Buenos Aires digs

Since this loft I wanted was unavailable, I looked for another apartment I could rent for our week in Buenos Aires. It turns out there are a lot of resources for weekly/short term apartment rentals in BA, but I ended up finding mine on craigslist, since I jumped at the first place that responded to our availability inquiries on such short notice. I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect, but I told myself that was all part of the trip being an ADVENTURE and it turned out okay. I was really happy with the cute little place, and it was a really good deal for the price.


The pluses:

My own junior one bedroom, with more room and privacy than a hotel.

A beautiful old Spanish style stone building with courtyards.

Open air windows and doors that I threw open to let in sunlight and breezes.

Humming fans that gently spiraled fresh air over me, heavenly in bed when sleeping or napping or relaxing.


A quiet location set back within the building away from the street, something to value in a place where streets can be noisy all throughout the night.

A futon so we could accommodate our friends for a sleepover toward the end of the trip.

It was mad CHEAP (about $200 for the whole week)!


The minuses:

The hot water in the shower was finicky and my minimal Spanish kept me from approaching the landlord about it

(Though I didn't mind so much because cold showers were sometimes refreshing in the heat)


I missed having someone around for advice on transportation and nearby restaurants etc, like you can get at hotels and hostels and B&Bs.

The apartment was not technically located in its advertised neighborhood of San Telmo. It was within walking distance to some tourist sights and subway stations (that don't go anywhere convenient in terms of nightlife), but it unfortunately wasn't really within walking distance of good restaurants or bars. Hence taking cabs everywhere. Next time I'd like to stay right in the heart of a cool neighborhood like San Telmo or Palermo.


The "kitchen" was really more of a large closet with a mini-fridge, a sink, and a camping-size stove. Not conducive to cooking full dinners, so there was none of that. But I think (hope?) I saved a little money on breakfasts by making our own coffee, cooking up toast and eggs, and being able to have sandwich supplies (and candy) on hand.

More posts from my Argentina adventure:

Back from Buenos Aires!

Buenos Aires Digs

Reserva Ecologica

Rosario

On the Banks of the Muddy River

Sightseeing in Buenos Aires

Eating and Drinking in Argentina

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Back from Buenos Aires!

My boyfriend booked us a flight to Argentina rather spontaneously. With just nine days to plan, I hit the books. We needed surprisingly little time to arrange the trip - the hardest part was finding an available place to stay, but that worked itself out within two days of booking the flight. It made me realize how easy it is to just pick up and go somewhere totally new and different. The trip was something of an adventure, but I had a lot of fun despite all the bumps and stress. I've got the travel bug now.

Although Buenos Aires is known for its European flair, it's still rough around the edges. My boyfriend was in love from the moment we arrived, but it took me a few days to settle into being in an unfamiliar place. The streets feel louder than in New York City (or maybe just Brooklyn) thanks to diesel-powered vehicles rushing through the streets. Cars drive willy-nilly without regard to lanes or the lack of stop signs. The sidewalks grow diry on garbage days, when people literally pick through all the trash. Not many people speak English, unlike traveling in Europe, which made things kind of difficult since we don't know Spanish. But at the same time - people were nicer than in Europe about encouraging us trying to communicate in haphazard Spanish.

We ended up taking cabs almost everywhere, which I normally never do, because although there are buses on every street, figuring out the intricate maps of it overwhelmed me. And because the blocks there are so much larger than NYC blocks that maps deceived me. Like when what I thought would be a ten minute walk in light rain turned into a twenty minutes walk through a downpour that drenched our clothes because we hadn't thought it necessary to hop in a cab. Ugh, oops. But not to worry, because when you factor in the 3 peso : 1 US$ exchange rate, sometimes taking a cab was as cheap as taking the NYC subway. And the cabs there run on natural gas, so it's kinda better for the environment?

Since it's on the other side of the equator, I was excited about stepping out of winter and into warm summer, but it was overwhelmingly hot - like the sweaty heat of New York City summers. And the sun was so strong, we got muy sunburned. But luckily, it cools down a great deal at night there, probably thanks to a desert-ish climate. It was a drag coming back to winter; now I can't stop daydreaming about my plans for this summer...

But there was so much to see and do and eat. We lingered at cafes and bars; we lost a day because of rain so we didn't get to go for a boat ride up the river delta like I had hoped; we indulged in a hot tub after a day of walking; we saw a traditional Argentine folklore show at La Pena del Colorada; we were entranced by ordinary people dancing tango at a milonga (tango bar) called La Catedral filled with Argentine hipsters, putting Brooklyn bars to shame; we drove through the plains to Rosario, a smaller city up the Rio de la Plata; we drank a lot; and we ate a lot of meat and cheese.

I think my favorite part of the trip was getting to see my friend Meag, who now lives in Argentina in domestic bliss with her boyfriend. We had hardly talked in the six months since she moved, and suddenly there we were together again, the four of us sightseeing and eating and laughing our way through the second half of the trip. Saying goodbye was surreal, to go back to not seeing them again for who knows how many months and years, until the next time one of us makes the trek to the other continent.

So we are planning to go back. With just six days to see two cities, there wasn't enough time to do and see everything that Argentina has to offer. I'd love to go back and take a tango class, stay up in a club till 6am, see more of other areasof Argentina, hike in the wilds of Patagonia, go to a traditional Sunday asado (their version of family barbecues in the summer, with a lot more meat), eat more empanadas.

More posts from my Argentina adventure:

Back from Buenos Aires!

Buenos Aires Digs

Reserva Ecologica

Rosario

On the Banks of the Muddy River

Sightseeing in Buenos Aires

Eating and Drinking in Argentina

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New Amsterdam Market Auction!

New Amsterdam's first fundraiser event may be sold out, but you can still support them by bidding to win one of their many awesome auction prizes!

I am so excited about almost everything on this list, I can't decide what I will bid for! Here are my favorites.....

A Small Repast with Alice Waters

Tour and Lunch with Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Uncork New York! case of wine

Bluepoint Kayaking Tour and Clambake

So head on over and indulge in some fun foodie longings to support New Amsterdam Market, the organization trying to bring a permament monthly indoor farmer and artisan market to New York City.

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a New Economy

While I feel good about my personal efforts to cut back on consumption and not suport big corporations, some have remarked to me that, "If everyone was like you, there would be no economy!"

And it's kind of true. Now that the economy has tanked and everyone is buying less to save money out of the fear (or reality) of losing their jobs and 401ks, it only adds to the cycle of making the economy worse. It makes it seem like we're doomed.

But I have some ideas. I'm no expert, so I could be totally wrong here, but these ideas give me some sense of hope:

* What if the loss of corporate jobs opens up room to create green jobs, which Obama says he's going to do (and I certainly hope he does!)?

* What if we buy fewer things, but choose our purchases carefully, to buy from independent stores, businesses, artisans, and farmers - putting more money directly into the hands of individuals who need it, instead of CEOs?

* What if we create more jobs that focus on repairing goods rather than producing new goods, so that instead of throwing things away, there is a network of businesses we can rely on to repair our stuff?

* What if people get used to making do with less, instead of trying to keep up with the Benjamins, so that there's no longer a need for a hypercrazy economy in which you can make a bazillion dollars?

* What if we cultivate creativtity in the design field to turn our cradle to grave consumption system into a cradle to cradle one? Meaning that products are designed from birth to be recycled with maximum efficiency, instead of being designed to be tossed in a landfill and replaced by new resource-hogging products?

On that note, I highly recommend reading Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. It is so well-written with such optimism that it really makes you believe we can harness humanity's incredible intelligence to emulate the life cycles of nature in industry, so that we can return to harmony with the earth, instead of working against the grain and destroying it.

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The Story of Stuff

Here's a little bit of inspiration and knowledge for those of you on the spending hiatus, and everyone else out there. I encourage you to check out this video, The Story of Stuff. I promise it's worth it!

It gives a really great overview of our system of consumer goods, from cradle to grave, showing you just how many resources and hidden costs are involved in every item that you pick up off the shelf. It really makes you think twice before buying another cheap doodad or using a throwaway paper cup.

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Not Buying It

I am no stranger to "not buying it." I can't really remember how long it's been, but I do know that I've been making a conscious effort to not buy new clothes and stuff for over a year.

I was prompted by a desire to save money and to save the environment, because it upsets me to think about how our throwaway culture is burning through the earth's resources.

I was also inspired by the Compact, a group of people in San Francisco who vowed to not buy anything new for year; a book called Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping; and fellow bloggers Arduous and Fix, who took a hiatus from all spending July, food included.

And do you know what happened? Something surprising - I started to dislike shopping. I now think of shopping as a chore. I would much rather spend my time in other ways, like indulging in my blog addiction, having a nice meal, going for a walk or bike ride, and so on.

I will warn you though, sometimes I do feel bored with my clothes, or frumpy when I'm wearing the same falling apart shoes every day because I haven't gotten the motivation to go shopping. (I also tend to feel frumpy because I think the business casual crap I have to wear to work is so boring. I don't feel like I have many opportunities to express myself through clothes anymore anyway. It sucks.)

But it works for me because I am also not one of those girls who cares about looking perfect. I don't wear makeup (have you ever considered how many scary ingredients are in makeup?), I don't blow dry or style my hair. I like me just the way I am, and my boyfriend agrees that I'm pretty without all that stuff.

This is not to say I'm a saint and haven't bought ANYTHING in the past couple years. I will admit to using gift cards to buy new clothes; used clothes are totally allowed; I buy things when I need them (like today I might go out and replace my holey socks!); J-Man and I went a little overboard at ikea this fall; and I ended up buying more gift things for Christmas than I wanted to.

But I think it's better to try to be mindful about consumption than to not try at all. Every little bit we do helps. Which is why i was so happy to see so many blogger friends signing onto the spending hiatus.

Of course everyone's priorities are different, so instead of spending my money on things, I tend to spend the most money on food. I buy most of my food from the farmers market, which is not cheap when meat is involved. And we eat and drink out a lot. Hence why my spending hiatus is more about trying to cut down on spending money at bars and restaurants, to save money and bring food back home, where I have direct control over the healthiness and sustainability of my food.

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I'm Off!

I'm off to Argentina to escape winter for some sunshine, steak, wine, and tango. See you in a week!

photo via flickr

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