Buenos Aires Flooded with I-Bankers

I found an interesting article on gawker.com claiming that Buenos Aires has been ruined by i-bankers. I personally haven't bumped into any, but maybe it's one of those things you don't notice until someone else mentions it. So from now on, I'm keeping an eye out and will be documenting and cataloguing them for your viewing enjoyment. Just don't hold your breath.

Here's the website if the link won't work: http://gawker.com/5164142/buenos-aires-ruined-by-i+bankers

Yerba Mate

One of the things I've been trepidatious to try is the yerba mate. It's a type of tea indigenous to the area, similar to green tea in flavour, but the main difference being that it's steeped in hot water instead of boiling water. It's drunk out of a gourd, which is the source of all my aversion, not because I've got anything against gourds in general, but during our first days here we walked through a market and found mate gourds which were made from hollowed-out animal hoofs. Hair still clung to them! Ever since mate has been associated with animal feet; however I made myself get over it today. Every where you look down here people are walking around with big thermoses hanging from their shoulders or necks, drinking out of the caps. At first we thought it was alcohol, because why else would you go to the trouble to drink out of a thermos? It turns out it's mate, people love it so much they need a constant supply of it on-the-go. Even the bum on our street was obsessed with it. Every time we saw him, sitting or lying down, he was sipping out of a new container of unstrained-mate, which looks totally gnarly:
Except his was in a Dixie cup.

Anyway, it's good. It tastes like grassy green tea. And as I'm writing this I can vouch for its caffeine content. I'm feeling more jittery than I do after an espresso, but there are no heart palpitations so I think it's safe to say I'll drink it again, just not out of a hoof.

Graffiti Nation

Something I've noticed since I've been here is that Buenos Aires is so colorful. Not in the "the people are so vibrant and varied" way, which they are, but literally the colors of the leaves are greener, the sky is bluer, the reds are redder and the yellows almost blinding. It's hard to say whether that's why graffiti is so prominent, or if it's the graffiti that gives the city it's colorful ambiance. Regardless, street graffiti is art here, meant to be appreciated by everyone for free. Many shops and restaurants commission graffiti artists to adorn their outer walls, and graffiti artists will often times attach their email addresses to their murals.

I'm lucky enough to have a boyfriend with a good camera and an even better eye for art, so if you're interested in taking a gander at some appealing street art click on the link and head on over to his blog.

Papelera PALERMO

Papelera Palermo is easily the most impressive paper store I've ever been in. They specialize in hand made paper and paper products, but they don't stop there. They've extended their range to boxes, stationary, book binding, wrapping paper, journals and leather goods and right now Graham is seriously coveting one of their slim red leather computer cases. Anything that's related to writing, drawing or involves paper in some way they do it, and they do it beautifully. The shop is the size of a small warehouse and they've filled the entire left wall with sheets of hanging wrapping paper: block, pattern, grainy, cut-out, graffiti, any style you can think of they've come up with it.

They're masters of paper and they know it. They were kind enough to open a school to the public to teach their ways in paper making and book binding and my number one reason for learning Spanish right now is to get in on that. For now I'm contenting myself with a sheet of hand made paper every now and then.

Click here to check out their website!

Little ROSE

In the Land of the Parilla (Argentine grill) meat is king. You can be hard pressed at times to come by food that wasn't once munching on grass, even harder still to find food that grew in the ground if you're not making a conscious effort. As I'm experiencing right now, too much meat and not enough vitamins results in sharp abdominal pains. This is what makes Little Rose sushi restaurant so special to me. Up a fairly innocuous flight of stairs you ascend into what looks like a goth-inspired Victorian parlour. The walls and decor are painted black, only the table clothes remain neutral and pictures of 'little roses' reflect down on you while you eat. It's dark but not foreboding and the lunch menu is the best sushi deal this side of the River Plate. For less the US $10 you get: water sin o con gas, the best miso soup I've ever had, five salmon nigiri, one piece mango-cream cheese (surprisingly tasty), one salmon-cream cheese, one salmon-avocado-cream cheese, one salmon roll, your choice of delicious ice cream, and espresso.

*note: in the above picture I asked Graham to pose looking "longingly" at the ice cream. He's not disappointed as it seems, he was in fact well-pleased with his dessert.

Coin Crisis!

The bane of my existence is trying to break a 100 peso bill. Taxi drivers suddenly wish they had pushed you out into oncoming traffic when you had them a 100 peso bill. Cashiers go squeamish at the sight of one. They'd honestly rather not sell you anything than give you their change. What makes the situation even more maddening is that ATM machines only spit out denominations of 100s.

Coins are even harder to come by than a 20 peso bill; we've already been warned by a local to guard any coins we get a hold of with our lives. Her words exactly: "Don't use them, put them away and hide them." There's a coin crisis going on!

The bus system in Buenos Aires is comprehensive and the main source of transportation for many, millions rely upon it. However, to ride the bus you need to put 80 centavos into a machine on the bus, coins only, no paper bills accepted. So what people used to do was go to the bus companies with a 100 peso bill and change it into 100 pesos worth of coins. Then the bus companies started charging 12 pesos for this particular service and shortly thereafter people started noticing that coins were becoming harder and harder to come by. Last year authorities found gigantic drums in the basements of the bus companies full of millions of dollars in coins. The bus companies had been hoarding all the coins that had been paid to them through their machines, thus propagating the coin crisis, leading more people to change their bills with them and therefore pay them an extra 12 pesos to give them all their money anyway.

My favorite part of this story is that people now know that the crisis was started through hoarding, and yet their solution is to hoard the coins themselves. There's something so undeniably charming about that.

Hotel CRAFT

For anyone reading this that is looking for a hotel to stay in during their visit to Buenos Aires I highly highly highly recommend Hotel CRAFT. If you're into boutique hotels then this is your jam. As mentioned earlier it is a big block red building that somehow manages to stay inconspicuous despite its location on the periphery of one of the most bompin' children's parks in Palermo. The rooms are modern and chic, and the ambiance extends to the roof where the rustic breakfast room with bins of complementary apples morphs into slick looking outdoor lounge area, suitable for roasting in the sun while maintaining a chic deportment.

For a one night stay on a Saturday night it wasn't expensive as you'd expect and the concierge has a gentle 'No no, no trouble at all!' demeanor. We showed up for a one night stay with 6 months worth of luggage, and not only did they let us check-in early but they carried all our suitcases up a flight of stairs without any sideways glances. And they've promised to carry them back down for us tomorrow! Heaven!

Click on Hotel CRAFT to check out their website.