La Vida Errabunda

Well, hello parents! My family landed Thursday morning, and our activities started on Friday. As grand master planner and main Spanish speaker, I was in charge of navigating, translating, and relaying the funny moments (my mother laughs, looks at me, and then asks what was funny). La Reserva Ecologia is an oasis on the edge of the city, next to Puerto Madero. We rented some bikes and navigated the busy calles streets to the protected area. View of Reserva from parrillas de la calle street parrillas in Puerto Madero  The area was full of beautiful birds, annoying bugs, and had a cool breeze off of the Rio de La Plata . We got to ride along the ugly red river, and I told my parents the significance of the river en la historia de Buenos Aires the history of Buenos Aires. This includes the shipping port and the dumping of the bodies during the military regime. Mom and Dad at Milión, famous bar Mom and I at dinner along Puerto Madero  On Saturday, my mother a...

We had reached the time when Buenos Aires was getting to us. We were annoyed, tired, and just needed a break from the bustle. What perfect timing, because we had booked a trip to celebrate Carnaval. Little did we know we were going to the Hippie Land of South America. We left for Montevideo, Uruguay Wednesday night via bus. Overnight bus rides mean a bed that leans back and somewhat edible dinner. Only in Argentina would they serve cold gristle...I mean steak. We went through customs at 3:00 am to get into Uruguay. It was easier than getting into Canada- stamp, typing, stamp, typing, done. What a delight! At 7:30 we roll into Montevideo, Uruguay. After wolfing down massive amounts of food and checking into our hostel, we ventured into Ciudad Vieja. Plaza Independencia Highlights -Seeing the beautiful old buildings in a city that is a Latin American and slightly European Palacio Salvo was the tallest building in Latin America when it was built in 1920 ...

140 pounds a year .  La vaca es el animal mas importante en Argentina . The cow is the most important animal in Argentina. Per person. Los ciudadanos comen 50 percento mas tan los estadunidenses. The citizens eat 50 percent more than Americans. Mis pensamientos? Traigame el bife . My thoughts? Bring me the beef. Thursday night we went to La Cabrera, a parrilla steakhouse in Palermo Soho. It's been written up in the New York Times, and is supposed to be one of the city's best. We arrived and waited about 30 minutes. We sat down to a basket full of bread and some dipping sauces and started scouring the menu. We started with a bottle of Malbec (15 US $) and some water (5 US $- yes water costs). We finally decided on Skirt and Flank (sharing is the way to go at parrillas). And thank the lord we did. Because HOLY CRAP it was a lot of meat. Three cuts of skirt steak and like a brick and a half of flank. Plus, the sides (all included), like hearts of palm...