The End of Argentina (for now)

So I am back in the U.S. now for a short while and I wanted to throw on a few more pics from the last days in Argentina. You may be asking yourself “if you aren’t going abroad then what is there to look at while I’m avoiding doing my work???” We’ll don’t worry because I am continuing my world tour next Thursday when I leave for Sweden! Also this weekend I’m up in Atlanta visiting the family so there should be more on that. Enjoy the pics

We went to this very fancy restaurant our second to last day and I thought it would be a good idea to order Sweet Bread as an appetizer. When they brought out the dish I realized this is neither sweet nor bread… One of the guys at the table knew what it was and decided to wait until after I took a bite to tell me. Turns out pancreas is not the bad (very chewy)

Last day we went on a cruise to see the city. Very fun


This is me at the tango show, with my last cut of meat...It was all you could drink beer and wine which led to some interesting situations but once the show started it was quite impressive. I'm going to try and get a video up of it.

Free day

Slept in today, which meant no soccer game, but it’s all good. We toured some local markets and saw some monuments. I managed to get some gifts for the family. Overall slower day…

Malba

Almost Forgot... the Gaucho ranch didn't last the whole day since it was raining so a few of us went to Malba. It was a modern museum focusing on Latin American artists. My favorite part was an area featuring photographs by David Lachapelle. I found a link to his site - http://www.davidlachapelle.com/

Day Four- Pacha

After dinner we had went to one of the biggest clubs I have ever seen. We went around 2am and stayed till about 6am and I have never seen anything like it. It was a sea of people all dancing to this techno beat.

Crazy Graffiti

Walking around after dinner we saw some crazy stuff.

Day Four- Dinner # 2 @ Bar Uriarte

So after we left our new friends at La Brigada we joined out peers at a trendy place called Bar Uriarte. It was seemed to be a more posh type place but it was enjoyable. Next we go out...

Day Four- Dinner @ La Brigada

So Carter had heard of this restaurant from one of his friends as one of the best restaurants in Argentina. We asked the concierge a couple days ago and he spoke very highly of the place but said it was not possible to get a reservation. Tonight he came to us with a reservation for another which was unable to go and we were quick to take their place. We got to the restaurant and heard a couple of American women who were ordering, or at least trying to order, a meal. Fortunately Carter speaks Spanish and since our reservation was originally for four people we decided to ask them to join us for dinner. Turns out Karen and Cheryl were great company. We ate an enormous amount of great food (I ate a massive steak)and talked about everything from going out to business. We finished up our meal there and left to join some other friends at another dinner location.

Gaucho Ranch

Day Four- Gaucho Ranch

So today we went to visit a Gaucho Ranch 90 km away from Buenos Aires. A Gaucho is an Argentinean cowboy. The ride was nice up until we got to try this drink called mate tea. It’s a very strong tea which involves a cup and straw with the filter built in. This is because the cup is filled to the brim with the tea leafs. I found this out because the tour guide decided to show it around the bus. I couldn’t see inside so I attempted to angle the cup which the tour guide interpreted as me wanting to hold the glass. As you can see in the pic the result was my getting up close and personal with mate tea.

When at the ranch we were greeted with empanadas and wine. This was the first time I had had an empanadas and I was delightfully surprised. We then toured some of the site (we couldn’t ride the horses since it was raining). Then we had a great lunch with meat from this massive grill (see pic). There was also a show. I took a video which you should be able to see above.

Museum

DOMINIQUE GOES OUT!!!

It's been a long time coming but my diligent team member finally went out at night with me. I was at Museum, which is elaborated above and after our dinner I see Dominique shows up, WOW! As if it wasn’t enough that she came out, she also showed some insane skills on the dance floor. All I can say is that I was very impressed and overjoyed.

Day Three- Disney Latino & Dairy Factory

The day started with a lecture from a marketing director from Disney Latino. He was interesting. One of the things we saw was the territory for Disney Latino which included all of Latin America and Florida. Apparently Miami is more suited to Latino Disney, I supposed this shouldn’t be a surprise but I thought it interesting. After the lecture and lunch we went to a Milk Factory. We toured this enormous plant which processed milk and produced dairy product like cheese, butter… The tour ended with a tasting of the goods. One of the things that I tried for the first time was Dulce de Lechce, very nice. Tonight we are going to this restaurant/show/club called Museum. Expect big things…

Day Two- Dinner #2 @ Cafe de Cuba

I love globalization. I would have never thought I would be eating Sushi at a restaurant/nightclub in Buenos Aires but sure enough. The place was incredible, we started at 11 and ate and drank till 1 and socialized/danced till 3:30am. Best of all was the price. This is one of the more upscale/pricy establishments and a two hour three course meal and a night at the club was less then forty dollars. At 1am we got up from our meal and went to the bar at which time they took the tables out from where we were sitting. 15 minutes later the place was literally packed with people and the restaurant had turned into an insane club. I went outside with Carter and we met some bueno Argentina women who gave us passes to this club called Museum for tomorrow night. I look forward to sharing more.

Day Two- Dinner #1 @ Cafe Tortoni

So we walked down Florida Ave and our professor told us about this café which was founded in 1858. It was a beautiful place with ornate woodwork and marble everywhere. Apparently it is a historic landmark and somewhere every tourist needs to go. Good food too. Here's the link if you want more http://www.cafetortoni.com.ar/

Florida Ave

Day Two-Drug Dealers

In the afternoon we toured a pharmaceutical manufactures plant and learned about operations management, pretty neat stuff. It's a new firm and the director of marketing was this younger American woman who told me all about what it’s like to live in Argentina. I got her number (this one’s for you Dan). Tonight we have more big plans to go out.

Day Two- U.S. Commerical Services

The day started at 9 with a speaker from U.S. Commercial Services Dept. Very interesting guy. We learned all about the socio-economic history and climate of the country. He also told us about how the U.S. develops and supports businesses. The whole thing was in the basement of the hotel, I’ve got a pic of the lobby here. This was followed by more meat for lunch.


Argentine Fact of the Day- due to economic instability banks do not offer mortgages.

Day One-My Life is Changed

Going out in Argentina was quite possibly one of the most incredible experiences of my life. It was still the first day and we decided to go to this Club, discothèque, called Opera Bay… IT BLEW MY MIND. The place was huge with something like seven area, some open air some indoors overlooking water and the city. You walk in and there is a young professional crowd dancing, drinking and watching soccer on these massive screens all over the club. The music resembles a mix of rock and techo like I had heard in south beach, I think they even slipped in a version of Sexy Back. It’s a much different feel to it then the U.S. whereas people start early and end early pounding drinks at American bars here the party won’t even get started till 12. The focus is not so much on the drinking as it is the opportunity to socialize, dance and get away from the daily grind. As you may see in the pic it appears as though I may had a few too many but the reality was that I was standing at the corner of a pit of about 200+ people with music blasting and everyone dancing. The guys here have no shame, we’ve got some hot American girls in our group and on more then one occasion I was needed to pry off some Argentine guy hitting on our girls. It was insanely fun; I will never look at nightlife the same. We went home early i.e. 2:30 and passed out from a long first day.