Back in BA

I/we have been busy.......so lets get caught up!

We still are doing lots of walking. This trip with the Unashopper was to Puerto Madero.

You do have to share the sidewalk with the dog walkers. You see them everywhere in the city.The small fruit markets are quite inviting. Speaking of walking, we just couldnt figure out what you were even allowed to do in this one park (plaza). This sign was at the entrance.

Last month, we celebrated the wedding of my assistant, Juana and her husband, Pablo. A beautiful service and then a party at the Argentina Yacht Club.

Several of us from the office were there. The ceremony wasnt until after 9 pm and the party went on nice and late! The Yacht Club has a great view of BA's downtown.

A number of friends celebrated the anniversary of D-Day (June 6th) at Les Ancienes Combatantes, a French soldiers' club, now restaurant. Lots of fun, good stories and a fair share of wine. The french chef was very proud of his menu and it was easier to speak to him in French than Spanish or English - Mimi did well.

And we did consume our allotment of champagne as well.

This city has a gazillion restaurants. You would never know many of them even exist. We have one friend, Kathy who takes advantage of many internet sites. She finds reviews of obscure restaurants and then pulls together friends to try it. We have been to some great dining experiences as a result. Truly - a nothing ventured, nothing gained attitude. Les Anciens Combatantes was one of those experiences.

Speaking of obscure dining experiences (Ok, this one isnt)....La Mansion is (an old mansion) that is 'connected to the Four Seasons Hotel. Recent guests to book the entire la Mansion includes Madonna when she was here on her concert tour last year.

On Sunday's they have a brunch.....and we are not talking just any brunch. This one goes on allllllll afternoon. We stumbled out of there at around 5 pm after consuming probably more wine than eggs benedict!

Good thing it is just down the block.

B.

You cant always believe what you read....

We get the Buenos Aires Herald delivered to the apartment each morning. It is an english paper. It contains local news and a lot of wire service international news. The paper isnt very big and the readership limited but we enjoy reading the paper in the morning.

Often times we will find scathing letters to the editor stating that the grammar is wrong, or a point of view of the reporters is poor or a translation is lousy but we do get a sense for what is going on in the country regardless.

Once in awhile, you do have to chuckle at some of the contents. In this one brief article in Sunday's paper, they touched on tennis (header), hockey (NHL)and football (NFL). Impressive!

B.

Comparing notes...

What do a microwave oven and a bidet have in common?

We had friends over to the apartment last night.

They got there before I got home from from work so they were (at least) one glass of wine ahead of me.

Mimi asked me - 'So did anything interesting happen at work today?'

I said, 'Well as a matter of fact, yes'.

Here was my tale......

We have several drilling & service rig companies working for us. We keep them running steady working on our wells. This week, on one of them, the rig crew went on strike for 24 hours because the microwave oven was broken. They shut the rig down and walked off the job.

My friend who works for another oil company, says 'Ha! I have you beat'.

He has contractor crews who have to travel some distance to get to the oilfield. They have to stay at a motel at some point on the route. They went on strike this week because the accommodation they were provided did not have bidets in the bathrooms.

He wins.

Both of these issues have been documented in 'actas' which is a legal document here used to declare/negotiate/settle serious situations like this (really, I am not making this stuff up just to increase my blog readership!)

It is Workers (Labor) Day today in Argentina.

Here is to ensuring that bidets and microwaves are functioning all over the country! The economy of an entire nation is counting on it!

Yes, I am still living the dream, baby!

B.

Chilly day in BA - a first!

We attended the finals of the Nations Cup. This was a tournament for 28 handicap teams. The final had Argentina playing Brazil. It was quite a good match with some long runs and good 'stickhandling'. Argentina prevailed (10-6). There was a bit of a breeze and we have gotten spoiled with the months of warm days and nights here. It actually got cold.We usually dont leave the apartment with an extra jacket (like we would do in Calgary) but it did give me an opportunity to wear a 2010 Dale sweater (complete with Vanoc Olympic logo). Every year, I have been getting a Dale sweater for volunteering at Lake Louise. This time (another first), I bought one. Mimi brought it back with her on her last trip home.






After the match, we met friends at Kansas, a restaurant across the road from the polo fields and had dinner......under deck heaters! After that, yes, we did end up at the Alvear Palace for a cleansing ale! Actually, a cleansing malbec but you get my point.

B.

Noventa pesos!

We went out for dinner last night to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We chose La Bourgogne, a French restaurant in the Alvear Palace Hotel. We started with a drink in the hotel lobby lounge and watched a bit of the world go by.

Afterwards, we went downstairs to the restaurant. We had a 9 o'clock reservation - which was on the early side for La Bourgogne. It is a grand restaurant. All the staff wear white tuxedo-like uniforms. Mimi's menu did not have the prices in it. We have not been to a restaurant like that in a long time.

They wheeled a cart up to the table that had a large silver bowl on it. The bowl was full of different kinds of champagne. They offered us a glass. Sounds great. Hmmm..... French restaurant, French champagne.

Long story short. The meal was awesome, the service perfect. Flambe steak - fired up at our table. Crepes Suzette - fired up at the table. There was also a special anniversary treat (more dessert) - which they fired up at the table. It had a large rocket sparkler on it.

To finish the evening, we had another glass of champagne.

We got the bill....did you know that French champagne in a French restaurant in Argentina is quite expensive? Four glasses of champagne, at $90 pesos each, cost more than our entire dinner!!

It was a memorable evening, we will return.......but we will drink Argentine bubbles next time!

B.

Quick currency converter ($1 CDN = $3.058 pesos).

One glass of imported French champagne was $29.43 CDN.

Meet the 45 Minute plums

Grocery shopping here is never boring. It is never exciting either.

There is the lottery of whether they actually have the items you are looking for. The lottery as to whether they will have change for you at the check out. The opportunity to have one too many items and get tossed out of the line.

• Meet the '45 Minute' plums.

That's how long it took from the time you enter the grocery store, to find them, to get in line to get them weighed, to get in line to buy them, to wait for change.

I have given up on fruit as a result.

We are not in Kansas anymore...

Or Michigan.

I went for a traditional North American breakfast on the weekend. Eggs Benedict. There is a place 10 minutes from the apartment called Amaranta. It serves a great Eggs Benny. You will also find a number of ex-pats have breakfast there as well. Breakfast is not a big meal for Argentines. In fact, it doesnt really exist. Just coffee.

Anyways, to make the restaurant even more realistic...even more North American, they put American cars on the street in front of the restaurant. What's more American than a Jeep? And what's more American than that?...a Jeep from Michigan!Either that or it was a very long way to travel for Eggs Benedict!

B.