the customary bottle of vino tinto, this time a Merlot from Mendoza.

We had a slow walk home at about 11pm and everywhere was just starting to crank up. It doesn’t seem to matter how late we go to dinner, we are still earlybirds.

DAY 50 – 22 JANUARY 2008

Well we got up early and caught the local bus to Iguazu which only took about 15-20 minutes. After paying our entrance fee we caught the train to the Garganta del Diablo, which is one of the main falls.

This involved walking for approx 1 km along a metal walkway, similar to Pemberton. The views were pretty spectacular, although as you are on top of the falls you dent really see the whole thing and there is so much mist etc makes taking photos very hard. Tip for anyone coming here, buy a waterproof camera, we have said that throughout our holiday and now it is too late, oh well our next holiday will require one as well.

From there we caught the train back to Estacion Cataratas and did the various hikes to view different falls. These you could view from different levels so it was spectacular to be right at the bottom of one of the falls. We got absolutely drenched, but it is so hot and humid here, it actually felt good.

We walked down to the ferry to get to Isla Grande San Martin but it wasn’t taking passengers, something to do with the high level of the river. So we had a picnic watching the falls and then decided to call it a day and leave the park. We got our tickets stamped so that tomorrow we can come back in for half price, if we cant get into the Brazilian side.

The weather here is 36 degrees with about a zillion percent humidity. My hair is frizzy beyond belief. We had a siesta like everybody else. I left Scott asleep and took a walk into town to have a look at souveniers, but it just seems to be getting hotter and hotter so went back to the hotel.

We headed back out when it was cooler and booked a bus ticket to San Ignacio and a bus ticket from there to Rosario along with some accommodation bookings. I have also booked an apartment in San Telmo in Buenos Aires for our remaining stay.

We went to a restaurant and both had the salad bar much to the amusement of the wait staff who I dent think have ever seen a man eat just salad, but Scott is a tad meated out.

DAY 51 – 23 JANUARY 2008

We headed out to the local bus terminal and got the bus to Foz de Iguassu which is in Brazil. We decided if they wouldn’t let us into Brazil because we didn’t have a visa, then we would just come back and reenter the park again from the Argentinian side. Anyway as luck would have it we entered Argentinian immigration and they stamped our passport. All the passengers piled back on the bus and Scott and I fully expected to stop at the Brazilian checkpoint but no, we drove straight past – so we actually saved some money.

We drove into Foz de Iguassu which is as different as you can imagine from Puerto Iguazu, it is all high rise apartments, restaurants, bars etc. Although our bus driver was intent on training for the F1 championships next year, so we didn’t have that much of a leisurely look around.

We got off at the local bus terminal and found the bus to the actual national park. The buses here have a weird arrangement where you get on the bus pay the conductor (not the bus driver) and then go through a turnstile to get a seat, you then leave the bus from the back door. Again the bus driver was going faster than even I drive, so maybe I should move here as we have never seen a speed camera.

We arrived at the park in one piece, where we paid our entrance fee, luckily they took Argentinian Pesos, as we didn’t have any Brazilian Reals – at this stage I am totally sick of carrying around about 5 currencies. Luckily Scott is a human calculator.

We then bypassed the tour group line and caught the first bus heading out to the falls. We followed the walk which showed the full view of the actual falls on the Argentinian side. The walk took you all along the falls culminating in a walkway that takes you out to the bottom of the falls and another couple of walkways that take you up to the face and top of the falls. All intent on getting you wet.

We think the Argentinian side is better as there is more to do and see and you do have the opportunity to get even closer to the water.

Anyway we had our picnic lunch before completing the journey in reverse back to Puerto Iguazu, again making it through immigration with no problems. I am sure they dent even look and just see the huge amount of stamps we have accumulated and give up trying to find where we have been last.

We headed out for an early dinner and after eventually finding a bank, which we had consistently walked past several times, and is stupidly called Metro which we thought was a supermarket, we topped up our funds and went back to the restaurant we went on the first night as Scott was ready to give the Parilla another go.

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Travel Location: South-America,Argentina,Misiones,San-Ignacio

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Travel Location: South-America,Argentina,Santa-Cruz,El-Calafate

This trip is just amazing……am here specifically for the Parc Nationale des Glaciares…….

Back to yesterday morning which had me visiting the strangest place for me on a trip……a jail!!!!!
It was considered one of the worst places anyone could be sent……all the worst murderers in Argentina were sent to Ushuaia…..they have kept it prety much as it was……it felt very chilling and jarring being there….anyway made for some contrasting images…..

It was so cold and wintery…..this was coming on for their summer remember….that when I left the airport I wondered if the flight was going to leave. As I said El Calafate is about 1000kms north in Patagonia, so it seemed strange to see all this barren desert again…….

Landed and transferred to a really nice hotel where they had already booked my trip for today to the Perito Moreno Glacier.
This morning at 8.30 the small ( 9 ) group of us headed to the glacier. I found out that we were taking a boat trip on the lake to see the glacier up close………it was freezing!!!!!!……..I had four layers on but no gloves…..and my hands could barely use the camera…..then we went for a two hour trek…..my trusty north face boots again….late lunch and back to the hotel for 5 pm…..it is about 100kms to the glacier face…..and a deserved 2 hour sleep!!!

Big day tomorrow as I leave at 5am and travel across the Andes again into Chile for the Torres del Paine National Park ending in Puerto Natales at 8pm. Thursday travel to Puntas Arenas where on Friday get my flight to Santiago……………Can I have a holiday when I get back!!!!!
Am reading Isabel Allende’s The House of Spirits…..excellent book!
Off to dinner…

adios,

Mario

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Travel Location: South-America,Argentina,Santa-Cruz,Perito-Moreno-Glacier

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Travel Location: Mendoza,Argentina

The first day in Mendoza, we walked around the city, getting acquainted with the layout.  That night, we ventured down the street towards Plaza Italia, and discovered an annual Italian festival (there is a big Italian history in Argentina).  The festival is three days each year.  It is a fair-style layout, with food and wine vendors everywhere, a central stage with music and traditional Italian dancing, and tons of people enjoying themselves.  We were going to eat at a restaurant, grabbing a typical Argentina dinner at 11:30pm, but it was closed, most likely due to the festival across the street.

Changing out plans, we purchased the tickets ($1 peso per ticket; $0.33 USD) and enjoyed the foods of different Italian regions.  We had some sausages over polenta, a tortilla type dish with ham and cheese, olives, and of course a glass of wine.  For dessert, we sampled this delicious strawberry-shortcake type pie dish.  In total, we spent $10 USD for dinner and wine.

***

Mendoza is a food and wine connesuir´s dream.  Vineyards and wineries all scattered throughout the landscape outside of the city, gourmet restaurants fill the city streets, and the dollar/euro/pound make it easy to enjoy all of it without straining your wallet.

Yesterday, Thursday, we headed off on a food/wine tour with about 8 other people.  Half of the group was from Argentina and Brazil, while the other half was gringos (Sweden, UK, US, and Japan).

During the 5 1/2 tour, we stopped at two wineries (1 small, 1 big), an olive oil factory, and a chocolate factory (which also produced gourmet jams, liquors, and dulce de leche).  Each stop allowed us to understand the processes, sample their products, and enjoy learning about Mendoza.  The tour was only $13 USD per person.  But we did end up purchasing olive oil, a few bottles of wine, and some chocolate.  We also picked up a jar of quince/walnut jam as a gift for our soon-to-be-host in Còrdoba.

After the tour, we cleaned up and headed out to meet up with a British couple that we had befriended on the tour.  The four of us met at a wine tasting room called The Vines in Mendoza.  Their wine is only from small producers in Argentina, primarily in Mendoza.  The wine flights we tried last night were amazing.  We are planning to join the wine club, (http://www.vinesofmendoza.com/wine_club/), which offers quarterly shipments of 6 boutique bottles for $145, which includes the shipping.  Sadly, they don´t ship to Minnesota, so we may have it shipped to my parents in WI.

Following the amazing wine, we ventured down the street to a restaurant recommended by the folks at The Vines.  A typical Argentine grill style restaurant, Azafràn (Spanish for saffron) was an amazing experience.  Some of the best food that we have ever had…right up their with restaurants we visited in Las Vegas, NYC, San Francisco, and Minneapolis.  Our appetizer was beef tartare, served with an avocado-cilantro paste, slices of fresh mango, and a small arugula garnish.  Rachel ordered a filet, which was grilled with a sweet & savory reduction, mashed potatoes molded into shapes of ravioli, sauteed leeks, and a slice of goat cheese.  I ordered something called Lomo, which also a beef steak.  It was grilled with green peppercorn and balsamic reduction, sauteed mushrooms with leeks.  We knew the steak would be good, but our first experience with Argentine beef surpassed all expectations.  Tender, juicy…delcious!  The bill, which also included water and a corking fee (it is common to bring your own bottles from the local vineyards to a restaurant) was $43 USD, which included tax and tip.

***

Sadly, we must leave Mendoza tonight at 10pm.  Overnight, we head to Còrdoba to meet our soon-to-be co-workers and host family.  With the vacation portion of the trip coming to an end, we are happy that we had such a great time in Chile and Mendoza, but we are also excited to begin working and hopefully helping the people of Còrdoba.

Ciao,

Jeff y Rach (Mendoza, Argentina; 7-March)

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Travel Location: Ushuaia,Argentina

After 13 hours of travel, crossing the Straight of Magellan (see pictures) by ferry and changing buses in Rio Grande (about 3 hours north of Ushuaia), I arrived into the “Southernmost City in the World” around 9:30pm with still plenty of light in the sky. A light misty rain was falling on the town; of course, a light misty rain is almost always falling here.  I hopped in a cab for a quick ride up to La Posta Albergue, where I’ll be spending the next 3 days before heading off to Antarctica. After a quick check-in, I pulled out the fleece jacket and raingear and headed out toward town, a 30-minute walk away, to meet up with a couple Irish lads I met this morning at the bus station in Rio Gallegos. Thus began a night of drinking Quilmes and some local brews at the Dublin Irish Pub (imagine 2 Irish boyz flying halfway around the world…only to go drinking in an Irish pub at the “end of the world”), followed by the Café-Bar Tante Sara, and then back again to the Dublin (couldn’t get enough of it the first time, I guess).

The Four Horsemen for the evening included myself, Derek and Gary from Kinsale, Ireland and a chap from Oakland, California named Leighton, who grew up in Santa Cruz, California. Derek and Gary, both 25ish, decided to take a break from work/studies to travel around for a few months before settling down. Although Derek seems well ready to continue his travels for maybe a few years to come.

The Four Horsemen for the evening included myself, Derek and Gary from Kinsale, Ireland and a chap from Oakland, California named Leighton, who grew up in Santa Cruz, California.

Leighton, 32, is a very interesting story and very interesting personality. After growing up in Santa Cruz, he moved to the San Francisco area to be an artist/entertainer/designer. He spent some time touring as a performer with the Yard Dog’s Road Show (http://www.yarddogsroadshow.com/), described as a “fifteen-member touring circus sideshow reminiscent of Burlesque and Vaudeville cabaret, where turn of the century births Victorian Rock and Roll”. You can see Leighton here in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqq0ZLUBrFU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XImHCztLEZU

He currently spends about 6 months of the year living in a Victorian house, with his wife, in a very rough neighborhood in Oakland, 3 months in Indonesia designing and manufacturing leather goods, and the remaining 3 months traveling the world. While in Oakland, he and his wife run a newly launched high-end boutique “Five and Diamond” (http://www.fiveanddiamond.com/) in the San Francisco Mission District, which sells a variety of specially designed leather goods and Indian-inspired jewelry. In fact, Leighton and I met on the bus ride down when I inquired about his fresh, leather, cowboy iPod case (http://www.wildcardcollection.com/), which he personally designed; we ended up talking most of the way down.

I’ve obviously given Leighton a pretty extensive write-up, but there’s a rationale for this. One of the reasons I’m enjoying traveling so much is due to the extremely interesting personalities (like Leighton) of fellow travelers I run into on the way…..personalities, people I would have never met in my west Los Angeles, investment banking prior life. For this reason alone, traveling has been a worthwhile decision.

I finally called it a night around 3am (the Irish lads were just getting started of course) and made my way back to the hotel for a night of sleep.  My throat was raw and my eyes irritated and red after so many nights “socializing” in smokey bars and restaurants. The U.S. is so anti-smoking (a good thing in my opinion) that I have absolutely no tolerance for second-hand smoke, even after living in LA for 8 years and breathing in all the smog on a daily basis.

So I hope I’m not getting sick, but I suspect my respiratory system is about to rebel against me and my socializing….

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Travel Location: Buenos-Aires,Argentina

Travel About: big-city,travel-tips,sightseeing,hostel-suites-obelisco

Hola familia y amigos!

After a 2-hour delay and a sleep-deprived 13 hour flight from Madrid, I was anxious to get to my hostel when I finally landed in Buenos Aires.  I knew at some point during my 3-month journey that there was a strong probability of losing my luggage. So I wasn’t completely shocked when I didn´t see my backpack on any of the baggage turnstiles.  I was the last person in baggage claim when I finished filing my missing equipaje report with Aerolinas Argentinas. By then it was 2am and I was extremely jet-lagged, which is why I managed to misplace my passport as well. Luckily I found it in the women´s bathroom shortly after I discovered it was missing. Not exactly the way I wanted to start my South American journey.

Finally, a place where the US dollar carried some weight – 3 pesos for every dollar. I was able to stretch my money here.

So I spent 5 days in Buenos Aires and have a hodge podge of experiences to report.  As mentioned in my header, I will categorize this blog into 3 different content buckets: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let´s start with the good.

The Good

Hostel Suites Obelisco:  This hostel claims to be a 5-star hostel, and I have to admit that it actually IS!!!  Super chic, modern hostel with plenty of people to interact with. It is also centrally-located on the well-trafficked Avenida  Corrientes. The staff was extremely accommodating and there were numerous things to keep me entertained such as happy hour, free internet access, satellite TV, pool table, and the occasional musical performance.  One night, two guitarists played some of my favorite songs including my worldwide trip theme song: “Time of Your Life” by Green Day.

Landmarks: Lots a memorable places to see in downtown Buenos Aires. The first is Plaza de Mayo - the site of many historical events including the May 1810 revolution and other significant milestones during the Peronist era. Casa Rosada is also located within this square.  This pink building is where Evita addressed large crowds from that famous balcony. Other notable tourist destinations include the Obelisco, Cathedral Metropolitana (which was sadly defaced with graffiti, but worth seeing nonetheless) and Manzana de la Luces. While visiting these sites, I finally listened to the Evita soundtrack on my iPod.  This definitely put me in the mood for more Argentinean exploration.

Places to See: Plaza San Martin, Palermo (reminds me of Néw York´s SOHO district) and Plaza Italia where I spent several hours inside the nearby Buenos Aires Zoo.  The zoo was such a fun place!  Seeing the animals took me back to the Asian leg of my journey.  I saw pythons (reminded me of my Philippine Buhol trip – “Pythons make for cuddly pets”), camels, flamingos, elephants, giraffes and so many others.  I also watched MANY visitors ignore the “please don’t feed the animals” signs.  Another cool destination is San Telmo on a Sunday, where numerous people flock to the Feria de San Telmo on Humberto and Defensa Street.  There are plenty of antique shops and kiosks selling everything imaginable from antique phonographs to seltzer bottles.  You can watch numerous streets performances too – marionette shows, magic/musical acts, and individual artistic displays. One alley also showcases rows of paintings by local artists. Teatro Colon is another hotspot, where inexpensive operas are performed.  Usually, there are guided tours of the facility, but they were temporarily suspended since the theater is currently under construction.

Florida and Lavalle Streets: These two streets are lined with many shops and restaurants.  Florida Street stretches for several long blocks and is much more populated. The downside is that many people are crammed together since the street is not wide enough to support the traffic – Difficult to walk without stepping on each other´s toes.  I preferred the less-trafficked Lavalle Street.

Museo Eva Peron:  Wonderful museum chronicling the humble beginnings and early demise of one of the most influential Argentineans. Only 10 pesos (roughly $3) to wander through the rooms showcasing videos, slideshows, outfits, jewelry, Evita quotes, and other mementos.

My salon experience: I stumbled upon a hairdressing escuela (school) on Florida Street where they offered numerous salon services at a discounted rate.  My hair was a little unruly at this point so I decided to schedule a corte (haircut) with one of the students.  Had a difficult time communicating what I wanted in Spanish so my hairdresser found an English-speaking colleague to translate for me.  I almost passed out when I saw clumps of hair fall to the ground, but luckily the cut turned out pretty well. For an extra 22 pesos, she also blow-dryed and flat-ironed my hair.  Turned out fantastic, and it was only $16 US with tip.

The Argentine Peso:  Finally, a place where the US dollar carried some weight – 3 pesos for every dollar.  I was able to stretch my money here.  Found cheap eats around every corner and only paid $20 per night for my private hostel room.

Food:  Buenos Aires definitely caters to the carnivore like me!  Steak/beef is a staple.  My stomach was always full and satiated!  Also, I ate different types of empanadas: carne picante, pollo, jamon y queso, etc.  I also enjoyed a popular South American treat…not sure what it was called, but it can be best described as 2 sugar cookies with dulce de leche caramel in the middle.  YUMMY!

Transportation: The subtes (underground stations) are super easy to figure out! Only .70 pesos (less than 25 cents) to get to many destinations.  I used this mode of transportation when I visited Palermo and Plaza Italia.  The rest of the locations were within walking distance of my hostel.

The BAD

Missing Luggage:

So I didn´t have any luggage for 4 and a half days.  I was okay sleeping in my jeans and sweatshirt for the first 3 days.  After the 4th day, however, I was visibly upset! I tried numerous times to contact Aerolinas Argentinas, but nobody ever picked up.  The hostel receptionists were kind enough to offer their help when I was out visiting the sites.  They couldn’t get through either.  Finally got my luggage my last day there, which was a relief!  I found out my backpack was still in Madrid the entire time.

Clothing selection

Since I had nothing to change into for several days, I had to go shopping. There was a significant temperature drop from Madrid to Buenos Aires so I had to search for clothes to protect me from the cold weather.  Since it was still winter in South America, I thought I would easily find warm clothing.  On the contrary! The majority of the clothes were thin, off-season summer/spring clothes, and they weren’t even discounted.  Surprisingly, locals were purchasing tons of this stuff wherever I went.  Bizarre – IT WAS COLD!

Internet Filters

If you visit an Internet cafe, be prepared for browser windows to close unexpectedly in the middle of your session.  Argentina has numerous internet filters in place to prevent viewing of adult content.  Unfortunately, their definition of adult content often included random yahoo emails and other innocuous sites (e.g. msn.com, realtravel.com, etc.).  On most occasions, the browser would shut down in the middle of typing emails so it was quite frustrating.

ATM Pin codes

Before you visit South America, make sure that you change your pin code to 4 digits.  Since I have a 5-digit pin code, I couldn’t´t take money out until I was able to contact Wells Fargo (2 days later) to change my pin number. Good thing I still had Euros to exchange.

The Ugly

So I saved the worst experience for last.  On my final day in Buenos Aires, I was robbed.  Luckily, I didn´t know it was happening at the time.  I was having a great time at the San Telmo Fair when someone tapped my shoulder to let me know that my backpack was open.  I discovered that my global phone was gone as well as my camera case.  Good thing I had my camera in my hand so I didn´t lose my memory card with 2000 plus photos from my trip.  Whew!!! I´m glad the phone is replaceable.  I would have been devastated if my photo memory card or my travel journal were stolen. These are irreplaceable.

Right after the incident, I found an internet cafe so I could cancel the auto recharge function on my mobile SIM card.  Because of the internet filters, I couldn’t´t send my cancelation email after an hour of trying!  When I got up to pay for my usage, I saw a girl frantically searching for her backpack.  Sadly it was stolen when she was using the computer. It was placed between her and her boyfriend - only a few feet away from where I sat. Man, there are some quick/savvy robbers out there!  Travelers beware!  Be cognizent of your surroundings at all times.

So my Buenos Aires stop was filled with a variety of experiences!  Luckily, the good outweighed the bad and I am now on my way to Santiago Chile – the last and final stop on my trip.  Can´t believe this worldwide sojourn is finally coming to an end.

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Travel Location: San-Carlos-de-Bariloche,Argentina

Travel About: food-&-wine,travel-tips,top-10,top-10-list

So because I have a little bit of extra time (the Israeli guys I’ve been hanging out with are napping… big surprise), because this is my hundredth travel log entry (my, how the time flies), and because some RealTravel.com employee asked me to (her name is Carrie, and I think it’s her job to sit and read this drivel all day long), I’ve decided to make a top ten list of restaurants around the world, according to me.

These restaurants have been identified by me as the best in the world based on a number of factors, including the people I was with when I ate there, the value for money, and even occasionally the quality of the food.  Some are very well-known and prestigious, and others are little more than a hut with some bread and a smattering of condiments, but in every instance, they have been places where I have been happier for having eaten there.  Enjoy.

10)  Phoenician Resort

Scottsdale, Arizona

The brunch here in Scottsdale was something not to be forgotten.  Scottsdale in general is sort of a miracle in itself: an oasis of lush green golf courses and champagne balloon-rides/Humvee tours through the Sonoran desert, and completing the incongruousness of the whole experience is the single most outrageous brunch I’ve ever experienced at a hotel or anywhere else for that matter.  I think the entire meal was made better by the fact that the cost is so exorbitant that you feel obligated to eat your own weight in fresh strawberries and chocolate crepes and wash it all down with mimosas, so that by the time you manage to roll yourself away from the finely-apportioned table, you’ve become a sort of wobbly French pastry champagne-and-orange-juice bomb.  It’s fun.

9)  Poolville Country Store

www.poolvillecountrystore.com

Poolville, New York

The Poolville Country Store, like the entire city of Scottsdale, is a bizarre quirk of geography.  Poolville, New York is not a town in the conventional sense, or in any other sense, really.  It is a loosely-clustered group of crumbling houses with rusting farm equipment outside and little to no evidence of life.  The Poolville Country Store, however, is like sunshine after a month of rain.  You walk into a terrific, very quaint dining room with uneven floors, a roaring fire place, and a wine list that rivals most good restaurants in civilization.  Virtually anyone can take a good cut of beef and turn it into a halfway decent steak, but very few places–and even fewer places in towns with sizable cow populations–can make a good lobster ravioli and make an upstate New York winter seem endurable.  Recently closed because of management disputes, it has re-opened and will likely become a mainstay of Colgate graduations for years to come.

8)  Nando’s of Mount Lawley

Perth, Australia

I have already extolled the virtues of Nando’s, and I don’t think it’s possible to overstate the joys of the first bite of a Chicken Supremo Burger with chips (fries), chip dip, rib sauce, and peri-salt, but the real joy of Nando’s can be attributed to two things: the company and the price.  There’s nothing quite as relaxing as sitting after a long day of sitting in on other people’s university classes at UWA and listening to friends talk about Aussie Rules Football until they’re blue in the face.  The huge–and quite satisfying–meal clocks in at a whopping $0 because if you go on Wednesdays, Blake’s friend Maddie will give it to you for free.  You hand her a twenty, and she gives you two tens.  Maddie, if you get fired because of this, I’m sorry.  I owe you a chip dip.

7)  Restaurant Zvonice

www.restaurantzvonice.cz

Prague, Czech Republic

I think I just like the idea of Restaurant Zvonice.  Built on the top three floors of a 600 year-old castle in the heart of Prague, diners at Restaurant Zvonice eat gourmet while sitting in the actual belltower (among the ancient bells, as a matter of fact).  I don’t recall having anything there that actually knocked my socks off as far as the food was concerned, but there are precious few places more picturesque to take a meal than an ancient castle in a beautiful city.  This is a prime example of a setting overshadowing the meal itself, and rocking up to a piece of living history and eating by candlelight is one of those things you’d think only Hugh Grant could pull off.  It makes you feel like you’re living a work of fiction as you eat.

6)  Sandwich guy

Chefchaouen, Morocco

And from the fantastical to the very common.  No, I don’t know his name.  No, I don’t know if his restaurant has an actual title.  No, I couldn’t give you his address or any way to contact this man except to say, “Jump on a bus to Chefchaouen, find the Plaza de Ute Hammam, and it’s the shack next to the fruit stand.”  Sandwich Guy opens at 2 or 3 PM (seemingly depending exclusively on his mood), and stays open until midnight or so, filling the cold Moroccan winter air with the smell of his french fries and the sound of him asking you, “Oui?  Oui?” as he points to each condiment.  You get no meat in the sandwich at all, just olives, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, white rice, mashed potatoes, hot sauce, some sort of tzatziki, and topped with french fries and ketchup.  And after stuffing your face with this foot-long monstrosity, you hand Sandwich Guy a whopping 62 US cents (79 if you got a drink), wipe your face with the piece of newspaper that he wrapped your sandwich in, and go on your merry way, waiting anxiously for the next time you’ll be hungry enough to pack one in.

5)  La Cabrera

Palermo Viejo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Everyone talks about how great Argentine beef is, and everyone’s right.  Making a good steak in Argentina is like tapping in for birdie when you’re eight strokes up on the 18th green.  You could churn out a good “lomo de bife” (as it’s called) with a trash fire and whatever the butcher had left over at the end of the day.  What Argentina doesn’t do as well is flavors and spices.  A lot of the beef is spice-less, and side dishes–aside from the occasional uninspired salad–are few and far between.

Enter La Cabrera, which brings an entire platter of about a dozen vegetable sides, sauces, and garnishes to the table along with the butterfly-cut beef on a wooden slab.  The wines are stacked to the ceiling, and if you’re really feeling hungry, there’s the option of adding provoleta (an entire cheese wheel char-grilled and served sizzling hot… no, I don’t know how it doesn’t melt) or french fried potatoes topped with sauteed onions to the mix.  Considering you’re paying less for this than you would for parking at a nice restaurant in New York, it’s a phenomenal choice.

4)  Lighthouse Pub and Restaurant

Swakopmund, Namibia

There’s nothing better than sitting at a table and having beers and huge steaks with some good friends after a long trip.  Swakopmund, on the coast of Namibia, offers an ocean breeze that is conspicuously absent in the 110-degree heat of the Namib Desert, and after a week or so of camping in tents and drinking piss-warm water out of five-gallon jugs to keep your pee from turning brown (classy, I know…), virtually any vestige of western civilization is welcomed.

The Lighthouse Pub, in addition to serving up those icy-cold bottles of Windhoek, brings out burgers that are tall enough to need those red aviation warning lights on top.  These are serious burgers.  No-nonsense burgers.  Burgers that eat other burgers and are still hungry.  And when you see the sun setting over the South Atlantic and remember the fact that you are still, for all intents and purposes, in the depths of the Dark Continent, it tastes even better.

3)  Shed 5

www.thenourishgroup.co.nz

Wellington, New Zealand

This was another instance where the company and the situation made the event better.  Shed 5 sits on picturesque Queen’s Wharf in Wellington, looking out at the sailboats bobbing up and down in the harbor while silently enduring the ebb and flow of the ocean below the diner’s feet.  The rare Ahi tuna steak was a pleasure, but even more so was a surprise mint chocolate chip ice cream dessert that they made from scratch.  As a traveler, and especially as one with a Watson-imposed budget that doesn’t usually allow for frills and extravagance, it’s hard to do something nice like this.  It’s even more unusual to find someone worth doing it with.  At Shed 5, I happened to find both.

2)  Restaurant Luna

Mount Kisco, New York

This coveted second-place prize was going to be occupied by Restaurant Luna, which used to serve an amazing frisee with blue cheese and bacon salad and Belgian Trappist ales to go with their tender steaks, but the ownership has changed and it’s now called Woody’s Cafe, which sounds like a cross between an extreme sports outfitting store and a TGI Fridays.  I haven’t tried the new place, so I can’t say what it’s like, but as of now, the owners and I are no longer on speaking terms.  All I can say is that it was a hell of a place to have a birthday dinner.

1)  Grampi’s

www.grampis.ch

Zermatt, Switzerland

And so to the best restaurant on Earth, so far as I can tell.  It was an easy choice because, simply put, Zermatt is the best town on Earth, and as such, my favorite restaurant in such a highly-acclaimed town should be by default the best restaurant.  Zermatt is a place without cars, without pollution, where the biggest traffic jam is a pack of goats being herded down main street.  It is hours from any airport (Milan is closest, but Zurich may be most convenient and has the added benefit of making you drive through all of Switzerland to get there), and as the Alps shoot up from the very edges of the road on either side, you as a driver feel humbled.

So after nine hours on a flight from New York, and another four in a car, the only thing any sensible traveler wants to do is fill his belly and go to sleep.  I found Grampi’s more or less by accident with Cary Frydman during my semester abroad in Prague, and we were so hungry and desperate for food that we actually petitioned the staff there to open a few minutes earlier than their designated 5:30 time to accomodate us.  Completely by chance, and with no knowledge of the local specialties at all, we both ordered Edelweiss beers with slices of lemon and dishes of lasagna.  The Edelweisses (“Edelweisses”?  I can’t imagine that’s the right plural) were frosty and delicious, and the lemons were just what we needed to refresh us after the flight and the ordeal of schlepping our crap from Geneva (we weren’t attuned to the “right” way to get to Zermatt yet).  We had scarcely ordered when Cary said, “I wish he was coming back with our food right now.”  We were that hungry.  You know that feeling when you’re not even at the restaurant yet and you wish you had your food, and the prospect of waiting even longer for it seems unbearable?  Yup, that was us.

Anyway, two sizzling lasagnas came out on circular plates too hot to touch.  The lasagnas had been cooked in those same plates and taken straight out of the oven and onto our table.  “Shovel” is a verb that comes to mind when I think of how we ate.  No napkins, no class, utensils only because it was too hot to touch directly.  I was throwing bites hotter than lava into my mouth and cooling the scalding sauce with sloshes of Edelweiss.  About halfway through, there was a fleeting moment of panic when I thought the dish wasn’t going to quite satisfy me, but as I sopped up the last of the tomato sauce with the last of the bread they gave us, it all added up just right.

Fifteen minutes later, and after the construction of the Great Wall of Homophobia, I was asleep.

I won’t go through the entire story of making the Grampi’s Hajj with my father a year and a half later, but suffice it to say that I spent the entire plane ride from New York talking about the meal we were about to have, and my dad spent the four-hour drive from Zurich (when not running red lights and trying to figure out the German GPS) starving and telling me that this lasagna better be worth it.  I’d like to think that it was.

Go to Grampi’s.  Eat nothing for days leading up to it, and cherish the memory for the rest of your life.

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