Last days in Buenos Aires

Today is our last day in Buenos Aires, tomorrow we catch the boat for a cruise around the tip of South America and into the Antarctic.

Buenos Aires has been hard for us communication wise. The country itself has not been difficult, intimidating or unenjoyable, but the language barrier has made it hard. We knew this going in and Keenan certainly let us know the language situation would be tough, but nothing ventured nothing gained! We are just now at a place where we feel comfortable to try and ask questions in Spanish. I still can only pick out the odd word in the answers, but if I can understand one or two words I can usually figure it out. Loreen asks lots of questions in bus stations, etc, then looks at me when they respond in Spanish, but with my few Spanish words, our phrase book, their few English words and some miming we can get it figured out. However, our experience would have been so much better if we knew the language. I am so glad that Keenan chose French Immersion as a child and has went on to learn more languages, people that have languages can enjoy the world outside of the English community so much better. A young couple, Christian and Katherine, from Switzerland arrived the week after us at the school and s stay at the same B&B. They already have three languages and are picking up Spanish much more rapidly than us.

Loreen, Katherine and Christian

Argentinians are a friendly, polite bunch of people that seem to live a happy life. They chatter and laugh in the bars, restaurants and in the streets. The country has ancestry from many European countries, but the heaviest immigration was from Spain and Italy and the Argentinian psyche is a marriage of the two cultures. Although they speak Spanish, they say it is in an Italian style, what ever that means. Some communities still have the old European traditions from the homeland, like Port Madryn, where Welsh tea and crumpets are taken every afternoon.

Beef Cattle

Argentina brags about their beef and they say it is the best in the world and it is a beef dominated culture. Every restaurant has a page dedicated to the cow and you can order any and all parts, including tripe, sweetbreads, tongue and all other organ meats. We stick to steak, ribs and veal and it is all delicious. It took us a couple of days to figure out how to order as everything is shared. Our first meal was a lettuce, tomato, carrot salad, to share and each of us ordered a steak. The salad came in a medium sized serving bowl and the steaks were probably around 16 to 18 ounces cooked with spices over a wood fired grill, delicious but far too much to eat. Now we order a salad to share, maybe one empanada or a chorizo sausage (both to die for) and one meat dish to share. Very few restaurants serve a dish like we do with vegetables and starch on one plate - you order those as a side dish. We stick to a salad as a side dish as the tomatoes and onions are oh so good, sweet and full of taste. Argentina is a carnivores delight and the meat, mostly grass fattened, is as good as any I have eaten - to me better than US or Australian beef, and as good or better than New Zealand and Canadian beef, it is so tender and full of flavor.

Yesterday we passed large market and fruit gardens on the way to San Antonio de Areca, a small country town of Gaucho heritage. Argentina is the largest producer and exporter of soy beans in the world. Some of the fruits, like banana, come from Ecuador, but the country is mostly self sustainable.

Front of the Estancia

San Antonio de Areca is a quaint little town with clean streets, lovely housing and several museums dedicated to Gaucho history - like Fort Steele, Fort Calgary and Fort Macleod all put together in Spanish. The tack they use is different than ours, saddles are a simple woolen pad with a little seat and wooden or steel stirrups and the most severe spade and combination spade/lower jaw ring bits that I have ever seen. They were absolutely brutal, but there were also hackamore rigs that have no mouth piece or jaw ring at all, so I guess they are like us, some used harsher methods of control on their horses than others. There were also some wicked spurs with one and a half inch dagger point rowels and two three inch jingle chains on each shank - they were pretty but hopefully they were just for show. The carriages and buggies looked the same as our buggies from the 1800's did, but the ranch houses were different, the one even had a little dirt barricade and cannon in the front yard, not sure if the cannon was for the natives or the neighbors!

Back of the Estancia with left wing

We have enjoyed our time here, but it is time to move on, so as they say in Buenos Aires, Chau and Hasta Luego!