Birthday in Buenos Aires

When thinking of how I wanted to celebrate the beginning of my late 20s (better known as my 26th birthday), I thought back to my 2012 Bucket List and decided that there would be no better way to do so than dancing tango in Buenos Aires (see my post from January 10 - item #7). I found round-trip flights from Santiago to Buenos Aires for the low price of $250, booked a room at the Meliá on my American Express points (earned from business trips - thanks Deloitte!) and started to play "travel agent."

Recoleta cemetary

 My efforts searching for the most fun and interesting activities all last week were worth it. In just 3 days time, Eric and I had an extensive tour of "the Paris of South America." With all of the gelato and Italian food, I found the city to share more in common with Florence, but the fashionistas of the world have named it the former, so I must concede. We started our trip with a visit to the Recoleta Cemetary. It sounds strange to tour a cemetary, but after going there, I understand why it is on every list of things to do in Buenos Aires. After paying homage to the grave of Eva Perón, we were off to the Museo de Bellas Artes where we got to see some paintings by the likes of Renoir, Degás, Cézanne, Goya, Monet and Manet. We then strolled through the lovely parks in Recoleta over to the giant steel flower clock nearby for an afternoon nap. The flower is a "clock" in that it opens during the day and closes at night and emanates a red glow.

Steel flower

After resting in the park, we were off to Palermo Soho for an Argentine wine tasting. On the tasting menu were the following:

Hom 2009 - Sparkling wine (70% Chardonney, 30% Chenin Blanc) from Mendoza
paired with a pear, walnut & roquefort crostini

Carinae 2011 - Torrontés from Salta
paired with peach and strawberry sorbets

Mairena 2010 - Bonarda from Luján de Cuyo
paired with brie and longaniza (Argentine salami)

San Gimignano 2010 - Malbec from Maipu
paired with a steak empanada spiced with cumin and onions

Caluna 2009 - Blend (48% Malbec, 42% Cabernet Savignon, 10% Merlot) from Argelo
paired with chocolate from the Ivory Coast and Ecuador

Ready to wine taste!

If you haven't ever heard of Torrontés or Bonarda, you and I have that in common. I wasn't aware of how little knowledge I had of Argentinian wine! There is a good reason for that, however - only 20% of the production of Argentinian wine is exported outside the country. So, if you are looking for good, hard to find Argentinian wines, you might have to go to Argentina to get lucky!

Eric´s Bife de Chorizo

We retired to our hotel for a nice massage before dinner after the wine tasting. After our massages, we enjoyed dinner at Las Lilas in Puerto Madero. The food was fanstastic and the service presidential. They ended our meal with complementary grappa and lemoncello (another example of why I feel like the city is more Italian than French).

In front of Casa Rosada in Plaza de Mayo

Day 2 entailed a trip to Plaza de Mayo where we visited la Casa Rosada, Argentina's presidential palace. We moved on to La Boca to see what the city's original port was like. The buildings in La Boca are all painted different colors because the original inhabitants would request incoming ships for spare cans of paint, resulting in buildings in a rainbow of colors throughout the barrio. After parousing the touristy stands and watching the street performers, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the evening.

Calle Caminito en La Boca

The Complejo Tango bus picked us up at 7 o´clock to take us to our tango lesson followed by an evening of Argentinian food and a fabulous tango show. The class was a lot of fun. I even think Eric enjoyed it! After the class, we were seated for the show. A little bird shared with our waiter that it was my birthday, which led to one of the handsome Argentinian dancers asking me to dance aside our table. When you dance with a guy who can really lead, it almost makes you feel like you know how to tango! We ventured to one of Buenos Aires' "secret bars" after the show with our new Canadian friends, Kate and Kristen, who we met in the class to enjoy a birthday night-cap before heading home.

We passed the tango class!

On Sunday morning we awoke to a phone call informing us that our tour of the Tigre River had been cancelled due to rain. We gladly took the opportunity to sleep in after two busy days. We then strolled down to Puerto Madero and had a fabulous pasta lunch before heading to the airport to return to Buenos Aires. I can't wait to cross more things off that Bucket List if they are all going to turn out this great!

Puente de la Mujer in Puerto Madero

Día de Enamorados

Now that is what I call a box of chocolates!

Who says you can't find romance at the ends of the earth? I certainly did! Last night was the Valentine's date any girl would dream of. My pololo (the Chilean word for boyfriend) picked me up with the world's largest box of chocolates from various countries on the globe. The inside of the box had a map describing where each chocolate is from: Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Colombia...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

After sharing some champagne and a few chocolates, we headed out to hit the town. Our first stop was the W Hotel for rooftop drinks. I enjoyed a fabulous Peartini while Eric sipped on yet another unsatisfying Bloody Mary. They really cannot figure out a good Bloody Mary in Chile, even at the finest establishments! If someone went into the tomato-juice export business, they would make a killing!

Peartini at the W

From the W, we hopped in a cab to Providencia to dine at Astrid & Gastón, a restaurant that I have been dying to go to since I got to Chile. It definitely lived up to the reputation. Of course, in line with my love for Peruvian food, it is Peruvian. I was curious about the story of the restaurant so I looked up the history online. I took the liberty of translating it to share the romantic story in the spirit of Valentine's Day.

Eric and I at the W Hotel

Astrid y Gastón are a married couple of chefs with a common history. He had left law and she medicine when they met after following their passion for the kitchen and destiny brought them together in Paris where they both began their lives as chefs. The Peruvian (Gastón) eventually convinced the blonde German to go back with him to Peru to build a restaurant, a family, a life and a love story.

Crispy coconut shrimp in sweet potato puree

Crispy piglet with a causa and Peruvian egg roll

They have locations now in Lima (the original), Santiago, Buenos Aires, Quito, Bogotá, Madrid, and Caracas. I want to go to all of them! We started the meal with Camarones Crocantes and fabulous wine. The best thing about the wine in Chile (aside from how amazing it tastes) is the price. Eric let me order the most expensive bottle on the menu which was only approximately $40 US.

Pesto congro eel atop a bed of bucattini pasta

The mains were even better than our starter. I had congor eel swimming in sauce that could have been made in heaven. My handsome date dined on piglet (don't tell Eyore). We moved out to the upstairs patio to finish our wine and a fabulous night at the end of the meal. The evening turned out to be a date that will be very hard to replicate!

His and her's wine

Customs

4:00 PM
Every once in a while, when you live in a foreign country, something happens that reminds you how far away from home you are. For example, my little flu fiasco two weeks ago. Today, FedEx of Santiago reminded me yet again that Dorothy is not in Kansas anymore.

I should start at the beginning of the story and mention that my hatred (yes, I said hatred) for FedEx or Customs (I guess I should figure out who I hate first before hating them) all began about a month ago. After having my iPhone stolen in December, and buying one on Craig's list while I was home over Christmas, I was disappointed to discover upon my return to Chile that I could not unlock it to be used in Chile. My obsession with being connected to my friends and family via Facebook, Skype, Twitter and Blogger led me back to the Apple website time and time again until I gave in and bought a $650 globally unlocked iPhone and had it sent to my parents. Such phones are not for sale in Chile, or I would have just gotten one here. Much to my dismay, I tracked the package only to find out that customs had detained it and FedEx could not provide me with any further assistance. I curled up my tail after a little crying spell on the phone with my dad (even I get homesick sometimes), waited a few weeks, and crawled into a Movistar store to buy my 3rd iPhone in 6 weeks. That is how bad I wanted that phone! So, you can understand a little better now why I am frustrated with FedEx and/or customs.

Well, I wish that were the end of the story, but it is not. Two days ago I got an email from my dad informing me that my birthday box has been detained. I immediately got on the phone with FedEx, the airport, even the US Embassy - who were all completely useless. My iPhone was one thing, but my birthday presents! Oh no, you do not get between a girl and her birthday!

So, I am sitting on a bus as we speak on my way to the airport to rip off some unfortunate customs agent's head unless he gives me my regaloa. I really hope it works out or this chica is going to be one sour grape.

6:15 PM
Update: I am on the metro on my way back from the airport empty handed. How do drug smugglers do it if I can't even convince someone to give me a box of magazines and DVDs? I now know both packages are still in Santiago in the customs warehouse. Unfortunately, they were not properly marked and I have to pay a fine of 50% of the value of the packages for failure to declare the contents properly. They haven't processed the paperwork on my birthday presents yet, so they wouldn't release the box to me. They are going to put the two shipments together to make it so I only have to pay 50% of the total, because a 2nd offense is a 100% fine. I guess there is always a good side to things. I will be able to get my phone (which I now don't need) and my presents (which I will have to pay for) but it will be cheaper if I pay for them together. Lesson learned: declare everything, don't use FedEx, and if you can, just don't get things shipped to Chile from the US.

The best food in Chile is...Peruvian

Asia Maki Popeye - Atún y palta por dentro, envuelto en espinaca. Coronado con tartar de atún en salsaoriental. (Translation = tuna, avocado, spinach and heaven in your mouth)

I've been trying to hide my dislike, or rather indifference, to Chilean food since I arrived almost four months ago (I can't believe it's almost 4 months!) but I've finally come to terms with the fact that aside from avocado and fresh fish, the best food in Chile is PERUVIAN.

Tuna and Octopus Ceviche in Nikkei sauce (whatever it is, I'm addicted)

Tonight I had ceviche and the Peruvian spin on sushi and was literally licking the plate (so embarrassing) from our appetizers. Not to mention the passion fruit pisco sours! Asia Lima in Santiago (www.asialima.cl) beats Asia de Cuba in LA in my books. Whoever first thought of blending Japanese and Peruvian food was a full-blown culinary genius.

The famed Matsuhisa has his influence in Chile as well at restaurants like Coquinaria and Astrid and Gaston (the original kitchen of miso-glazed sea bass). Best of all, however, is Aji de Gallina. If you've never eaten it, drop whatever you are doing right now and google the nearest Peruvian restaurant or recipe that you can find immediately. What pizza and lasagna have done for the world's love for Italian food or Enchiladas and tacos have done for Mexican aficionados pall in comparison to the flavor of Aji de Gallina.

Causa Democrática -

Ideal para probar nuestros diferentes tipos de causa. Vota por la causa que más te

gusta. (Like they say...it's just the best thing you've ever had.)

Then again, who knew ceviche could be made 25,000 ways - or with sweet potatos and hominy! And don't even get me started on the little corn-nut like deliciousness that they put on the table while you wait for ambrosia to arrive. It's no wonder the Peruvians built Machu Picchu if they were eating this stuff.


Camarones del Oriente.

Camarones jumbo y rulos de camote bañados en salsa de maracuyá.

Maitencillo

What is the best cure for the flu? A weekend at the beach, of course. After taking a few days off to recover from my illness, I packed up my bathing suit and followed the rest of Santiago to the coast last weekend. We rented a house on the beach for ten and let the fun begin.

Our party was quite the international crowd hailing from the US (of course), Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain and oh ya...a Chilean that lives in Milan. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of Spanish, I had to through Portuguee into the mix to make life more confusing.

Chilean baby walking back from the beach

Maitencillo is a quiet little beach town about 2 hours from Santiago that reminds me of the way California was back in the day before it became commercialized. If you ever have a chance to go, it is a MUST. We had an asado on Friday night and headed to the club Ice for a loooong night of dancing. Saturday, we relaxed at the beach, enjoyed a late lunch of seafood and champagne sours at Puntamaira, and went home to nap. After an adventure with the ladies at the grocery store in Omar's stolen Audi (we stole it, not him), it was taco time!

After dinner, we glammed up and headed out to Milcao for drinks before returning to the VIP section at Ice where we danced until dawn.

View from our lunch table in Zapallar

Sunday morning we packed up and headed north to Zapallar, a town that made me feel like I was on the Amalfi coast. We had an amazing meal at Chiringuito of machas (Parmesan clams), locos (grilled abalone), and Chilean sea bass so fresh they must have been caught that day.

I could really get used to this. Sure beats the cold weather in February in the United States!