Planning For Toys

We are in the final days of our life in Argentina and amongst the going away happy hours, despedidas, and last-conversations with people, the questions always arise, what will you miss and what are you glad to leave behind? The list of things we will miss is long and I'll attempt to tackle it in a future blog post, for now, I'll let you in on something that we are glad to leave behind: The price of toys.

Before we had children, I listened to people talk about the expense of having children here and thought, how bad can it really be? I listened to expats talk about how they had to bring all of their children's supplies from the US and thought that they were exaggerating. Then we had children, and I realized how ridiculous the prices actually are. Enjoy these examples:

Or take this 4-pack of molding dough (aka Play-Doh). The low, low price of AR$479 (US$60). You can buy this pack of 24 larger containers off of Amazon for $16.

Have a new baby, your infant can enjoy this baby play mat for AR$2,790. That's only US$350. For an INFANT.

Pink car, made of all plastic, no electric parts or batteries necessary. The doll is not even close to the size of a real child, even a small one. So, it's a medium sized plastic Fiat for - drumroll - $5,999 pesos. At the national exchange rate, that is US$750. Even at the slightly-illegal-blue-market-rate it's still US$600. I can't image these are flying off the shelves.

So yes, toy prices and child items in general are not one of the things that we will miss about Argentina. And I have joined the ranks of those that say you need to purchase most things you want for your children in the US and smuggle them back in your suitcases - though the airlines are making this more and more difficult with the baggage restrictions. One huge relief with our move is that we know that there is the possibility to purchase items that we need for the kids without taking out a second mortgage on our house - and they'll deliver them to our home for free thanks to Amazon.

My Portero Hates Me

One of the first things I noticed when walking around Buenos Aires is that there are a lot of men lingering in doorways.  Like, every single doorway has someone just hanging out, watching people go by.  It was a bit unnerving.

Then we moved into our apartment and I realized that these folks don't just hang out in doorways for their health, they are paid positions that virtually every apartment building has.  It's called a portero, a doorman.  Perhaps you have lived in another big city where this is customary, but it's my first time, so outside of what I've watched on Seinfeld, I really didn't know what constitutes the responsibility of a doorman.  I'll just put it out there - I'm still not sure.

As far as I can ascertain, there are two types of doormen; the kind that go out of their way to help, open doors, help with groceries, give parking advice in difficult areas of the city, take care of minor fix-its within an apartment or care for animals while you're out of town, OR the kind that stand in a doorway checking their cell phone and chatting with the guy next door who is also standing in a doorway.  We were blessed with the latter.

His name is Rito.  This is not an actual photo of him, but you get the idea - the man spends his "working" hours: 8:00 - 12:00 and 5:00 - 10:00pm standing in our doorway watching time pass him by.  Sometimes he polishes the postcard-sized piece of brass that frames the door buzzers.  Sometimes he shoves our mail under the door.  But most of the time, he just stands.  He inexplicably changes into a suit and tie for the latter half of his shift.

I'm pretty sure he has disliked me from day one.  This was the day I tried to "buzz" someone in from our apartment and couldn't figure out how the button worked (I have since found out that it is disabled due to security concerns, but again, this was day one).  He knew I was foreign, he knew I was new, and as I stood on the street with my Spanish/English dictionary trying to figure out how to say "open door with phone", I'm pretty sure he was enjoying watching me struggle.  3.5 years later, he is the only person in this city that consistently cannot understand my Spanish.

He does have moments of enlightenment.  He understood me perfectly when he requested we bring him running shoes from the US, or when his daughter needed to borrow a large suitcase for a trip to Disney.  He turned ignorant again when I said that I wouldn't buy his son an iPhone.  You can see how this works.

This general dislike has turned to full blown hate within the last few months.  I can pinpoint the day.  After a series of issues: our coffin-like service elevator had broken down twice, with our beloved empleada Candy inside, the same service elevator would open without the elevator being at our floor (presenting just an empty shaft, and we're on the 4th floor) and I has asked Rito on multiple occasions to let me know if there was an issue with the elevator, write a note, knock on the door, send a smoke signal, whatever.  Just let me know.  So when he didn't, and the elevator broke again I expressed my frustration.  It was something along the lines of "It is disrespectful of you to not advise me of this problem.  I am very bothered." In Spanish.  And by some miracle, he understood.  And now he hates me.

Aside from the annoyance that a man paid specifically to open the door for residents watches while a very obviously pregnant woman, generally traveling with a 2 year old and a multitude of miscellaneous bags struggles with the keys to enter our building, this is not an issue for me.  Jon takes the far more practical view that a man with a motive, that is intimately involved with our apartment building, is a perfect storm for getting robbed.  I understand, but refuse to make nice.  Call it being stubborn - I cannot bring myself to grovel to this waste of a decent salaried position.

So, while most of our experiences with the people of Buenos Aires have been overwhelmingly positive, this bloke is a daily reminder of one of the few people that I will gladly leave behind when we eventually move. And until then, let's hope he doesn't hate me enough to rob us...

It's Party Time!

We have known for a long time that the Argentine's are a fun loving people, but as I lay awake last night at 4:44am listening to Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" blaring from the speakers of a DJ in some apartment building on our block, I realized just how serious they are about parties.  This isn't the first time we've been kept awake all night due to a late-night soiree, they can start as late as 11:00 or 12:00 at night and go until 5/6/7:00am.  Surely, it's a great event for those invited, but for the family with a little girl that wakes up on her own time each morning, a 7:00am end time to the music is horribly annoying.  The best part, this party, as many of the others, was probably for a 15th birthday party - a very different custom than in the US.  

On to our actual experience with birthday parties.  

We have been invited to quite a few birthday parties for Gretchen's friends and classmates. It is a nice custom here that if there is a birthday party, everyone in the class is invited - something that was always a difficult subject to manage in the US.  I finally got around to taking pictures at one of these parties, and it was a funny capture of events.  This is like no party that I have attended in the US for a child, there is entertainment, it is held at a party salon, and there are lots and lots of people invited.  Gretchen was a little out of her element with all of the littles ones at the party, the entertainment was a little advanced for her, and the dancing was fun but involved lights, music and singing so she was a bit overwhelmed.  

The greatest part of this particular party room was the side room that had a small kitchen, sink area, washer and dryer for the kids to play with.  Gretchen loved it, and I enjoyed watching her play.

She still enjoyed parts of the party, for example, her favorite song "El Sapo Pepe" was a crowd pleaser, and she liked jumping around in the lights.  I'll admit, these parties are a little piece of chaos, but fun nonetheless.

She also loved the fact that the chips, soda, cookies and Jello were at arm's reach to all of the kids (Mom was not loving this as much...).  Though, I believe her favorite part of the day was the side room  kitchen and laundry room.  She even showed this little girl how the machines worked:

If this is a birthday party for a two-year-old, I can only imagine why the party for a 15-year-old goes until 5 in the morning!  

Long Live the...Milk?

This is a photo of our cupboard.  Our room-temperature cupboard that houses our cereal, crackers, oatmeal and.... milk (insert collective gasp from anyone reading this in the US).  That's right, we buy leche larga vida, or ultra-pasteurized (UHT) milk.  It is AWESOME.  It keeps (unopened) for at least 6 months, so I can buy a whole stock of it and then skip the milk purchases for the next few trips to the grocery store.  It saves space in the tiny carts they have here, space better used for things like diapers and yogurt.  Why is this not a thing in the US??  Here are some thoughts:

1) Americans are obsessed with refrigeration.  I'm not judging, I love my fridge as much as the next guy.  But think about it, we balk at other countries that don't keep their eggs in the refrigerated aisle.  We cannot imagine an apartment/house/car without air conditioning.  We laugh at the Europeans that drink room temperature beverages. We are offended if a restaurant doesn't provide ice with their water.  We like our things cold.

2) It doesn't taste good.  The first time my mom drank it while visiting us, she poured a glass of milk from the fridge, then promptly reported that the milk had gone bad.  As I pointed to the expiration date that was 5 months in the future, I thought she was going to barf.  I get it, it is not as tasty as normal milk, but I think it's been 15 years since I had a plain glass of milk so this stuff works when I add it to my coffee, make my oatmeal or cook with it.  It just can't hold it's own without something else to mask the flavor.

3) We've never tried it.  Or have we?  According to the 100% accurate website, Wikipedia, if you've had a McFlurry from McDonald's or had milk on an airplane, you've probably had UHT milk and just not realized it.  That being said, you can't just put a display of room temperature milk in the middle of a Wegman's and expect people to jump on board.

The difference is in the pasteurization method, it is pasteurized at a much higher temperature, for less time than regular milk.  This does change the taste and smell, but again, it's only noticeable for me when you're serving milk alone.

I think it's amazing.  It's doesn't take up all of the space in your fridge and you can buy in bulk without worrying about spoilage. I imagine anyone who has had a long-lasting power outage wishes that they had some standby milk to turn to.  I'd also be willing to bet that anyone with multiple children would love to have a secret stash of milk in their pantry. If you see it on your grocery shelf, give it a go, don't be afraid!

Viva la leche larga vida!

The Adventures of Joanna and Gretel

Dawn.

Break of day.  

Such an easy word in English, who knew it would be so complex when I left the comfort of the US.  

Apparently, this name is a complete anomaly in Spanish.  It's not a name in Argentina, and it's impossible for locals to pronounce.  

For the last two years, I have developed an alter ego named Joanna, which is how Dawn seems to be pronounced in Castellano.  A normal conversation goes something like this:

Starbucks Employee:  "Como se llama?"

Me:  "Dawn" 

Starbucks Employee:  "Como?"  

Me:  "Dawn"

Starbucks Employee:  "ummmm, Joanna?"

Me:  "Si." 

And then I end up with this:

Dawn = Gioranna

Luckily, the newest Twilight movie has opened here in Buenos Aires, and the English title is "Breaking Dawn", a huge stride in the advance of my name.  Unfortunately, in Spanish, my name is actually a verb "amanecer" (as is the Argentine working title of the Twilight movie) but I can't very well go around saying that my name is Amanecer, it just doesn't flow.  It doesn't even make sense.  It's like saying my name is "the sun is coming up". To avoid confusion, I started telling people that my name was actually Joanna.  It worked like a charm.  

And then I had Gretchen.  

I know for a fact that there has been at least one other Gretchen born in Argentina because there is a list of  acceptable names (no really, there is, we had to be sure that our baby's name was on this list: Argentine Name List.  You can have names added to the list, but it can be a real pain) and Gretchen is on the list, however, no one has ever heard of this name.  

A typical conversation regarding Gretchen's name:

Random Stranger: "Que linda bebe, como se llama?" (What a beautiful baby, what is her name?)

Me:  "Gretchen"

Random Stranger: "Como?" (What?)

Me:  "Gretchen"

Random Stranger: "Como, Gretel?" (Like, Gretel?)

Me: "Sure."

That's right.  My daughter's name is just like Gretel.  Like Hansel and Gretel. 

So that's us, just Joanna and Gretel, hanging out in town.  

I Do It Myself

Along with this new world of mothering comes a plethora of books and information on what your child is doing, what they should be doing, what they are no longer doing and, finally, what they will do.  One of the phases in our near future is the inevitable "I do it myself!" phase, in which your child wants to take control, assert leadership, and do simple tasks like eating and getting dressed for themselves.  Thankfully, in babies this phase is not in our immediate future, but the "I do it myself" phase seems to resurface in adults. 
Specifically in adults that are around 30 and living abroad. 
More specifically, in me. 

Exhibit 1:
Over the weekend my in-laws sent us an email request that seemed to be a bit of a last resort.  A family friend owns a coffee/espresso maker that is only sold in South America and one of their house guests inadvertently threw away the metal filter attachment needed to brew a cup of coffee.  For a coffee maker, this seems to be a pretty important part, considering that you cannot brew a cup without it.  After numerous attempts to contact the company, contact different suppliers in the US, etc, they were unable to find a place to buy this part.  Considering that we live in South America, they thought we may be able to help in locating the part. 

Let me pause to say that a year ago, I would have literally laughed at this request.  I cannot find 90% of the things I am looking for here, much less find such a specific piece of equipment.  If you would like a specific example of how maddening my searches can be, please refer to my attempt to purchase a food processor.  But that was a year ago.  This year, I'm empowered.  And I need to redeem myself after the food processor incident. 

So, after I contacted Oster Argentina, in a request sent in Spanish I might add, they responded with a local shop where I could purchase the filter.  I went there on Tuesday, and to my incredible surprise, the little ancient-looking shop at 870 Esmeralda Street had a huge inventory of Oster products, they understood what I needed, and actually had the part I was looking for.  In a matter of 48 hours I had saved the coffee maker from a lonely life of not brewing coffee. I am unabashedly proud.  I do it myself.

Exhibit 2:

You may remember from my Need For Change post that it is a bear to obtain change here in the city.  This is also the only form of payment that the buses accepted... until now.  Recently they have started a card system called SUBE, where you can add value to a card and use it to ride any bus or subway line. Jon uses the bus every day to commute to work, so I decided to look into getting him a card. It is easier than you might think, but more difficult than it should be.  Just bring an identification document (or photocopy) to any of the locations listed on the Retira tu Tarjeta site, complete a short form and leave with an empty SUBE card.  The first card is free, so is the second, but if you loose your card again there is some sort of charge. 
Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to obtain and put value on your SUBE card in the same location, so you then need to bring the card to any of the Carga tu Tarjeta site locations.  You can pay with cash or credit card, there is no service charge, and then use that value to pay for your trips.  Rumor has it that these cards will eventually be accepted in taxis as well. 
I took on this challenge.  I got each of us a card.  I waited at a Correo Argentina location only to be told that this location doesn't add value to SUBE cards.  I traveled to another location.  I charged the cards.  I do it myself. 

That's all, just two exhibits, but two tasks that gave me an enormous sense of accomplishment.  So thank you, house guest that threw away the coffee filter.  Thank you, new card system for making me figure it out.  It's things like this that make me realize how far I've come since we first moved here and we called on our Spanish speaking friends when things were complicated.  It's a week like this that makes so many of the other, more frustrating weeks worth it. 

It's a week like this that makes me proud to say, yeah, I do it myself. 

DNI

Hallelujah! After over a year of waiting, the Argentine government FINALLY decided to send me a little present, in the form of my DNI (Documento National de Identidad).  This little booklet has been a thorn in my side since last January, and we were crossing our fingers that we would get it before our little peanut is born.  Hooray for me!  Now, what is it?

So far as I can tell, a DNI is similar to a social security number in the US, but it is currently utilized much more (although with the recent changes to hiring and employment requirements, the use of SS#s has started to increase).  Virtually every financial or legal transaction will bring about the need to have your "numero de documento" which, until now, has been using our passport numbers and throwing everyone off.  Funny though, I could count the number of times that I used my passport number on one hand until I started living in Argentina, and now they ask for it even though I have no reason to believe that it's not tied to my other personal information here. The DNI changes all of that. 

Every time you use a credit card, book a flight, sign a contract (cell phone, housing, employment, etc) you are asked to provide your DNI number.  There are different (lower) airfares reserved for "nationals" that can provide this number, discounts into natural parks such as Iguazu Falls and Puerto Madryn, and without it you will have a very difficult time getting a cell phone plan, buying a house or making any large purchase that is not in full in cash.  Your DNI number is connected to your bank account, passport, voting history (voting is mandatory in Argentina and the DNI booklet records each time that you have punched a ballot), it's on your marriage license, and is needed to acquire an Argentine passport. 

(Just as an aside, can you imagine the uproar in the US if there were different entry costs for national parks or different airfare options for those that had a Social Security number?  Or if a Social Security number was requested when you used a credit card?  That's not to say that you are unable to enter or purchase a ticket, it just means that your fare is more.  Here it's understood, if you're not a national, your a tourist, and therefore capable of paying.  One of the many differences when living abroad...but I digress...)

This is not to say that we have been here illegally or anything, we have our temporary visas that are good for a year at a time.  Honestly, the biggest relief in obtaining our DNIs is that we're hoping it will make registering our newest little Argentine a little easier when the time comes.  That process seems to be complicated enough, with her needing both US and Argentine passports, birth certificates and other related documentation before we can take her out of the country, maybe this will now offer us a little relief/less hassle.  I'll post updates with our experiences in obtaining all of these other documents for our baby - I've heard some horror stories and some have said the process is a piece of cake.  You'll read all about how the process goes for us...that is, once we actually have a baby. 

Four more weeks!

The Pavita

This weekend I will conquer: The Pavita.

In all my years of celebrating holidays and eating turkey, I have never actually cooked a turkey. Actually, let's be real - I have never made a Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner at all. There was this one time in college when my roommates and I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner - Julie and Sarah took care of the turkey (leading to much hilarity...) and I'm pretty sure we were all tipsy on wine as we made everything else. Point being, the only actual holiday dinner I hosted is such a blur I can't pull any helpful tips from the experience. Although from what I remember, the dinner was amazing.

So, in preparation for this Christmas, when we joyfully have the vast majority of both my and Jon's family joining us from the US - I need to practice. I mean really, they're all coming all the way to Argentina for the holidays - the least I can do is give them a proper holiday dinner, right? It's already 85 degrees and humid outside, with long summer nights and outdoor markets, basically the opposite of every Christmastime I've ever thought of, so a little taste of American-traditional Christmas is what I'm going for. And herein lies the complication.

For numerous reasons, "traditional" holiday dinners are just not the same here. First off, turkey is just not all that common. Grocery stores generally have turkey cold cuts and some places have turkey breasts in the meat department, but ham (or pork in general), beef and chicken are much more popular, so finding a whole turkey is a bit of a challenge. Also, when is the last time you decided in the middle of August to cook anything that takes hours in the oven? It's a bit of a dilemma, air conditioning vs. oven heat. And then to sit down to a huge, heavy meal when it's 90 degrees outside....you get my drift.

So, after feeling entirely too proud of myself for finding a turkey, borrowing a roasting pan, printing recipes, shopping for ingredients and looking up substitutions for the ingredients I couldn't find, all I really need to do now is practice my skills. This Saturday, some of our bravest friends are going to be my holiday dinner guinea pigs, while I try my hand at making a pavita.

That is, assuming, a pavita is actually a turkey.

Stay Home and Be Counted

October 27, 2010 has been declared a national holiday in Argentina due to the 2010 Census.  The thought being that by declaring a national holiday and removing the need to leave the house, everyone will then be home when the census workers stop by.  Interesting logic.  We are taking advantage of Jon's day off by traveling to Puerto Madryn and hoping that Jorge Newberry will be a ghost town and our flight takes off on time. 

Here are some interesting facts about the Argentine Census:

• There is a fear that criminals will disguise themselves as census workers to gain access to your house and rob you, so the recommendation is not to let anyone inside.  
• This is the first year since the late 1800s that African-Argentine and indigenous people will be counted (for real?!).  According to the previous census numbers, there are NO people of African descent living in Argentina.  (This is in contrast to the estimated 2 MILLION people of African descent that actually live here.)
• The entire country has the day off, but since many of the census workers are also school teachers, school has been canceled for Thursday, Oct 28th as well.  Apparently it's not fair that everyone gets a day off but the teachers.  Somehow the fact that they volunteer for the service and are paid for it has escaped everyone's minds.  And that people normally work 5 days a week. Details, details...
• As with most government-initiated projects, there is widespread skepticism about the census.  Who knew being counted was so controversial?

In other national news, the ex-president, Nestor Kirchner has reportedly died of a heart attack this morning.  Mr. Kirchner is also the husband of Argentina's current president, Christina Kirchner, who is wildly controversial.  Never a dull day. 

Online Grocery Shopping

The grocery stores in Bs.As. and I have a true love/hate relationship. On one hand, I love that I can find most everything I need at the larger grocery stores - but I hate just about everything else about the store itself. I guess I'm not really sure how they feel about me.

In our first 6 months living here I spend an embarrassing amount of time at the store. After my first attempt at grocery delivery was a complete disaster I was nervous to try it again, so I would buy only what I could carry and then laboriously lug my purchases the 4 blocks home in the summer heat. Not a good plan.

I graduated to using what I lovingly call my granny-cart. This incredible little device used to be the butt of my jokes, but now I have eaten my words and it has become my BFF. This cart, combined with Envirosax, great reusable bags given to me by my mother-in-law, made my life much easier.

Even armed with my trusty granny-cart I have to make multiple trips to the store when I do our "big" grocery shopping of the month, which brings another issue to light. The stores themselves take FOREVER to get through. Things that are different in Argentina that cause some of the delays:

• Everyone has to weigh their produce at a specified produce weigh station. This station generally has a long line, a slow worker and, at times, no worker at all - leaving you to search for someone who has the qualifications to weigh your fruit. This also creates a second line-waiting situation in the store, which is never good for the quick in-and-out.
• There are quite a few checkout lanes, but they are very rarely fully staffed. Even when the checkout lanes are staffed, there are not enough packers for the "delivery" lanes so the lanes wait for the packers to become available.
• The cashiers keep a ridiculously small amount of change in their till, (see The Need for Change for more of my issues with small bills in Bs.As.) so when they are given a bill or coin that they can't break, they yell "cambio!" and wait for a manager to come by and give them change. This results in 6 or 7 cashiers yelling "cambio!" with one manager on call to dole out the money.
• The culture is extremely friendly and everyone kisses hello and goodbye when they arrive/leave places. This includes coming and going from work. Heaven forbid you happen to be in line during a shift change and you may see, no exaggeration, 10 people walk around to kiss hello or goodbye to literally every person working at the store. This actually causes a significant amount of delay.

All of these factors combined have given me reason to venture into the world of delivery again. I started out shopping in the stores and having the items delivered at the checkout line. This is a good option, however delivery can take anywhere from 1 - 5 hours after checking out, so my entire day would be spent shopping, waiting and receiving groceries.

Then I heard about online grocery delivery.

You can shop, purchase, arrange for delivery and pay all without leaving home. It's been the best time saver! I'll write future posts about specific stores, websites and options that are most useful - but in general, this is my greatest discovery yet. There are items that I have not been able to find online, but that's where my granny cart and Envirosax come back into play, and I only have to visit the store for small items in between larger delivery orders. Which is great, I hate waiting in the checkout disaster pictured on the left every other day.

The Need for Change

There are a countless number of cultural differences that take getting used to in a new country.  Argentina is no exception. 

Some differences take one or two instances of exposure before growing accustomed.  Little things like remembering to ring a bell and get buzzed in to enter stores during business hours (due to heightened security) or to avoid shopping in the middle of the day when many shops inexplicably close for a few hours. 

Some take months of exposure before becoming habit.  Things like kissing on the right cheek when greeting hello and goodbye to people - even during first meetings, or remembering to keep my keys in hand while leaving our Alcatraz-style apartment so that I can unlock the three separate doors on my way outside. 

And then there differences, the one in particular that inspires this post, that are easy to remember, but incredibly difficult to understand. 

Change.  Literally, coins or monedas.  There is a perpetual drought in Buenos Aires in the form of small bills and change.  It is some sort of bizarre phenomena that I cannot for the life of me figure out.  This extreme culture difference is exacerbated by the fact that coins are something that I've spent all my adult life in the US trying to get rid of.  There are literally trays of free pennies for those who just want to give away their change.  Not only that, but who uses cash anymore??  Aren't we a plastic-using society?  Not here, not in Bs.As.  All cash, (almost) all the time, and don't even try to pay with your $100 peso note because you can be sure that they don't have change.

We have managed this money drought a few different ways.  First hurdle: Breaking large bills.  Whenever we withdraw money from the ATM, we always attempt to withdraw in odd numbers, the best being a number that ends in $90.  This plan is foiled by the ATMs that only carry $100s and $50s.  Keep in mind that a $100 peso bill is roughly the equivalent to US$25, so it's not like we're toting Benjamins all over town.  Another way is to pay with a $100 at any store that will accept it, more likely at larger grocery stores or upscale shops.  We then stockpile the smaller bills in our safe for later use.  It has become my part-time job to ensure that we have small bills in our safe at all times.  It sounds silly, but it's a very real part of everyday life to make sure that you always have small bills in your wallet.  The lack of can lead to very uncomfortable situations. 
Exhibit A) I was riding in a cab with $212 pesos in my wallet (with two $100s), we arrived at my destination and fare was $18 pesos.  The cabbie couldn't break my hundred and I had no other money.  I had to short him $6 pesos for the ride, and clearly no tip.  Awkward. 
Exhibit B)  I was shopping at a small bulk health food store where the shopkeeper needs to portion out and weigh all of the items.  After putting together 7 or 8 items, I went to the register with my $100 and they couldn't break it.  And they didn't take credit cards.  And I left the store empty handed - 45 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

So many bus rides!

Second hurdle:  Coins.  Coins are the only form of currency for those that use buses, and since Jon uses the bus to commute, and I use it when I know where I'm going, we go through a lot of change.  People go to great lengths here to avoid giving you change.  Some small shops will give you candy instead of change when your bill is uneven.  Cashiers will ask you for change to round up your bill so they can supply your change in all paper.  Taxi drivers will round your fare down to avoid giving you coin change.  It's incredible.  So, how do you accumulate change?  The method of choice for me, up until yesterday, was to go to the bank.  I would travel to the bank, a couple times a week, stand in line like a dunce for 15-45 minutes and receive a grand total of $10 pesos worth of change.  That's right.  Even the BANK is stingy with coins.  Yesterday, I discovered the mecca of all change locations:  Retiro Station.  Retiro train station has a designated window for monedas because it is a huge bus hub and their train ticket machines only accept coins.  This window inevitably has a 100 person line, but I happen to be at the train station yesterday and it was worth it to save a trip to the bank.  I was even going to kill two birds with one stone and pay for my pesos with a $100 bill, so I could get small bills AND coins.  Imagine my surprise when I get to the window and the man behind the counter gives me $50 coins.  FIFTY.  Five saved trips to the bank.  I couldn't believe it.  And then, I couldn't believe how happy I was to receive coins.  Times have certainly changed.

Our coin reserve is plush now, although it certainly won't last forever.  Note to those in the Bs.As. area that need coins, Retiro is the place to go.  Anyone with other change and small bill tips, please feel free to share.  This is one battle that I had never envisioned myself fighting.   

Mini-Messi and World Cup Fever

Pausing from my Museum Week posts, I am inclined to write a about a little event that you may have heard of called The World Cup.

La Copa Mundial has taken Argentina by storm.

Thank you Married & Mobile for this amazing pic

Soccer/Futbol is the complete focus of the country until July 11 (or until Argentina loses). The Saturday of their first game, Buenos Aires was a ghost town. Shops were closed, traffic was non-existent. There are a number of places set up in the city for people to watch the games for free, as posted on this amazing blog: My Buenos Aires Travel Guide, we are surely planning on joining the crowds at Plaza San Martin for at least one of the games (possibly when my brother Chris is in town next week, Hooray!). The Argentinean team started off strong by winning their first match against Nigeria 1-0. This resulted in a huge, hilarious, blow-up Maradona head to be paraded around the center of the city known here as the Obelisco, known to us as the miniature Washington Monument). Diego Maradona is currently the coach of the Argentine national team, but is more famous for his "Hand of God" goal during the 1986 World Cup games, his highly publicized issues with drugs and weight, and his most recent venture, a reality TV show star. I would like to send a personal shout out to Coach Maradona, thank you for providing constant entertainment during the game, I look forward to more hilarity in the games to come.

Don't worry, we are also following the US team's progress, and were quite satisfied with the 1-1 draw with England in their first game, even if the goal was a partial fluke, we'll take it!

Mini-Messi-Caden cheering from afar

Tomorrow morning, 8:30 Bs.As. time marks the second game for team Argentina, this time against South Korea. We will be cheering for our adopted team, so much so that we have already begun recruiting our friend's children for the 2030 World Cup. Those colors really bring out his baby blues!

The World Cup has been easy to get interested in, even for this non-soccer-loving girl. I can trace it back to the traumatic experience I had with soccer back in the day when my family lived in Atlanta. I was in third grade, and EVERYONE played soccer, so my parents signed me up. Somehow I ended up as the only girl on an all boy-extremely competitive, semi-ghetto team of thugs that hated me. This was compounded by the fact that I was terrible. The season came to a climax when, during a game, a boy on my team (if I remember right, he had a gold front tooth - as an 8-year-old) deliberately kicked the ball as hard as he could into my belly. This is the only time in my life that I've had the wind knocked out of me. I still harbor hard feelings towards this kid, Bubba or Beau or Trent or some other ridiculous southern boy's name.

Jonathan Brandis, my childhood crush.

At the end of the season my mom, being a good team mom, arranged for a team party where everyone received a trophy and had a special trophy made for me that was a girl, instead of a boy, kicking a soccer ball. This raised some sort of controversy among the team and the parents - redic. Needless to say, I've hated soccer ever since. Not even hunky heartthrob Jonathan Brandis (may he rest in peace) and his role in the girl-soccer movie Ladybugs could change my mind, and at that time, if anyone could make me like soccer, Jonathan Brandis could.

Not that I've totally turned around, but now that we're in Argentina, I do enjoy the World Cup.

I'm loving the blue and white stripes worn by every man, woman, child and dog in this city and I'm even, dare I say, liking the whole vuvuzelo debate. It's funny to walk down the street and hear that crazy humming of the vuvuzelos - you know there is a TV close by with the game on. And who doesn't love the infamous "Goooooooolllllllllllllllllll!" cry whenever someone scores!? It's a country full of soccer/futbol-loving-passion. Vamos Argentina!

Wedding Weekend - Shankar & Fernanda

This weekend we were invited to our first Argentine wedding, a much anticipated event even before Shankar & Fernanda announced they were getting married. The story begins like this: The first time we had a couple over for dinner here in Argentina they asked to see our wedding album, which we happily pulled it out and described the wonderful day that was our wedding. We talked about the place (which was beautiful), our families (who were amazing), the officiant (she was interesting), and the weather (which was scorching). They asked what time the reception ended, we said 10:00. Then I remembered the 24-hour clock that everyone uses here - so, correction - our wedding ended at 22:00. Say what?! I'm not sure who was more surprised - Them, who couldn't believe a wedding ended so early or Us, who couldn't believe they actually thought our wedding ended at 10:00 AM.

It was then I knew we needed to attend an Argentine wedding.

Lo and behold, our close friends, Shankar and Fernanda announce they are engaged. Score! Not only are they a great couple and we're super happy that they are getting married, but we are also pretty pumped about attending a wedding here. This was our weekend.

The ceremony was held at a beautiful church in Palermo, Nuestra Sra. de Guadalupe, which was both grand and ornate. In true Argentine fashion, the wedding was scheduled to begin at 8:00pm, which is when we arrived, and the ceremony actually began around 8:50pm. Since I have the most punctual husband in the world, we were, of course, the first people to arrive. Fernanda looked even more beautiful than normal and her dress was stunning. It was quite interesting to listen to a wedding ceremony completely done in Spanish - and impressive that Shankar knew all of the responses, and his vows, in Spanish - nice work!

The reception was held at the Castelar Hotel in Recoleta, a great setting for a wedding reception. We walked into a room filled with several appetizer tables and a large bar to hold us over until dinner. A dinner that started at....wait for it....11:45pm. I have the photo to prove it. This was our salmon appetizer that was carefully plated with a cool ceramic egg to hold the sauce.
After the plates were cleared, we had a little dance break before our next course which was at 12:45am. The picture doesn't do this meal justice, it was fall-off-the-bone meat with a light vegetable "salad" on the side. Perfect for that midnight snack.
The dessert came pretty quickly, a multi-layered cake with dulce de leche (caramel) and cream. The flash blocked it out - but that little sugar pile at the top was on fire, pretty cool presentation.
So now that we've eaten, we take a group shot with our table. In a strange twist of fate, we actually sat next to a guy from France who went to Virginia Tech. I was totally serious when I said we'll be calling him to hang out.

Oh wait, we have another dessert course coming along. This was right about when Fernanda came out and surprised us all. She had spent the last few months learning a traditional dance that she spotlighted during the reception. It was so thoughtful of her to bring a part of Shankar's family's traditions to their Argentine wedding, I think she made a pretty great impression with this move. Everyone loved the dance, and I am in awe of anyone who can just jump our and perform like that. Just to mention, this was round about 3:00am. Jon and I could not believe it - at this point, no one had left the wedding. And there was a seriously pregnant woman there with her 3 year old daughter rocking out the dance floor all night. And said pregnant woman and daughter were still busting a move 5:30am, when we decided it was time to head home.

It was a great wedding, so good that it took us the rest of the weekend to recover. We slept through Sunday - and I'm pretty sure we were the first people to leave. There was also a cake cutting and coffee service before we left - Argentina knows how to put on a wedding. Here are a few more pictures for your enjoyment...

Me and Fernanda, the beautiful bride

Jon and Shankar, all smiles

Jon and I loving the wedding. Congratulations Shankar & Fernanda!

200 Years of Porteños

I'm a few days behind on writing this post, and in life in general since getting back from the US, but it deserves a mention that Argentina celebrated it's bicentennial birthday on Tuesday, May 25 - also known as the day I flew in. A little piece of history, May 25 is not the day that Argentina won it's independence like we celebrate in the States, it is the day that they started the revolution against Spain that eventually (a little over 6 years later...) lead to the full independence from Spain on July 9, 1816. Thus the main streets in Buenos Aires named 9 de Julio and 25 de Mayo which were the places to celebrate on Tuesday.

Happy Birthday Argentina

When we got home from the airport, and after I cleaned the 20 hour old funk off of me, there was a crazy loud noise coming from Ave del Libertador. So we head to the front windows of our apartment to see some sort of race car parade. Because, of course, nothing says Happy Birthday to your country like a race car parade. People were lined up on both sides of the street - scaring the daylights out of me. This was a huge parade, at least 40 cars long. Each of the cars stopped, were surrounded by crowds of people, then shooed everyone out of the way as they peeled out (out of control as well, I might add). Lucky for everyone, no cars went totally out of control and all of the bystanders went home in one piece. From what we hear, the parade was not the highlight of the celebration, even though it was pretty cool. The big, anxiously awaited event was the grand re-opening of the Teatro Colon, which has been closed for a few years now undergoing renovations. I had all but given up hope for the theater to open while we live here, considering that two different tour books I have announcing the theater's opening in 2008 and 2009, respectively, so it's good (albeit surprising) news that we'll be able to see the inside of that theater. So, Happy Birthday Argentina, I hope it was a good one.

Christmas in April

It's true! Santa has arrived, in the form of Jon's parents coming to bring us goodies from the US. To follow up on yesterday's post, here are the items that Thom and Lornie graciously added to their luggage.

It's been like Christmas in April for us. So far as we know, as long as the food is not perishable, no one at the airport cares about bringing food items into the country. In addition to the items shown, Jon has a birthday coming up at the end of this month so I had some of his birthday gifts sent to his parents in advance.

If you are near central Virginia, there is a little town about 20 minutes off of highway 81 called Stuarts Draft. If you didn't know it was there, you probably would pass right by it without thinking twice, but it is the home of one of the greatest food stores I have ever been to. This great little place is called The Cheese Shop that has a wonderful variety of homemade items, baking ingredients, dried fruits and, of course, cheeses. This amazing spot was first introduced to me when my in-laws moved to Lexington, and they raved about this store that was ideal for folks that like to cook (just like me!). We went there to pick up a few items and I started with holding my findings in my arms, then I decided to get a shopping basket, then I broke down and got a cart. The shop has unique items like wasabi peas, chocolate covered espresso beans, trail mixes and all sorts of dried fruits. They also have every spice you could imagine and a variety of mixes for angel food cake, pizza dough, cookies, dips, soups and cakes.

Everything in this box has come from The Cheese Shop. Delish!

Thank you for all of our wonderful gifts! We want lots and lots of visitors while we're here, but beware, we will probably ask you to bring presents too!

Made in the USA

Jon's parents are coming to visit us tomorrow and in addition to being really excited about seeing them and showing off the area, there is another reason that we anxiously await their arrival. Visitors = Supplies. It's like adult-Christmas morning for us when people visit. We patiently pick them up from the airport, let them get settled in their rooms for a minute or two and then stare at their suitcases waiting to see what goodies lie within. So far, we have had parents visiting, so we have been shameless when it comes to asking them to smuggle items into the country. I got an email from Jon's mom the other day that proudly stated "We just finished packing two suitcases with the things you asked us to bring and they both weigh exactly 50 pounds! How perfect is that?" That's right. We have asked for 100 pounds of miscellaneous supplies to be brought to us from the good old US of A. What is it that we want? Here are some of our requested supplies -

• Ziploc Bags - They sell them here, but only in packs of six.
  
• Large Trash Bags - The trash cans here use bags the size of grocery bags. For us, that would last for approximately 20 minutes worth of trash.
  
• Splenda Packets - I have recently seen this in the store, so we can now cross it off of the list.
• Bath Towels - We have more bathrooms in this apartment than we had in the US, so we needed to bulk up on our towel supply. Unfortunately, the only towels that I have found here that don't feel like sandpaper cost US$50.00 each, so this made the list.
• Angel Food Cake Mix - I'm not a big baker, and this is one of my go-to desserts. For some reason, this delicious cake has not made it to Argentina yet.
• Frank's Hot Sauce - This is one of those items that you just can't substitute. I've tried, and the result was inferior.
  
• Salad Dressing Packets - Salad dressing is just not a big thing here, generally people just use oil and vinegar. I love my cruet with one of those All Seasons dressing packets and with just the two of us, one packet lasts for a few nights worth of salad.
• Reynold's Tin Foil - It's just better.
• 100 Calorie Packs, especially Mr. Saltys - Our friends in the US used to make fun of us because our pantry was stocked full of 100 calorie packs of all varieties. They are perfect for a snack and made packing lunch many times easier. Unfortunately, this luxury has not yet made it down to our neck of the woods.
  

Some of our friends have other regular requests, the most popular being peanut butter. Luckily, we don't eat much peanut butter even when it is readily available so this isn't an issue for us. All in all, we can find most of what we need at the grocery stores here. It is a nice treat to have some goodies brought in from home, even if it means putting our visitors to work. We promise it's still worth the trip.

San Telmo

San Telmo is the oldest barrio in Bs. As., alive with culture and music and, of course, tango. During the week, it is home to antique shops, art galleries and plenty of cafes; but the weekend holds the real time to visit San Telmo. Each weekend, mostly on Sundays, the cobblestone streets transform into an enormous outdoor market filled with antiques, crafts and artisan items. San Telmo is just a short cab ride from where we live, so it is an easy destination for an afternoon trip. While my mom was in town, I reserved our Sunday to visit the San Telmo market.

The main street in San Telmo is Defensa Street, famous for the street fight between the porteños (Buenos Aires natives) and the British where the porteños put together an impromptu militia and sent the British back to their awaiting ships. This is seen as the first main step in gaining their independence from Spain a few years later. San Telmo is also recognized as one of the potential birthplaces of the Argentine Tango. There are a few other barrios that make this claim, so it depends on who you talk to as to where the actual birthplace was. The weekend market spans countless blocks down Defensa Street, but it seems to begin at Plaza Dorrego. In the Plaza itself, you'll find a higher concentration of antique booths, and the further you walk down Defensa, the more jewelry, mate paraphernalia and clothing booths appear.

We were only a few steps out of the taxi when we ran into this cool tango band complete with three accordians. Throughout our visit to the market, there were countless bands, Spanish guitar players and tango stages set up for open air shows. There are plenty of unique items including horse accessories; stirrups, bits and decorations made out of horseshoes, old time seltzer bottles and lots of copper spoons, jugs and buckets. Additionally, there are plenty of really great finds just waiting to be purchased from the artisan stalls in the market - like this cool "Welcome" sign that I bought.

Recoleta Cemetery

Few places have surprised and impressed me more than the Recoleta Cemetery. I have always liked cemeteries (during daylight hours) and have a strange fascination with the stories surrounding old cemeteries, especially old cemeteries in really rich areas - they always seem to have the best stories. Even as a kid, it was not unusual for my family to go for a weekend walk through a nearby cemetery, I just figured that's what all families did. It's no surprise that I was really excited to visit the Recoleta Cemetery, it is a main tourist attraction for everyone, not just strange cemetery-lovers like me. I had no idea what I was getting into, this place is like nothing I've ever seen before.

We first visited Recoleta Cemetery during the BA Walking Tour we took right after moving in. Since then, I have taken the same tour a second time while my mom was visiting and found it even more interesting the second time around. This cemetery at one time held the most expensive real estate, per square meter, in the world. It is now beat by plenty of other places in the world but a few years ago a plot sold for somewhere around US$290,000. These are not normal cemetery plots, it is better described as a small city. The sidewalks are arranged like city streets and the tombs are like miniature buildings. Each building has it's own unique story, and many times the tomb itself says a lot about the life or death of the family within. Like the story about the tomb on the left. According to the tour, while they were both living, the wife was a big spender and the husband was a bit of a scrooge. At some point, the husband very publicly refused to pay for any of his wife's purchases, therefore bringing her spending habits to a halt. From that day forward, the wife never spoke to the husband again. Even after he died, 12 years later, she erected these statues on their family tomb showing her looking away from the husband - shunning him for eternity.

Then there are the really beautiful sculptures, like the one here on the right. This tomb shows an angel guiding the woman to heaven while the surrounding angels mourn Earth's loss. It's hard to see with the shadow, but there is an owl next to the rising woman. This signifies the intelligence of the family represented. This family, at one time, owned and ran the largest national newspaper in Argentina. There is so much thought and effort put into these sculptures, you really need a guide to explain all of the stories and meanings.




Last but not least, is the most famous tomb of all, Eva Peron's final resting place. It is relatively nondescript, although it comes with a very long and interesting story. The only way that you would know it was the tomb of someone famous is due to the constant presence of flowers and prayer cards.

We are lucky enough to have these monuments withing walking distance of our house, but the cemetery is a must-see if you are anywhere in Buenos Aires. There are few places like it in the world, and even if you are squeamish around classic cemeteries, I think this one is worth a try.

La Oriental, Estancia

During my mom's visit, we decided to spend a few days outside of the city. There are plenty of places to travel to in Argentina but it is a HUGE country and most places are mainly accessible by plane or an extremely long road trip. For example, to get to Mendoza (wine country) from our house would take about 12 hours in a car. No thank you. We wanted to spend a few days outside the city but not bother with flights, and the popular option recommended to me was to visit an Estancia.

An Estancia is best described as a ranch, although I have never heard of ranches in the US that are travel destinations like this. Argentina has long had a strong cattle ranching culture and there are still plenty of working ranches out there, but there are also a number of ranches that have been sold by their original owners. The economy for ranchers has been in flux over the last 70 years or so, and when many of these ranches were sold, they were bought and converted into bed and breakfast-type hotels. These are now popular places for people to visit for a relaxing weekend away from the big city. Being that my mom and her friend Pat are horse lovers, this was an ideal destination during their visit.

We drove 4 hours out to La Oriental, a converted Estancia near the small town of Junin. This amazing place consists of one main house, built in the late 1800s, that has all original furniture, dishes and fixtures, which is where the premium rooms are located. There are also countless other buildings on the property that started out as racehorse stables, now converted into houses that are either rented out or used for miscellaneous reasons related to the Estancia. Once we arrived, Estela, the owner, had a delicious lunch prepared for us. We had steak, tuna and salad accompanied with our choice of water, wine, beer or soda served on a large outdoor porch. After lunch, Miguel took us for a horse drawn carriage ride to show us the grounds. The carriage ride was really nice, I haven't been on a carriage ride in ages, but there were more mosquitoes than I could count. My mom and I had were spraying constantly, but we all walked away littered with bites.
La Oriental has plenty of ways to keep busy during your stay. You can swim in or lay out by the pool, go horseback riding, biking, hiking, or just sit outside and read. It was an incredibly relaxing few days filled with great food, beautiful scenery and lots of free time. I highly recommend La Oriental for a nice weekend away from city life. Here are some other photos that we took, for your viewing enjoyment:

Mom and Miguel taking a break from the group ride

Miguel preparing some delicious meat for lunch

One of the many ranch horses

Miguel is the happiest guy in town.

Me and Mom on our last day at La Oriental