The Buenos Aires City Zoo is full of surprises

Posted on July 9, 2010 by ryan

Either they have been doing some extreme experiments in genetic engineering down here, or South American animals are just very different. To be fair, the zoo did not seem all that well maintained, so it’s very possible that the animals are escaping frequently and doing some of their own ‘genetic engineering’ if you know what I mean.

In reality, there are at least 2 reasons why this zoo is worth checking out:

1) The crazy, crazy animals

2) The fact that many of the crazy, crazy animals roam free throughout the grounds rather than being confined to a cage

Let’s start with a few of the crazy animals (which also happen to be roaming free):

Exhibit A: Duck + Turkey = Durkey?

Duck? Turkey? Durkey?? And no, this is not a one-off weird looking duck, there are tons of these running around and they all look the same

Exhibit B: Beaver/Gopher/Hedgehog = BeapherHog?

This is kind of like a giant hedgehog...

Buenos Aires City Zoo Gopher thing image

...except that it has webbed feet in the back, bright orange teeth and an attitude.

Exhibit C: Our personal favorite, the Rabbit/Deer = Dabbit?

Buenos Aires City Zoo: Rabbit/Deer Image

What are you???

Buenos Aires City Zoo: Rabbit/Deer 2 image

They are decently big and they run free all over the zoo. They seem a little skittish, but friendly. And very, very weird.

The above three animals (Durkeys, BeapherHogs and Dabbits) are all over the zoo, just kind of hanging out. Other animal hybrid creations apparently are less friendly and need to be kept in cages. For instance…

Exhibit D: The Tapir

Tapir = cross between anteater and wild boar? He looks sad--it might be because he's so weird looking.

Seriously, what are you???

Exhibit E: These guys

No idea... kind of like the rabbit/deer things crossed with the giant hedgehog things. You may recognize the guy in the front as the actor that played Mr. Beaver in The Chronicles of Narnia movie

Exhibit F: Anteater thing

Buenos Aires City Zoo: Anteater thing Image

I think you are an anteater, but I have no idea. What I do know is that you could very easily wear a traffic cone as a helmet.

Buenos Aires City Zoo: Anteater thing 2 Image

Nice piece of tail

Exhibit G: Satan goat

Do not mess with this goat, it will haunt your dreams

Exhibit H: These guys

Buenos Aires City Zoo: Baboon things Image

And on the seventh day, god had some extra spray paint to get rid of...

In addition to having animals that you’re unlikely to have ever seen before, there are some animals that would be normal-ish except that they seem to have gone a bit crazy. For example:

Exhibit I: Smiling Llama

Buenos Aires City Zoo: Smiling Llama Image

He has lots of personality...

Buenos Aires City Zoo: Smiling Llama 2 Image

...or possibly is just unable to close his mouth due his abnormally large lower teeth

Exhibit J: Flaccid Camel

Buenos Aires City Zoo: Flaccid Camel Image

I swear, this has never happened before...

Exhibit K: Acro Elephant

Hard to capture in a photo, but this elephant attempted to perform a head stand for a good 3 minutes. He almost fell down a few times. Then he started running around his pen erratically (often backwards). Could have had to do with the roaring lion that was next door, or he is just crazy.

There were lots of other more normal animals as well of course like lions and tigers and birds and stuff. You can check out the rest of our photos in our photo gallery: Buenos Aires City Zoo Photos

Just because the lemurs and the baby hippo were particularly entertaining we took a couple of videos:
Lemur fight:

Hippo teeth:

Logistics

The Buenos Aires City Zoo is located in Palermo right next to the Botanical Garden–The main entrance is right next to Plaza Italia and it costs AR$15/ticket for a general entrance or a little more if you want to go into the special attractions (which didn’t seem to be worth it). It’s fully outdoors, so probably not fun in the rain.

Also, they have a pretty crazy website with more info, lots of pics/videos and annoying music: http://www.zoobuenosaires.com.ar/index.php

Verdict

It’s cheap, it’s centrally located and it has most of the craziest animals we’ve ever seen. It’s always a bit depressing to see caged animals and some of these animals looked pretty unhappy, but overall we enjoyed the zoo far more than we thought we would. It shouldn’t be on the top of your list of things to do on a short vacation here, but it’s a fun way to spend a few hours and we’d highly recommend it.

Anyone out there have any idea what some of those animals are?

Fuerza Bruta: WTF???

Posted on July 8, 2010 by ryan

We went to see the show Fuerza Bruta tonight at the Recoleta Cultural Center. This is a show by the same company that did De La Guarda several years ago in New York and many other cities. Fuerza Bruta is also playing in several other cities around the world, so you too can have the unforgettable experience that we had…

Before I describe it in any detail, here are some quotes from Jen and my sister on their experience this evening:

“This show challenged every sense of personal safety and self preservation I have both as a patron and a physician”

and

“That is probably the most uncomfortable hour I’ve ever spent”

-Ashley

“Ummm, what the f#*%?”

-Jen

This show is very, very strange and unless you are looking to go to a rave, but can’t find one nearby, we’d suggest you stay away. It’s possible that we were simply not drunk enough to enjoy the show appropriately, but I’m fairly certain it would take quite a bit more than mere alcohol to adequately prepare yourself.

What is it?

Not a simple question to answer. We had heard lots of hype about this show and many people had told us how much we would love it. The most frequent description was “it’s like Blue Man Group meets Cirque de Soleil.” No it’s not. I can understand why people might say that–all 3 shows are very difficult to describe, but where Cirque de Soleil has unbelievably talented acrobats performing crazy feats of athleticism and grace and Blue Man Group provides comedy, weirdness and fun, Fuerza Bruta is more like an interactive modern art exhibit with the intention of being provocative for the sake of being provocative. There were parts of it that were cool, but mostly it was just uncomfortable and felt like being at an overly intense dance club–except that we weren’t really in the mood to be at a dance club since we thought we had gone to a show.

Another way to describe it would be like this: A theater special effects guy came out with a few cool live effects and said “Hey, that would make an awesome show.” So, they took their 5 effects, added a heavy trance back-beat, made the audience stand up the whole time and moved massive set pieces in and out of the middle of the audience, pushing them up against each other and into walls; threw in some very intense jumping around with non-stop strobe lights and occasionally pulled people out of the audience to break foam ceiling tiles over their heads. Oh yeah, also they hosed down sections of the audience at times and there was a weird water sequence that resembled soft-core porn. Sound awesome? We saw at least one audience member that had to be carried out, and it’s hard to imagine how more people don’t get hurt on a nightly basis (incidentally, there were no safety warnings at all–if you are epileptic, you may be in danger just being in the same city where this show is playing).

But, seriously, what is it?

It’s kind of like Blue Man Group meets Cirque de Soleil… Just kidding, it’s nothing like that. Anyone that tells you that is just trying to see if they can trick you into going. It’s ~60 minutes long, and can be broken down into the following 5 parts:

1) Guy running on tread mill, occasionally being shot and occasionally jumping through boxes full of confetti

If only you could have heard the music...

2) A couple of girls jumping around against a crazy wall from harnesses with strobe lights (this was actually pretty cool)

3) A bunch of people jumping around crazily for a very long time and breaking stuff; then smashing ceiling tiles over the heads of each other and audience members for another very long time.

4) A very see-through plastic pool lowered from the ceiling with scantily clad women running and jumping around in the water above the heads of the audience. This went on forever. Then it seemed to stop and people clapped. Then it started again and went on forever again. Jen thought this was kind of like soft-core porn as the girls were not wearing many clothes, the clothes they were wearing were largely transparent due to the water and the audience was encouraged to grope them through the bottom of the pool.

It did not look this cool during the show

5) Back to the guy on the treadmill jumping through some more boxes. Then a bunch of people came out and bowed (apparently the ‘actors’?). We thought that meant it was over, but then they cranked the music again and started hosing down a section of the audience from above. We were near the doors, so we left. The rest of the audience was right behind us.

That’s about it. They were all pretty cool effects for the first few minutes, but most of them went on WAY longer than necessary and the level of intensity, threat of forced participation and general feeling that several people (including you) were highly likely to get hurt at any moment made it such that it wasn’t fun–if there was some sort of warm-up to get you energized and a higher level of trust that you wouldn’t have a table dropped on you, it might work. Unfortunately, it starts with crazy intensity right from the beginning, and I think unless you are expecting to be at a rave, it would be hard to really get into it (though, to be fair, some in the audience clearly seemed to have been better prepared than us).

Here in Buenos Aires, tickets were only ~US$15 each, so if you’re looking for something crazy, this is it. That said, I’d recommend just going to a dance club instead–far less likely that anyone will break anything over your head or attack you with a hose (unless that’s your thing).

Anyone else seen this? Did we miss something?

4+ months without a job; some observations on our Career Break

Posted on July 5, 2010 by ryan

We’ve written mostly about our travels on this blog, but we thought that after recently passing our 4 month anniversary of quitting our jobs it would be good time to write a little about what it feels like to be unemployed. Not having a job is an interesting experience, especially with such an abrupt change after the super high intensity jobs that we left. Our feelings about it have gone through a sort of cycle over time:

Month 1: Honeymoon period

Weeks 1-2: Like a normal vacation–high intensity site seeing

Weeks 3-4: Time to relax–basking in the glow of not having to get up in the morning

Month 2: Need something to work hard on (e.g., studying Spanish)

Month 3: Getting more comfortable with downtime. Beginning to wonder how long it will be until we start getting bored

Month 4: Lots of downtime. Starting to get bored and feel a little bit like we are in limbo; beginning to think about future

Month 5: ?

Current observations

These will likely continue to evolve (see #5 below), but as of now at midnight after a glass of wine, here are some current observations on what it’s like to be without a job for a little over 4 months (in no particular order):

No more back/neck pain–we thought we were just getting old, but it turns out it was the job. Now we feel younger and more energetic all the time, the difference is amazing. It took 2+ months for this to be noticeable
In the absence of a job, some things that used to be exciting diversions now feel like work–e.g., planning a trip
Time goes by very quickly, no matter how you spend it
Eating in restaurants all the time makes you want to not eat in restaurants
Perspective takes time and distance and it doesn’t stop evolving
Rehab is the right word for the process–it takes time and has many ups and downs; if you don’t stick to it, you don’t get anything out of it
A few weeks away is NOT enough for a meaningful reset
It takes effort to force yourself to not have relapses and seek out other things to optimize/achieve/stress about (e.g., mastering Spanish, planning every detail of a trip, etc.)
Different things matter; life is short
With this much time to think, it’s easier to see what really matters; and without the distractions of a busy life/job/etc. it’s much easier to incorporate these realizations into your daily life and future plans
We used to be very “driven.” That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re going to be driven, make sure that the destination is a place you want to go (hint: if you’re not enjoying the ride, it’s probably not)
Student loans are a bitch
Not having a cell phone is awesome
It is borderline criminal that there are not empanada delivery joints in the US

Career Breaks and Lifestyle Design

All in all, we would highly recommend this type of sabbatical or career break or whatever you want to call it to anyone. I’ve been reading a lot about a growing movement called Lifestyle Design which is essentially the idea of getting creative to proactively design the kind of life that you want rather than pick from one of the established paths; many proponents highly recommend “Career Breaks” like this on a relatively frequent basis. I’m intrigued.

I’ll be writing more about this and providing links to success stories as I explore it further; here are a few for starters:

http://www.freepursuits.com/what-is-lifestyle-design

http://www.kickbacklife.com/2008/10/23/how-to-be-a-lifestyle-design-bad-ass/

http://www.davidrisley.com/2009/06/17/lifestyle-design/

http://www.thecareerbreaksite.com/about-career-breaks

http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/09-06/top-10-reasons-to-take-a-career-breakand-travel.html

Anyone else out there have any experience with this? Thoughts??

World Cup Game 6: #&%**##@ @@#$)!

Posted on July 3, 2010 by ryan

Germany is good

How to have dinner in Argentina: A photo essay in 15 steps

Posted on June 30, 2010 by ryan

The perfect dinner in Buenos Aires can be achieved by following these 15 easy steps:

Step 1: Pick a good restaurant

(El Estreb e is our favorite parilla in Buenos Aires)

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Salad and Provoleta el Estrebe Image

Step 2: Good entradas--rucula and hearts of palm salad on the right; the thing on the left is a giant slab of provolone cheese covered in bacon, ham, onions, tomatoes and a bell pepper

(Provoleta is one of the best food inventions in the world)

Step 3: Great wine--this excellent Cabernet Franc from Vinas de Narvaez in Mendoza cost ~US$8

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Bife de Lomo - Perfect steak Image

Step 4: The perfect steak -- we ordered one Bife de Lomo (~filet), they cut it into two halves for us to share at the table using spoons--seriously. This massive steak for 2 people cost about US$12

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Chimichurri, Criolla and white stuff image

Step 5: You've gotta have good chimichurri (on the right) and good criolla sauce (lower left), not sure what the white stuff is, but the other two are phenomenal

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Perfectly cooked steak image

Step 6: Apply sauces, and cut into steak to revel in how perfectly cooked it is. Note: it will always be perfectly cooked, this is Argentina and while they may not be able to run an airline, they do know how to cook steak

(If you’re curious about how they run an airline, check out Aerolineas Argentina)

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Perfectly cooked Argentine beef image

In case you were wondering, the other half turned out pretty good too

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Empty plate Image

Step 7: Make sure your plate looks like this when you are done

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Don't be stingy with the Chimichurri and Criolla Image

Step 8: Don't be stingy with the Chimichurri and Criolla--it should look more like this when you are done

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Drink your awesome, cheap wine! Image

Step 9: Don't forget to enjoy your awesome and crazily cheap wine

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Flan with Dulce de Leche Image

Step 10: Not having desert would just be silly; Flan with Dulce de Leche will do the trick for US$4

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Enjoy postre slowly Image

Step 11: Make sure to savor every bite of the flan nice and slowly

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Finish your Flan Image

Step 12: Finish your Flan. Or else...

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Enjoy your post dinner Limoncello Image

Step 13: If the waiter offers you complimentary Limoncello, drink it

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Get your wine to go image

Step 14: If you failed to finish your wine due to the complimentary pre and post dinner cocktails (and/or the bottle you had at lunch), ask for the rest of your bottle to go. They will happily cork it and bag it for you to enjoy at home

I’m not kidding: How to take your wine to go in Buenos Aires

Dinner in Buenos Aires: Pay the check image

Step 15: Pay the bill. This incredible dinner for 2 with appetizer, salad, massive filet and great bottle of wine cost ~US$50

Not a bad night–we go here once a week. Keep in mind though, this only covered 2 out of the 5 major Argentine food groups

What did you have for dinner?

World Cup Game 4: Argentina 3, Mexico 1

Posted on June 27, 2010 by ryan

Those are all cakes, I think this speaks for itself

As the premier source for Worldcup 2010 information, we know that many of you have been eagerly awaiting a post from us on the outstanding Round of 16 game featuring Argentina early today; well, buckle-up, cuz here we go…

Argentina vs Mexico World Cup 2010 Crowd Image

It's game time in Buenos Aires

I have to say that the during the first 15 minutes or so, we were a little worried… Mexico looked pretty good and the level of play was extremely intense–far more intense than the US/Ghana or England/Germany game seemed to be to our highly (un)trained eyes. After that, to summarize, Argentina crushed them.

Argentina vs Mexico World Cup 2010 Crowd Us Image

We were proud to wear our jerseys and excited that the team was back in their home jerseys (and, a little drunk)

We’ve written before about #10, Messi, and mentioned how he seems to be more or less unstoppable when he has the ball. We are not soccer strategists, but it has occurred to us that if we were playing against Argentina (which is unlikely), and wanted to win so badly that we were willing to forget about sportsmanship, our strategy would be to injure Messi as early in the game as possible. It appeared that this strategy may have occurred to Mexico as well–they didn’t injure him, but they were able to more or less shut him down by having 2-3 guys jump on him every time the ball came near him. The bad news for Mexico and the rest of the remaining teams is that it turns out there are some other guys on the Argentina team that also know how to play.

The energy of the crowd and frankly the entire city/country when a game is on is incredible.

Argentina vs Mexico World Cup 2010 Crowd Goal Image

This is what the crowd looks like for a goal

Argentina vs Mexico World Cup 2010 Crowd Game Over Image

...and, this is what it looks like when the game ends; the whole kitchen staff came out and started a parade. It was awesome.

It’s even more exciting with sound so we took some video at the end of the game, which in no way captures the experience, but is still pretty cool:

In case you missed the game because you have ridiculous priorities in life, actual game highlights are here:

Next up is Germany on Saturday. We already have our reservation to go back to this same place.

If you haven’t seen this…

Posted on June 26, 2010 by ryan

You should watch it. It’s from 2008, so slightly out of date, but still well worth watching.

Click the read link for the video…

If you are a consultant, I will be very impressed if you can work any of this data into a presentation…

Game 3: Argentina 2, Greece 0

Posted on June 23, 2010 by ryan

We’re relatively new to this, but as far as we can tell, Argentina always wins. This is probably a good thing as it’s usually much better to hang out in crowded places with very passionate drunk people that are happy rather than angry. We watched this game (which was thankfully at 3:30pm rather than early in the morning) at a bar called Sugar in Palermo with a few friends. Sugar was a decent venue with a couple of big screens, but it was more of an international crowd which is a little less fun than hanging out with just the locals. If it’s nice out during the next game we’ll likely head over to San Martin Square where they have big screens setup outside and tons of people turnout to watch.

Anyway, Argentina vs. Greece…

I have to believe that there is some good comedy to be had regarding each of these countries’ ability to have massive economic crises… Greece thinks they’re all that for almost taking down the EU this year, but Argentina does that sort of thing more or less every decade whether they need it or not (hey, I tried). Not only is Argentina better at screwing up its economy, it turns out they are also much better at futbol.

Argentina_Greece_Worldcup_2010_stats image

I'm no expert, but seriously Greece... only 3 shots on goal?

It wasn’t a very exciting game until the last 20 minutes or so. Argentina appeared to only be half trying–likely because they had already qualified to advance to the next round and didn’t want anyone to get hurt in this game. Also, the 2 guys that have been scoring all of Argentina’s goals so far weren’t even in the lineup for this one. Presumably, they were just sitting this one out to conserve energy for the next round–that said, it’s become more and more apparent that the basic strategy is to get the ball to Messi who then runs through 6 or 7 defenders by himself and ricochets the ball into the net off one of his own players; so basically, the other guys just need to stand near the goal and he will score via them. With so many players on the field it seems like favoring one player so much is a suspect strategy, but it clearly seems to be working.

In spanish, this expression translates roughly to: "You guys... always trying to take the ball from me... so cute"

A theory…

Other than Messi being unstoppable, I think I know why Argentina was able to beat Greece so easily…

Exhibit A: Greek flag

Notice the shade of blue--much darker than the Argentina flag blue right?

Exhibit B: Argentina’s Away uniforms which they wore for this game vs. Greece

Look familiar?

Clearly, Argentina was able to fool the Greek team by wearing jerseys that bore no resemblance whatsoever to Argentina colors, but rather very closely resembled Greek colors. The Greek players likely had no idea why they had so many teammates on the field or where their opponents were–you can imagine their surprise when their teammates started scoring on them (this is why Argentina had to wait until near the end of the game to start scoring). This is similar to the kind of clever strategy that earned Maradona his nickname “the hand of god.” (<–for those unaware, this nickname is based on him using his hand to knock in a game winning 1986 World Cup quarter-final goal vs. England and then proudly telling the press how he managed to trick the referee into thinking it was his head by putting his hand really close to his face when he did it–the goal is one thing, bragging about it later is a whole new level)

What hand??

Highlights

If you missed the game, here is the highlight reel. Be sure to watch how Messi plows through the entire Greek team and then basically makes it impossible for Palermo not to score in the second goal (this sort of thing happens often)

Good luck Mexico, we’ll see you Sunday 🙂

p.s. for some perspective on just how seriously this sport is taken here in Argentina, check out this great blog post: http://www.vamospanish.com/blog/2010/06/22/when-game-is-on-buenos-aires-is/

Feria de Mataderos — You’re not in San Telmo anymore…

Posted on June 22, 2010 by ryan

Interested in something unique to do in Buenos Aires? Read on…

“Feria” is the word they use down here to refer to an open air market. Most sell various arts and crafts as well as clothing, food and antiques. There are several of them in varying shapes and sizes all over the city (and country). Some are every day, some are only on certain days of the week. Probably the most common one for tourists to check out is the Feria de San Telmo which is every Sunday and stretches from the center of the San Telmo neighborhood all the way to Plaza de Mayo across streets that are closed weekly for the occasion. It’s usually pretty full of tourists, but we enjoy the San Telmo market… despite being quite crowded, it somehow manages to maintain a laid back vibe; this is much assisted by the fact that the vendors are super chill and I’ve never seen anything even remotely resembling an aggressive sales pitch–on the contrary, they are usually just hanging out and enjoying the day. San Telmo is roughly a 10 minute cab ride away for us, or a 30-45 minute walk. This is obviously far too convenient, so in our continued desire to get off the beaten path and find more stuff to do here in BA, yesterday we decided to go to the exact opposite side of the city of Buenos Aires to check out a different Feria: Feria de Mataderos (Fair warning: I’ve encountered very few Argentine websites that don’t begin with an annoying animated intro that includes music that plays automatically–this site is no exception)

For context, we live in the top right corner and the city is ~80 Sq. Miles; so this is a bit further than 'off the beaten path'

Why we went:

We were looking to do something a bit more adventurous than normal and see a different side of the city (literally), and this delivered. There are several ways that you can get there by bus as detailed on their website, but we decided to splurge and take a cab. The cab took nearly 30 minutes (I told you it was far), but still only cost about ~US$10. It was pretty cool driving through so many different parts of the city that we hadn’t seen before. It definitely changes as you get further out–still quite pretty, but the lower buildings and wider streets give it a more tranquil feel (at least as viewed through a car window, it’s entirely possible that some of these neighborhoods are somewhat unsafe).

Jen had heard at school that Feria de Mataderos was more traditional/authentic, far less touristy and would include lots of gaucho (~cowboy) type stuff, good food and maybe even some live shows.

For context: According to Google images, these are "gaucho pants" -- apparently Argentine cowboys wore heels

Did it deliver?

The quick answer is Yes.

There was a main stage area where they did dancing shows and other stuff that seemed exciting which was kind of cool.

If that's not a live show, I don't know what is

And of course lots and lots of booths selling all kinds of stuff

One of many streets full of vendors

Much of the stuff on sale was similar to the stuff you’d find at other ferias in the city, but this stuff seemed higher quality and more authentic on average (and was cheaper).

Feria de Mataderos booths with Argentina flags image

Argentina will never be accused of lacking patriotism

It also felt far more neighborhood-ie if that makes any sense. While I’m sure we weren’t the only tourists there, it felt like the majority of the people there were from the neighborhood and turned out every Sunday which gave it a cool vibe.

Also, unlike San Telmo and many of the other ferias in the city, at Feria de Mataderos, there is lots of food!

That, my friend, is Choripan... Grilled chorizo cut down the middle, smothered in Chimichurri and served on bread; it's obviously very healthy

Feria de Mataderos Choripan with Jen Image

...Doesn't she look healthy?

You’re probably wondering where we found that Choripan…

Some people say "where there's smoke there's fire," in Argentina it's more appropriate to say "where there's smoke, there's meat; lots of it"

Aside from lots and lots of meat (the above is only one of the multiple meat venues), there were also several booths with traditional foods from all over the country such as humitas and tamales, locro, empanadas and more.

This locro/empanada/tamale/other stuff booth had a very long line

This being Argentina and all, there were also tons of sweets–lots of fried pastries and some very fat women sitting behind freshly baked cakes that looked quite tasty (we wanted to get a picture of this, but were afraid of the aforementioned very fat women–we figured we could outrun them, but they seemed to have lots of friends). Also, there were some candy type things:

This was some sort of fruit candy with popcorn--looked really cool, but we didn't eat it; also possible that someone just spilled a bucket of popcorn on their candied fruit

We had also heard that there would be animals. We had heard right.

For instance: We were greeted by this rather smug looking and well dressed llama

Later he showed us how he really felt about us; disgusting, yet entertaining--both the event itself and Jen's excited desire to capture it on camera

In addition to our Llama friend, there were lots and lots of miniature ponies.

Of all of the ponies, this one definitely had the coolest hairstyle. If you're into punk ponies that is. (I am)

Aside from the animals wandering around, one of the highlights of this market is said to be the Gaucho shows on horseback. Apparently the Gauchos perform various cowboy skills and other feats of strength/prowess while on horseback. We did see the gauchos and the horses, but I think they must just have been warming up because not much was happening. That said, plenty of people were waiting around expectantly, so I’m sure the shows do happen.

Or... it's possible that the gaucho feat of strength is just sitting still on a horse for a long time... if so, the show was awesome!

In Summary

We had a great time and while the Feria de Mataderos is unlikely to rock your world, it is sure to be an enjoyable Sunday afternoon and will allow you to get a much more authentic glimpse into Argentine culture and tradition as well as allowing you to see a different side of the city. A perfect 3-4 hour outing off the beaten path.

Quick tip: Be sure that you have a way to get home arranged before you go–we found it to be quite difficult to flag down a taxi as this is quite far away from the city center and cabs are a bit rare (also, apparently the neighborhood is a bit iffy safety-wise if you stray too far away from the market). Either know the right bus to get you home or bring a phone and call for a cab to pick you up (which we keep hearing we should be doing all the time anyway, but we continue to tempt fate with flagging down cabs on the street).

Enjoy!

Game 2: Argentina 4, Korea 1

Posted on June 21, 2010 by ryan

Game 2 was pretty sweet. It was at 8:30am on a Thursday, but that didn’t stop us from getting a gang together (including our spanish classes and teachers!) to watch it at a packed cafe. We decided to stay sober this time given how early it was, but suffice to say, not everyone in the cafe made the same choice and when they started scoring a lot towards the end, it got pretty entertaining.

Jen got us jerseys!

Argentina was one of the first teams to get 6 points which pretty much guarantees them a berth to the round of 16. We don’t really know what we’re watching, but when we watch Argentina, they seem more coordinated and strategic than many of the other games we’ve watched… As I said though, we don’t really know what we’re watching. We do like the blue and white jerseys though! It’s also fun to watch the England games because it’s entertaining to hear the Argentina commenter repeatedly yell “rooney, rooooney… ROOOOONEY!!!”

This is Rooney, his name sounds funny in spanish, especially when you yell it over and over again excitedly; try it

It’s almost as entertaining to watch Argentina’s coach Maradona as it is to watch the game itself.

"The hand of god" -- Seriously, this guy is a piece of work

If you don’t know much about Maradona, you should read about him here on wikipedia, he’s got quite a history…

It's even more entertaining to picture him when he was younger... yes, that hairstyle is still popular here

One of our favorite players to watch is Messi. He’s one of Argentina’s best and apparently one of the best in the entire tournament. While we appreciate how good he is at the game, we are even more impressed by the fact that he has made it through the first 2 games without appearing to even break a sweat. All of the other players walk around in between play looking like extreme athletes, Messi looks like he’s lounging around on the beach, then he kicks everyone’s ass.

No sweat, literally

It’s hard not to become fans given all of the energy around this down here. The world pretty much stops when Argentina plays… My spanish teacher said that she would have to come to school early since the buses would likely stop running during the game (despite being during rush hour). We love it, and can’t wait for the next game on Tuesday–even better, it’s in the afternoon (aka there will be beer)!

Viva Argentina!!

Consulting Rehab

The first step is admitting you have a problem… (then take a break and travel!)