those shauldozas: Buenos Aires

Argentina. The land of meat and wine. OK, I don't know if that's even valid since I spent one long weekend in one city in the whole country, but it sure seemed like those were two of the biggest priorities. And, they were amazing. Inexpensive and superb.

I highly recommend Buenos Aires. Frankly, both Steve and I liked it better than Santiago. The food is just SO good, and the feel of the city is unique and welcoming. The only downside of visiting as an "estadounidense" (I will have to start using that word since Chileans don't like people from the US calling themselves "Americans" since they are technically also Americans... Have I mentioned this is one of my favorite Spanish words since we don't have an equivalent in English, unless of course you say "I'm United States-ian", and also it took me a good few months to pronounce it properly... I digress) is that we have to pay a reciprocity tax of $160 PER PERSON. If you ever want to visit, please note you have to do this BEFORE leaving (easily done online) as they might ask for proof of this before you even board your airplane as they did with us in Santiago. Thankfully, we were fully prepared. The good news is that Chileans don't have to pay this fee, so only 3/4 of us had to pay. Good ole Isaac.

We were very lucky to have our amazing friends Brian and Laura meet us in Santiago and fly to Buenos Aires together. Experiencing a city for the first time with good friends is so much fun. We stayed at a great house tucked away on the border of the Palermo Soho neighborhood and Villa Crespo that we found via airbnb.com. If you haven't used this website before, I highly recommend it. We have had success many times. Renting homes with a family is so much better than staying in a hotel room!

Before I get into our activities, I have to pause and record where we ate in case anyone ever wants recommendations. The first night we had La Cabrera take out, which I came to find out later was one of the highest recommended restaurants in BA, and it was a very nice restaurant (apparently everywhere does take out). We had steaks and more steaks with some amazing sauces - the chimichurri was to die for (and very popular in BA). I'm pretty sure it was in my top 3 steaks of all time. And it was take out. (check it out here: http://www.theworlds50best.com/latinamerica/en/the-list/11-20/La-Cabrera.html ). The next night we had someone come to the house and cook us a very traditional Argentinian meal. She prepared milenasa, which is to the Argentinians like bolognese sauce is to Italians. Meaning, that every family has their own special recipe and way to prepare it, and it's the traditional Argentine comfort food. It is basically a thin cut of meat, pounded, breaded and pan fried. It was VERY good. Laura and I also had a ladies night out and we accidentally went to one of the best restaurants in BA, called Sarkis. This restaurant was literally 2 blocks from our house and always has a long long line. We left the house at 8:30 (very early for dinner), and we passed it and there was no line. We thought, let's just see if it's open (this was a Monday night and nothing is open on Mondays). It was and inside it was packed except for about 3 small tables, one of which we claimed. The food was superb. SUPER fresh and authentic (it's Middle Eastern food by the way). We had a bottle of wine, a trio of dips with hot, fresh pita, as well as falafel and two different types of kebabs (meat and lamb). Everything was amazing, and it was under $50 total. I couldn't believe how cheap it was! In sum, GO. EAT.

Here are some pics of our house. Gorgeous 4 bedroom with 3 terraces!

Here are some good pics of the couples.

The first day we did a lot of walking, mostly through Palermo and surrounding areas. Buenos Aires has some really nice, huge parks. We stopped by the zoo as well as the planetarium. I have no pics of these because Laura was the photographer that day!

The next day, we spent our time doing shopping at San Telmo. There is a fantastic antiques market at Plaza Dorrego that runs all the way up to Plaza de Mayo (where Casa Rosada is located). That's probably about a mile. On Sundays, it's all closed and just packed. It was really fun, and we bought a ton of unique things (and no, not all antiques, lots of artesenal/clothes/art items). There are street bands, and even people tango-ing all around you.

Plaza de Mayo / Casa Rosada. We were actually there during Independence Day, and there were both celebrations and protests going on. Quite interesting.