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

Cabimas (Venezuela) for Xmas and New Year

Waiting for luggage at Maracaibo airport. For those who've not been there, Maracaibo is the hottest place in Venezuela so this advert for air conditioning (that says it is the coldest) is a joke!

I went to Cabimas (near Maracaibo) in Zulia State in Venezuela to spend Xmas and New Year with Emmanuel and his mum.  The journey to get there was epic – I took a 12 hour day bus from Cordoba to Buenos Aires, then the bus to the airport, then I stayed at Buenos Aires airport overnight, then I flew to Caracas in the morning before making a connecting flight to Maracaibo in the early evening where Emmanuel and his mum collected me and drove us to Cabimas.  I think it took me about 2 days to get there!

Cheese pastelito and my favourite pear juice (hecho en socialismo)

Yuuumm, mandoca (fried, of course...) from opposite the hospital in Cabimas

Of course, it was boiling hot (as always) in Cabimas but it was nice to be somewhere familiar again after so many months on the road.  Emmanuel still had his arm in a cast so we couldn’t really go anywhere, which meant we could enjoy the delights(?!) of Cabimas.  This basically meant Emmanuel’s mum cooked us yummy food and fresh juices at home, then Emmanuel would go to his physiotherapy with the Cuban doctors, and then we might go out to some of our favourite local haunts for typical street food – arepas, empanadas, mandocas, taquenos, cachapas, hallacas, cepillados, ice-cream, chinese fried rice – anything deep-fried or full of sugar really.  You can read more about typical Venezuelan food here.  It also gave me plenty of time to organise and upload my travel photos and watch American TV with Spanish subtitles.

I think this is the third time I’ve spent Xmas and New Year in Cabimas so I knew the routine by now.  On Xmas eve we had dinner at home and then we went out for a drive to see some friends.  I noticed a big difference from the last time (and even more so from the first time) I visited Cabimas in that there were hardly any people on the streets around Xmas and New Year.  Usually there were always people sat outside their houses having a drink and you could just drop by to visit people.  I guess the increasingly dangerous security situation means that people don’t even feel safe to sit and drink outside their house any more, which makes me sad as that seemed like such a typical part of life here.

New Year's Eve dinner in Tia Juana

Welcome to the domino monument in Tia Juana

On New Years eve we went to Tia Juana to visit Emmanuel’s aunt and her family.  New Year in Venezuela means eating a typical meal, just before midnight, of hallacas and pan de jamon (I had vegetarian hallacas and no pan de jamon, obviously) and then eating 12 grapes at midnight (one wish for each grape) and then doing some typical superstitious rituals for the year ahead, such as walking round the block with an empty suitcase (to bring travel) or throwing coins on the roof (to bring money).  All the old people, and woman, usually cry as they remember the year that has just passed.  Then there are always lots of fireworks, often being thrown by kids in the street, so I always feel lucky if I survive the night without incident!  There were so many fireworks over Tia Juana that I joked they were better than Sydney and London.  Only a week or so later did we find out that Henry (a Venezuelan friend who now lives in Toronto) was visiting his family a few houses down, as we all complained that there had been nothing to do or people to visit after the fireworks were finished.

The church ceremony

The dinner and party after the church ceremony

La hora loca

We also went to a wedding and I had to borrow a dress from Dayana (Emmanuel’s sister) because I had nothing smart to wear, and people really dress up for weddings in Venezuela (actually, Venezuelan’s dress up even to go to the shops, so imagine how dressed up they are for weddings, Xmas, New Year etc…).  My random outfit included Dayana’s red shift dress (thanks Dayana!), my Bolivian tyre sandals, my Bolivian jungle necklace and my old Bolivian blanket purse.  I even caved into peer pressure and visited a Venezuelan beauty salon to get a manicure and pedicure.  I have always avoided this because everyone is so obsessed with beauty and going to the salon in Venezuela that I feel the need to rebel against it and be as crusty as possible.  I have to say though, after months of travelling it did feel like a real treat to get my nails done and visiting the salon was fun because the ladies wanted to know what a gringa (from England) was doing in Cabimas (you don’t really see any foreigners in Cabimas, despite all the oil companies, so I’m always treated like a curious sight when we go to the supermarket or anywhere).  I also tried to make my hair look a bit more presentable with a bit of hair wax, even though I was still sporting my growing-out Bolivian hair-cut.  Of course, everyone was very polite and didn’t comment on my attire even though they were all dressed up to the nines – this is typical when I visit Venezuela, I always feel underdressed at any formal occasion but actually it feels like rebelling, so I quite like it!

We went to the church first.  Because of the acoustics I couldn’t actually understand very much of the service but there was a point where the vicar/priest told everyone off for not going to church and for chewing gum(!?).  He also asked the bride and groom what love meant and when he wasn’t happy with the bride’s answer, he told her off in front of everyone!  After the service we went to the party and ate lots of yummy food and drank good whisky (Old Parr, which, typically for Venezuela was brought by the bottle to the tables).  There was live music and DJs (no embarrassing dancing from me this time) and the Hora Loca (crazy hour) which we don’t have at English weddings.  It’s like carnival time where the bride and groom put on carnivalesque outfits, everyone else gets some kind of carnival mask or accessory,  and the band plays carnival music for an hour or so.  Like all good weddings, the conga also gets thrown in at this point.

I was also reminded about the obsession with Blackberrys in Venezuela – EVERYONE has one (even if they have no money) so they can use the free Blackberry PIN chat.  Having an iPhone in Venezuela is kind of a little bit alternative, which I find kind of funny considering the obsession with iPhones in other countries.

I also got to go to a live gaita party this time.  Gaita is a typical type of music from Zulia Statethat is played at Xmas.  Jandeira taught me how to dance to gaita (it has to be the easiest of all Latin dances, requiring no fancy footwork or hip moving, hence why I could manage it) and the atmosphere was great.

Venezuela/Cuba display in the entrance of the physiotherapy clinic

I went a couple of times with Emmanuel to the local clinics for the check-up and physiotherapy on his arm.  Doing ‘normal’ things in Venezuela always fascinates me because it is so different from home but there is usually also a disproportionate amount of waiting/disorganised queuing involved and a system that is completely unfathomable, even to locals, so you have to ask a million questions all the time about what is going on. The entrance to the physio clinic was decked out with a presentation on Venezuela and Cuba (Cuba provides Venezuela with doctors and nurses in exchange for cheap petrol) and the local doctor’s surgery also has some Venezuela/Cuba propaganda on display and showed the national TV channel on rotation (basically, a mouthpiece for Hugo Chavez and his latest social projects, this time the main one was free housing for poor people – can’t complain about that).

Altagracia the morning after the party

View across the lake to Maracaibo

San Benito

We didn’t go to San Benito this year but Emmanuel’s mum did want to go to mass in Altagracia.  Luckily, I didn’t have to go to the mass and spent a tranquil couple of hours walking around the town taking photos, chilling out and watching people walk home from the party that was only just finishing from the night before.

Going to Maracaibo is always a treat as it feels like going to a big city where things happen!  We only went a couple of times though but did go to an interesting bar one night in a shopping centre that always reminds me of the Southbank in London because it is a 60s concrete development.  I was the only one to get ID’d (of course) under the pretence that I was supposed to be carrying my passport with me at all times in case the police showed up and needed to check it.  It would be completely stupid to carry my original passport around in Venezuela so I carry a copy.  The guy on the door required some sweet talking from my friends before eventually letting us in.

The giant hole in the road (big enough for a car)

How to fill a hole in the road, Cabimas-style

Xmas display in Cabimas

Cabimas street art

Pan de jamon

Hallacas

My favourite empanadas in Cabimas (queso con caraota) with fresh guava juice

Chocho de vaca con dulce de limonson (I think)

Emmanuel's mum and her brother with his vintage car

Emmanuel's uncle with the 100 year old fan that still works...

There are always loads of giant pot holes in the roads in and around Cabimas and Maracaibo, even though most of the money for the country is generated there (from the oil industry).  To try to make things safer, the public often fill up the holes with random stuff, and sometimes even put flags in the holes, which always makes me laugh.  This time I saw a particularly spectacular hole that was almost the size of a car and on the main road from Cabimas to Maracaibo where there is no street lighting at night – madness!

I only stayed in Cabimas for a couple of weeks before heading back to Buenos Aires for a proper visit this time.