Well, just like every year, and just like back home, Christmas soon came around. The great thing here was, I wasn’t sick of it by the time it arrived. Maybe it helped that I didn’t have nearly as much preparation to do, or nearly as many Christmas related events to attend. Though there was still plenty to keep me busy, it didn’t necessarily focus on Christmas. It certainly helped that the city Christmas trees and decorations didn’t go up until the 1st December! Just enough time to start getting a little excited and make an effort to check out the Christmas markets.

My Christmas celebrations started on Friday, 22nd December with the Fuudis lunch tour – a fun group of people from different parts of the world, three different restaurants, three different courses, and a couple of nice wines. A fun day out, that a group of us backed up in the evening with Happy Hour cocktails at Fierro Hotel with a few friends who hadn’t been at lunch. I enjoyed time with friends I’d already made here, and met some great new people, including some fellow Aussies who had some great new BA tips for me. In fact, there seemed to be more Aussies in that beer garden that night than I have met so far on this trip.

Plans are not made very far in advance in BA, probably Argentina for that matter. Although each of us had plans for Noche Buena (the more celebrated Christmas Eve event in South America), and invitations from kind friends, there were a few of us foreigners who still wanted to celebrate on Christmas Day, so we finished the evening with some sketchy plans for the day.

On Christmas Eve, the temperature was soaring, hitting the high 30s but with such high humidity that people were quoting the “sensación térmica” or “feels like factor” in the mid-40s. It was oppressive. Nonetheless, fellow Aussie Cheryl and I, troopers that we are, braved the heat to head out in the early afternoon and share a bottle of refreshing Chandon in honour of Christmas. We both had respective family events planned that night and it was fun to compare our preparations.

I had been invited to spend Noche Buena with Veronica, her partner Nacho, and her family, and I was excited and honoured to be spending it with them. With my goodies in tow, I set off on the bus to get to Vero’s parents’ place, aiming to arrive by 9pm. The heat had really shown no sign of abating and, as I got close to the house, I noticed that power was out along Rivadavia, a fairly main road. Arriving at Vero’s parents, they luckily had electricity and, hence, cooling, but informed me that we weren’t staying there but were continuing on to an Uncle’s house. We loaded up a people-seater with all the food and goodies, and drove – two blocks – to the Uncle’s house! Uncle’s house was huge, and I mean HUGE, and very nice. Unfortunately, they were in the part of the block that had no electricity! Luckily, most of the food had been precooked, and for the time being, the house remained cool from the air conditioning during the day but the heat outside was still oppressive and we were all praying that the power would kick back in.

We set about getting ready for dinner, setting tables, plating up dishes, serving wine and beer, etc. I was given a tour of the cellar which, besides being the coolest place in the house at the time, contained an amazing amount of wine and also a jamon drying room housing numerous jamons destined for Uncle’s many restaurants. With the table ready, some emergency lighting, and all guests present, we sat down outside to eat a little before 11pm. It was still incredibly hot but, just as we started to eat, hooray, the power came back on and the cooling, inside and outside, got cranked up, much to our relief.

Dinner contained some very traditional dishes, including the Italian influenced “vitel tone” (vitello tonnato), tartaletta de palmito and palta (a kind of mousse of avocado and palmhearts) topped with langostinos, and tongue cured in vinegar, all lovingly prepared by Vero’s mum. There was also an arrollado (a type of savoury roll filled with sandwich type fillings), lots of salads, and a “lechon” – whole baby pig cooked by one of Uncle’s many restaurants. The food was incredible and, like many an Australian Christmas, plentiful.

As we finished eating the main course, now with the temperature considerably more manageable, Uncle started to serve the champagne. Before we knew it, it was approaching midnight and the count down began to ring in Christmas. There were “saluds”, besos, and “feliz navidad” all round, and the local fireworks began. Vero’s twin nephews got excited and convinced their Dad to let them buy some fireworks which, with the help of the adults, were set off from the backyard.

We then cleared away the main course and out came dessert, also with many traditional dishes like pan dulce (panettone), turron (nougat), a layered dulce de leche cake with meringue, lots of lollies and sweets, fruit salad and, of course, a little taste of Aussie Christmas (no, not Pav, that would have been far to ambitious in my ill-equipped kitchen and in that heat!), rumballs, which were a hit with the kids.

At some stage shortly after, the wind picked up and it was almost a Melbourne cool change. OK, not quite, that would be silly. But the temperature certainly dropped and the long awaited rain started. We remained under the cover of the outside patio, enjoying our champagne and merriment. The music was fired up, and Vero´s Dad even showed us his impression of Gangnam style!

The rain, fortunately, didn’t last long but enough to cool things off, and the roads were safe and dry when Vero and Nacho dropped me off at home, I don’t know, around 4am?

It was a really pleasant night, with really lovely, open and friendly people and I felt truly honoured that they shared their Noche Buena with me. Thanks Vero, Nacho and family xx

The next day was Christmas and my present to myself was a nice sleep in before getting up and getting ready for the famous Hernan Gipponi brunch at Hotel Fierro. I had heard great things about this brunch since I arrived in BA. Usually only available on Saturdays and Sundays, when they put it on for Christmas, without hiking the price up, it was an easy choice for our Christmas Day celebration.

The streets were dead quiet, with everybody either still sleeping, or enjoying leftovers and quiet family time. Gil was waiting when I arrived, and it was to be his first “Christmas” lunch (not because he’s a newborn). Despite not celebrating Christmas, he celebrates good food, and he jumped at the opportunity to join us. Cheryl arrived shortly after and we were welcomed with a lovely glass of champagne, a fitting way to start, and I presented Gil and Cheryl with a little gift pack of rumballs that I’d prepared for them. (I also gave some to my very chuffed door men at the apartment building, who were pleasantly surprised.)

The flow of courses commenced, with a delicious 62-degree egg dish first, followed by a plate of little tastes, then veal for me and fish for the others, followed by beautiful slow cooked and deliciously tender lamb, an absolute hit with the Aussie girls! My hurried descriptions don’t do the dishes justice, but hopefully the pictures speak a thousand words. For those with sharp eyes, or a really good zoom on their screen, a photo of the menu is attached, or you can read another blogger’s previous comprehensive review here. The dessert was a right-sized piece of hot panettone with rich vanilla icecream. Perfect!

It was such an enjoyable meal, and nice company, and just a beautiful way to pass the time. We were all so excited about taking photos of the food though, that none of us took any people photos! A lesson for next time.

We each rolled off in our own respective directions, and my second gift to myself for the day was a long siesta on the couch.

Later in the evening, I got word from Anne, an Aussie living here and co-founder of the aforementioned Fuudis. She was having an asado (BBQ) at her rooftop apartment and invited me around. Armed with more rumballs and a bottle of champagne, I headed around. Anne’s friend and business partner, Marina was there, and the Columbian crew from restaurant iLatina who had their parents in town from Bogota, and their brother from Barcelona. Santi, head chef at iLatina, manned the parrilla but insisted it didn’t feel like his usually cooking duties in the restaurant. Despite earlier feeling that I wouldn’t eat again for the rest of the year, the meat was delicious and, unlike the heat of the day before, the night was beautiful. I had a wonderful, relaxing time and enjoyed speaking about Columbia with their parents. I think it is nearing the top of the list for next place to visit!

So, although I certainly missed my usual Christmas fun with friends, and our manic and enjoyable family time together back home, I really had an absolutely lovely Christmas in BA, thanks to many lovely new friends.

There is no shortage of things to do in this town and the last few weeks have flown by.  Aside from all the regular, fixed venues like the range of restaurants and bars, there always seems to be something special scheduled.  My endeavours to check out certain places are often postponed to take up an opportunity that presents itself less frequently.

One of the events that popped up was a themed dinner run by a group called Fuudis, established by an Australian girl, Anne, and her Argentinian business partner, Marina.  Fuudis regularly run Foodie Restaurant tours, progressive dinners that focus on one neighbourhood at a time and take their guests to a different restaurant for each course, with a matching drink at each stage.  There is a big emphasis on mixing and meeting new people and the events attract both locals and visitors alike.

The themed dinner was a little different to the regular tours and was held in one of the popular Puerta Cerradas, iLatina. The theme – “green” – representing the fast-approaching Christmas season.  Guests were asked to wear something featuring some green, or a little red, and the meal was designed so that each course featured something green.

We met on a designated corner and, once our crowd had gathered, we were led to the nearby restaurant.  The place was huge and, unlike the other Puerta Cerrada I’ve experienced, was set up much more like a permanent restaurant and looked less like someone lived in that part of the house when the restaurant wasn’t operating.

After taking our seats at one of four communal tables, we were served a delicious welcome cocktail, a Cynar Julep with a pink grapefruit hit. We were then presented with a beautiful bread basket featuring three different green-themed breads, a banana and coriander bread, a spinach loaf, and a zucchini focaccia.  Bread is BA is notoriously not good.  Well, bad actually, so it was nice to eat some fresh home-baked bread, albeit a little on the sweet side, but soft, fresh and delicious, three things that BA bread generally is not!

You can see more photos here, so I won’t run through each course but the highlights for me were the delicious prawn skewers – juicy and tender with a pistachio and mint crumb, and the lime and lemon verbena pie for dessert.  The chef was kind enough to switch out the fish course for me …. for veal sweetbreads!  Be careful what you wish for!  But they are a popular dish here and were actually quite tasty.

We were served some lovely wines along the way, my favourite being the La Guarda malbec served with the main meat course.  In form true to their networking spirit, half of us were asked to move tables before the dessert course in order to meet a new group of people.  The crowd was about half locals and half foreigners and it was great to mingle with both and practice my Spanish.  There were a couple of raffles after dessert and I seemed to be on a lucky table with 4 of the 7 of us winning something, and me taking home a lovely bottle of Chardonnay.

It was a great night – a lot of fun, a lot of nice people, and a lot of great food and wine.

It was supposed to be the last Fuudis event for the year, but I was very happy to hear the other day that they have scheduled a Lunch Restaurant tour in San Telmo on Friday 21st December.  Needless to say, my place is booked!

The last weekend in November brought with it a “dia feriado” or public holiday on the Monday, making it a long weekend.  Nobody really knew what the day was for, but apparently Cristina (Kirchner, la Presidenta) has given a lot of new public holidays in the last year, and the locals are not complaining.  It’s a day off after all and, as it turns out, was National Sovereignty Day.

I started my weekend with a trip to a nearby Market, or Feria Itinerante, that pops up each Saturday in Plaza Almagro not too far from where I’m living.  It was a small market, with only a couple of fruit and vege stalls, a poultry stand, a cheese stall, a health food stand, and a few other small vendors.  It was popular with the locals, and they formed an orderly line along the fence, patiently waiting their turn to be served by the fruit and vege man.  Very different to the “dollar bag, dollar bag” mayhem at the South Melbourne market!  I recognised a couple of stalls from another Feria Itinerante I had visited a couple of weeks before on a Sunday in a different location.  The produce was fresh, well presented and, by our standards, cheap!  I also found some nice, simple and natural muesli at the Health Food stand and stocked up.

I love a good market, so after dropping my goodies off at home, I set off to explore another market, the BA Open Air market.  Focusing on organic and health food, it is held (apparently) one Saturday a month in the Bosques de Palermo, part of the large, public green space that is a popular spot for Porteños to get out into the fresh air every weekend.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and I caught the “colectivo” to the zoo then walked down to the Open Air market from there.  There were people everywhere, and a lot of colourful food stalls, most of which were serving deliciously healthy ready-to-eat food, which was great because I was hungry after my walk.  It was hot (what’s new) and I was also thirsty, so I grabbed a “limonada con jengibre” (traditional lemonade with ginger) and did a circuit to check out the available options.  There was such a variety of food, and all with a healthy twist – soy empanadas, vegetable tortas, different types of bruschetta, vegetable quesadillas, wholegrain muffins and cookies, vegie burgers, bruleed cheese on a stick.  OK, I’m not so sure about the health benefits of this last one – slabs of cheese that they “bruleed” with a little blowtorch like you would, well, a creme brulee – but I guess at least they didn’t deep fry it!  There were tables set up down the middle of the market, and I chose an irresistible looking chickpea burger on wholemeal bread served with a range of accompaniments including a light spiced carrot puree, peas, and sprouts, and found myself a little corner of table in the shade.  Delicious, and I felt like I was eating something that was really good for me, and topping up the vegie quota after so much protein in this city.

There were also a lot of stalls sampling and selling their products to take home – the usual range of olive oils, preserves, and cheeses, organic wines and beers, and a variety of other goodies.  My favourite was a stall with premixed spice grinders and a yummy chilli sauce by a woman called Narda Lepes, who I’ve since found out is an established chef and one of the organisers of the Feria Masticar.  With her face on the label of her products, she reminded me of “our Marion” back home.

After my time in the open air market, I took a little walk through the beautiful Rosedal, the Rose Garden.  It’s beautiful green and manicured, and has a little canal and lake in it with some very ornate bridges.  On the day I was there, it seemed a popular spot, particularly for boy and girl scouts, and for young couples wanting to express there affection by the waterside.  Public Displays of Affection are a common pastime in BA and nobody is going to let a group of scouts get in their way.

Outside the Rose Garden there are many walking and bike tracks, and there were people everywhere, exercising in some form – running, riding, using the fitness circuit, roller blading, etc.  I ended up walking most of the way home, quite a way, which deserved a well-earned afternoon siesta on the couch.

After my nap, I freshened up and headed out to check out what has been lauded as BA’s one true, authentic Mexican restaurant, La Fabrica de Tacos.  As predicted, there was a line out the door but, being one person often has its advantages and I was seated straight away in the bar area.  As much as I’d been picturing a nice margarita to go with my tacos, the Happy Hour special of the day was a Kiwi Daquiri and I was converted. The restaurant had a “trompo”, much like what is used for souvlakis, cooking meat for the Tacos al Pastor, and a couple of different hot sauces available on the table.  The service was slow, even slower than the crowd may have warranted, but the tacos were tasty and the drink refreshing.

After dinner, I went to a nearby bar, Sheldon, where the Happy Hour (which run for about 6 hours here, if they ever finish at all!) Cocktail was a “Caipicuya” – a deliciously refreshing passionfruit caipirinha.  I managed to secure a little couch seat in the corner of their leafy courtyard, and past the time enjoying my drink and the beautiful evening.

The next day, I was up and out to take a trip to Mataderos and then had plans in the evening (can you call it “evening” when you know you won’t go out until close to midnight?) with some local girls, Gi and Andy, that I’d been put in touch with by a mutual friend.  That definitely required a “pre-match” siesta.

Sure enough, the girls swung by and picked me up in a taxi at about 1.30am, and we went straight to a nightclub in Palermo, Rosebar.  The girls had a name that they dropped at the door which, if you got there “early” (before 2am), gets you in free and gives vouchers for free food and a free drink.  The club was large, and there were a few people there already, but it wasn’t close to full yet.  There was some outside seating and we sat outside, enjoyed the fresh night air and caught up over our drinks since it was the first time we’d met.  Once the crowd started to build, we went back inside to dance for a while.  When we came back outside again, it had been raining and the night had cooled off and, with the sun starting to light up the horizon, we decided to call it a night.  With a lot of people having the same idea, it was a little hard to get a cab at first, but I was soon home and ready for bed … at 7am!

At 11am, I dragged myself awake to go and have lunch with some American friends I had met here, Tony and Scott, who were leaving that day.  I met them at a nice, health focused cafe in Palermo, BBlue, for a salad filled sandwich and a nutritious juice.  It’s close to my new yoga class, so has since become a regular juice or lunch stop.  They had just come back from Mendoza and had a couple of cartons of wine specially packed to take back to California.  They also had a couple of stray bottles that they didn’t want to have to carry back with them so, lucky me, I was the recipient of two lovely bottles of Argentine red. Thanks guys!

After saying goodbye to them, I spent some of the afternoon wandering around Plaza Palermo Viejo.  Although it was Monday, being a day off, it was just like a Sunday, with market stalls set up around the plaza, families out in full force enjoying the day, and musicians and buskers entertaining the crowds.  A nice way to end an enjoyable long weekend.  Thanks Cristina!

Right from the time I arrived here, before even getting off the plane actually, one of the things that the locals suggested I do, was take a day trip to Tigre.  Mind you, when I mentioned that I was thinking of going and staying overnight, they looked at me like I had two heads and said “Por que?”, explaining that there wasn’t much to do unless I went to one of the islands, where it would still just be me and the mosquitos.

Tigre is a town just a little north of BA, where the river delta system starts to spread out, creating a maze of little islands and a web of rivers.  It is a popular weekend getaway for city dwellers, some of whom keep holiday houses there.  Deciding to beat the weekend rush, I decided to go on a quiet Tuesday, when the rest of the city was working.  It’s only an hour away on the local train – when they run on time!  The train services seem to have been having all kinds of trouble here lately, so it took me a little longer than anticipated to arrive, but I was still there by midday.

Tigre is ALL about the river system, so the first thing I did was go in search of a nice little boat trip.  I’d already been warned that tours of any more than an hour or two, although a relaxing way to pass time, were really just more of the same thing.  Plus, we all know what happens when you book “a three hour tour” (queue music!).  I bought a ticket for a one hour boat circuit, which included a free ticket for Tigre’s version of the hop on/hop off tourist bus.  I had an hour to kill before the boat trip, so I had a quick walk around town.  I could see now why friends had warned me that there wouldn’t be a great deal to do here had I stayed overnight!  The town is split in two by the river running through it, with only a small city centre.  There are some beautiful buildings, like the Buenos Aires Rowing Club, Argentina’s first and most important Rowing Club.

It was a steaming hot day, so the best spot to be was by the water, where there was at least a slight reprieve if you caught the whisper of a breeze, so I spent the last 10 minutes of my time sitting under the shade of a big tree and snacking on a yummy meat empanada.  The temperature had been building over the previous few days and a storm was forecast to break the heat, but didn’t show signs of arriving for a day or two yet.  Add the already high heat and humidity with the proximity to the delta and, whooshka, it felt like having a second skin.  I was happy when the time came to board our little boat for the tour, and I positioned myself in a breeze maximising position.  There were only four other tourists on the boat, a Spanish couple and a Canadian couple, and we were welcomed with a very sweet mini cup of coffee and an alfajor, the popular sweet shortbread biscuits sandwiching a layer of dulce de leche.

We got a nice view of some of the town’s sights as we left the port, like the beautiful Museum of Fine Arts which was once a casino and has been preserved for its current, more cultural use.  We were then into the river and island network, and our guide explained to us that the islands have no connection to the main town other than by boat.  There are no roads on the islands and, although some islands have foot bridges across the canals between them, there’s no bridge that connects to the main town.  The houses along the river range from very large and pristine, to delapitated, tiny and run-down, but most have piers built out into the main rivers, even if they don’t have boats.  There is a “colectivo” local boat service, much like the bus network in BA but on a much smaller scale, that can be flagged down from your own private pier or one of the colour-coded public piers.  Locals use the colectivo either to get back and forth from Tigre, or to move between islands, but a particular hazard is missing your stop because, unlike the city, you can’t just hop and walk back a stop!

Along the way, other than private residences, we saw a couple of holiday spots, reminiscent of holiday camp sites along the Murray, and a small beach with imported white sand that gets topped up from time to time when the sand has been washed away.  There were a few people swimming or jumping off docks, but the water is dirty and polluted and there’s no way you’d get me in there.  We saw a group of school kids coming out of school for the day and waiting for their school boat to do the school run home. It must be a completely different way of life out here, and the locals biggest worry is high tides and flooding, which can occur in the wet season and, for this reason, many of the houses are built on stilts.  Our guide pointed out ex-President Sarmiento’s prior home, which has now been encased in glass to protect it from the elements, and also showed us the garbage collection boat filling up with fuel to start his run.

We were soon back to town, having enjoyed our relaxing meander along the rivers, and I decided to take advantage of the hop on/hop off bus to see a little more of what the town has to offer.  I got off at the furthest most spot, the Museum of Fine Arts, but the driver told me that it’s shut on Tuesdays.  I took a nice walk along the water, back towards town, and decided to sit at probably the only true riverside restaurant, Il Novo Maria del Lujan.  I sat on the large deck, catching the ever so slight breeze, and ordered something to eat and drink.  It was too hot for a wine (yes, I really just said that), so I ordered a “licuado”, basically a blend of fruit, water and ice and, given this nation’s sweet tooth, probably a fistful of sugar.  I was also not that hungry given the heat and the earlier empanada, but ordered an appetiser of Milanesas de Mozzarella, sinfully delicious little discs of mozzarella, crumbed and fried and served with a little homemade tomato sauce.  For what I had, the restaurant is not cheap, but the location was great and it was worth it just to enjoy the Riverside deck and the breeze for a while.

I then took off walking back towards one of the other museums that I knew was on the bus route, and got back on the bus.

One of the main attractions to Tigre is the Puerto de Frutas, an old fruit port that has now been converted to a shopping district for all kinds off things, but particularly furniture and household items made from the wood of the local area.  The bus driver told me that you can’t move in the place on weekends, it’s so busy with all the people that come into town, but that it would be quieter today and a lot of stalls would be closed.  He was right, and although there was some nice stuff in the stalls that were open, I’m not exactly in the market for furniture and household items, so it didn’t take me long to look around.

As I left the port, I saw the station where the Tren de la Costa, or Coast Train, leaves from. It is 8 times the price of the local train I arrived on but, at 16 pesos, it’s still only about $3.50, and it is apparently cleaner and more scenic.  I decided to take a look but a train left just as I walked up, and I couldn’t be bothered waiting for the next one in 20 minutes so instead, walked back into town to the main train station to get the local train back to Buenos Aires.

It was still steaming hot, and I had time to stop and buy an icypole at the train station, where the lady told me that she has just about been bought out. I’m glad it wasn’t just me feeling the heat!  Thankfully, the train was cool and not too full, although the trains still weren’t exactly running all that well and, much to the disgust of many people who needed to continue on, the train terminated two stations early which, fortunately for me, was my stop anyway.  Phew!

A great day out, and something very different to anything I’ve seen before.  I can see the appeal of renting a house with a group of friends and escaping the city for a long weekend, but my friends had been right about not needing more than a day trip.

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