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

Singapore

Singapore skyline

Wow, Singapore was a real culture shock!  Sounds funny to say that when it’s the most ‘Western’ of all the Asian countries I have visited on this trip.  For some reason I found the sheer choice, efficiency of everything and the number of brightly lit, glitzy shopping malls a complete assault on my senses.  I thought it was meant to be the other way around with the sounds, smells and sights of places like Bangkok causing sensory overload.  Anyway, despite this feeling I had a great few days in Singapore.

Sherman (my Singaporean friend in London) totally hooked me up by asking his mum to put me up in his old room and putting me in touch with his friend Jasmine (who’s a film maker I’d met once before in London).  Elizabeth (Sherman’s mum) made me feel totally welcome in her lovely house (filled with more designer clothes and shoes than the V&A!) even though I think her and Sherman’s (great?) Aunty thought I was a bit mad.  Aunty thought it was very clever of me to get from the airport to the house without getting lost and thought I was brave and clever to take the MRT (metro/tube) everywhere, even to get back to the airport.  She was super sweet though in that typical Aunty kind of way and kept trying to feed me sweets!  Elda, the Filipino house helper was also super lovely and had the warmest smile for me every time I saw her.  She even walked me to the metro station the first time (on Aunty’s instructions, to make sure I didn’t get lost) and she told me that this was her second time working in Singapore.  In between jobs she’d gone back to the Philippines to get married and have a family.  Now, because she is working in Singapore, she hadn’t seen her children in two years.  It really made me think about the sacrifices people make in many parts of the world to provide for their families.  And here I was gallivanting around the world with hardly a care in the world!

Marina Bay Sands hotel and ArtScience Museum

Crazy water/light/projection/lazer show at Marina Bay Sands

As I said, Singapore is super-efficient so I zipped around town on the MRT (with a pre-paid card like the London Oyster system, so no worries about finding change to buy tickets) or caught a taxi (even no need to insist to the driver to put the meter on or negotiate the price in advance) or took a bus (lovely and air-conditioned).

I explored the Marina Bay Sands development (though I didn’t get to stay at the hotel or try out their roof top infinity pool) which was bigger than I had imagined.  The hotel building isn’t quite as impressive as it looks in photos but the view of the Singapore skyline is impressive and so was the sound/light/music/laser show they have each night.  It reminded me of the crazy fountain/laser/music show in Lima but on the sort of budget you would expect in Singapore!  They also have an excellent museum at Marina Bay Sands called the ArtScience Museum where I saw a great Andy Warhol exhibition (I can’t think of a more appropriate exhibition for Singapore – the perfect blend of art/consumerism/pop-culture) and an exhibition about the Titanic.  This was mostly made up of sets that you walked through, information boards and a few objects that had been recovered from the Titanic.  Of course they had sets so that you could have your photo taken at the front of the ship (think of that famous film scene with Kate Winslet and Leonard DiCaprio) or on the main staircase.  There was even a real iceberg that you could touch, well, it was a big piece of ice that looked like an iceberg.  I didn’t think it was real ice until I touched it myself!  And of course there is also a giant glitzy mall at Marina Bay Sands that even had a canal with boats.

I visited most of the museums, which were all really excellent and inspiring, if a bit big and overwhelming.  It was nice to rediscover my enthusiasm for museums again!  The National Museum of Singapore (who I’d been working with before on the V&A’s Wedding Dress exhibition) had a large interactive display about the history of Singapore, which was fascinating and informative (if a bit too big and with too much information) as well as a beautiful display of traditional Cheongsam dresses.

Boat canal in the middle of Marina Bay Sands shopping mall

After my visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum I kind of wish I’d started my Asia visit in Singapore rather than finished it here.  The museum gave an excellent overview of the main Asian cultures and had particularly excellent examples of sculptures and textiles from each country.  I had a brief look at the Middle East section and got a lot out of the India section, especially as I wouldn’t be visiting the main tourist sights of India.

The Singapore Art Museum was between main exhibitions but I loved the two small permanent displays, which were really well curated and interpreted for a general audience.  SAM’s outpost [insert name of extra SAM gallery] had a really interesting group show, which included some great installations and street art.

Sherman and Jasmine had recommended I visit the Peranakan Museum to find out more about the Chinese Straights culture and history in Singapore.  Again, the displays were well interpreted for someone (like me) who knows nothing about Chinese Straights history.  I saw the most beautiful beaded table cloths and other textiles, and happily collected by embossing stamps (meant for kids I think) as I went round each section of the museum.

I also went to a couple of independent pop-up exhibitions with Jasmine and it was fascinating to see a historical neighbourhood, the tradition buildings and to see how the area was being developed.

Raymond, the Tomb Whisperer

Bukit Brown (not only a cemetery but a green oasis in Singapore)

Bukit Brown

Jasmine was a tour guide extraordinaire during my visit making sure I ate at some great hawker markets (small markets where street food vendors are now required to sell their food so the government can keep an eye on things) and gave me an amazing insight into the social politics and continuing development of Singapore.  I won’t go into the details here (I’m still digesting the complexity of it all myself) but it made a country that can seem quite superficial from the outside infinitely more interesting.  It was also nice to meet people who were socially active and interested in similar/comparable issues to those that I’m interested in.

Jasmine had organised a tour of Bukit Brown cemetery, which my visit luckily coincided with.  You can read about Bukit Brown here and through the other links on this page.  To make way for a new road development, which is supposed to ease traffic congestion but won’t, many of the graves have to be exhumed.  Although there is an active campaign against this process, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that the government will press ahead as planned.  Some families have already exhumed graves at their own expense so they can pick an auspicious date rather wait for the official government date.  The campaign has raised awareness though and hopefully it might also raise awareness about how land is being developed in Singapore.  There are 22 golf courses in Singapore and only one Bukit Brown.  Imagine how much land space is taken up by golf courses and still the Singapore government says there is not enough land space…

The tour was led by Raymond, also known as the Tomb Whisperer, who showed us some of the most important graves, either in terms of style or importance of the person buried.  Many of Singapore’s pioneers are buried at Bukit Brown.  The tour was fascinating and again it gave me an insight into another aspect of Singaporean history and culture that I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.

I also have to add a little note here about Changi International Airport.  I’ve been to this airport a few times for work and I have to say that it is still my favourite airport in the world (I’ve visited my fair share over the years).  Why does it get my vote for best international airport?  Well, it never seems that busy or crowded, the staff are super helpful, it’s easy to find your way around despite the size, there is more than just shops to keep you entertained during long layovers (free cinema, butterfly garden, pay-lounge (with showers), quiet seating area, Wi-Fi, cheap food court etc.).  What more could you want from an airport?!

Historical neighbourhood

Delicious mock-meat dish from the hawker place near Sherman’s house

Singapore Sling cocktail

Singapore Street Art at SAM

No caption required…

No smelly fruit on the MRT please!

More advice from the Singapore Government…

 

I’ve included lots of external links in this post as I don’t have the space/memory/information at hand to provide all the details here.  For anyone that is interested in finding out more about Singapore then I hope that the links will be useful.  For anyone not so interested, I hope you might at least enjoy the pictures I’ve posted!

Night of the Museums in Sucre

I was lucky enough to be in Sucre on the Night of the Museums.  This seemed to follow the format of the Nuit Blanche in Paris, Lange Naacht der Museen in Berlin or Museums at Night in the UK where basically museums in a particular city (or country) are open all night with many special events for visitors.  You can find out more about the history of the Long Night of Museums here.

So the museums in Sucre were supposed to be free and open from 6pm until 1am or 6am with various special events.  This being South America, the opening times and event times were a bit haphazard but a group of us from the hostel went to a few places anyway, and enjoyed a break from the crowds (and built up our queuing strength) by going to eat pizza half way through.

Sucre has some great museums and I´d already visited most of the ones I wanted to visit so the Night of the Museums was a chance to visit some of the ones I might not have visited seeing as they were all free for the night.

We´d obviously underestimated how popular the Night of the Museums would be!  Being a museum nerd, I always assume that most people are not interested in visiting museums but I guess the lure of free entry is a big incentive.  All of the museums had massive queues outside to get in and the plaza was full of people milling about.  There was a great atmosphere in town.

Mini Eiffel Tower in Sucre

First stop was the Casa de la Libertad where the declaration of independence of Bolivia was signed on 6th August 1825.  The queue was too big though so we decided to come back later and headed for the park with its famous mini Eiffel Tower.  There was supposed to be a light and music show but I guess we were too early.  It´s amazing to realise that someone in Sucre commissioned this mini Eiffel Tower in 1906 from Gustaf Eiffel himself.  Even the materials were sent from Europe.  I guess there was money because at that time Potosi (near to Sucre) was bigger and richer than Paris thanks to the amount of silver being mined from the Cerro Rico (the rich hill). 

Interior of the Palace of Justice (probably the fanciest building I visited in Bolivia)

 The tower is kind of cute, and you can climb up it, so we gave it a quick glance before heading through the park to the Palace of Supreme Justice.  I got the impression that this place might not usually be open to the public as we had to go through a metal detector and join a guided tour.  In each room a local history student (or two) told us about the room and let us ask questions.  They gave us so much info I forgot most of it (despite translating for the non-spanish speakers).  We saw the room where the supreme court meets, the actual court room, another room for social events (called the room of mirrors because it was covered with mirrors and decorated in an 18th century french style) and the national judicial library.  It was all quite grand and impressive.

We saw there was still a long queue for the Casa de la Libertad so headed over to the military museum.  This was packed with people moving round in a conveyor belt style pas the exhibits (a form of crowd control imposed in all of the museums this night) we filed disinterestedly past various guns, military equipment and uniforms, 3D map models and model ships (yes, Bolivia still has a navy even though it doesn´t have any sea of its own, no thanks to Chile).  We stopped to read some news articles about Che Guevara that were sort of falling off the wall (display standards weren´t very high here) before heading off to get some pizza.

The big wooden Simon Bolivar head at Casa de la Libertad

Finally we joined the queue for Cas de la Libertad.  We wanted to stop and read the short texts about the displays as this is one of the most important museums in Sucre.  Unfortunately, the security staff (actual police or military guard) had obviously been briefed to keep everyone moving in a line past the exhibits and we were told to get a move on several times.  Highlight was the large carved head of Simon Bolivar that everyone stopped to get their photo taken with.

People filing past Simon Bolivar´s head

Local Kjarkas band

In the courtyard of the Casa de la Libertad was a dancing display and live music.  We managed to catch a young group of kids playing tradition Bolivian music.  I thought this type of music was called Kjarkas but it seems that this is the name of the most famous traditional band in Bolivia rather than the type of music.  The kids played great and their lead guitarist and singer was a real showman, and only 10 years old!  We stayed for their whole set and afterwards asked if they had a CD for sale.  Unfortunately, they were due to record their first (live) CD in two weeks, after we had all left Sucre.  I managed to film one of their songs though, which is a nice memory.

 

As our final stop we felt obliged to visit the cathedral, even though it had the longest queue all night.  We queued up and eventually got entry to the museum of the cathedral attached to the cathedral.  I´d already decided that I´d had my fill of religious art so walked round quite quickly, only stopping to admire some fine silverwork and gems of some of the chalices on display.

The other museums I can recommend in Sucre are:

– MUSEF (Ethnographic Museum).  I also went to this museum in La Paz, where they also had the (same) impressive display of festival and ritual masks from all over Bolivia.

– ASUR (Textile Museum, though it´s now actually only a shop selling very high quality textiles on a fair trade basis).