Every Day Should Be A Holiday?

When the ridiculously-named Courtney Taylor-Taylor sang (as lead singer of the Dandy Warhols) that every day should be a holiday, he probably didn’t realize that his wish could so easily be fulfilled.

Simply come to Argentina, where every day really is a holiday. Of sorts.

OK, so I’m exaggerating somewhat, but there are so many national holidays and assorted celebratory days here, that it’s not far from the truth. In Argentina, it seems, every dog has his day, or feriado. From conventional days like Love Day (Dia del Amor, 14th November) and National Tango Day (Dia Nacional del Tango, 11th December), to wild and wacky ones like Train Tracks day (Dia del Riel, 18th July) and Day of the Noodle Maker (Dia del Obrero Fideero, 22nd May), they’re all here.

Hell, I’ve even heard that there is a National Day of the Mullet in the works. [Note: I was talking to myself at the time]

Yes, it’s “National Flag of Argentina Day”

ARGENTINE PIGEONS ARE FIERCELY PATRIOTIC

Still, today is a real holiday, and the streets are deadly quiet, as per most national holidays here. We all have the day off for Dia de la Bandera (National Flag Day, in Argentina), which is officially on the 20th June, but always gets put on the third Monday of June, so that we get to enjoy a long weekend. Read on to learn a little more about the Argentine National Flag.

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That’ll be a return bus ticket from Palermo to Islington please…

Fear not, you didn’t miss the news about a new transatlantic bridge from Argentina to England. Let’s face it, structural considerations aside, it’ll never happen
So, if there isn’t a running bus route from Palermo to Islington, then what’s a traditional old red double-decker London bus doing in Palermo, Buenos Aires, of all places? Read on…

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Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento Day Trip

It feels like I’ve been to Colonia del Sacramento (in Uruguay, a short hop across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires) for a day trip more times than I’ve eaten Argentine beef. And believe me, that’s a hell of a lot of times!

Now I know that this is a blog about the city of Buenos Aires, and Colonia is not only a different city entirely, but also in a whole other country… but it is such a popular day trip for people visiting Buenos Aires, that it justifies a few words from me here (well OK, I waffle, so it will probably be a lot of words).

I have always found it funny that in guide books, websites, forums etc, a regular answer to the common question “what can I do in Buenos Aires, Argentina?” is “visit Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay”. This is especially comical for me because it reminds me of a joke I once heard from a stand-up comedian back in Coventry, England. It went a little something like this…

“When I came to Coventry last night I asked at the hotel what there is to do in the city. After a little thought, the only thing they could suggest was ‘go see Warwick castle’. I asked them, ‘but isn’t that in Warwick, not Coventry?’, to which they shrugged and gave a nod.”

“To recap, the quick answer to the question ‘what should I do in Coventry?’ is ‘LEAVE! NOW! GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN’”

So apparently, thinking along these lines, a quick answer to the question ‘what should I do in Buenos Aires, Argentina?’ could be not just “leave the city”, but also “get the hell out of the country“. Just to be on the safe side.
Obviously, given the name of this blog, this is not a sentiment I would fully endorse! However, if you are visiting Buenos Aires for a fairly long period, or are an expat living here (perhaps in need of a 3 monthly tourist visa renewal), then a trip to sleepy old Colonia del Sacramento does indeed make for a nice day trip, to get away from the crazy, busy city of Buenos Aires. Also it’s nice to remind yourself of what the horizon actually looks like.

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Abandoned buildings in Buenos Aires, and the past stories they hold

Jeff Barry, over at at Buenos Aires, City of Faded Elegance, one of my favorite blogs about my adopted city, recently started what should be a very interesting series of posts about deteriorating and abandoned buildings in Buenos Aires.

He started the series with a post about an abandoned building on calle Bolivar in the barrio of Barracas, and tells an interesting story about the lives that would have once been led in crumbling buildings like these. It really is this type of deteriorating building and the stories within that gives a city like Buenos Aires authenticity and an interesting edge - we would be far worse off without these reminders of days gone by.

Jeff then invited other bloggers to join in the series by posting their own pictures of abandoned or deteriorating buildings in Buenos Aires, or indeed anywhere else. So far, Tango Cherie is the only Buenos Aires blogger to step up to the plate, with her post on run-down buildings in Havana, Cuba, that are in fact still very much lived in, despite their state of disrepair.

I decided to join in with the series, so here is my photo entry:

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J.A. Cabrera 5099 (corner of Thames), Palermo Viejo

[also has a second restaurant, La Cabrera Norte, down a block at J.A. Cabrera 5127]

La Cabrera: Buenos Aires steak at its finest

This review is going to be something of a first for me: a review pretty low on words, and high on pictures. Thing is, when it comes to talking about La Cabrera, words just can’t describe the ecstasy of enjoying one of their huge steaks or many other specialties. In this case, pictures seem to be the way forward, and so I’ll do my best to curb my verbose tendencies for today…

Happy drooling! Read the rest of this entry »