Bucket List Antarctica (during an eclipse): First Stop Buenos Aires.

 

The Obelisk in moonlight

"Wandering down promising-looking streets, peering into papered-up windows, the thrill of having found each startling splash of beauty amidst the concrete ruins. This, for me, is Buenos Aires. My Buenos Aires is not always the most elegant, the most convenient, or the most picturesque. My Buenos Aires is fierce and gritty, creative and neurotic, disturbing and seductive. Buenos Aires is a place where the reward is in the details, not the monuments. And someone who looks will always find cause for marvel."

After nearly two years of only limited domestic travel, Paul and I find ourselves back in Buenos Aires and staying, once again near the obelisk. This is our first foreign travel since early January 2020. We will skip all the prep to get here--Covid testing, affadavits of health, etc--and just concentrate on the beauty and luxury of travel. Of walking streets similar and yet very different than our home. Of comparing the Paris of South America, to the actual Paris.  Such a joy to experience all that this vast city and the country of Argentina has to offer. For this, whoever runs the Universe, we, in this season of heightened gratitude, thank you!

We are staying at the heart of the city, in walking distance to everything we have interest in. Our hotel, the Grand Brizos (which we believe mean the big rocking cradle?) isn't as fancy as our last stay at the Panamericano, but it's pretty great and the staff is helpful. 

This hotel is comfortable, moderately priced and well-located for sightseeing. 

We started out with a nap---even though we got some sleep on the plane thanks to Paul sacrificing some frequent flyer miles for a seat that went horizontal on the way-- and then...What else? Pizza. We ate at Pizza Guerrin which has been here since 1932. It's a thick crust, which usually I don't care for, but if you've been around 89 years making pizza, you have to know more about it than I do! It was delicious and service was great. 

I didn't manage to get a photo before we tore into it!

Like many local pizza establishments, they also serve empanadas.

A very satisfied pizza customer. 

It did take a bit of effort to get to the pizza parlor because we arrived during a political rally. We were amazed at how many people were out marching on 9 Julio Avenida. There were literally thousands of people marching under various political banners with a pretty minor police presence, lots of good behavior and no violence or riots. 

Political rally Argentina style

A while back, we saw some artwork of Xul Solar who was an avante garde Argentinian painter and fell in love with those. So we had to revisit his home near the Retiro. Solar's paintings use striking contrasts and bright colors, typically in relatively small formats. His visual style seems equidistant between Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee on the one hand and Marc Chagall on the other. He also worked in some extremely unorthodox artistic media, such as modifying pianos, including a version with three rows of keys for his wife who wanted to learn the piano but had very small hands. He invented games, a language and furnishings. 

Modified keyboard instrument in three colors for his small-handed wife, Lita. 

Various works of Xul Solar in differing media

This was a great revisit for us and always enjoyable. We invite anyone unfamiliar with Xul Solar to take some time to peruse his art. 

From here, it was a walk back to the hotel and thankfully we logged about 8 miles permitting us to indulge in Restaurante Arumburu. This chef is all about the single bite and delivers an 18 course meal worthy of food porn photography. Fortunately, due to his wise use of bite-sized appetizers, entrees and desserts, it's not overly difficult to make your way through this outstandingly beautiful meal. 

The alleyway that houses Arumburu with outdoor seating and the moon!

The open kitchen at Arumburu for those who enjoy watching

Our appetizer: Goat cheese in a flower. 

Every course is a work of art

Beet Roses

Asparagus and avocado

The canoli

This was an outstanding and gorgeous meal and priced at about 1/4th what it would cost in NYC. 

For day #2, we slept in and let the jet lag wash off of us. And then, what else? Pizza. This time we ate at Antonio's pizza. The most common origin in Argentina isn't Spanish. It's Italian and there is definitely no shortage of pizza shops. Parilla is probably the next most popular food followed by sandwiches. Antonio's was authentic wood fired thin crust Napolitano pizza and we always recommend that. 

From here, we made a walk to the MACBA, museum of contemporary art. This museum definitely focused on Argentinian artists in numerous media. Their current featured exhibit is Alberto Greco---whom we had never heard of. But boy did we get a great introduction in their exposition called. Alberto Greco: How Great I Am. He created "living art" in which in addition to some few works on paper, canvas, etc. he did live events in which he created art that could not be preserved. He did chalk line drawings around common people, sponsored plays of a sorts without full scripts, puppet shows for children and even rolled out a 300 meter scroll of paper through a tiny town in Spain. He called this live art: Vito ditto---Italian for finger. He created such a fuss in Italy with his live art exhibit Cristo 1963 that they ran him out of town for sacrilege. It's hard to explain his work to others, but he didn't have a long career and committed suicide at age 35--again he considered his suicide a sort of living art and wrote the word "fin" on his arm while dying. This is something that defies explanation and is sad, but looking at his work and his concepts of the vito ditto manifesto was very revealing about his unique artistry meant to provoke an immediate reaction rather than leave something permanent. 

Alberto Greco with his 300 meter roll of paper accompanied by children as he rolled it out in the Spanish village of Piedralaves. 

An early project in which he as an unknown artist plastered signs in Buenos Aires proclaiming his greatness. 

From here we took a long walk in the ecological area of the Rio Plata. We plan to go back Saturday. 

Last but not least we enjoyed a nice meal at Restaurante Roux which we've eaten at before. Always delicious. 

The man and his dessert!

 "Travelers are seekers--always in search of that one place that will captivate, get under your skin and enter your heart. Please don’t go to Buenos Aires unless you are ready to fall in love…" - 

Paul's Ponderings:   What a pleasure to return to Buenos Aires.    We've had a lovely 1.5 days so far and it's basically summer down here to boot (80 degrees and over temperatures).   No shortage of great food here, both cheap and expensive (in relative terms though; this is a very affordable location for tourism).   We revisited an old artistic friend - Xul Solar - and met an interesting new one, Alberto Greco.   I've looked at a LOT of art in my life and weirdly I had never heard of the latter.   Probably because he died so young and his art was ephemeral by design.    

We've got a few more days here and then on to Patagonia....much more to come!