Spalding University from Kentucky, USA, brought 60 creative writing grad students to Buenos Aires for inspiration and fun! BAlocal’s lead guide, Chance Miller, took them on the Paris of South America walking tour that included uncovering the stories of Recoleta Cemetery, a stroll down Avenida de Alvear for eclectic architectural finds (10 different palaces) and monuments as well as beautifully and strategically landscape park. He gave details to history and culture vividly painting a picture of how life was in Buenos Aires when it was considered the wealthest country (1870-1930) to today.
For the beginning of the week long events, the group started an opening cocktail dinner at Sette Bacco, Buenos Aires’ exclusive Italian restaurant located in the heart of Recoleta. The food was delicious and the group had an amazing time getting to know each other for their upcoming events. As described by Katy Yokom, Spalding’s coordinator, “dinner was spectacular! A smashing success!”Chance Miller, man-about-town, and Elizabeth Gleeson, artist & art connoisseur, hit up local sightseeing spots with two stops at major museums from the fine arts to contemporary work from local Argentine artists. They finished up the tour at an artist house chatting about art while nibbling on cheese and sipping Argentina’s finest wine.
The BUZZ is Buenos Aires is breeding a good stock of avant garde artists and everyone wants a piece! Elizabeth Gleeson, BAlocal’s new art gallery tour guide and one of BAs newest artists, takes visitors to top and off-the-beaten-path galleries exposing you to the world of contemporary art. Well connected in Buenos Aires’ thriving art scene, Liz helps you find your very own precious artwork on her private gallery tour, whether it’s underground graffiti or traditional landscapes. She is also the ‘artistic eye’ voice on Urbana 89.5’s BAlive show every Thursday at 9pm.
The most picturesque part of Argentina is in the north, Salta and Jujuy… both places should not be missed!
On a whim, we decided to take a road trip to northern red rocky Andes to give Argentina’s visitors the best travel advice.
City of Salta, Salta - First, make it to the city of Salta your first stop. Take a walk through the food market located on Florida and San Martin to try local fried empanandas and tamales served with a spicy salsa and SALTA beer. You’ll also find all sorts of spices, crafted goods and textiles to bring back home. Take a walk a little further down San Martin and you’ll find Patio de Empanadas, where you’ll find many different vendors dishing out Salta’s best bites. Stay at the Design Suites modern design comfortable beds, rooftop jacuzzi and pool and a absolutely delicious breakfast. Tip: ask for a room the in tower. The hotel also occupies a turn of the century home… beautiful rooms and great balcony but faces a very noisy street. Rent a car and drive up to Purmamarca, Jujuy on Ruta 9. The beginning is a very narrow drive up a mountain up on tropical forest, exciting and scary and the same time. The drive will take you about 4-5 hours.
Purmamarca, Jujuy - Purmamarca is a beautiful town facing the 7-colored mountain. There are few places to stay in town but we found a place just up the street from the town called La Comarca We chose this place for its cottages, heated swimming pool, great restaurant and spectacular view. Make sure you dine at Los Morteros, the llama is so tender and you must try grilled goat cheese with sun-dried tomatoes. Spend a day visiting the little towns north of Purmamarca. In Humahuaca, we found very inexpensive textiles, knitted sweaters and gloves and dry cardones (cactus), which are the large cactus that you see everywhere in Jujuy and Salta. What really made Humahuaca different was seeing the faces of the locals… you don’t see many native faces in Argentina except for this area… beautiful! Go to Tilcara for its outdoor market in the beautiful square. We were told to go to Iruya but we didn’t make it… not enough time. Next, go west of Purmamarca for an afternoon and visit the Salinas Grandes, its a evaporated sea with the remnants of salt. Tip: No matter how cold it is, you must wear sunblock and sunglasses. The reflection of the sun on the salt burns.
Cafayate, Salta - We headed back south through the capital of Salta and went down to Cafayate. On the drive, the mountains are all red rock formations caused by the amount of iron in the ground. We stopped the in the ‘Devil’s throat’, where we climbed through the throat of the mountain, surrounded by entire gigantic rock. Stay at the Cafayate Wine Resort , a wine resort looking over the grape vineyards, right smack dab in the vineyards trails. (BTW - BAlocal can book this hotel for you) We spent a day trekking to the different wineries in search of the best Torrontes, btw, only grown in the Salta region. The hotel offered many excursions and we chose to go to the Quilmes Ruins. We visited an archelogical site of where the Quilmes Indians lived up until they were forced out in the late 1600s moving by foot 1,500km to a reservation located south of Buenos Aires, today known as Quilmes. We wanted to go to Colome close to Cachi, Salta and the city of Tucuman but we ran out of time. Oh well, I guess we have to go back.
This past weekend, I had a wonderful getaway at the Roble Estancia Inside the Pampas. The owners Jaime and Totty made us feel right at home with one of the best asados I’ve had in Argentina, fresh baked cakes and bread, horseback riding and walks throughout the land and an absolutely breathtaking sunset. This was no tourist attraction, this was my friends and I at a real-working ranch out in the middle of nature, yet only an hour and half away from Buenos Aires. The only sounds we heard were cows mooing, firewood crackling, horse hooves trotting, parakeets chirping and our own intimate conversations. Its just what I needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I highly recommend a trip out to Estancia El Roble!
Jaime and Totty also took us to a local horse race where we practically stood on the track cheering on the jockeys. We rubbed elbows with the local gauchos and shared choripan, wine, pastries and steak sandwiches amongst ourselves at the local barbeque stand. In the evening, we went into the local town of Mercedes. We had a great meal and stopped by a local corner bar (La Esquina).
Friday, August 7, artist Elizabeth Gleeson and singer/songwriter, Eve Hyman are throwing the event of the year!
Located at the Pelligrini Mansion in Recoleta, Elizabeth will transform the indoor garden into a work of art while Eve Hyman and Mataplantas will rock the house down with live funky music. Cocina Sunae serving up some spicy tasting plates and infused cocktails while Spanglish mixes up the language skills and 0800-vinos pours some fabulous wines. Time Out Magazine, What’s Up Buenos Aires and GraffitMundo will be supporting the event with additional surprises.
Host: eve hyman and liz gleeson
Type: Music/Arts - Opening
Date: Friday, August 7, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: la mansión pellegrini
Street: ayacucho 1571
Email: eeevento@gmail.com
I´d like to share this wonderful film of Buenos Aires in the 1930s. A glimpse of this is what you´ll learn on BAlocal tours and how life is today in BA, Argentina. Film provided by The Travel Film Archive.
Just recently opened, Cocina Sunae - a ‘puerta cerrada’ closed door restaurant, opens its doors only on Friday and Saturday evenings to guests looking for spicy and authentic southeast asian food. The chef uses her Asian roots and New York restaurant experience to bring an amazing experience and happiness to any foodie. To put it simple, its great food in a beautiful house with really cool people. Check out the web site at:
In April, BAlocal took a NYTimes journalist on tour to discover an up-and-coming neighborhood, untouched by tourists yet is the talk of the locals. That neighborhood would be Barracas - bordering San Telmo and La Boca, its packed with tons of history and is going through an enormous gentrification process. We scouted out historical sights, new chic restaurants, B&Bs, shows, old factories turned into lofts and a huge bohemian art scene painted all over the streets and hard-to-find galleries. Unfortunately, the editor cut out anything about BAlocal guiding the tour so I thought I’d mention the article. Here you go, June 7, 2009 - In Buenos Aires, A New Revival:
I recently went to a wine tasting held in the home of Daniel Karlin - owner of Anuva Wines. The wines he offered such as Torrontes and Malbec were exceptional. He deals with only exclusive vineyards and can ship anywhere in the US. You can’t find these wines anywhere else in Buenos Aires. If you like the wines and you want to keep them coming, Anuva Wines offers memberships to its wine club where you have the pleasure of receiving these incredible wines every month. Please have a look, its worth it, that is if you’re a wine connoisseur or at least hope to be one after Daniel’s educational wine tastings:
This great new event that happens four times a week in Buenos Aires, Argentina is a great way to get your practice on. Everyone comes just to practice their language skills as well as meet some new faces. I absolutely recommend going because it is soooo much fun. check it out:
For the beginning of the week long events, the group started an opening cocktail dinner at Sette Bacco, Buenos Aires’ exclusive Italian restaurant located in the heart of Recoleta. The food was delicious and the group had an amazing time getting to know each other for their upcoming events. As described by Katy Yokom, Spalding’s coordinator, “dinner was spectacular! A smashing success!”Chance Miller, man-about-town, and Elizabeth Gleeson, artist & art connoisseur, hit up local sightseeing spots with two stops at major museums from the fine arts to contemporary work from local Argentine artists. They finished up the tour at an artist house chatting about art while nibbling on cheese and sipping Argentina’s finest wine.
