11 posts tagged “buenos aires”
Today Vini became 3 times 7 and he is doing fine. :-D Katarina made the great birthday cake which had a very short lifetime. The recipe is available on request.
We celebrated it with a nice dinner, with some friends.
Especially for us, our friends (from Peru and Columbia) gave us the following great Salsa demonstration. :-)
At night (2 a.m.) we went to PACHA, a famous night club. DJ Hell was the second star of the night, after Vini of course. ;-)
We decided to do a picknick in the Jardin Botanico, close to Plaza Italia. It is a very typical place, with an incredible amount of cats. They tried once to reduce the number of cats, but since then the rats and other less friendly species quickly returned, they decided to allow cats to reproduce "normally" ;-) We invited our friend from New York, Alyssa to enjoy with us the sun, the food, and the garden.
Can you guess from the video what we ate as dessert ? Hint: it rhymes with coffin. First one to find it, receives a special prize which will be hand-crafted by us.
Afterwards, we had a drink at a cafe nearby, where we did an important scientific contribution to humanity (our heads were nicely fried by the sun, that certainly helped ;).
Our Argentine friends, Andrea and Pablo, invited us to spend a Sunday at their country home (maison de campagne). It was a wonderful day with a lot of sunshine, a great asado (barbecue) and refreshing water (very very fresh ;-). We had a great time and we were very happy to have been invited by our friends. You will understand once you see the photos.
It seems incredible how many Slovaks or descendants of Slovaks we met in Buenos Aires last Sunday (the 10th of December 2006). They came together to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Slovak Cultural Association in Argentina. It was in 1926 that the founders decided to join forces and also to buy the building which now is the official house of the Association. Even far away from Slovakia, people still connect with their roots.
You can contact the Slovak Cultural Association at:
Asociation Cultural Eslovaca
José Mármol 629
C. P. 1236 Buenos Aires
tel./fax: 0054-11-49832567
e-mail: slovensky.spolok@abaconet.com.ar
Saturday, the 9th of December 2006, we spent a very nice day in the estancia la Concepcion with Vini's colleagues. The day started early with the minibus leaving at 9h from the office. During the 1h30min ride, we socialised and talked about a lot of interesting things in spanish (the whole day we practiced :-). The domain was very beautyful. During the day, there were a lot of activities: eating asado (barbecue) :-p , biking, tennis, football, swimming, sunbathing, games to win prizes (we won a bottle of red wine). The day was a big success, we met a lot of nice people (including an argentinean Santa Claus) and we relaxed in a beautiful environment.
During the lunch, artists made cartoons of all the participants. Do you recognize us? :-)
There was also some wildlife in the trees:
Last sunday we went to the "Copa de Polo Reino Belgica", an event sponsored by Capital Lions private asset management and organised by the Belgian embassy, the Chamber of Commerce and the Belgian Association of Buenos Aires. The weather was a bit chilly, which was a nice change from the heat of the days before in the city centre.
It was the first time we saw a polo game and we had to get used to the rules of the game. It's an interesting sport and it is pretty amazing to see people racing on horses while trying to hit a bal with a long stick. First there was the warming up next to the building where the food and drinks were being served:
Between the games there was a nice concert inside, with tango music, a great male singer and of course, tango dancing:
To go to the main playing field where the game for the 3rd and 4th position and the finals were being held, we had to take a horse and carriage of course (what else ?) :)
Friday we went out to Palermo, a neighborhood full of great design shops for clothes, furniture, toys, whatever you want. It is also one of the best places to go out and eat some amazing food from the four corners of the world or drink a cocktail in one of the many bars. We (ourselves, our English and Danish friends: Rachel and Cecilia) found by chance an excellent Italian restaurant called Arte de Mafia where we ate like a king while listening to some live jazz music in a decor which reminded us of the Italian Mafia. It was la fiesta.
Guess how warm it was in Buenos Aires on tuesday november 14th at 23h ? Check the pictures !
Pretty hot ...
And how much time do you need to spend on the phone in order to be able to pay some flights which you have already reserved through Internet ? Can you guess who the telephone number belongs to ?
We can help you find the answer ...
... it's Aerolineas Argentinas !
Finally, we found an excellent and famous teacher of tango who was recommended by our danish friend Cecilia. The class is held in a very nice apartment in the center of the city. To get shy people to dance and also as part of the Tango culture, everybody tasted some Mariposa (a liqueur). In the room where the dance-floor is, you can find some interesting pieces of art. One of the most original is a painting created through dancing Tango. The steps of the woman are in red and those of the man are in black. The shoes of the dancers, which are wet with paint, print the Tango-steps onto the canvas lying on the floor.
We learned the basic steps and even one more complex form including some acrobatics :). Next to the tango, we also met some very friendly people, most of all our teacher Julieta who has a great personality and who is able to transfer the passion of and for tango to everyone. We are infected ! On the last picture, you see us with her. We are a bit tired, but very satisfied after two hours of intensive Tango.
Tonight we went out with some friends to Viruta Tango, a nice authentic place where people go to learn and practice Tango (what else ? :) We have been observing (check the videos) and we are motivated to learn this passionate and intimate dance. And something really funny: you can dance tango not only on old-style tango music but also to tango covers of, for example, Depeche mode ;)
For the lazy or shy, there is a Mc Tango hamburger on the menu. Definitely worth a try!