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!

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:

To get on Cocina Sunae’s email listing and for latest updates go to Facebook:

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:

Here’s BAlocal client infront of one a Barracas home-turned-atelier.
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BAlocal received an awesome review this past December: 

Best tour guide ever!! Thanks again for a great tour yesterday, and more importantly entertaining us with a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. Your knowledge of the city was impressive, but I think your energy was the highlight for Johnny and I. We will be sure to pass along your infomration to any friends / co-workers interested in a quality Buenos Aires adventure! Robert 

After their tour, they caught some great footage of a celebration at the Obelisco of La Boca football team winning a major championship: 

  

 

Two different couples, two different experiences. Both uncovering the local scene with food, art, mate and just seeing the city from a local’s point of view.

“Hi Christina! Thanks again for yesterday. Mayu and I had a great day with you and Daniel. I made the comment to Mayu that touring the town with you felt like being shown around by “my cousin from BA” - very fun, very comfortable We are still on the move, so I wanted to drop you a quick note to say that today’s itinerary and the “bonus” suggestions below are a real hit so far. We haven’t made it everywhere yet, so some stops will shift to Friday’s schedule when we return from the falls. I’ll email again after we cross everything of our list! Take care…Michael”           

   


“First I have to say that Matt and I really enjoyed our tour with you. You were so informative and we really felt that we got so much more out of the neighborhood tours with you than we could have ever done on our own, so thank you! Don Carlos’ restaurant was by far the best meal we have had here. It truly is a diamond in the rough! Thank you for sharing this with us and the mate! All the best, Christina”            

In the new Lonely Planet Buenos Aires 2008 city guide on page 222, author, Sandra Bao, lists BAlocal as the very first listing under Organized Tours for its custom-made tours and itineraries.  Check out it here: