Day Seven – February 2, 2015

HV1FYmBH7q published 9 years ago in Uncategorized. Tags: 2-2-15, Day Seven

Night View

Today we leave for home but because the plane doesn’t leave until 11:30PM today we extended our hotel room stay to 6:00. After which we will have a light dinner before departing for the airport at 9:00. We have pretty much the whole day to do other stuff.

We are going back to the Templo Liberstat Synagogue to visit the museum there. We were there previously, but the museum there was closed on Saturday. Once we see their museum, we will be allowed to see the interior of the synagogue. Although the synagogue is open at other times they will not allow visitors entry without some proof that you are Jewish. Security is tight due to threats, etc. from extremists. As I mentioned in the 1990’s, two bombing incidents took the lives of 114 people and injured more than 392.
This synagogue was built in the 1930’s and has no archeological history but its people have been in Argentina a very long time. Spanish Jews fled from Spain in the 16th century after they were expelled from Spain, and came to Argentina with the explorers and colonists of the period. They were not an organized community, however, until the early 1800’s when Argentina gained independence from Spain. Today, most of Argentina’s Jews come from the much later migration of Jews from the Holy Roman Empire in the 1st millennium. According to Wiki; the Spanish and Portugese Jews were called Sephardi, and the later arriving Jews are Ashkenazi. The museum contains old copies of the bible, and to rah for the 1800’s. The interior of the Synagogue is symmetrical and economically designed without too much embellishment.

Interior Photo1 – Templo Libertad

Interior Photo2 – Templo Libertad

Interior Photo3 – Templo Libertad

We were met by two young students who were curating a painting exhibition that was also being shown. Since we were the only visitors to the gallery, naturally we struck up a conversation with them. We talked about their lives and school. I became curious when I saw them passing an oddly shaped container with what looked like a metal straw protruding from it. He would sip on the straw then pass it to her then she would do the same. They offered us some, but for us Americans sharing a straw with other persons is a little unnerving.
They explained that this was an Argentinian tradition. Apparently, strong herbal leaves are put into this container, then hot water is pored over it. The infusion is sucked through the metal straw and this is shared with others, mouth to mouth. They explained it to be what it was called “Mate”.. The drink setup is called “Mati” for short. Spanish conquerers adopted the drink for the South American Indians (the guarani natives). The tea was actually a milled green leaf called CAA. The Spanish called it “Yerba” after parana’ grass it was made from. The container is a little calabash that is called a “Mate” (pronounced “mah-tay”) meaning small calabash. The tea is now called “Yerba Mate”(??) and the container is called a calabash (cup made from a natural gourd). The metal straw is referred as a “Soak up Pump”. I bought mine at a shop in the airport. It was kind of expensive at a cost of $37.00. I am sure it can be purchased cheaper elsewhere. See my setup in the photo below.

Yerba Mate, calabash, soak up pump, spoon

Online Photo of a fancy Yerba Mate

Yerba Mate has the qualities of tea, coffee, and chocolate I have been told. You can find out more about on line by googling “my yerba mate”.

After the synagogue we decided to walk around the Palermo area of the city. We hailed a cab, this time, since this was quite a distance from where we were. The Palermo area is hip and fashionable part of the city with fancy boutiques, and restaurants and everything young and cool. See some of the types of places we saw there.

Possibly a Trendy Bar

Marijuana Grow Shop

A Designer Eyeglass Shop

There were many shops that catered to the young and young at heart. Notice the marijuana grow show. It was closed so we could not explore to see what was inside.

We stopped by a little trendy music shop and my friend bought an unusual piece of music which had Beatles music to Tango by. We found a little Argentinian wine shop that sold domestic wine. You could do a little wine tasting, if you liked. The proprietor let my friend know about the leather dealerships nearby. I decided to go back to the Hotel and my friend continued on to find a leather shop. I took a cab back to the hotel and took a nap. By pure luck my friend ran into a leather dealer, while trying to get directions to another leather dealer. This person’s business did take a credit cards. My friend returned to the hotel, by cab, loaded with leather goods.

At 9:00 the transport to the airport arrived. He made his way through freeway traffic backup and to the airport, just in time.

Day Six – February 1, 2015

HV1FYmBH7q published 9 years ago in Uncategorized. Tags: 2-1-15, Day Six

Tango Dancers at Show Tonight

Today is our last totally free day. Tomorrow we leave, but have much of that day since our jet doesn’t depart until 11:30PM. We also signed up for a Tango dancing show and dinner for later in the evening. My friend had arranged to have free transportation to a leather specialty shop from the hotel later in the afternoon.

We decided to explore the Jewish section of Buenos Aires which was close to the our hotel and have lunch. After a short look around we would return to the hotel in time for the leather shop pick up. I decided I needed a rest and relief for my aching feet. I took this photo of my hotel on the way back. With all the walking I wondered why we hadn’t tried the subway system. I went down into the nearby station to take a look for myself. It seemed modern and clean and certainly no worse than New York’s.

Savoy Hotel

Calloa Subway Station Near Savoy

My friend was picked up by leather goods shop as arranged. They pick up buyers at their hotel and return them afterwards. My friend returned in the afternoon with a horror story. The merchandise was not the problem, but the means to pay for it was. It is a major problem in Argentina, which has nightmarish inflation and unchecked debt. Their currency valuation fluctuates wildly, and sellers are reluctant to sell their goods for Argentinian pesos or with credit cards. While we were in Buenos Aires the official rate was about 8.5 pesos to a dollar, but street rate (called blue dollars) was 12 pesos to a dollar. In the week we were there, it got as high as 14:1. On the first day there we were offered blue rate exchange by the hotel bell hops. All under the table, of course, since the hotel would not give “blue rates”. With nearly a 50% difference in value for the dollar, who wouldn’t? It’s almost acceptable to get” blue dollars”. Credit card acceptors are required by the government to use the official rate. As a result, the store wanted real American dollars for their goods. They will drive you to an ATM to get real dollars with your credit card!! They drove for about 20 minutes only to find the ATM machine was empty!! A bank was tried, but they had a limit on dollars they would give and if you met that requirement, they attached a hefty 30% fee to any credit card useage. Needless to say, the sale was cancelled; and only a minor purchase (for real American dollars) was made.
That evening we were picked up at the hotel by the Tango/dinner show package by a company called El Viejo Almacen. They have been around since 1969 and seek to preserve old style tango. We signed up for pick up at 7:30PM, I think. In Argentina, dinner is routinely around 9:00PM at night, which can be disconcerting for North Americans who think of dinner time as around 6:00PM. So 8:00PM was not bad. Our party consisted of ourselves and a French couple. Since, we were not part of a tour group, there weren’t many of us.
The dinner was fine, and afterward we were shunted across the street to the performance hall. This venue had been there since the 1970’s, so this was a well-established performance crew. Because we were not part of large tour group we were seated off to the side but near the stage. It was a great location from which to photograph. The tango dance troupe was lively and athletic. There was also a South American Indian music band as well. See the videos and photos below.

Inside the El Viejo Almacen

Tango Dance Troupe on Stage

Click for Short Video

Tango Dancing Video

Click for Short Video

Assemble Tango Dancing

Click for Short Video

Indian Musicians

South American Indian Music Group on Stage

Day Five – January 31, 2015

HV1FYmBH7q published 9 years ago in Uncategorized. Tags: 1-31-15, Day Five

Today we are taking another day trip into Uruguay on the Rio de Plata coast line. The little coastal beach town of Colonia de Sacramento ( or simply Colonia) is a popular tourist destination for locals from Buenos Aires ( or “Portenos” as they call themselves) and Uruguayans alike. We are taking the same boat company, called Buquebus, for a shorter trip in a less luxurious ferry boat. Thankfully no surgical boots will be required.

Ferry Boat Coming Into Colonia Port

The town is known for its quaint city center and the long stretch of beach along the river (more of lake at this point on the map) There are city tours of the town but it’s such a small town it can be toured by walking or by bike. My feet are still painful, but I thought I could ride a bike. We were happy to discover that the Thrifty car rental dealership rented bikes in addition to motorcycles, golf carts, and cars. The bike rental for the day was 18 dollars (pesos?) per day. We took to the road on bikes toward an old abandoned bull ring about 3 kilometers (2 miles) out of town. Once we got to the main coastal road along the shore we saw miles of pristine beach on the way there.

We also encountered a marathon race or perhaps an “iron man” race in progress along the road so there were few cars and small crowds along the way. Uruquay is relatively flat with rolling hills which is great for raising cattle, one of their major exports. Not being in great shape, there were several occasional where I had to push the bike rather than peddle. In general, the feet ailments were minimal. Along the way we stopped here and there to take photos of the people in the shore as we made our way to the old stadium.

Solitary SunBather

Boat Launching Area

Gentle Waves Ashore

View of Boats in Distance

The Old Bull Ring

Biking On Road to Carmelo

After that we turned around and rode our bikes back into town for lunch. After lunch, we walked a bit and parked the bikes. The town looked very much like any small resort town. My friend wanted to explore more on foot, but the foot pain had returned so I excused myself and rested at a nearby bus stop bench, instead. After my long rest, we walked around town until we found a quaint little restaurant with chairs in a little green backyard with flowers and 1940 and 50s jazz music playing soothingly.

The interior of the place had photographs hanging from the walls. I found out that the owner was a photographer who had taught in Buenos Aires many years ago. The waiter was his son on vacation from college in Buenos Aires. He spoke very good English having stayed with relatives in the US many times. Currently, he said studying business at one the many universities and colleges in Buenos Aires. The photo below was taken with my Iphone so forgive the poor lighting.

Quaint Restaurant – Owners’ son

We unlocked our bikes and headed back to the boat docks to catch the 8:30PM boat back to Buenos Aires. We thought were ahead time and so did not rush to get in line to go through customs. I usually get confused about the time because Argentina is two hours ahead of eastern standard time. They don’t observe daylight savings time. Uruguay on the otherhand does observe daylight savings time, so their clocks are only 1 hour ahead of EST. I keep tabs by using the world clock system app on my iphone just to make sure I know the time but didn’t double check this time and assumed my friend wasn’t privy to the same confusion. You guessed it, our watches were wrong! We were wondering why the boarding crowd had vanished and realized the boat was leaving without us. It was the last boat out until 7:30AM the next day!! So we would have had to stay overnight if we didn’t get on this boat. Franticly, my friend beseeched the boarding authority people and one sympathetic gentleman had noticed the boat was a little late and still in the process of loading the last of the automobiles. They rushed us through immigration and we rushed hurriedly to the closing doors and found some seats in the first class sections on an already crowded boat. Yet another, exciting adventure. Traveling abroad requires resourcefulness.

Day Four – January 30, 2015

HV1FYmBH7q published 9 years ago in Uncategorized. Tags: 1-30-15, Day Four

Yesterday was a little rough physically, although our search in Montevideo was successful. My expensive pediatric shoes failed me, miserably. I now have grossly large blisters on both feet. I am hobbled but my self medication efforts give me confidence I that can overcome this minor setback. I purposely brought along my expandable monopod camera support to do double duty as camera stand and a walking stick, in case I twisted an ankle. Today was also was a real lesson for us both. We were perhaps a little overconfident after successfully navigating the streets of Buenos Aires in the previous days. It is amazing how the misspelling of a street name can lead two experienced travelers on a merry chase through the city, seemly lost at times. Sometimes this can be the best part of a travel experience. My friend wanted to visit the Jewish quarter of Buenos Aires and in particular a synagogue called Templo Liberstad, located on Liberstad street. In the 90’s there were two major bombings of Jewish sites in this area and given current events, Jewish buildings and businesses are very security minded. There is a major newspaper story here about the mysterious death of a prosecutor who claimed he have evidence about possible involvement of the Argentinian government in the 90’s. Many believe he did commit suicide but was assassinated and the current president, Cristina De Kirchner and members of her government are somehow responsible. Check the international news outlets for details. Del Liberstador is a major 4 lane street and a gathering place for small sidewalk markets on Saturdays.

Saturday Markets – Along Avenido Del Libertador

Using the free fanfolded tourist-map from the hotel, we plotted a walking route thinking it would be an easy walk to the synagogue. We took a break to enjoy the sites nearby as there is a large park, foreign embassies, and museums in the area. We were initially confused about the route but returned to the Liberstador and took time to see a photography exhibit in the fine arts museum called Nacional de Bellas Artes. We set out, confidently, looking for “769 Del Liberstador Avenue” not realizing the address was really “769 Liberstad” street. Through a series of errors and mis-calculations, we spent the better part of the morning trying to find the synagogue. After 5 hours or so we found 769 Del Liberstador but it was not the Synagogue. Suddenly! [This is when you slap your forehead!] it became apparent that we had misread the street name as Liberstadador Ave instead of Liberstad street. Thanks to Google maps and a free wifi hotspot. We found Liberstad street a few blocks over as a cross street to Del Liberstador. It seemed all that was necessary was to follow Liberstad street. However, we ran into difficulty again. Liberstad street has suddenly morphed in another street name so we had doubled back. My feet, of course, were getting more sore by the hour but in time we did find the Templo Liberstat just 100 yards from the famous Teatro Colon, just off Pelligrini Avenue. We discovered that there’s a museum next door to the church that would be open normally but by the time we found the place it was closed. My friend resolves to come back and visit the adjacent museum.

Templo Liberstad – Synagogue

Templo Liberstad Front Entrance

Pelligrini street parallels the awesome 12 lane grand avenue called Avenida 9 de Julio. It is flanked by many cultural institutions and is instantly recognizable by the very large obelisk called at its center called El Obelisco (see night photo on day one).

Click for Short Video

Avenida 9 de Julio

El Obelisco – Closer View

Teatro Colon was an impression limestone structure which housed the Buenos Aires Symphony Orchestra. There is a park on the opposite side of the building and so we sat in the nearby park to observe the people as well. We took photos of the synagogue, the theatre, and surroundings.

Main Entrance at Teatro Colon

Templo Liberstad – Synagogue

Templo Liberstad Front Entrance

Art installation in Park behind Teatro Colon

As I mentioned we were next to the concert hall and in the course of deciding where to take a cab back to the hotel (thank goodness) we noticed people gathered in an outdoor area filled with chairs. The chairs were facing a large, permanently installed, “jumbotron”, television. Apparently, on Saturdays, in the summer, the Teatro Colon puts on a series of free concerts for the general public. The orchestras is shown on the video screen. The recordings are a reproduction of various orchestras around the world playing great classical music. We decided to sit and listen to the concert for a while before heading back to the hotel. The first performance was the Berlin Philharmonic, playing Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique’ in Istanbul,Turkey. The darkening evening skies set a very evocative mood, despite the noise of traffic on the Avenida 9 de Julio.

Click for Short Video

Outdoor Video Concert at Teatro Colon Hall

Day Three – January 29, 2015

HV1FYmBH7q published 9 years ago in Uncategorized. Tags: 1-29-15, Day Three

Today we are booked to travel from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, Uruguay. Our mission is to visit two addresses associated with my friend’s father, who lived there for a short time and a photo studio where he had photographs taken just after World War !!. His journey to this US country via several countries is an interesting one, that only she can tell. The address of these places were gleaned from family records. Fortunately Google Maps indicated that the addresses were active, even after six or seven decades.

We boarded a medium sized,but luxurious, ferry boat, called the Francisco, at the docks in Buenos Aires. Uruguay and Argentina share the widened mouth for the river called Rio del Plata which empties into the ocean. It transforms from a long winding river through jungles into lake sized waterway. Although we were going just for the day to another country, it required passports, and luggage checks like any airline. The boat had 2 levels of passenger seating and a lower level for the cars. One of the curiosities for us passengers was being required to put plastic covers over our shoes to keep the carpets clean. The floors we covered with pale azure colored carpets and management will not allow them to be dirtied by us passengers. It reminded me of my aunt who would make us remove our shoes before entering the house, and where we sat on plastic covered living room furniture. See the photo:

I found it humorous to see everyone from suited businessmen to small children walking around the boat in these clumsy surgical boots on during the two hour boat ride..

After landing in Montevideo, people began thowing the plastics boots on the floor, and in the trash, if they were thoughtful enough. We had booked a city tour and lunch before beginning the mission to find the addresses. The tour group consisted of 5 people when we started but every had offloaded in different places in town before the tour ended.

Downtown – Tallest Builing

Downtown – Municipal Park

The tour bus stopped at a little park to allow picture taking. There was this enormous statue of a stage coach wagon being pulled through out of the mud, obviously, depicting some great Urugauyian historical event. Later after tiring of walking around I decided to talk to ann elderly couple. They were street vendors. They were offering photo ops with cardboard cut-outs of tango dancers. I went over to take a picture of the colorful cutouts. Since they were largely being ignored, I a dropped a buck in their little bucket. Suddenly it cued loud squawky tango music and they began to tango dance with real passion and joy.

Click for Short Video

The next stop on our tour was downtown for the obligatory shopping venue. I am not a shopper so I wandered the shopping district for anything I could photograph. I stood there forever ignoring this street mime dressed like the mythical hero, Zorro. He stood there forever with his sword at the ready. I suddenly remembered the Disney character, “Zorro”, that I watched on TV in the 1950’s. He was played by a guy named Guy Williams. Mr. Williams was Italian by descent, but in those days there were few Hispanic heroes. I do remember the other fictional cowboy hero, the “Cisco Kid”, played by Duncan Renaldo, one of the first real Hispanics playing a real Hispanic. Anyway, after a minor television career, he retired to Buenos Aires, and lived in the Ricoleta area until he died. He was revered as a great TV actor by the people of Argentina for his portrayal of Zorro.

This street mime seem to relish his role as Zorro.. So, I took his photo and did a short video in black white like and old TV show. Notice all the swords he has.

Click for Short Video

Here is a shot of a local outdoor restaurant. The enormous red umbrella cast an eerie light on everyone.

By the time we had lunch there were only 4 of us. The two others were associates in business. One of the two was Italian but spoke Spanish and French and English and the other fellow spoke Italian and Spanish. After lunch we all parted ways to finish our agendas.

Luckily we were able to find the residence to my friends father. The building was still being lived in after more that half a century. Much of the interior lobby had not be changed. Luckily residents allowed us into the building lobby to see for ourselves. The shots show the charming elevators which were getting constant useage.

We were not as luck with hold photograph studio, although the building seemed in tact.

The last shot is the dock at sundown on our return to Buenos Aires.

Day Two – January 28, 2015

HV1FYmBH7q published 9 years ago in Uncategorized. Tags: 1-28-15, Day Two

Today is the first full day in the city. The temperature very comfortable at 75 degrees and the skies are clear and sunny. An excellent day to do a little exploring around the city. The problems of yesterday, though devastating, will not be allowed to ruin our vacation. My friend, is lucky that most of the photos were downloaded to an ipad and hopefully, reside in the mythical offsite storage system referred to as the “cloud”. The camera was an older one that will not fetch much cash for its thieves. Perhaps poetic justice will win the day.

The areas we will walk to are in the affluent sections of Buenos Aires called Ricoleto and Palermo. Ricoleto are especially trendy with it old European buildings and tree lined streets which remind one of Paris. Palermo is a little further away so we will only see a little of it but is surround by Parks, museums, and restaurants. Our first stop in Ricoleto was a cemetery call Cemetario de la Ricoleta. It’s adjacent to the church we encountered yesterday evening. Some of Buenos Aires most famous and wealthy residents are buried there. There are countless mausoleums. Lots of Madonna sculptures in every pose. See a small section of the cemetery below.

One of its most internationally famous residents is Eva Peron (derisively called Evita). If you don’t recognized the name then perhaps you remember the Broadway musical called “Evita !”. There was a famous song in the musical called “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina”. She was first lady of Argentina in the 1950’s, a position from which she wielded great power behind the scenes. She was a labor unionist and a feminist who pushed for the rights of women in Argentina The government is still sensitive about her legacy. She was buried in the simple family mausoleum under the surname Duarte in a veiled attempt to bury her anomalously and figuratively from the national history. Today her accomplishments are appreciated. See the photos below:

Eva Peron’s Burial Site

Name Plate on Side of Door

We spent the rest of the day trying to find a famous Jewish synagogue in that area. I am sure we will find it in our next attempt. After World War II the Argentinian government offered refuge to Jews. They also offered sanctuary to those of German descent, some of whom may have had National Socialist Party (NAZI’s) affiliations. As a result there are remnants of Jewish presence in the country as well as Italians, and other European nationals. “One big happy family” I’d say.

Signs of affluence. Professional dog walkers everywhere!! The dogs are big breeds. “big dog, big house”!

Signs of Affluence

Another odd observation. See the leaning tree support by a post. Apparently, they love their trees.

Tree held up by a post.

Some interior shots of our hotel. Great place, most of the front desk enjoy their jobs.

This is funny. The all night convenience store proprietor dispenses your orders from behind a steel gate through a hole in the security gate. See the square hole.

Saw this wall of glass bottles in a bar while out to dinner.

Day One – January 27, 2015

HV1FYmBH7q published 9 years ago in Uncategorized. Tags: 1-27-15, Day One

Night View of Buenos Aires borrowed from the Internet

This is the first day of the trip. I had to get up at 4:30 AM this morning to catch an early flight into Miami. I will have to transfer from Delta Airlines to an Argentinian Airline called LAN. Because the weather is unpredictable this time of year I booked an early flight into Miami. I will have at least an 8 hour wait before departing for Argentina at 7:30 PM. The nine hour flight to Buenos Aires should get us there very early in the morning, probably exhausted. The photo above is the obelisk or “Obelisco” in the center of Avenue 9 De Julio. Sorry but this is not my photo, unfortunately. I hope to post my photos and some videos for the rest of this blog and maybe I can replace this one if I get a chance. Today my friend and I arrived in Buenos Aires ready to start an interesting 6 day tour of the city and environs. We landed in Buenos Aires in the middle of a rain storm which made the city wet and the sky above, gloomy. The problems started immediately after departing the plane. The first incident involved the no show of the transportion vehicle. We were unaware of the 12 hour pre-arrival phone call we had to make. It took a bit of work to resolve the transportation problem but it was solved when a second driver arrived wandering in the crowd with his little hand written sign. So, off we sauntered behind the rotund but quick walking driver into the pouring rain. He seemed a nice of enough fellow but our communication attempts were abysmal. He spoke very little English and we spoke little Spanish. We arrived at the hotel after a long ride through the busy streets of Buenos Aires. At the hotel ,unfortunately, we had some problems also. This time there were issues with the bedrooms. The rooms seemed nice enough, though small in girth with high ceilings. It’s very modern furniture beligh ;the history of this hotel which in its nadir, hosted the crème de la crème of the city in the early 20th century. The name “Savoy Hotel” harkens back to glamorous times of by-gone days. The elegance of the stairway, and lobbies reek of craftsmanship and and ambience. I suggest going online and Googling the “Savoy Hotel Buenos Aires”.. Dispite all the high praise there were problems. My friends room safe was missing a door and my rooms’ TV remote control. had corroded batteries in it. They fixed the problems promptly and efficiently but made me wonder a bit. After getting our rooms, we crashed. We had flown about 9 hours out of Miami Airport and arrived quite early in the morning. After meeting to decide how to spend the rest of the day, we decided to the visit a dramatically beautiful book

El Ateneo Book Store in Converted Theatre

store created in a space which was formerly a stage and music theatre. The bookstore is called the El Ateneo Grand Splendid Bookstore. We looking for a restaurant later in an area called the Recoleta area. The rainy skies cleared by evening. I took this photos with my camera photo of the 3/4 moon and a street light. The center piece the area is the Dazzier Tower Recolta. We were not able to go into the place at the late hour as the street lights came on. It was a pretty evening so we headed back to the hotel; when the worst thing happened. My friend was pick-pocketed. We stopped at an ice cream store for a cup of ice cream. To young girls sat at a table behind us. My friend, who stowed her camera in her knapsack realized the knapsack had be unzipped and the contents removed just after the left the store. In seconds they had undone the zippers and lifted her camera from her bag. What a shocker!!!

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Day Seven – February 2, 2015

Day Six – February 1, 2015

Day Five – January 31, 2015

Day Four – January 30, 2015

Day Three – January 29, 2015

Day Two – January 28, 2015

Day One – January 27, 2015