Cicerones – free Buenos Aires Walking Tours

Cicerones is a non-profit that matches proud Porteños with visitors to go on 4-hour custom walking tours. You fill in a form outlining the kinds of things you are interested in (art, architecture, sports, etc), the area(s) of BA you are keen to see and they match you with a volunteer. I had a great time with my Cicerone, Ariel. He picked me up and we took the subte down to San Telmo and then continued on to La Boca and took the bus back up to Barrio Norte. Because the guides are volunteers they are not professionally trained, they are sharing ´´their´´ Buenos Aires with you. It is free, but the visitor is responsible for covering costs (transportation costs, any entrance fees and in my case, beer).

If it´s good enough for Francis Ford Coppola…

I had my first day of Spanish lessons today at Ayres de Espanol in Palermo. It´s a small school in a cute old building and but it´s main attraction for me is that it´s not a schlep away in San Telmo. Their methodology is somewhat bohemian but I´m pretty much level 0 so it´s fine for me. After working behind the scenes in language learning for 8 years and not having been an actual student in 9, it was a strange feeling to be sitting in front of a whiteboard with my new notebook cracked open. We started as 3 students in the class  but we were already down to 2 by the end of the first session (and I´m not sure how long my remaining colleague is going to stick around). I think I might need to find a school that´s a bit more structured… I want to establish a foundation so that I can really learn Spanish and I´m starting to wonder if maybe this school is more geared towards people who just want to be able to get around better. Stay tuned..

I SHOULD KNOW BETTER!! Getting robbed sucks..

Nothing bugs me more than negative experiences that could have so EASILY been avoided…

I was sitting at this outdoor cafe in a trendy area with TONS of people around reading when this guy asked me (in Spanish) for directions, I was distracted for 1 MINUTE and his partner must have come and nipped my bag Camera, phone, (new) wallet – todos gone. Thankfully I always keep my keys in my pocket, my passport was at home and I had just uploaded all my pictures from the trip so far. The people at the cafe were lovely (will need to go back and pay them..) I went to the police station and they were GREAT! They insisted I try maté, we had a little language exchange, they wrote a list of wines for me to try and restaurants (they were v upset I hadn´t had Asado yet). I must have been the most excitement they have had all weekend, we hung out for a while. The Commandant (or whatever) joked he would call his wife and tell her he was taking me out on the town tonight. He asked if it was true that the head of the FBI gets paid 7 Million a year and did his impression of an American cop. Overall it was as pleasant an experience as can be.

London Food Post (here you go, Bronwyn)

This is still a WIP (consider it v1.0)

Toptable is your friend – check here before you venture to anywhere upmarket, they have great deals (like 25% off if you are out the door by 7)

$ Borough Market – if you´re a foodie, this is heaven. GO EARLY (get there by 10) you can eat there or buy food and make a picnic (weather permitting)

$$ Levant - beautiful restaurant, good Middle Eastern food. Skip the seafood platter and get the meat.

$-$$ Lots Road Pub – good for lunch, brunch or dinner. What a gastropub should be. Make reservations.

$$$ Bluebird Cafe – it´s an institution but I still like it. They do a good brunch.

$$$ Nobu – the best deal is to go at lunch and have the Binto box. OR get snacks in the bar, not really worth the money for a full dinner.

$$ Electric Bar and Brasserie Notting Hill – Great people watching on Notting Hill (and good food). Excellent for brunhc/lunch

$$$ Arbutus - A reasonable Michelin Star restaurant. Worth the splurge. They do wine by carafe/half carafe as well which is cool. Book well in advance

$$ Tsunami - Excellent (reasonably priced) Japanese fusion food.

$$ The Bombay Brasserie – I had been told it was the best indian food in London and I have to say, I think I agree. It´s pricey but they do a good lunch special (14 GBP)

$$ Admiral Codrington – another good Gastrobpub. They specialize in Seafood (yum crabcakes)

$ Beirut Express – Maroush has Lebanese restaurants all over London but I usually go to the one at South Ken. The Hummus Beiruty is rocking. We generally get the shwarma sandwichs.

$ Bagels on Bricklane – 24 hours real bagels..the best thing at the end of a long night. Or a shopping break snack.

$$-$$$ Hunan - my favorite restaurant in London. There´s no menu but you will be asked for any dietary restrictions you have then then you will eat some of the best Chinese food you ever had (ask for the pork with prunes). Let Mikey pick the wine for you.

$ Dim Sum place in Bayswater – the most authentic Dim Sum we found in London.. They don´t take reservations so get there early. (I need to confirm the name with Ann)

$-$$ Jakob´s - Organic predominantly vegetarian Armenian deli/cafe (try the falafel sandwich)

Hummingbird Bakery – REALLY good cupcakes (my fav is the red velvet).

Bars:

Janet´s bar

Bohemian Kitchen on Old whatever street (need to check this one again)

Misc:

Upstart Market (Sundays only) – an indoor market for emerging clothing and accesarry designers. Some cool ethnic food stalls as well.

If you like markets, this is a good listing: http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/markets.htm

Argentinian Castellano

My Peruvian friend´s comment is starting to make sense to me: ¨You´re going to learn Spanish in Argentina? But then you will talk like them!¨ Imagine the limited English you spoke had been learned by watching American sitcoms and then you wound up in Scotland…. This is how I feel about trying to understand people here. Since I speak German like a Berlin adolescent and Chinese like a Shanghainese taxi driver I think it´s fitting I learn to speak Spanish like a Porteña.

A BIIIIG Thank You

I wanted to give a big Xie Xie to Angeline for inviting me to Peru, Augusto for hosting us in both Lima and Asia and showing us an awesome time in both, Alonso for babysitting us and Manuel for making sure we got fed.

Things we learned about Peru (during our short visit)

• Lima looks similar to Sao Paulo, but safer, cleaner, nicer and with fewer bars on the windows
• Peruvians really like salt, I mean REALLY like salt
• Almost every restaurant we have been to serves the same style of (tasty) Chicken Soup
• Peru is exceptionally clean, unlike in tourist towns in SEA there´s almost no garbage around
• There are about 2000 types of potatoes and Peruanos aren´t afraid to use them
• Being on the road is as scary, if not scarier than in China
• All food is red, yellow, orange or white
• There are almost no straight [single] men in Lima
• Peruvians are pretty old school, no PDA and girls still live at home until they are married (even in the more progressive families)

a crazy weekend

I´ve been ploughing through these posts but I should say that in the past 36 hours we experienced: an earth quake (albeit a baby one), a UFO sighting (at least that´s what I was told I was seeing), a car accident (not a serious one, everyone is fine), a day out on an incredible yacht drinking champagne and a 5am off-road adventure to the beach to (almost) see the sunrise. To say we have had a memorable trip is an understatement.

Back in Lima

As soon as we got back to Lima we met with Augusto, Angeline´s friend we´re staying with. We handed over the dirty laundry and packed to head back to his beach house. Unfortunately, it was overcast and we didn´t really make it to the beach but we did have a hard-partying weekend with Augusto and his friends. The other night there was a UFO sighting, I missed it by 2 minutes but did see something moving in the fog – I can´t really saw definitively what it was… Sunday we spent the day on Augusto´s friend`s Catamaran having lunch and a bit of a put around the bay. We got back to Lima late last night and spent today chilling. My first day of doing almost nothing and it´s been nice I decided I don´t feel like travelling around by myself so instead of heading to Arequipa and Coca Valley I´m heading to Buenos Aires to plant myself for about a month. Instead of staying in a hostel I found a few apartments on Craigslist that I will hopefully check out once I´m there.

And I’m off..

Just landed in the big Smoke for a 15 hour layover. I’m officially unemployed with no fixed abode… crazy. I have just enough time in London to have a glass of wine with Ann and an extended nap before I head back to the airport. Hoping to meet up with Margaret, albeit briefly, during my stop in NYC. Still no set itinerary beyond meeting Angeline in Lima and heading to Cusco on the 10th. After she heads back to Shangers on the 17th I think I might start a slow train trip down the coast and then inland to Arequipe. At that point I’ll be on my onesies until I meet Alfred (and maybe Ivy) in Buenos Aires around March 14th. Despite the rounds of fire cupping, acupuncture and antibiotics I still can’t shake my nasty sinus infection.. yuck.