The Night of the Museums

Photo: Free Late Night Concert & DJ's

Late nights are the norm in Buenos Aires but here's a novel idea for a late night cultural experience. Once a year ( in either October or November) they give free access to almost all the museums. (http://www.lanochedelosmuseos.com.ar/) from 7pm to 2am.

There are also free concerts, jazz, rock, classical all over the city. To help you get to the various locations they have free buses. If going to museums sounds like it might be a bit dull for a weekend night, fear not, as they finish the whole thing off with a big late night party with bands and DJ’s. This happens down by the port (Puerto Madero) and goes till the wee hours (like 7 or 8am!!)

As we were heading home at 3:30am it was only starting to get going and the throngs of late night revellers were just beginning to arrive. See 2008 update here

Tags: The Night of the Museums, La Noche de los Museos, Argentina, Buenos Aires, Free stuff

If you like what you've read, why not subscribe to updates via email or RSS reader - Click Here

ATM Downtime

Be warned if you need money here between 3pm & 4pm there's a good chance the atm is out of service for a refill and maintenance. It's not uncommon to find the atm's empty or very busy on a weekend night so I recommend bring cash or be prepared to walk for 20 minutes to find an atm that has some money left. Interestingly many atm's dispense either $US or pesos and if you're here for an extended period your daily extraction limit tends to diminish over time or needs to be broken into a few visits (at a cost per visit). If you do get peso's try and get an odd amount i.e not a multiple of 100 as change is also in short supply here. There is still a large understandable trust issue with banks carried over from the economic crash in 2001 when many banks (notably US banks) made a tidy profit out of ripping people off by converting their life savings from $US to pesos worth 1/3rd of the value. There's also a noticeably liberal credit promotion by banks & credit cards companies going on right now - interest 'free' for several months / 'quotas' on anything from your grocery shopping to TV's, cars etc..which seems like another 'bait n' trap' disaster just waiting to happen if you ask me - ah but sure there'll never be another global credit crisis - woops there goes Northern Rock down the toilet! No wonder they keep the wads in property, under the mattress or offshore here.

Pool / Billiards

So its no secret I like an ol' game of pool n' a beer. There's a place called 'JOBS' located at Arenales y Agüero which has a few floors of tables and full on archery (yes I know archery and alcohol don't ususually go hand in hand) on the top floor and gets busiest on a Tuesday night (young crowd but I met the missus there on my first visit to B.A. many moons ago). However no better place in Buenos Aires than 'Calle 36 Billares' http://www.los36billares.com.ar/secciones/pool.htm in the centre of B.A. (Av. de Mayo 1265). It's over a hunded years old and has carom (pocketless) billiards, pool & snooker and stays open till the wee hours with a 'lock in' on weekends if your nice to the management. Waiter service for cheap beer tops off the quality of the place. Paradise found!

It's a Dogs Life

With the large number of dogs here - there is a high demand for someone to exercise them. This could be a new career move for me and a way for me to trim the onslaught of the 'beer gut' that seems determined to redefine my wardrobe to the baggy look (yet again!). Apparently it's not as easy as it looks however as the group dog walker has to be experienced in control issues to stop the fights, leads getting tangled and non 'P.C.' toilet behaviour (and that's just controlling the owners!!) It is a sight to behold, as for the most part the dogs seem absolutely content and well behaved in their mass group outing (not unlike a group of 'blue rinse' pensioners on their way to bingo night!)

Speak now or forever hold your piece

It’s difficult to resist the temptation of comparing life here to elsewhere as you go about your everyday business. I find myself constantly evaluating quality of service, food, drink etc. Fast pace, big city life has conditioned me to keep random communications e.g. with a shopkeeper, as short as possible. Something that really stands out here as a cultural difference however is the mutual compulsion of the porteños to expand on what could be just a basic 4 sentence, 10 second interaction between strangers into an agonisingly long and drawn out dose of what a non local can only perceive as verbal diarrhea


	A serious disease which, once it has control of a person, causes them to spew forth incoherent babble from the bowels of the voicebox. Often extremely frustrating for the victim and extremely hilarious for the observer.

. Let’s use the following hypothetical example of: suppose you need a bottle opener for your beer and enter into a shop to purchase one.

In New York or London it would go something like this:

Customer: Any bottle openers? and how much?

Shop Keeper: What colour? What size?

Customer: Don’t care!

Shop Keeper: $6

Customer: ok - thanks

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In Buenos Aires it would go something like this:

Customer: Hello, How are you?

Shop Keeper: Fine thanks and you?

Customer: Good – its hot today isn’t it?

Shop Keeper: Yes, very humid too, tomorrow is supposed to rain though.

Customer: Oh really, blah, blah, blah etc………eventually a few minutes later… Do you have any bottle openers?

Shop Keeper: Yes, what colour?

Customer: hmm, what colours do you have?

Shop Keeper: Blue, green, pink, black, purple, yellow, orange.

Customer: Oh...I'm a Boca Juniors supporter - any blue and yellow together?

Shop Keeper: No, but I'm a River Plate supporter so pls leave the shop right now - ha ha just joking - did you see the game last night?

Customer: No - I had to go to the hospital to have my piles looked at - hmm, what sizes do you have?

Shop Keeper: Big, medium, small - My Uncle inventented a special pile cream if you're interested?

Customer: well its ok - they are better now - hmm, do you have any different types?

Shop Keeper: Well let me look in the back…… 5 mins later…….err no

Customer: hmm, how much are they?

Shop Keeper: Well let me check the computer – oh no - the system is down again - I'll have to ask my wife - Juanita - how much are the bottle openers ......... ok - 2 pesos

Customer: hmm, let me think about it and come back to you - maybe you offer a discount for bottle openers and pile cream bought together?

Shop Keeper: sure, no problem, let me call my cousin in Mendoza and see if he has any other different types

Customer: blah, blah (x to the power of 15)

Shop Keeper: blah, blah (x to the power of 16) etc etc.....

In retrospect although it’s a tad difficult for a newbie gringo in B.A. not to ‘go postal’ with these long encounters as you eventually realize its just a cultural difference and a slower pace of life. This in itself is somewhat of a paradox as porteños are not patient people. Quite the opposite in fact as for example, any delay in traffic or slowness in getting from A to B e.g. (making the lift (elevator) available) is met with audible impatience verging on contempt. I'll have to delve deeper into the depths of the argentinian phsyche to try and uncover what gives here or then again I could just buy a beer and chill - decisions, decisons - the stress is killing me!

Dog poo here, Dog poo there, Dog poo every-f'in-where!

This topic demands a post all of its own as avoiding (sh) it is part of everyday life and you have to develop extra keen peripheral vision to guide you thru the minefield of droppings in any residential area. Unlike other cities I've lived in, where people are obliged to make sure their dog crap is either cleaned up or at least off the beaten track, the locals here (porteños) let their dogs crap anywhere. It only takes a lapse of attention for a split second to find yourself slip, slip, sliding away in a freshly laid K9 fudge brownie. I've 'come a crapper' twice so far and now have a theory that its not crime that deters people from walking after dark but more likely the added danger of treading in 'brown' in the 'black' of night.

Tag: Dog Poop Buenos Aires Argentina

Settling in / Eating / Drinking

The stuff we shipped over arrived a week after we moved in to the new place. The process of getting your shipped goods when they arrive is a tad more complicated than we had experienced before. Basically there is a ton of paperwork to fill out and various offices that need to sign off on this first and eventually you need to go to the depot to pick the stuff up which happens to be beside a 'villa' (shantytown) so Claudia had quite an adventure picking the stuff up. A couple of boxes seem to have gone astray which we suspect actually happened in London but we're thankful the most important things made it.

The Beer.

Argentinian beer, in a word tis 'pish' - Quilmes is the most popular national brand and if I had to describe it I would say think Budwesier with even less character and flavour pretend your taste buds are numbed from chewing half a kilo of jalapeños and lemons and you might like this beer (but probably not!). Other bland alternatives Iguana, Palermo, Isenbeck, and the slightly more palatable Warsteiner. I have discovered another almost drinkable brand called Sneider Fuerte which weighs in at a respectable 6% alc volume and causes old women in the supermarket to look on with pity as I pile 6 litre bottles into my trolley as from what I understand, it’s the Buenos Aires equivalent of the homeless mans favourite brew like Carlsberg Gold Export or Tennants Super Strong. My saving grace is that they brew Stella Artois here under licence and although its slightly different from back home and 1 peso per litre more expensive it hits the spot just right.

The Wine.

I keep asking myself how I drank that ol' plonk for 6 to 10 quid a bottle back in London when you can drink an excellent 4 -6 year old malbec or cab sauv for less here. Next to meat, wine is a passion here and its f-in' fantastic. Being an ol' wino at heart, I've dabbled in everything from the low end 3 peso bottle (still quaffable) to the 200 peso vino tinto reserve which would make most people pee in their pants when that bolt of enlightenment hits that the quality is out of this world! nuff said - back yiz go tesco and pretend you never heard this!

The Food.

How not to put on 100 pounds here will be an art. By the looks o' things I'll be supplying Michelin with spare tyres for the next few grand prix's. The food is 'A++'. It takes a lot of discipline to flip the menu page in a restaurant from 'carne' (meat) to something else but besides the steak (which is top notch) the selection you can get in the shops and take home and reheat yourself is impressive incl. empanadas (hot pastries with either meat, chicken, or veg), tartas (like quiche but better variety), pasta (fresh with sauce). Interestingly the fish selection is limited and so far not great. I've been doing the veggie shopping too as the best veg are in the local small veg shops where you queue up and buy by the kilo.

Moving in

We moved into our apartment 2 weeks after we arrived which was pretty quick by all accounts. You can rent a furnished apartment but tend to pay 'tourist' prices. There is a common practice here of 2 tier pricing with a minimum of double for tourists for various things e.g. airfares within Argentina, apartment rentals and pricey restaurants in the tourist areas. There is a constant theme of 'beware' for everybody (incl locals) from everything to counting your change in a shop to taxi rides doing circles (b.t.w. always use a 'Radio Taxi' as some of the non descript taxis take you for everything you've got incl wallet, camera, watch etc!) .
Our apartment was thru an agent where it was necessary to have someone who owns property to sign as guarantee in case you default on the rent so that lucky honour went to Claudia's sister Gabriela. Monthly rental for a 2 bedroom flat is 15% of what we paid for a one bedroom flat in London. The area is Caballito which is smack in the middle of the city (Capital Federal is the name given to the central area of the province of Buenos Aires). Caballito reminds me a little of Manhattan, NY for convenience factor with almost everything you need within a few blocks e.g. laundry, hardware, cinema, supermarket, 24 hour kiosk, excellent patisserie/fresh pasta / deli / restaurants. Notice I don't mention bars as I'll have to cover the nightlife in a separate post.

Burger King Copenhagen København Denmark Facebook Group

This is the Original Burger King Copenhagen Group set up in August 2007.

For more information and to find old Burger King friends click here

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14240500252

Working abroad was often the only option for a lot of Irish / English people back in the 80's and early 90's. If you had money you headed off on your holidays to canary islands but as a student sometimes the only way to make some dosh during the summer holidays was to head abroad and work so as to have money to pay for books (ok beer) in the coming semester. It was first time away from home for many of us and we tended to run riot with the new found freedom away from the shackles of 80's conservative Ireland. Copenhagen was a popular destination for many and we ended up working in cleaning companies, paper rounds and restaurants or basically the shi_te early hour work the Danes didn't want to do.

One such place was Burger King. I worked in the BK on Vesterbrogade for a summer in '87 and another stint in '88. It seemed like home away from home as besides the Danes that worked there most people were Irish and the majority from Malahide including the management.

The work was mind numbingly boring but we made our own 'craic'. You'd start out bottom rung of the ladder, cleaning the restaurant and work your way up to the broiler, fry station, whopper table, sandwich table and maybe even as a cashier if you could memorise 'dobel whopper med ost'.

It was shift work and many of us did 5pm-3am which involved dismantling all the kitchen stuff for a thorough cleaning. I can still smell the grease tray from the broiler - yeuch! Afterwards it was party time with a trip down to Rio Bravo pub (game of Mia) which was open until 5am and then on to the English Pub or some place where we usually ended up dancing on the tables at 8am.

We often ended up in Christiana for a side 'trip' at 10am and before you knew it you were back in work after only a couple of hours sleep - oh to be able to hack the pace again! - anyway if you were there around then or have any experiences to share - post a note or upload a photo to the Facebook group here why don't you?

Tags: Burgerking Copenhagen, Burger King Copenhagen Danmark, Burger King Copenhagen København Denmark Facebook Group,Irish, Burger king Irish
.

The Arrival - Week 1

Finally cleared up and out from London on July 19th 2007. Hopefully the series of events before I arrived weren´t an omen of things to come! Took a TAM flight from Heathrow to Buenos aires via San Paolo (which had been the scene of a disastrous crash the day before). Arrived to a surprisingly cold Buenos Aires which had been hit with snow the previous week for the first time in 90 years. I was just waiting for the plague of locusts to confirm 'the end o' the world was nigh!'

So what the hell am I doing here ya might ask? Sweet feck all actually - just felt like some time out and the time seemed right so me and the missus upped and packed and here we are.
Spent the first week here getting organised with an apartment, medical insurance, and meeting up with people. We are hopefully signing a contract for an apartment tomorrow and need to furnish the place over the weekend. Although I´ve been here many times I still can´t get over how reasonable the cost of living is and how cheap it is for eating out and the quality of the food is far better than than many capital cities in Europe . e.g.

1 dozen pastries in a bakery costs 6 pesos = $2 = £1
1 litre beer in the supermarket costs 2.5 pesos = $0.80 = £0.40
1 huge steak and fries in a good restaurant costs 25 pesos = $6 = £3
add a decent bottle of wine for 20 pesos = $7 = £3.70

All this talk of food has me peckish so must go for some comida ' Hasta luego!

Raheny Village, Dublin 5, Ireland

I was born n' bred here and it has some great ol' memories. I went to St Assams then St Pauls, Sybil Hill. My sister went to Manor House just down the road. I went to the Grove Social Club at weekends which was the same hall as I went to gym in school on a Monday morning - yeuch! Also went to the Cricket club in Clontarf

I drank in the Cedars Lounge for the most part but also went to the Green Dolphin now the Watermill. I frequented The Inn and The Station House which used to be called The Manhattan. Then there was Foxhounds and The Old Sheiling Hotel.

Macari's chipper was the regular stop off (a Godsend!) on the way home for a snack box - yummy! The chips were bleedin' deadly! ah the memories!

Want to find some Raheny people you lost contact with? - then join the Raheny Facebook group (click the icon)

...or drop us a comment here!

Click the

icon to see descriptions as the slideshow plays

Tags: Raheny Village, Dublin 5,Raheny Village, Dublin 5, eighties 80's 1980's Ireland Raheny photos

.

What Is RSS? RSS Explained

http://feeds.feedburner.com/IrishExpatInBuenosAires

If you like what you've read, why not subscribe to updates via email or RSS reader (Top Right)

What Is RSS? RSS Explained

RSS Primer: One Page Quick Introduction to RSS

What is RSS?

RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.

Why RSS? Benefits and Reasons for using RSS

RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site's email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is growing rapidly and includes big names like Yahoo News.

What do I need to do to read an RSS Feed? RSS Feed Readers and News Aggregators

Feed Reader or News Aggregator software allow you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use.

A variety of RSS Readers are available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers include Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows - integrates with Outlook). There are also a number of web-based feed readers available. My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers.

Contact Me

contact me at

If you have a general travel question then post it at this link

St Pauls College, Sybil Hill, Raheny, Dublin - Class of 1985

I have to admit, for the most part, I did enjoy the experience of attending St Paul's secondary school back in 1979 - 1985.
There was also the strange experience of the weekend social activities being tied to the school, as a lot of us went to 'The Grove' on Saturdays and many a flaggin' was imbibed just before passing the bouncers on the door. (look straight ahead - don't make eye contact!) If you there at the time and have any memories to share why not post them here or upload a old photo or 2?

Contact info:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17406965251

Tags: St Pauls College, Sybil Hill, Raheny, Dublin - Class of 1985, the Grove

College of Commerce, Rathmines, Dublin, AAT 1988

Basic Info Type: Student Groups - Alumni Groups

Description: College of Commerce, Rathmines, Dublin, AAT 1988

So there were a good ol' bunch o' peeps in the EU sponspored course way back then. I still can't believe we got paid per class to go to college, not that that helped my attendance record much. I thinked I learned more about drinking and pool/snooker/cards than I did accountancy. The binges in 'The Lancer' were great (although the place was a dive) and I'm still recovering from 'rag week'. Share the good ol' times here and post an ol' message or upload a photo here. This was a holiday camp if ever there was one. I suppose you enjoyed your Late Holidays too?

Contact Info

http://www.new.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=5540733444

Location: Rathmines Road, Dublin, Ireland

Tags: Certified Accountanting Technincian, College of Commerce, Rathmines, Dublin, AAT 1988
.

VOTE FOR ME!

I'm entering politics - VOTE FOR ME!!
Click anywhere on the picture below so see my promotional video!

Estoy entrando en la política - VOTE POR MÍ!
Haga clic en cualquier parte de la imagen que aparece a continuación para que ver mi video promocional

Where the hell is Matt?

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Mission Beach Backpackers Lodge, Queensland, Australia

Now called 'Absolute Backpackers' this was (hopefully still is) a gem of a hostel away from the hustle n' bustle of Cairns. I booked in for 1 night back in 1992 and ended up staying and eventually working for about 6 weeks and came back again for another few weeks later on. Maybe it was just luck but there were a great bunch of people working and passing through at that time. The owners at the time were Judith & Dominic and there was a really chilled out vibe about the place which might have had something to do with copious amounts of alcohol, drinking games & visits to the turkeys nest for a smoke n' a chat. For two hours 'work' a day you got free room n' board and the pub was right across the road and amazing beach with palm trees just down the road. This was definitely one of those great cheap holiday deals. Dunk Island was close by and trips to the great barrier reef also left from here. If you worked or passed thru it would be great to hear some stories / experiences

Join up here

.

Q&A on Travel to Buenos Aires and within Argentina

Your Questions Answered Here!

Got a question about, should you, would you, could you come to Buenos Aires? Need a recommendation about where to go in Argentina? - Ask it Here (click on the 'Comments' below and add your question!

You can review trip reports here for ideas.

You don't need to supply an email address - just use the Name/URL option

(Remember to click 'Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)' so you can be notified when your question has been answered)

SPAM is not tolerated here!

Travel Trip Reports

Click on the links below for Trip Reports, tips and details:

South East Asia (15) 2 month, 8 country trip (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar/Burma, China)

Central America (10) 1 month, 8 country trip (Colombia , Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala) including all of Central America.

Belize (1) Part of the Central America trip.

Colombia (2) Before the Central America trip.

Costa Rica (1) Part of the Central America trip.

El Salvador (1) Part of the Central America trip.

Guatemala (1) Part of the Central America trip.

Honduras (1) Part of the Central America trip.

Nicaragua (1) Part of the Central America trip.

Panama (1) Part of the Central America trip.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

On the Road - Argentina (31) 2 month trip starting in Cordoba and heading north to Salta, via Chile and on to Bolivia, Paraguay.

Torres Del Paine, Chile (9) Starting in Ushuaia and then heading to Punta Arenas, Hiking the 'W' circuit and on to Calafate.

Puerto Madryn, Argentina (3) Just a long weekend trip.

South Argentina (8) A couple of trips south.

Brazil (1) Iguazu Falls

Bolivia (4) Part of the South America trip.

Chile (7) Various trips out to Chile.

Colombia (2) Before the Central America trip.

Paraguay (1) Visiting the inlaws

Outside Argentina (28) As the name says, all the trips outside Argentina this past year.

Uruguay (2) A quick 5 day trip to get a taste of the country.

The trips above were booked without a travel agent and mostly spur of the moment. For me well laid plans are overly complicated and often more expensive. The trips above are what you might call a Bargain Holiday itinerary:

Feel free to ask Questions about travel - click here.

.

I Follow Your Comment Links - You Gain Page Rank

I Follow your links - NOW YOU CAN DO THE SAME!

Almost all blog platforms by default are set up so that a “dead end” piece of code is inserted wherever there is a link in a comment, so that search engines will not “count” the link as they are crawling the internet. This was originally designed to help stop comment spam, but it doesn’t work. What it does is remove some of the incentive for your readers contribute to your site by commenting on your posts.

What can you do about it? Turn off “nofollow”. Show your commenters that you appreciate them. Spread the link love.

How?

Click the appropriate links below:

Depending on the blog platform you’re on, you can install a plugin (like this one for WordPress), or disable it (see this post if you’re a Moveable Type user), or modify your template (check this site for Blogger tips).

Courtesy http://randaclay.com/blog/i-follow/

Commentluv plugin
Dofollow plugin
Top Commentor
Keyword Love
Lucia Linky Love

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

© Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2012

Back to TOP