Eating and Drinking in Argentina

Bar El Federal in San Telmo was my very first and very last meal in Argentina - and both times it was picada for lunch. Picadas are plates of charcuterie, cheese, olives, and other snacks like peanuts and chips.When we ordered picada, the waiter first brought just out a small platter of peanuts and chips and I thought, Oh god, this is it, this is all we're getting for lunch for 20 pesos. I guess sometimes picadas are really light snacks and I feared...

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Sightseeing in BA

For our final days in Argentina, we headed back to BA for our final days in Argentina, with Meag and Guille in tow, for some sightseeing.The colorful La Boca neighborhood is the quintessential image of Buenos Aires. In fact, this is a historically poor neighborhood on the river (although this pocket of it around El Caminito Street is now overly touristy), and rumor has it that the pretty amalgamation of bright colors actually originated from paint...

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On the Banks of the Muddy River

Being that we had escaped winter for summer, my vacation plans included time soaking in sun on a beach.So for our second day in Rosario, we headed to the beaches on "The Island" in the Rio de la Plata that you can reach from Rosario via a convenient ferry that runs every half hour. However, I was still so sunburned that I was actually trying to shield myself from the sun instead of tanning (hence looking like a dork in a hat). Luckily we could take...

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Rosario

Next up, for the third day of our trip, we headed to Rosario, a city about three hours northwest of Buenos Aires that is home to my friend Meag. I didn't want to rent a car because of the cost and the scariness (as I mentioned before, Argentinian drivers go extremely fast, straddle lanes, tailgate, there aren't stoplights or signs in Rosario...) I really wanted to take the bus, which I figured would be more relaxing. I even tried to trick him, by...

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Reserva Ecologica

For our second day in Buenos Aires, I had planned a day full of walking around, exploring neighborhoods and parks, complete with a picnic lunch in the Reserva Ecologica, an ecological park along the water that was created over a former landfill.However, someone failed to tell me the weather forecasted rain. We made it nearly all the way down Florida, the main pedestrian shopping avenue, strolling and enjoying ourselves, before the rain started coming...

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