[5th - 11th March 2007]

For your information, I’m writing this week’s Buenos Aires blog roundup slowly in between itching the many mosquito bites that have ravaged my poor body. Unfortunately we have a bit of a mosquito invasion here in the city of Buenos Aires at the moment, although at least it looks (correct me if I’m wrong) like there is no risk of Dengue here in the city (unlike in parts of Buenos Aires province, and further north in Misiones). Still, the bites don’t half itch a lot, so apologies if my itching-triggered lack of concentration causes any errors in this roundup…

Buenos Aires Blog Posts of the Week

• This week’s top posts are about three new things that I’m pretty certain I will love. First up, Robert points out that a cafe has just opened up on the ground floor of the Palacio Barolo, a building that fascinates pretty much everyone, including Robert and I. It looks beautiful in Robert’s pictures, and despite the hefty, touristy prices (9 pesos for a cafe con leche with 3 medialunas!!!), I will definitely be checking it out in the near future
• Secondly, Dan from Saltshaker has been privy to a sneak preview of the food at an authentic Indian restaurant that will apparently be opening in Barrio Norte (Laprida and Charcas) later this month. It will be called Tandoor, and hopefully will provide the quality Indian food many of us expats have been missing since arriving in Buenos Aires
• Thirdly, Disco Shawn (still my vote for top blogger pseudonym of the year), introduces us to the Chilean indie musician Javiera Mena, who will be playing in Buenos Aires this Friday, March 16th at Club Niceto in Palermo Hollywood, during their indie music night Compass. From the tracks linked to in that blog post, her stuff sounds pretty good (I like my “cute, keyboard-driven pop goodness”, as Shawn describes it), so I will probably try to make my way to Compass this Friday

Things to See and Do in Buenos Aires

• Karine has yet more lovely pics from around Buenos Aires, this week including two stunning city monuments: El Monumento de los Españoles in Palermo, and the monument to General Jose de San Martin, in Plaza San Martin (where else?!), Retiro - a fitting tribute to Argentina’s main independence hero
• Argentina’s Travel Guide has some interestingly varied things to do in Buenos Aires this week, ranging from the “Thursday night transvestite party” at Club Niceto to attending an Argentine league soccer game (in this case at the River Plate stadium), and finally taking in a trip to a meditation center in Palermo after to reflect on what sounds like a very interesting week!
• For all of you budding Tango dancers on your way to Buenos Aires to strut your stuff, Tango Cherie provides the inside knowledge of what NOT to wear to a milonga in Buenos Aires… please take note!

Buenos Aires Information, News and General Comments

• Great news: everyone’s favorite trilingual blog, Trendy Palermo Viejo, celebrated it’s first anniversary of blogging this week, and long may Dalila continue bringing us the coolest shops, restaurants and more from this most happening of Buenos Aires barrios And what better way to celebrate than with a post recapping the latest shops that have opened in Palermo Viejo?!

Buenos Aires Restaurants, Food and Drink

• Yanqui Mike made his way to the last night of the Buenos Aires beer festival, but as I had suspected, it was more of a glorified rock concert than anything else, and even worse, Mike came away disappointed without even a drop of beer passing his lips. Considering the festival organizers obviously know the rules about not serving alcoholic beverages during musical performances here, you have to wonder why they bother having live music at what is, after all, supposed to be a beer festival. Or change the name to something less misleading. Bad show all round
• Dan from Saltshaker posted a review of Piola Pizzeria in Recoleta this week, giving you another (more qualified!) viewpoint on their pizza in addition to my recent review of Piola Buenos Aires. For the record, I enjoyed the Pizza more than Dan, but he experienced far better service than I did. Now if only they could get both things right at the same time…

Funny or Odd Stuff in Buenos Aires

• In the Argentine Metropolis discusses the English words that have been making their way into Argentine Spanish over the past few years, and also in the same post overhears a really funny conversation between a middle-aged woman and her father in a Palermo fashion cafe… frapuccino indeed!

Not too many posts this week… did I miss anything, or were you all just as lay as me this week?

As for my blog, I promise that very soon there will be some other posts on this blog apart from the weekly blog roundups… I’m sure I can at least manage another bar review or something, you know, for the benefit of my readers… nothing to do with my hankering for a few decent beers now and again of course!