Day Nine – Wednesday……. I recognize that this portion of the trip (BA, Iguazu, and Rio) has been reviewed almost ad nauseam on this forum. My apologies in advance if I bore you with this [- I wouldn’t want to be called a “Mikka Bouzu” ("גיבור כארי - לגמור המעשה" ממהר"ל)] so I’d like to finish.]Taking advantage of the fact that Buenos Aires has a whole bunch of kosher place to eat (after spending almost a week in Peru eating granola bars & cheese sandwiches for breakfast & lunch), we went to have breakfast at Luba Café, a kosher café/coffee house which is housed in a Chabad center in Recoleta. The Café was only a five minute walk from where we were staying – we arrived at about 10:30am for a brunch and were the only customers (the waitresses were surprised that we wanted something more than just coffee). The café area in front is a very small room but nicely decorated. The food & service was fantastic (particularly, the gnocchi and caramel cheese cake)! Not cheap though, but they took CC which is a novelty for BA kosher establishments. We liked the food and atmosphere so much we went back for Friday lunch and Motzei Shabbos מלווה מלכה. It is interesting that although only the front room was open during the mornings we went, when we went back Saturday night we were placed in larger room in back (which goes unnoticed unless you know about it) since we had a reservation.
Luba Café brunch
Luba Café – small front room
Luba Café – larger back room
Luba CafeOur guide then picked us up for the city tour of Buenos Aires.
Some thoughts: Buenos Aires is far different than other South American cities in the sense that it is very European – mostly Caucasian, with a panoply of European architecture and a cosmopolitan feel. However, the appellation “Paris of the South” is more apropos to Porteno’s (local’s) pretentiousness than the city’s grandeur. Walking around Buenos Aires for several days, it seems that the golden age of BA was is the 1920’s and ever since the city has been a slow but steady state of decay. The sidewalks throughout the city are cracked and broken, so using a stroller was a huge pain. Albeit true that some buildings retain their beauty, it was hard for us to appreciate since the BA infrastructure is poor and not well kept (except for the parks around Palermo which are really nice).
Two historical facts I wish I knew prior to my visit: A) There was a military dictatorship in Argentina from 1974-1983 which was awful for Argentina. Aside from the ill-advised Falklands War in 1982 which led to their demise, the military killed about 30,000 Argentines (or Argentineans, whichever you prefer) – known as the the 30,000 disappeared – for which there are commemorations of throughout the city. B) The second wife of Juan Peron (President of Argentina in the 1950s and 1970s) was a women named Eva Peron. Also known as Evita, she continues to be legendary & beloved in Argentina even though she died in 1952. There was also a Broadway show and later movie (starring Madonna) called “Evita” about her – with a famous song “Don’t cry for me Argentina.” I didn’t know any of this beforehand, but after hearing my tour guide reference this the entire day, I spent the night reading up on it.Our tour was an overview of the city -we visiting the beautiful Parque Tres de Febrero which has varieties of roses and is really enjoyable to walk around. Later, we went to the Recoleta Cemetery, and although it sounds strange, this was the highlight of our tour. The cemetery is really unique, different families own mausoleums which they pay an annual fee to keep and each mausoleum is like a little house, with a stairwell which goes two stories down with shelfs to place coffins (strange, though we may become more accustomed to something like this- see here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/20/jerusalem-dead-city_n_7345936.html). We then walked around the Plaza de Mayo (main plaza) and saw the Casa Rosada (sort of the BA version of the White House but in pink – and the President only works there but doesn’t live there). Not much exciting here, but on the checklist for a BA tour. We ended our tour driving to the La Boca neighborhood which features the colorfully painted buildings of Caminito. The area is run down and seems to be slummy neighborhood, though we felt safe in the tourist area. While great for taking photos, Caminito felt like a tourist trap.
Floralis Genérica – a metal flower sculpture which opens in the morning and closes at night.
Memorial on the banks of the River Plate for the 30,000 disappeared
Parque Tres de Febrero (including Rose Park)
Recoleta Cemetery
Casa Rosada – note the high walls for protection from protestors. Insanely high rates of inflation and otherwise common corruption make protests a common event in BA for federal and municipal wages to be raised. In 2001 the Argentinean President had to be helicoptered out of the Casa Rosada from fear of violent protesters because of the financial crisis.
(Pope Francis was Cardinal in BA before elected to be Pope so his image is featured prominently throughout the city)
Caminito in the La Boca neighborhood
Really cool rotating pedestrian bridge (it swings open) in Puerto Madero (which is a relatively new nice neighborhood good for a nice stroll)
Although we were going to Asian Steak House for dinner, we wanted to stop at the McDonald’s at the Abasto Mall to satisfy the requirement of eating at the only kosher McDonald’s. Someone else on this forum already pointed out but it’s worthwhile to repeat. There are three McDonald’s at the mall and only one is kosher. Immediately when we entered on the left there was a McDonald’s – not kosher. Up the elevator to the second floor to the right there was a McDonald’s – not kosher. In the far far left of the food court there was a McDonald’s- which says on the signs Kosher McDonald’s – kosher. We had a Big Mac, nuggets, and fries; Nuggets and fries – tasty; Big Mac - not really. Funny thing is, is sort of tastes the way you’d imagine McDonald’s to taste. Worth the trip.
(checking lettuce for bugs at McDonald’s!)
Kosher McDonald’s
We took a cab to Asian (which is not where most of the other kosher establishments are, it is in Palermo, not Once). Asian is in this strange building (looks somewhat abandoned aside from Asian, but the actual restaurant is really nice). Maybe we ordered wrong, but the meat, although very good, did not live up to the hype others expressed. It is a wonderful atmosphere, far nicer than Al Galope (and white bearded waiter spoke perfect English and made a great mojito for us) but the food was not better than the popular steakhouses in N.Y.
Asian Building
Asian interior – there is also a porch outside
To be continued.....