Post by Ella After 20 years of construction, the Teatro Colon opened with the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi on May 25, 1908. Since then, every opera season begins with an opera by Verdi. Italian Carrara marble, Venitian stucco, stained glass ceilings, 24-carat gold leaf, huge chandeliers (now filled with LED bulbs). Stunning. We took…
Author: Ella
Random photos
Post by Ella. Today we visited Western Union for a cash infusion, then on to Teatro Colon. But more on those later. Here are some random photos of the streets of Buenos Aires.
Cooking with fire
Post by Ella. Last night’s late night shenanigan was an Asado masterclass. Trigger warning: lots of food photos. Asado is both a way of cooking (primarily grilling) and a social event where family and friends enjoy an Asado meal. There is a wood fired grill fed by, of all things, a wood fire. Within the wood…
Uber-ing Buenos Aires
Post by Ella. Worth a mention. There is an extensive network of busses and subway here. Easily accessible with a Sube card. We haven’t purchased one yet because they are notoriously hard to find and Uber is ridiculously cheap and convenient. Okay call us lazy. Uber is illegal here. But everyone uses them anyway. Even…
From museum art to street art
Post by Ella. The Museo Nacional Bellas de Artes in Recoleta (10 minute walk from our AirBnB) claims to have the most extensive collection of fine art in South America so how could we not? A nice collection of Goya’s and Rodin’s, scattered French painters, an Italian or two. My favorites, though, were the Argentine artists…
The queen of markets
Post by Ella. We spent the day on Easter Sunday moseying around San Telmo, one of the oldest barrios in the province of Buenos Aires. Known for its antiques market in Plaza Dorrego, Sunday street fair, young tango dancers jostling for space to perform (and pass the hat afterwards), the place was crammed for blocks…
The furia of Argentina
Post by Ella. Some of you know, April 1st is Grubb’s birthday and our anniversary. So we decided to go all out on the celebration yesterday. Van loads of police in full body armor, the crush of fans in team colors, the heavy continual pounding of drums. All part of the experience we voluntarily signed…
Recoleta
Post by Ella. Argentina consists of 4 regions (Andes, North, Pampas, Patagonia) which contain 23 provinces. The province of Buenos Aires contains the federal district, City of Buenos Aires (CABA) which is quite small in area. In addition to the federal district, there are 48 barrios within the province. Population of the province of Buenos…
A colorful day
Post by Ella. La Boca (“ the mouth”), one of the oldest barrios in Buenos Aires, sits at the mouth of the Matanza River. Ages ago it was a busy port but as ships grew in size, the small port of La Boca grew quiet. Now there is only a cleaning project. Come back in…
A few pics
Today was La Boca, a colorful neighborhood by day, but don’t get caught there after dark. I will write a longer post a little later on La Boca but for now, here are a few pics from atop the Museo Benito Quinquela Martín (the guy who painted La Boca).
Let’s talk cash
Post by Ella Local currency in Argentina is ARS (Argentine pesos, but also uses the $ symbol which is sometimes confusing). In Argentina, there are several currency exchange rates the official (government/bank) rate, the market rate, the blue dollar rate, the rate your credit card will give you (and it’s different for different cards). Example rates…
Argentina
Here we go. We arrived in Buenos Aires this morning. We will be here about a week then toddling on and around until May 2. Our route is below. A little crazy zig-zaggy but hey, it all made sense when we were planning it. Sizzling carne a la parilla, cheesy matambre a la pizza, sweet…
30 Days on the road
Post by Ella. “It was too short, wasn’t it?”. That’s what Grubb and I always remark to each other at the end of a trip. Somehow, it always is too short. Because I can never see everything or get the total measure of the nature of a place. We’ve made our almost final hop. From…
Lobster and old synagogues
Post by Ella. The Newport harbor area, where we went after the Cliff Walk (see Grubb’s post), was packed. Tour busses galore, two cruise ships parked in the outer harbor, lines of people waiting for harbor cruises (or maybe they were waiting to be ferried out to one of the humongous cruise ships). We were…
Mass MOCA
Post by Ella. After sweet, pastoral Vermont, we crossed the state line into busy Massachusetts arriving at the Mass MOCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams. As we wove our way around decrepit, foreboding prison-like brick buildings to find the entrance, I wondered what awaited inside. The site has a long history. The…