Still alive in Colombia

Hola,...dias,
I am still alive but something called work has got in the way of blogging and just having pure fun! Bugger, no not really.
I have had a lot of fun anyway but all in the name of work. My travel companions have been great. Grant from Kerikeri and Jennifer from Botany Downs. It is so much better to travel with others when doing this sort of thing.
The length of trip has been manageable too, 3 weeks in total with 2 working.
It is soooo hot outside with about 100% humidity so think I will spend most of the day inside and then venture out tonight. We are in a boutique hotel in the old quarter, and it is just perfect for our needs. It is around $140 NZ per night I think, has aircon, wireless, breakfast included and has great character. It is the French colonial style and has an upstairs patio with vistas out over the old city. Many hours can be whiled away up there. I have taken some photos on my camera but my computer has stopped speaking to the phone for some reason.I will sort it out.Grant's camera won't work for the humidity!We are off to the Havana club tonight for live salsa music and dancing. Grant leaves at 4am tomorrow morning so he is thinking he may not go to bed. lets hope the salsa experience goes better than the tango one!
Ok, off to swim through the heat for an hour then will escape back in here. I have my wool singlet on to help cope with the heat.
Next blog will have photos.
Hasta...
Suzette

Colourful in Cartagena

What a day! 4am wake-up, 4,30 taxi, 6am flight.
9-12 meeting at Study Union Barranquilla office, and then a 2 hour drive to Cartagena. It si very colourful, very old, and a World Heritage site. It feels like another world in the lanes...sellers, buskers, hawkers etc.
I found the best coffee shop by my nose and then bought a kilo of the best Colombia has to offer...we were negotiating in the corner re price per gram or kilo. I came out of the place alive and with the loot!
Grant is here too, but he flies out very early on Sunday morning. I leave Monday morning, as I am flying home via LA.
Will write heaps tomorrow as will ge tmy notes in order.

The meeting today went really well. Each office is independent and have quite different focus. This office want to do longer stay, not groups...yah.

Ok off to brave the noise and hustle for dinner...
Suzette

Don't cry for me..I suck at tango dancing in public

Hola,
thought I would bring you up-to-date with my last night in Argentina.
I did go to "Milonga en el Soul", a milonga (tango night) at the Soul bar. I went with two Americans who are motor-biking the length of South America. The trouble is they have already done NZ, Africa, some of Asia, so have been on the road a long time!
Mostly middle-aged people were slung across each other and doing all the traditional steps around in a circle. A few young ones were stars however, and much sought after by the more experienced older ones. There were some real lounge lizard types! My friends had been followed home the night before at 4am by someone from the bar, and decided he was a simple person because the way he acted.
When we arrived I looked up, and this strange guy was sitting behind them, and I said their friend was still behind them. It was sad to watch him try to find women to dance with! My friends got up to the one rock n roll and then stayed on to try to do the tango and made a valiant attempt. I thought I was safe, however I did not know the words for I can't do it! Then the worst thing happened...yes the village idiot asked me to dance! I said no, insisted no,... but he insisted so I gave up and thought what the hell. Well he persevered for half a circle and then left me in disgust!!! Bloody funny. Don't cry for me...even the village idiot wont tango with me.

The ''art ''of begging

I was thinking that writing about begging is a little difficult, some of you will think I am a stuck up bitch.

Anyway I saw the consumate beggar today while having my coffee. He smiled, made eye contact and came closer and indicated he was hungry and would appreciate something from your plate. He was quite skinny which you could tell through his coat but he had a nice look on his face.He was targeting the tourists, as all the other beggars do too. He found two suckers who kindly cleared off their plates onto the ground for him....yes he was a dog. As I left he was onto the next table!

The more likely beggars here are kids. While having dinner at La Sol the other night I was taken by one's style. She was girl of around 12 or 13 and stood ram-rod straight looking fierce with fire in her eyes. She was obviously proud and angry at having to beg off the well-heeled who were dining off the fat of the land. She strode up to each table and thrust her hand down, open on the edge of each table. She almost dared them to give. I started to think about her future and what it may hold? On my home that night around 1 am, she was outside the casino working the people coming out I guess. She stepped out from the shade and asked me for money. I said no as usual, and I got shiver as I walked away, as I thought she could be capable of going after me with a knife or something. A tough cookie, kinda reminded me of Tieka.

Usually while you are sitting having coffee, people come up and put cards onto your table and ask for money. I think some of the cards are so-called blessings from a saint? Men, women, children do this.
Others come up with socks, clear plastic bra straps, undies, little things in their packs, asking to sell to you. Guys go by with arms of blankets to sell too.

Then men and women come to you table and just beg. One yesterday had a printed sign saying she was deaf and needed money for her children. Who knows if it was true? Most of the Argetineans give.
There are other people with afflictions eg a blind man stands on San Martin and bellows he is hungry in a pathetic voice. A woman my age was sleeping in the doorway the other morning when I was walking to class.

Then there are the parking guys who have a small strip of the street that is their territory. They wave you into a spare park, and then offer to wash your car. For their protection you pay some coins. The taxi door closers are the most annoying,as you get into a taxi that you have flagged, they run over and grab the door and close it and then want to be paid for it!

I found it sad yesterday, when over my long lunch,a daughter with a blind dad came by all of the tables and he asked for the $. He had a strong voice and some pride.

The Chileans next door to me were really disgusted by the end of the afternoon. They said really loudly "hoy" meaning "today" or in these days. They got quite animated and did alot of shaking their heads, they are quite astounded at the poor standard of living of Argentineans compared to them. The Brazilians at another table were equally shocked.

At around 1am the little kids come by asking for food. Brothers and sisters, big and small. They smile and may already have say a piece of pizza in their hand (held carefully to take home) and are looking for the scraps off the tables. Of course this is when you must be most vigilant as they can use tactics to steal your bag, or knife into it etc. I always strap my bag to the table leg and usually have it between my legs. I met an Irish woman who had had her bag slashed the night before and she told me to watch out.

Well that will do for now. I will document other styles of begging as I come across them. Some of the young people on my course were doing volunteer work in the afternoons to appease their 1st world consciences. You can work in orphanages, or with street people etc.
One girl was off to Bolivia to do that. Others had helped in Peru.

Cooking class...lazy Sunday

Hola mi amigos,
What better way to spend a lazy Sunday, than cooking? Almost everything is shut in Argentina on Sundays, totally family time, so we had arranged to do a cooking class with one of the single tutors at the language school.This was a very economical way to do it, costing me $25 US for about 3-4 hours, the meal and the cooking.
Libby, Denis and I had arranged to meet at 11am but I slept in
until 10.18 so was a little late. Lucky I didn't go out last night.
We made empanadas, pastelitos, and caramel flan, their most popular dessert.
Things didn't go sooo well as the oven would not light despite two out of the four of us burning fingers in the trying. I suggested frying them, and she said that was the way her grandmother did them, so yes. The problem was that the flan was meant to go into the oven for 45 minutes but instead we tried to do it in a Marie Baine? on the stove top. It never did cook properly, so w ejust tasted it with a spoon.
We chopped up onions, tomatoes and peppers and olives and hard boiled eggs for the empanadas, and made meat and vegetarian ones. The interesting thing is that it is all fried in a little beef fat, and the smell reminded me of frying food in the old days too. I am sure the surviving Fat Cook would approve, as it gives extra browning and taste. The deep frying was done in vegetable oil, thank God. It was fun to learn how to stretch the dough and fold the shape, yes I will try at home. We didn't make the dough as it would have taken a couple of more hours she said. They buy it all pressed out. I definately will do some Italian cooking in Italy now, on making pasta.
The sweet part were the pastelitos, they are the same dough but in little squares. A chunk of quince thick paste is put on one piece and then the lid put on and special fold made. It is then deep fried and then drizzled with a sugar syrup. The kilo of solid quince paste was only $1.50 NZ I think! We also made, of course, dulce de leche ones, yum!!
The flan was made in an interesting way. A flan pan is put on the stove with just sugar in it, and it melts and caramalizes and you coat the whole surface. Then a custard mix is put in (eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla)and it cooks for about 45 minutes. It must then be set in the fridge for an hour or so, then turned out onto a plate. The caramel is dripping down the sides.
We then sat in the garden and feasted. The empanadas were really crisp and nice, much better than the floury and doughy ones I have had in the past. The sweet pastelitos were great, must do them at home. They have them in winter, treat food.
So another lazy day.
I left the school for the last time, and wandered up to the pedestrian way www.mendoza.com.ar (go to the live webcam of Sarmiento)and ordered a coffee and water and read for an hour or so.
So siesta time now, where families sleep and have a sweet snack around 6-7pm to see them through until tea time of around 10pm at the earliest.
I think I will go dancing tonight, it is not every night of your life you can go tango dancing for $5 NZ, especially old time style. I think that is what is so great here, it is almost being like a time traveller. It is not on until 11pm, so may have to find my way to The Vines of Mendoza again to kill an hour or two.It is pretty boring just reading on your bed instead.
Bugger the sleep.
Che,
Suzette

One lazy Saturday in Mendoza..more food and wine.

Hola mi amigos,
I was thinking I needed to gather some energy back for my two weeks of work ahead, so decided to not rush around yesterday. I had tried to find some amigos to play golf with but the $150 US for the round had put anyone off who was even slightly interested. I had also looked into staying out of town at a winery but again it would have been very expensive and a hassle to shift. I like my little apartment now!(except for the large coakroach I chucked outside)

No alarm to sleep through, and so woke at around 10am feeling quite refreshed. I wandered down to the corner for my desayuna (breakfast), which I can now order off pat -"un cortado, chico perfavor y dos medialunas" (a short espresso coffee with a splash of milk and 2 small croissant type things). The bloody buses are so noisy rumbling past so you get covered in soot and noise pollution.
Interesting watching the world go by, and reading the sports section of the paper where I saw 2 mendocino chicas had been chosen for the Argentine women's hockey team, and they were playing Uruguay in the final of some tourny in Montevideo, Uruguay.Plus of course futbol and rugby.
I then went shopping down the main street, just browsing...but bought some golf tops (entirely in Spanish) and then some cds from Musi de Mundo (music of the world). I got Amy Winehouse and I am in love, plus the latest Jack Johnson, and The Sons of Cuba...Buena Vista next generation. Only $14 NZ tops for the latest, less for the Cuban one.
I then walked yet again to the other side of town to this one shop where I want to get a t-shirt from but for the third time it was closed. It is a designer one, so they obviously work designer hours!
I really want one of the "Show me the Malbec" one with a gun.
Walking a few more kms as it was only around 1pm and lunch doesn't start until say 2, I finally collapsed at a different cafe, Azafran (as in saffron). It is on the strip on Sarmiento, the block behind Plaza Independencia. Their by-line is:"almacen de exquisiteces y vinos"..I think you can work it out.

What usually happens in Argentina is you sit for say 15 to 20 minutes before they come and greet you and give you the menu and wine list. You then wait another 15 mins before they return and you can order water con gas and vino tinto and your order. They do bring a complementary starter usually at this point, of breads and a nice dip or something. In this case it was a delicious eggplant dip. There are at least 5 different types of bread too, all handmade and in very small portions eg bread sticks with olives in, cheese or tomato, and brown rolls, white, some with onion or nuts in etc. You don't need to try many of them!
I wanted a salad and it seemed dangerous to choose the Ensalada tibia de salmon y longestinos,con palta,caviar. The translation was worm salmon and shrimps salad with avocado and cavier! I thought worms? can't be right. Sure enough, beneath was a different translation of the same word...warm.
It was delicious, as you start craving vegetables and fruit here. I sopped up every last drip of the dressing infused with the cavier, as it was so nice.
By now about 2 hours had passed and many pages of my interesting book, One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He has won the Nobel prize for literature,he wrote the book about In the Times of Cholera? and there is a movie about that book, set in Cartagena on the Carribean coast of Colombia, where I will spend a weekend in 2 weeks time at the end of this trip. I am looking forward to it.
The wine I was drinking by the glass was Le Garde Syrah 2006.You don't get much choice when drinking by the glass but it went down nicely.
Stretching out the meal I ordered a coconut and dulce de leche tart with dulce de leche icecream, just to go full out Argentine, as they do have dulce de leche with Everything. God I was stonkered and I can hear Dad spluttering now. You just keep running those marathons Dad. I will do the hard yards this way!
The salad was $15 NZ, water $1.50, dessert around $5. You can live very cheaply here. My apartment is only costing me $24 NZ per night, I think. That is what the reception told me, but on-line it was more...whatever.
After around 4 hours I strolled home via Plaza Independencia and an hours read on a seat in the shade. I was finally home after having gone out for breakfast about 6 or7 hours earlier.
It was 30 degrees plus, but a dry heat so bearable. atumn is on its way. As I was sitting, as though in heaven at the table, a single leaf fluttered onto my plate as though a sign from above! Divine.

So that was the sum total of my day! I read and wrote my blogs, spoke to Barry via Skype and webcam and had a shower just in case I had the inclination to go to the Jazz concert in Teatro Independencia . He used to play in New York etc and was on the Johnny Carson show etc...or as he raved on to us. A real old timer, Hayden would have loved it. The principal had invited us ( Johnny Orozco www.johnnyorozco.blogspot.com) but my legs were just too tired and the blisters were annoying. I should have gone but I was thinking it was only Dixie jazz as it was advertised as New Orleans jazz but when I have looked more closely it was also blues, quicksteps, swing scat, gipsy swing..."clasicos del Hot Jazz". Bugger sleeping.
I did have in my mind however to go back to The Soul bar tonight for Tango and marengue? dancing. We will see.
The photos are only off my phone so not good quality but made the decision to not bring a camera this time around. Barry's camera is too big to put in my pocket. I mostly just need to document the work part of my trip..which is from now on.
Hasta luego,
Suzette

More tastings....

With Thursday being so successful I decided to do a bit of a repeat on Friday night. As I have said, we had had lunch, and done our singing in the afternoon, so I needed a quiet evening.
I found my feet walking back to The Vines of Mendoza and I was tempted on the reserve flights but stuck to the basic boutique tasting again. Maybe if some of you do come with me to Argentina in the future we can taste the reserves together?
This time I went for the Las Muestras- a signature sampling of regional varietals.
1. Gimenez Riili Sparkling called Perpetum We were given a large glass of this for a tasting, and it was very nice..golden, honey tastes even though it was extra brut. Made from 3 grape varieties.
2. From the winery Finca Las Nubes( winery in the clouds), Mounier Torrentes 2007. This was an aromatic white from Salta. Nice for a hot day.By this time I had joined up with Al from Canada, truckers cap on, who described himself as a red-neck. He was in love with Mendoza and the mountains.
3. Gimenz Riili Merlot 2007Great on the nose, young and soft.Made in the industrial style of adding chips of oak into the vats, yet great tasting. My favourite for the night.
4. Trazos de Auter Malbec 2004 called AnphoraThis was a typical Malbec from Yuco valley, nice. The winery is trying to equate wine with art, so a painting is on each bottle.
5. Azul Reserva blend 2003 Was a nice blend from the Yuco Valley. By this time Al and I had joined up with a guy from Ireland and a girl from the US, so were well versed in giving our guide lessons on accents! She was training to be a translator. Yes a full Gran.

I bid my new mates farewell and wandered up to La Sal for dinner. I was perched up in the window, happily watching the world go by. An electric violin was playing against a beat, the same guy who has been playing there ever since I have been coming since 2004. I had the board for one, a selection of meats and cheeses again and una copa de vino (wine by the glass).It must have still been in the mid 20's as it had been a very warm day, and people were all dining outside. It is meant to be autumn here too.
When my dessert of Dulche de leche creme brulee with tiramisu icecream arrived I was convinced I was in heaven. I think it is the best dessert I have ever had in my life.
All up the meal and wine cost me $70 pesos! ie $24 NZ!!
The music alone was worth that.
I walked home slowly, and my legs were very tired as I have walked and walked every day. I thought it was maybe late but had no idea it was 1am when I got in! Their hours are crazy. Anyway, no lessons today so I could sleep in.
So, in 4 days you can pack in quite a bit if determined.
More food and wine stories tomorrow.