Mi Buenos Aires Querido (again… / otra vez…)

Desplácese hacia abajo para una mala traducción al español (gracias a Google Translate)

Museo del Traje (and typical Buenos Aires signage called Fileteado Porteno)

So why did I go back to Buenos Aires rather than stay longer in India or go somewhere else?  A few reasons… 1) just because I could… 2) the rest of India was too hot and I’d pretty much done all I wanted to in Dharamsala… 3) I only had a single entry visa for India so couldn’t go to Nepal and come back again… 4) I thought it would be a good transition place between India and London and give me a chance to acclimatize to a big city and colder weather… 5) I thought it would be fun to hang out after introspective time in India.

So not much to report from Buenos Aires this time round, apart from I had a fantastic time visiting exhibitions, hanging out, eating yummy food etc.

I saw some really amazing exhibitions this time round, which really re-ignited my enthusiasm for exhibitions, museums and galleries again (just as well seeing as I have to go back to work).  MALBA had an excellent exhibition of American art  called Bye Bye American Pie, I finally made it to Museo del Traje (Fashion Museum) and Faena Arts Centre (amazing new gallery and they had a Los Carpinteros installation).  I also saw an amazing exhibition of Peruvian Amazon paintings at Palais de Glace which made me want to go back to the Amazon jungle and paint/make pictures of nature with amazing colours.  Maybe this trip did turn me into a hippy after all??!!

La Bomba del Tiempo

As well as seeing inspiring art I also met Paco’s sister (Isa) and we went to la Bomba del Tiempo, which is a weekly drumming show at Konex.  You can see a video here.  Although not the sort of music I listen to very much, the atmosphere was great and the drummers amazing.  Lots of people recommended this show to me and now I know why.  Fortunately, the place was full of foreigners who also couldn’t dance like the Latinos can, so I didn’t feel too ashamed of my poor attempts at dancing!  I’m still waiting for someone to teach me…

As with the rest of my trip, food was an important part of my visit (again).  This time I discovered Ugi’s Pizza (probably the cheapest and most edible vegetarian food in Buenos Aires) where they sell a whole pizza for 18 pesos or half for 9 pesos.  La Fabrica de la Pizza is cheaper but they don’t have so many convenient locations like Ugi’s.

Taquenos

Cristina and Carlos also took me to Caracas Bar for typical Venezuelan food, which was super yummy.  Of course I took photos of everything!  I have to say though, the arepa was not as good as the ones Cristina made at home.

To say thank you to all my Venezuelan friends for their wonderful hospitality I took 4kgs of Harina PAN (a Venezuelan staple food) so they could make proper arepas.  For some ridiculous reason they don’t sell Harina PAN in Argentina and it costs the same in London as in Venezuela, even though its imported.  Loco!!

Rather than cook something with the Harina PAN, I offered to make a momo party and Adriana kindly offered up hers and Mario’s house at the venue.  This involved a pre-trip to China town to buy a bamboo steamer and sweet chili sauce.  It took ages to make the momos as I’d had no practice since India.  Everyone seemed to like them (and I taught Loquillo how to make them) but the funniest thing was that everyone went CRAZY for the sweet chili sauce.  They’d never tried it before!  If sales of sweet chili sauce boom in Buenos Aires, I deserve a cut of the profits!

Making momos (and a mess) in Adriana’s and Mario’s kitchen

On my last day, and even though I’d made a right mess in her kitchen the night before, Adriana cooked bollitos on my last day during the Venezuela/Uruguay football match and before I headed off to the airport.  Again, super yummy and now I know how to make them.

So I finished my 9 month round the world trip with a belly full of delicious Venezuelan food and a big smile on my face thanks to the wonderful hospitality of such lovely people!

So, if you think this is the end of my blog, then you might be disappointed!  I think I’m going to do a review of bits and pieces from my trip (not quite sure what yet) and also do some recipe pages considering how much amazing food I ate and learned to cook.  I might also do a little post about my trip up north to see the Dalai Lama.  Watch this space…

Traditional tango music in Bar de Roberto

¿Entonces por qué me vuelvo a Buenos Aires en lugar de permanecer más tiempo en la India o ir a algún otro sitio? Algunas razones … 1) sólo porque yo podría … 2) el resto de la India estaba demasiado caliente y me hace más o menos todo lo que quería en Dharamsala … 3) Yo sólo tenía una visa de entrada única para la India por lo que no podía ir a Nepal y volver de nuevo … 4) Yo pensé que sería un lugar buena transición entre la India y Londres y me dan la oportunidad de aclimatarse a una gran ciudad y un clima más frío … 5) pensé que sería divertido para pasar el rato con mis amigos después del tiempo de introspección en la India.

Así que no hay mucho que informar de Buenos Aires en esta ocasión, además de que tenía un tiempo fantástico visitar exposiciones, salir con mis amigos, comer una deliciosa comida, etc

He visto algunas exposiciones realmente sorprendentes en esta ocasión, lo que realmente volvió a encender mi entusiasmo por las exposiciones, museos y galerías de nuevo (del mismo modo que ya tengo que volver a trabajar). MALBA tenido una excelente exposición de arte americano llamado Bye Bye American Pie, que finalmente pudo llegar a Museo del Traje (Museo de la Moda) y Faena Arts Centre (nueva galería increíble y que tenía una instalación de Los Carpinteros). También vi una exhibición impresionante de pinturas peruanas del Amazonas en el Palais de Glace, que me dieron ganas de volver a la selva amazónica y pintar / tomar imágenes de la naturaleza con colores sorprendentes. Tal vez este viaje me convirtió en un hippie, después de todo?!

El Ateneo (a book shop in an old Theatre)

Además de ver el arte inspirador también conocí a la hermana de Paco (Isa) y nos fuimos a la Bomba del Tiempo, que es un programa semanal de tambores en el Konex. Puedes ver un video aquí. Aunque no es el tipo de música que escucho mucho, el ambiente era genial y sorprendente de los tambores. Mucha gente recomienda este programa para mí y ahora sé por qué. Afortunadamente, el lugar estaba lleno de extranjeros que también no podía bailar como los latinos pueden, por lo que no me sentía demasiado avergonzada de mis intentos de pobres en el baile! Todavía estoy esperando a que alguien me enseñe …

Al igual que con el resto de mi viaje, la comida era una parte importante de mi visita (de nuevo). Esta vez descubrí pizzerías Ugi (probablemente la comida más barata y comestible más vegetariano en Buenos Aires) donde venden una pizza entera por 18 pesos o la mitad de 9 pesos. La Fabrica de la pizza es más barato, pero no tienen lugares convenientes, como tantos de Ugi.

Arepas made by Cristina – yum!

Cristina y Carlos también me llevó a Caracas para la barra de comida típica venezolana, que era súper delicioso. Por supuesto que me tomó fotos de todo! Tengo que decir que, sin embargo, la arepa no era tan buena como las que Cristina hechas en casa.

Para dar las gracias a todos mis amigos venezolanos por su maravillosa hospitalidad tomé 4kgs de Harina PAN (un alimento básico de Venezuela) para que pudieran hacer las arepas adecuados. Por alguna razón ridícula que no se venden Harina PAN en la Argentina y cuesta lo mismo en Londres como en Venezuela, a pesar de su importación. Loco!

En vez de cocinar algo con el PAN Harina, me ofrecí a hacer una fiesta de Momo y Adriana se ofreció amablemente a ella y la casa de Mario en el lugar. Se trataba de un pre-viaje a la ciudad de China para comprar una vaporera de bambú y salsa de chile dulce. Le tomó años para que los momos como yo no tenía la práctica desde la India. Todo el mundo parecía que les gusta (y me enseñó a Loquillo cómo hacerlas), pero lo más gracioso fue que todo el mundo se volvió loco por la salsa de chile dulce. Ellos nunca lo había intentado antes! Si las ventas de auge de la salsa de chile dulce en Buenos Aires, me merezco un recorte de los beneficios!

Venzuelan bollitos with tomato sauce

En mi último día, y aunque yo había hecho un verdadero desastre en la cocina la noche anterior, bollitos Adriana cocidos en mi último día durante el partido Venezuela / Uruguay de fútbol y antes de que me dirigí al aeropuerto. Una vez más, súper delicioso y ahora sé cómo hacerlas.

Así que terminé mi hijo de 9 meses todo el viaje por el mundo con la barriga llena de comida deliciosa venezolana y una gran sonrisa en mi cara, gracias a la maravillosa hospitalidad de gente tan encantadora!

Por lo tanto, si usted piensa que este es el final de mi blog, entonces usted podría ser decepcionado! Creo que voy a hacer una revisión de partes y piezas de mi viaje (no muy seguro de lo que aún) y también hacer algunas páginas de recetas teniendo en cuenta la cantidad de comida increíble comí y aprendí a cocinar. También podría hacer un pequeño post sobre mi viaje al norte para ver al Dalai Lama. Mire este espacio …

Pabellon

The drumming dancing parade in San Telmo

Anyone want to buy vegetarian empanadas in San Telmo market from Juan Pablo?

San Telmo graffitti

Evita’s tomb in Recoleta cemetery

Evita… again (and the biggest road I’ve ever seen)

Claudia and Stalin have a hairdressers in Buenos Aires (a different option…)

Bin street art

India (part 2)

Live music at the Green View cafe

After the hike to Triund I ended up hanging out with Julia, Sammy and their friends quite a bit, and had a lot of fun trying out the local restaurants and cafes, including a music night at Green View Café.  There was an American woman travelling who was a singer/songwriter so she sang her own amazing songs accompanied by local musicians, who then followed her set with some rock classics.  I couldn’t stop laughing at the bizarre situation of listening to a traditional Indian band play Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses in a rooftop café in India while a bunch of random travellers from all over the world sang along.  It was a fun night!

I also visite Norbulingka Institute with Noni (who I met on the cooking course).  We took two crazy local buses to get there (and back) which felt like a bit of an adventure because I’d been in the same place for weeks and not travelled anywhere.  Worryingly (or maybe not given the super winding roads) the bus had God Save Me painted in front of the driver alongside all his religious and lucky charms and talismans.  Norbulingka has beautiful gardens and grounds as well as a temple and wokshops where you can see artisans at work.  Whilst looking round the top level of the temple we managed to get ourselves locked in when everyone went to lunch!  I can think of worse places than a Tibetan Gompa to be locked in but we did have to wait quite a while for someone to find us and get the right keys to let us out!  Luckily the walls of the Gompa were beautifully painted with pictures of Buddha and scenes from his life, so there was plenty to look at while we waited to be let out.

Meena feeding a cow at her crystal shop (photo: Julia)

McLeod Ganj / Bhagsu / Dharamkot are a bit like an adult education playground.  Whatever type of course you would like to do, you can do it in one of these places, and very cheaply.  For a while I’d been feeling like I wanted to do something creative so I did a macramé jewellery making course and a dream catcher making course at Meena’s lovely crystal shop in McLeod Ganj.  Meena’s brother and son were the teachers of the courses and each day they welcomed me with a cup of chai from the local chai shop while they chattered away in a mix of Indian/Nepalese/English, which was a delight for my ears!

After staying in McLeod Ganj I moved to a small guest house between Dharamkot and Bhagsu, both of which are small villages full of Israeli travellers.  It was a nice change of scenery and I felt like I was in the countryside amongst the hills and trees.  I also did 2 x five-day yoga courses at the Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre.  Without wanting to bore those of you not interested in yoga, I spent the best part of the two weeks learning to stretch my toes and trying to ‘feel’ the skin on the under arch of my foot.  It was a great course and a learnt a lot, even if I spent most of the course wrapped up in all my clothes because the weather had turned cold and rainy (very unseasonal for this part of India).

Getting my long life elixir and blessed cake from Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Impromptu teaching from Lama Zopa Rinpoche

After the yoga courses I did an Introduction to Buddhism course at Tushita Meditation Centre.  This was a 10-day residential silent retreat that included Buddhist teachings (from an Australian monk) and meditation sessions.  The course was fascinating and we were such a mixture of people from all over the world, from different backgrounds and with different interests.  Although I hadn’t planned it this way, it was the perfect way to wind down at the end of my trip and have some time for reflection.  It also helped that the food was amazingly delicious (I think developed an addiction to the home-made bread and peanut butter).  There was also a fantastic library and lots of wild monkeys to keep us entertained.  As well as the teaching and meditation sessions, we watched a couple of inspiring and fascinating films about reincarnation (from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective) and an inspirational nun called Tenzin Palmo, who grew up in East London and spent 12 months meditating in a cave in the Himalayas.  Unfortunately, I missed Tenzin Palmo’s talk, which took place at Tushita a week or so after I left.

We were lucky enough that Lama Zopa Rinpoche (Spiritual Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, the organisation that runs Tushita) was staying at Tushita during our course, which meant impromptu teachings, blessings and important visitors passing by.  Lama Zopa suffered a stroke about a year ago but is making amazing recovery.  He also has the most infectious laugh/giggle (only second to the Dalai Lama’s infectious laugh/giggle) which always sent us all into fits of laughter and smiles whenever we heard him.  I’m not sure I can really sum up my experience of the course in words, so you can find out more about the course from another blogger here.

Happy Tushita retreaters!

In hindsight I would have liked a few days after the course finished to chill out and hang out with some of the people I met on the course.  Instead, I did some last-minute shopping (but never managed to get my decision-making head on to buy a Tibetan Thangka painting) and headed back to the UK the day after the course finished.

Of course, I’m not one to make things easy for myself so I headed back to the UK for about 24 hours before I hopped on a plane back to Buenos Aires to spend the last two weeks of my travels hanging out with friends and making sure I hadn’t forgotten all of my Spanish!

Bus to Norbulingka (note the text: OH GOD SAVE ME!)

Cool wall painting with the Dalai Lama’s face at the Norbulingka temple

Gardens at Norbulinka

Nice mix

Street view on the way to Dharamkot

India (part 1)

 

View from my guesthouse in McLeod Ganj

So I went to India but it wasn’t really like India – sort of India-lite.  I took the easy(er) option and flew from Singapore to my final destination in India due to a lack of time and also wanting to avoid too much hassle at the end of my trip.  I flew Singapore – Mumbai (overnight at the airport) – Delhi – Dharamsala.  Fortunately, Kingfisher Airlines, who are the only airline that flies to Dharamsala was still in business and hadn’t cancelled this route, despite financial problems leading to route cancellations!

So why did I go to Dharamsala and not to more famous sites like the Taj Mahal? Because in May most of India is baking hot with temperatures of 40 degrees or more!  So I took the advice of a wise French lady in Thailand and headed north.  The Dharamsala area appealed because it is home of the Tibetan Government in Exile and there are various places to study yoga and meditation.

I managed to share a taxi from the airport to McLeod Ganj with three film-makers making a documentary about Israeli travellers in India.  They’d arrived from Goa and had been dying in the heat so the relative coolness and green landscape of Dharamsala were like heaven for them.  I got dropped off in the main square and within five minutes a helpful Western Tibetan nun offered to help me find the guesthouse I was looking for on the map.  The guesthouse was full but of course there was a helpful Indian/Kashmiri man to offer me a room in his guesthouse.  This turned out to be ok but after 8 days of walking up and down the steep stairs I’d kind of had enough.  I had to keep telling myself it was good exercise before the yoga course started!

 

Making wallets from old tetra packs

Me at the foot of the Himalayas (at the top of Triund)

On my second day I went to a free workshop to learn how to make recycled wallets from old tetra packs.  The ideas of the workshop was to teach a skill that people could then use to run their own workshops wherever or whenever they wanted.  It was a lot of fun and great to see how ‘rubbish’ could be used creatively to make something useful.  It was also amazing to see how the local kids took to this with such enthusiasm!  At the workshop I met Julia (working as a volunteer at Lha) who was nice enough to let me tag along on the hike to Triund that she was doing the next day with her friend Sammy.

The hike to Triund was awesome and we were really lucky with the weather.  We could feel it getting colder the higher we climbed and eventually had to pass over some snow-covered rocks at one point.  The views at the top were amazing and we stayed a while to watch the clouds move in and out to reveal the Moon Peak from time to time.  We also ate a yummy thali at one of the make-shift chai shops (in tents) before heading back down to McLeod Ganj.  The walk back down was slightly easier and no less spectacular.  We were accompanied by some local dogs that would run ahead and then wait for us to catch up.  They then blocked our path as they played/fought on the snow-covered pass.  On the way up and down we also took the opportunity to have chai with a great view at the chai shops along the way.  We went up and down in one day (you can stay overnight and also trek up to the snow-line of the mountains) and I think it took us about 3.5 hours to go up and 2.5 hours to come back down.  As you can imagine, by the end we were totally creamy crackered!

Cooking lessons in Sangye’s kitchen

McLeod Ganj is full of amazing places to eat all sorts of food but my favourites were Tibetan and Indian food.  Most of my favourite places to eat are listed here under the FOOD section.

As well as eating I also took some Tibetan cooking classes, where I learnt to cook momos, bread, and noodle dishes.  Here is a list of some traditional Tibetan foods:

• Momos– dumplings filled with meat or vegetables, steamed or fried
• Thukpa– a hearty noodle soup with veggies or meat
• Thenthuk – thukpa with handmade noodles
• Pocha – salty tea churned with butter, a Tibetan staple (but it tastes disgusting!)

Our teacher, Sangye, was an excellent teacher and also let us ask whatever questions we wanted to about Tibetan life and culture.  In the momo making class, Sangye has me and Noni practically in tears as he explained how he had escaped from Tibet to India 15 years ago and what that journey was like for him and the others in his group.  The journey that Tibetan refugees have to make to escape to Nepal and India is long, hard and dangerous.  You can read more about it here. [add link]

Thali at 2,827 metres above sea level

A glimpse of Moon Peak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As well as learning to cook I also found time to learn how to make macrame jewellery incorporating stones and crystals, how to make dream catchers, I read more books than I had done in ages, did a two-week yoga course at the Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre and a 10 day silent meditation, and Buddhist studies retreat at Tushita Meditation Centre.  More about all of this in Part Two of my India post…

Julia and Sammy enjoying the view

Dogs blocking our path on the way back down

One of the main streets in McLeod Ganj