Not ideal for tee-total vegetarians…

Argentina. We love it. It’s been our favourite country so far and that’s mostly down to the food and drink! Here’s a list of the culinary highlights:

– Amazing steak; juicy, pink and full of flavour. Some of the best we had was at “Don Julio” in Palermo.
– Submarino (see pic below). A cup of hot milk that comes with a bar of chocolate that you stir in to melt and congeals at the bottom – a proper hot chocolate.
– Picadas. Ise’s favourite snack. A plate of meats, salami, ham, cheeses, olives etc, served with nice bread and oils.
– Locro. Goat stew with corn, green vegetables and pumpkin – delicious.
– Rabbit pie, with a puff-pastry top.
– Wine ice-cream. Like a boozy sorbet. It really does taste like wine. I liked the white (Torrontes) best.
– Grilled goat. Not the whole thing, but probably about a quarter. Ise finished the lot.
– Parrilla. A mixed grill of all kinds of meat, including chicken, steak, sausages and offal. We ordered a small one to share and still couldn’t eat it all!
– Wine. Some fantastic ones from Cafayate (pronounced Cafajatay), where we had several free wine-tastings in the bodegas (local vineyards) and may have been slightly less objective by the end of the afternoon…

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We went quad biking in Cafayate (an early birthday present for Ise), which I did start to enjoy after a while, once we got onto the sand dunes and it wasn’t so bumpy, but I did need to cling on for dear life and Ise almost steered us down a ditch within 10 minutes. If you listen closely to the video, you can hear me yelping with fright at several points…

After our first lazy and luxurious night in Buenos Aires at a fabulous hotel for Ise’s birthday (thank you Fiona!), we started to explore the city properly and spent a day at the zoo. In Buenos Aires, visitors are allowed to feed the animals (well, most of them!) with food that the zoo sells for £1 a bag.

Ise liked the white tiger best. I loved the big cats too, but was also a big fan of this clever heffalump who knelt down to pick up the food that people had thrown with his trunk. The seal and sea lion show was great fun too. I love it that they clapped themselves – super cute!

On Monday we went to the Hippodrome (Buenos Aires racecourse) and spent the afternoon betting on horses. The minimum bet is 1 peso (about 16p) and we managed to pick 3 winners, meaning we ended up leaving about £8 up. Not bad for a good day’s entertainment. However, I was most put out when “El Trumpador” (a horse with long odds who I’d picked because of Ise’s terrible wind the night before) was pipped to the post. I should have put my money on for a “segundo” (each/way) instead of a “ganador” (to win). The other thing about Argentinean betting is that you don’t get your stake back – just your winnings, which we thought was a bit of a swizz…

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On Tuesday we took a free walking tour of the city, taking in the obelisk, pink presidential house, other governmental buildings and this real house perched on top of a high-rise, which one family still lives in!

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In the evening we went to a “milonga”, where local people, along with a few tourists, show off their tango skills to traditional music. We hadn’t had time for any lessons, so just watched and admired, while drinking wine. There were some fabulous red shoe and spats combos…

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Finally we went for a wander around the cemetery on our last day, where famous Argentines are buried, including Eva Peron (Evita). Her mausoleum wasn’t the prettiest though. I loved the overgrown, crumbling tombs best and wished I’d had time to try and draw some of them. There were several resident lolcatz too:

“I never liked him anywayz…”

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One recurring theme of Argentina (for us anyway!) was free champagne. All night at a fab restaurant in Salta (El Solar del Convent – where I had the rabbit pie) because we told them it was our “luna di miel”, in our Jacuzzi bath at the posh hotel (Legado Mitco, again thanks to Fiona) and even on the overnight bus from Buenos Aires to Iguazu in plastic flutes.

We loved BA (as the Argentines call it) especially because the different districts reminded us of some of our favourite cities; New York (Palermo), London (Centro), Barcelona and Paris (Recoleta).

More pics here x

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16 Comments so far

  1. Nunk 'n Nizar on November 2nd, 2009

    Argentina is on the list………but not too sure of the aesthetics of the hot chocolate! Please may we have mor pics of Gude.
    lotsa luv  n ‘n  n

  2. Nunk 'n Nizar on November 2nd, 2009

    p.s. we love the Bath photo!  n ‘n n

  3. Isaac on November 2nd, 2009

    yes, that Submarino chocolate doesn’t look too appetising does it, looks like Gude really annoyed the waiter!

    I had my camera pinched from my bag so it’s mainly Gude taking the pics now hence why I’m in a lot of them but will take the camera off her to even things out a bit.  She also chose the pictures for the blog this time and generally hates most pictures with herself in them so they don’t get uploaded.  I’ll see of she’ll let me add a few more of her to this set…

  4. Karen & Jessica on November 2nd, 2009

    The food sounds really delicious!  Not to sure of the chocolate tho!  We both  loved the videos.
    K&J
    xx

  5. Gude on November 2nd, 2009

    It might look a bit suspect, but it tasted amazing!  😉
    Jess – you would have loved the zoo x

  6. Mum and Dad C on November 3rd, 2009

    Great blog. Shame you didn’t get time to learn to tango tho’. Hope you are having lots of fun with David.
    Lots of love, Mum xxxxxxxx

  7. Mum and Dad C on November 6th, 2009

    Happy birthday to our favourite daughter 😉 . Lots of love and hugs and kisses. xxxxxxxxx

  8. Stine on November 6th, 2009

    Happy birthday sweetheart. Have the loveliest, bubbliest birthday ever!
    Miss you. Big hugs xxx

  9. Kit on November 6th, 2009

    Happy Birthday, Sis’.
    Watch out for the caipirinhas – remember, three is always more than enough! 😉  xx 

  10. Kit on November 6th, 2009

    Cheers!

  11. Rhian on November 6th, 2009

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUDE.We are loving reading your blog.I remember closing my eyes going downhill on a quad and hoping for the best whilst screaming.You were more refined!Have a lovely day and love to Ise.Hope he will not be needed to carry you home.Love Rhian and Paulxx

  12. Karen & Jessica on November 6th, 2009

    Happy Birthday Gude!  Hope you have enjoyed your day and you are both going somewhere good tonight.
    Love
    Karen and Jessica
    xx

  13. Gude on November 7th, 2009

    Thank you!  We went to a club with circus performers last night – jugglers, acrobats, stilt-walkers, clowns and aerial performers – you would have loved it Jess, but it was VERY loud!  Unkie Ikey is still in bed… x

  14. Gude on November 7th, 2009

    Love the picture bro! 🙂

  15. Gude on November 7th, 2009

    Thanks Rhian and Paul!  It was more like me carrying Ise home last night, or should I say this morning…  He’s still in bed! x

  16. Granny Gainford on November 11th, 2009

    well here I am trying to get to grips with the new PC – help – glad you’re having a good time!