December 2011 - Buenos Aires

Day 1

My first impression of Buenos Aires was really rather bad.  The airport seemed old and shabby, the immigration line disorganized and the area around the airport run down.  The city itself also put me off at first.  Most of the buildings are old and look Iike they have seen better days.  In the neighborhood where I stayed, Recoleta one of the nicer parts of town I am told, graffiti is everywhere.  I wandered about a bit the afternoon I arrived but I was rather tired from the 13 hours of flying and only 1 or 2 hours of sleep.

I received a phone call at 7:00 pm from Alberto, a company employee and my escort for the next few days. Alberto wanted to meet for dinner along with a few others at 9:00 (they eat pretty late here it turns out).  Alberto picked me up right on time, accompanied by another Alberto and Jorge, more company people.  They took me to the oldest part of the city (and I thought Recoleta looked shabby, Detroit could take some lessons from this place) to a Parilla restaurant, basically an Argentinian steak house.  I was really looking forward to this.  I like beef and of course Argentina is famous for this.

 Alberto is 26, from Mexico, and his been in Buenos Aires for about a year.  The other Alberto and Jorge are natives.  All spoke passable English, better that my Spanish by a long shot anyways.  I put myself at their mercy regarding what to order, a bold move I suppose, but once you have eaten fish eyes and sea food that is still breathing, I guessing nothing scares you anymore.  Anyhow, they eat some pretty weird s#!% in Argentina too it turns out.  It may be stretching the definition, but the fried kidney, sweetbreads and, I am not kidding, goat intestine were presented as "appetizers".  And why in god’s name did they find it necessary to braid the intestines!  I guess presentation is important.  To be honest, it all tasted really good, especially the kidney.  Who knew?  The main dish they recommended, Ojo de Bife was one of the best steaks I have had anywhere.  Basically it is a small ribeye roast, cooked very slowly and amazingly tender.

The conversation was good.  As is often the case, i was impressed by the depth of their knowledge regarding American politics.  I managed to score a few points of my own by knowing more than they expected of Argentina ( I cheated I must confess.  Thanks Wikipedia!).  A couple of bottles of Malbec and some gelato and coffee later, they took me back to the hotel full and tired, but happy around midnight.

Day 2 preview.  Beef! It's what's for dinner...and breakfast...and lunch...