Although Halloween is catching on in South America it still lacks the flare and build-up we create in the US. Fittingly it is not part of their culture and celebrating down here would feel less than authentic.

These cultures have much scarier things to worry about than silly old Halloween. Like this mask for example: A native depiction of a Spanish conquistador

I think Halloween is more popular in Uruguay. Our hosts from couch surfers in Montevideo had Halloween candy and a pumpkin! In their kitchen they have a blackboard wall which we decorated with a few spooky sketches.

From Uruguay Stuart wrote:
“There were a lot of kids celebrating Halloween in Tacuarembo tonight.
The were dressed up, throwing stuff on each other, and running around. One was
dressed up like a ghost, but made the mistake of having his head pointed, so he
was actually dressed like a KKK member. Dad and I had a good laugh at that,
and yes there are photos.”

In Argentina there are a few parties at clubs and in resturaunts. I contemplated dressing Carlos up or going out in costume myself. But Carlos has been dressed up enough (see photo below) and with the heavy rain a movie seemed like the best option.

French Cat

Ghost Busters was a pretty good choice. I can’t believe I had never seen it. I drank some beer and watched it with our current couch surfers Mercedes and Mario.

Mario is from Switzerland and Mercedes is from Quito, Ecuador. The couple have been traveling for 3.5 moths and will be returning to their home in Quito next week. Merceds and I talked about the up coming holiday in her country, Dia de Los Disfuntos (Day of the deceased).

Families go to the graveyards to honor the dead by decorating the grave with flowers. There is a large dinner with a traditional blueberry (colorada morada) drink and bread shaped into little figures called Gua Gua de Pan which means baby-bread.

These traditions stems from their native heritage. Similar celebrations take place in Mexico, Dia De Los Muertos. Graves are decorated a huge feast is prepared with plates set for both the living and the departed.

Passed loved ones are honored with their faovirte tequilas, candies, flowers etc. In Mexico the traditional sugar skulls adorne homes along with candeles and marigolds.

If you can’t tell I’d really like to go to Mexico and stay with a family during this celebration…

Mexican immigrants in the US celebrate too. Hopefully when I get back I can get involved in a community and learn more about how their traditions function away from their native countries.

This morning I witnessed an arrest. Like most crime in Buenos Aires this passing was non-violent. A fat middle-aged man stole a woman’s nap sack.

Cops are everywhere in the city but this was the first I’d seen take real action. Heaven forbid he take time away from whistle at short skirts and dipping his media lunas in café con leche.

I arrived with the man on his knees held at gunpoint by the cop. With a pistol inches from your temple you would think not to remove your hands from your head. However due to Italian heritage Portenos need to talk with their hands….

To explain, the thief raised his hands to gesticulate his innocence. All the while the victim yelled and swung her arms threateningly. Curse words (which I know understand) were exchanged.

Worse yet the cop also yelled and waved his hands/gun around in the air. I imagine this situation would carry on for some time. Portenos are slow to come any conclusion and must talk above one another and each feel like he or she ahd the last word.

I joined the other onlookers for a few last moments as I reflected on a few other stories. Our first couch surfers had an attempted robbery at the obelisk; 3 crazy bums came up with a filthy tattered sheet and put it over Derek’s head. When the two refused to hand over any cash the bums searched their pockets but were confused by Derek’s chain tethered wallet.
Making my way to the port I passed some people scratching their heads with a giant map. I offered to help and ended up saving their lives They were naively planning to walk to the danger zone; La Boca! I told them NO & to take the bus.

Down by the agua Brazilian tourists move in herds. While the “Buenos Aires Yacht Club” Members dress their sails for sea. The bridge was drawn while 3 sailboats full JCREW clad families smugly laughed on by.

I felt envious for a bit but then remembered most would only be headed to Rio de Plata, the brown sewage colored water between Argentina and Uruguay. A quick stretch later my attention refocused in on the bridge rotating back to link up a main road. Too bad for Stu being a late sleepy missed the engineering feet.

I walked home, woke Stuart up. We went to a farmers market on Balcare which seemed to have sprung up over night. We bought all of nature’s bounty, including herbs and tomatoes to plant on the terrace.

The other night we had the pleasure of hosting newly weds Keith and Radiance from NYC. They were married in her hometown in Florida before heading to South America for their honeymoon. Starting in Bariloche they eventually made their way to Buenos Aires. (Good news they loved Bariloche and said anyone could easily pass a week there.)

They were really fascinating people to talk to. She had her degree in Italian and he worked as a lawyer. They love to travel and all sorts of interesting stories. I took the opportunity of having two New Yorkers present to educate Stuart on the wonders of the great Empire State.

Lesson 1: Pizza- Only rivalry found was in Napoli (The birth place of pizza.) But on account of the freshest ingredients. Otherwise hands down stylistically NY rules.

Lesson 2: Snow- Not so bad, get over it. You will learn to cross country ski and like it.

At some point late in the evening Carlos and Pluma pranced into the room, uninvited. They escaped from the kitchen and came to investigate.
Fortunately our guests were also cat lovers.
We learned the Keith and Radiance are the proud owners of a kitten-cat. A cat with stunted growth that at an adult age appears to be a kitten! Iphones were passed, pictures were shared.
Carlos was fed left over cheese as we explained the reasons why our fur ball is semi-blind and dim witted

Pet lovers are an interesting breed. We were relieved to learn that we were not the only one to create a voice or persona for our cat. Their cat script sounds like Cartmen from South Park. Stuart describes our cat voice as an egomaniacal 3 year old prince. “ I am a cat and I do cat things”

The tangent really went off when this YouTube clip was presented. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpA2tMrQ4RU

At the end of the night I reflected on how wine makes for a good topic of conversation and after a few glasses inspires any topic of conversation.

I AM BACK!

An untimely death for my laptop prevented me from keeping a steady stream of blogs. Stuart’s inability to share his computer will keep the past 3 months a mystery.
Imagine two children pushing and shoving one another. Temper-tantrums ensued.
Aside from constant bickering our life has been pretty great these last few months.

With out a computer I have found other sources of entertainment;
Cat Fashion Design
Talking and getting to know my roommates
Reading
Studying Spanish
Walks
And my form of exercise; cleaning

Everything changed Friday when Chip came to town bearing gifts. A suitcase of cat toys, socks, gummie bears were slowly presented to eager recipients. A Mac book even made its way into the mix. –THANK YOU MEGAN, MOM, DAD, FEDEX and CHESCHEIRS!

Now please allow the following bullet point to feebly recap the past 3 months’ passings:

•    EDLUND FAMILY TRIP- A month from now the Edlunds and Boones will be in town. We are all set for a family trip to BARILOCHE We rented a house. I am so excited to escape the city for a few days and relax with my family who I will not have seen in over a year!
•    CHESCHEIR FAMILY TRIP! In January Stuart and I will be meeting his parents, brother and grandfather in AFRICA!

•    CARLOS- Full grown and fat. Down to 7 lives. He recently sustained a second massive head injury, smacking his head on a pot when falling from the terrace. You will recall his first when I stepped on his little cat head. He’s doing fine and still dumb as a rock. We often see him perched sitting wide-eyed, ears perked with a very far away look on his face. As the Germans put it Carlos is “evolution’s greatest failure”

•    WORK – work is going well. We have a steady flow of tastings and our kept busy with all the ins and outs of running the business. Lourdes returns tomorrow with my official business cards!
•    BRUCE- Our good friend Bruce has set out on travel through South America before returning to the States. We were sad to see him go but lived it up quite a bit before his departure.
•    SUMMER- Things are heating up. We have had many a dinner on the terrace. We have also begun to work away at the garden. We plan to plant fresh herbs and tomatoes either for gourmet cooking or if the cats have it their way, weak little plants to gobble up and destroy.
•    CHIP’S VISIT- Chip is in town for an agriculture conference. He heads to Uruguay tomorrow. Stuart and I may follow him as it is about time we marked our passports. During his stay we have had some very nice meals including a full asado prepared by Stuart.
•    There was some serious male bonding time while the two reconstructed our coffee table. We now have a Starbucks like setting in the space below the loft.
•    COUCH SURFING- we have become more involved with Couch Surfing. Hosting two separate couples; a peculiar pair of Kiwis and an exhausted set of French. The program is a great way to meet new people and prepare for our won travels ahead.

Expect updates regularly form this point on.

With any free time we find, Stuart and I have been reading guide books and studying maps.

Before returning to the States we would like to take a month (or if I have it my way 2 months) to travel South America.

Our destination list so far:

Costal towns of Chile (2-4 days)

Wine Regions of Chile (week)

Wine Regions of Argentina- Mendoza, La Rioja, San Juan and Salta (1.5 weeks)

Columbia (4-5 days)

… I couldn’t talk him into Venezuela though.

How do we plan to fund this trip?

Through a few connections I have with hostels Stuart and I would like to offer tastings to other travelers; affordable supermarket finds or the option to upgrade to the Anuva Tasting. Andrea is running a hostel with his girlfriend now and will send me a group or two.

For Accomidations-

We recently made Couch Surfing accounts, for those unfamiliar Couch Surfing is a free international service where people offer their couches, spare bed rooms, floors to other travelers free of charge.

It takes a while to build credibility so we thought it best to start now. We will be offering our loft as a place to crash and our happy to meet people for a coffee or drink. Tonight there is a networking event for surfers near our house which we plan to attend.

Travel

We have put ourselves on a rather frugal budget and have tried to save all we can to pay for bus/ plane tickets etc. We are exploring the idea of biking/hiking in certain places.

Food

-Street food and pasta.

My goal is to fit everything into one tiny book bag.

I picture us now returning to the states half starved with ragged clothing- It will be great!

The trip is a long ways off but I get giddy thinking about hitting the road with my favorite travel companion again!

The Splendid Table

Daniel and Lourdes left for the States on July 22^nd. They are promoting the business on US soil and plan to return between October and December. Until that time Stuart and I are running the wine tastings and maintaining the business in Buenos Aires.

With the weather so nice we decided the terrace is ideal for hosting tastings. The wine bar is still an option but has yet to come to be.  Opting to do the tastings for the time being in the comfort of our own home we splurged/invested for a table and benches. I found a set used on Mercado Libre, a website in South America similar to ebay and Craigslist.

Stuart told me to shop around and not to get my hopes up. That I might not find what I was looking for. I challenged him and got it done in a day. I found a great deal and had it delivered to our house the next afternoon.

Last night we christened the table with a big house dinner and by giving carlos a bath. Carlos actually just needed to be washed, the table seemed like a good excuse. He now smells like strawberries and hates Stuart.

About 2 weeks ago or so Stuart and I found ourselves very busy. Between social obligations and new responsibilities at work and home there has been little time to blog.

At the end of August the original lease on the house ends. Stuart and I love the house and decided to renew for another 6 months. This involved a large bundle of American bills and scrutinizing small print in Spanish.

Part of keeping the house meant finding new roommates as all of ours began traveling again or returned home to Europe. We had many going away parties and posted to Craigslist. For 2 weeks showed the house.

One evening 30 people came through our door. This process is quite comical; the hippies, the people who don’t speak Spanish or English, the couple with the baby?

Not to mention the other ups and downs and broken promises. We quickly learned that reservations need to be backed with cash as many people back out. The fickle French girl who “had second thoughts”, the two Austrians who had invalid visas and had to leave the country…

Eventually the right people showed up.

Annika from Germany sadly will be with us for a month studying Spanish.

MEAT!

Jasper also from Germany is studying history and industrial design at one of the universities.

Marine from Tolouse, France is studying international business for a year and then plans to volunteer in a sustainability project

.

Michale also from Germany will be with us until the end of December.

Taking Annika’s place will be Sohpie from Paris.

Everyone gets along quite well. Stuart prepared an AWSOME! asado this past weekend. Surprisingly no one became violently ill this time. Bruce came by as well to meet everyone.

Playing the landlord and keeping the house is going well so far. Stuart has started to purchase tools and has his hands full with chores. Unclogging fish oil and rice from the kitchen sink, deicing the freezer with a wooden spatula. The maid has been a no-show twice now. And our internet is in and out….

The weather gets better everyday. As we near spring cabin fever symptoms are notable and severe. The cats bask in the sun and beg to play in our mini rooftop jungle. Carlos has gone from and awkward little kitten to a somewhat overweight demented teenager. I die laughing each time I see him hanging from a plant or chasing shadows on the terrace.

 I have been cleaning everything. What I call “organizing”, Stuart calls “hiding my stuff so I can’t find anything.” I feel more and more like mom everyday…

Big Mean Cat

We  pamper Carlos daily with toys and love. He even has a sweater fashioned from an ex-roomie’s sleeve. Nothing cuter than a  mentally challeneged cat in a yellow turtle-neck. He looks particularly stunned in this picture adorning his new threads.

Life was too easy. Late one night, around 5 am I awoke to growling.

Pluma sat alert glaring up into the loft. I thought perhaps she saw a stray through the skylight…. Until I noticed the other cat in the loft.

My eyes drifted from a wild eyed strays to Carlos little cow printed body. He sat motionless perched on a beam. I quickly deducted the intruder beat the tar out of him.

Carlos flattened out and inched towards the steps ever so slowly wearing a face which read “Don’t make a sound.”

The stray hissed.

I stood on a chair and quickly scooped Carlos out of harms way.

Slightly afraid of the cat myself I locked Pluma and Carlos in my room. Pacing. Waiting for help.

Stuart returned from a night out with out flat mates. With a shot of tequila in his blood he became alpha cat and chased the  giant male stray out, knocking over glass bottles and stirring up all other sorts of commotion.

We shut the terrace doors and noted the  cat’s new found respect. They were  loyal to him the rest of the week as any “toops” should.

On my part I have found if you hold a cat like a baby enough, a cat will begin to think it’s a baby.

      I am looking at our cats lay peacefully on the kitchen floor next to a suspicious looking yellow toy dog. The smiles on their faces tell me just how strung out on cat nip they are.
      Stuart and I experienced a similar sensation of lethargy this past week induced by large quantities of steak, cheese and wine. Stuart’s dad came to town for a few days.
      There are several sites on the internet listing things you must do while in Buenos Aires. As you can imagine I have accomplished several; 30. Sprinting across Av. 9 de Julio in one bolt,

 31.Spending an afternoon reading in Ateneo’s book store,

32. Eating pizza from Guerrin on Av. Corrients etc http://www.pizzeria-guerrin.com.ar/      

      But even with all my time in Buenos Aires there were a few I had missed. Chip’s visit motivated Stuart and I to get out and cross of a few more experiences. Thursday morning when Chip arrived, we walked around to 1.Plaza 1.Plaza de Mayo and up Av. de Mayo to Café Tortoni.
      
2.Café Tortoni http://www.cafetortoni.com.ar makes everyone’s list. I’d passed it with long lines of tourists waiting to get in. The interior of the space remained a mystery however, as all the windows are closed with heavy curtains.  We walked in and my jaw dropped, marble, wood stained glass and waiters in tuxedos. We took a seat and ordered a 3.traditional Argentine breakfast; 3 media lunas and café con leche. .

      Afterwards we walked through our neighborhood of San Telmo and showed Chip a few of our favorite spots like 4. Plaza Dorrego , , and 5. Defensa Street  before stopping in at his hotel. Later that afternoon the two headed for 6. Recoleta Cemetery, http://www.recoletacemetery.com/   another staple on the list. I stayed in to work, something that you should avoid at all costs if visiting BA.

      7. La Cabrerra, BA’s most famous steak house. http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/central-and-south-america/argentina/buenos-aires/60725/la-cabrera/restaurant-detail.html , We heard the rumors. We read the reviews online. But nothing could prepare us for the monster cut of steak and smorgasbord of sides they put before us. We walked out with half a cow in a doggie bag. Stu read recently that Argentina has a per capita consumption of beef per year of 143 lbs. I am convinced La Cabrera has something to do with this. http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/07/20/meat-lovers-mourn-argentinas-disappearing-beef/6393/o

      But no matter how much steak you eat there is always room for 8. Gelatto  We tried to walk a bit of it off by passing 9.BA’s narrowest house in San Telmo.
      
      
      The next morning we woke early. I made crepes, delicious and not on the list but the 10. Dulce de Leche I filled them with was!  We boarded the bus and headed for 11. The Mataderos street fair. Sadly death took on a new meaning in Mataderos as we took the 45 minute bus ride out to discover there was in fact no fair that day. We wandered a few blocks noting the roughness of the barrio; dead dog, broken glass, cracked pavement and headed for the nearby safety of 12. a Hole in the wall parilla, where we 13. ate asado and 14. drank Quilmes.  
      On the way home Stu and his dad repeated # 8.
      
      
      15. We napped. Naps are universal for all travel lists.
      Around 6 we  went to 16. The MALBA  for some modern art. On top of the permanent greats like Frida Kahlo and 17.Plastic Potatoes we swung to the top floor for a peculiar temporary exhibit. Lots of multimedia including a frustrating video of an “artist” stacking Styrofoam blocks. We walked out scratching our heads as one should when leaving a modern art museum.

Potato

      
      We walked around a bit before heading back to our place. We made the night extra special by opening Stu’s 18. Good bottle of wine, the Las Perdices Don Juan. The boys taunted the kitten with more catnip and small chunks of cow from the night before.
      

      For Chips last day in town we walked around 19. La Boca, probably my least favorite on the list aside from 20. Dog poop. It continues to amaze me how exhausting two blocks can feel when you are harassed by people trying to sell you something. “No I don’t want to buy a pair of jeans for my dog. And no I would not like to “prove” a cup of coffee”.

      From there we took a taxi for # 21. Conversation in broken Spanish with a Porteno cabi- This one includes several parts or cannot be considered complete. You must talk about a) Politics, both Bush and Obama. b) asado and meat. c) Soccer and currently d) Michael Jackson.

We exited at 22. Plaza Serrano in Palermo. The afternoon was spent walking around the neighborhood with a stop for lunch in one of the city’s top rated restaurants; Sarki’s. We enjoyed some wine and excellent food. This place makes my list at # 23.

We continued walking and made our way through Alto Palermo and past the 24. The Pollo Fields. We showed Chip the Anuva Head Quarters and experienced a rare phenomenon in this city, rain, not on the list.

Walking some more we all felt the need for a little caffeine. Stuart indirectly repeated #8  again with a coffee milk shake. We warmed our bones and relaxed a bit before splashing through the streets to La Cava Jufre.

We made reservations for a jazz concert and arrived early to snag the giant velvet couch. We ordered a terrific bottle of wine and waited for the show to start. We could not have asked for a better night. We enjoyed a Jazz quartet’s long set with the best seat in the house.

By 2 am we made it back to our apt. The 4 days flew by so quickly it felt weird to say good bye. But we felt proud for accomplishing so much. Next time we will have a few more things to cross off; including 25. Peruvian Chicken with Bruce, 26. Wine Tasting and oh yeah maybe 27. Tango, 28. Leather, and 29. Mate.

Thursday normally marks a trip to Nigel’s for his wine tastings.  However it was a guest tasting and the price was a little high and in an effort to save a little bit of money we just went out to dinner with Bruce instead.  Bruce brought along 3 of his classmates from Spanish class.  We returned to the same Peruvian restaurant that we ate with him the week before and between the six of us we ate one and a half chickens, a few pounds of French fries and salads and two bottles of Malbec that Bruce donated to the cause.  One of Bruce’s classmates was Canadian and she unfortunately was on the receiving end of a large number of poorly crafted Canadian jokes.  His other two classmates were Brazilian.  One of them spoke six different languages (in varying degrees, but 3 fairly fluently).  We talked a lot during dinner, much about comparing cultures, how men and women related and what to do in Buenos Aires (Ashley Edit: And mostly about how much Canada sucks.)
On Saturday we headed off with the intention of going to the modern art museum, stopping by the English book store and picking up a canvas for Ashley to paint of (as I hauled all her paints here for her and she has yet to actually touch them).  Unfortunately the modern art museum was closed for renovations, the English books store was a little pricey and low in selection, and the art store was closed.  Instead we purchased a book aimed at “young adults” in Spanish, and made a trip to a Parrilla that Ashley wanted to show me.  I obliged her request, and struggled through my greasily delicious blood sausage sandwich. 
We spent the afternoon butchering the Spanish version of “Artemis Fowl” out loud to each other.  Sunday we are planning to host an Asado, which we had to research both how to cook and what to cook.  The first answer was complex, as some parts you cook slow and some hot and fast, but the second was easy: everything.