Praça da República

The Praça da República is located smack downtown Sao Paulo and has a Metro station (subway) located on, and named after it. During the business week, it can be a spooky experience to visit, but on Sundays you will find that the city and the park itself wind down to a more human pace.

On its premises you will find an assorted variety of kiosks that sell all types of souvenirs like fancy rocks and beautiful birds carved in stone. Also some really nice paintings sold by the very people that created them.

Considering the high cost of living in Sao Paulo, the prices are not that bad, and you can buy very descent paintings for under 50 bucks.

O Orelhão

I´m amazed at how some people can be colourful (in a good sense) without effort. In more boring places you would need to hire a model an set up props to get a scene like this. Cheers to Brazilian originality.
By the way, these ubiquitous phone booths in Sao Paulo are called Orelhao, which translates roughly to Big ear.

Chilling with green coconut water

Over my many trips to Brazil and other tropical countries I have come to appreciate the benefits of fresh, cold green coconut water, served at many roadside barracks all over the country, in some cases the vendors will knock off the top of the coconut with a  single machete blow.
Besides being refreshing and rich in potassium etc. its something natural and a local fruit that only grows in tropical places. I laugh at people that travel half the way around the world and only drink coke, when you have dozens of tropical fruits with plenty of juice and exotic flavours that you will not find elsewhere.























Now here´s something that you might not know, and it is that on chopping the coconut open (done free of charge by the machete welding vendor), you can spoon out a white jelly , that is the coconut´s pulp  that´s also yummy to eat by itself or with sugar.

Colonia del Sacramento

 
Colonia del Sacramento is located roughly 200 clicks southwest of Montevideo, by the River Plate facing Buenos Aires, and also closer to it than Montevideo. Being one of the oldest towns in Uruguay, I was surprised by the small size of the original Portuguese settlement, since according to the tordecillas treaty, signed by Portugal and Spain, this town was founded by the Portuguese and later handed over to the Spanish.

The cobblestone streets are adorned by stategically placed old cars like this 48´Studebaker champion coupe, that reminds me of a composition I made in grade school that was titled " the Little red Broom Broom car.
Be advised that this is probably the most photographed car in the town, Ive seen it even in a bill board in Buenos Aires.
See the PDF

From the Past: Villa Ojo de Agua

Some photos from a very picturesque small town in Santiago del Estero province in Argentina.
See the PDF

El Jardin Japones

Come springtime in Montevideo its nice to get out and about. A nice place to visit on the weekends is the Japanese Garden, located on the grounds of the "Museo Juan Manuel Blanes" on Avenida Millan 4015 .
Even dough it is´nt very big its a nice place to chill out.

Punta del Este

Not more than 2hrs away from Montevideo sits Punta del este, Uruguay and Argentina´s top seaside city, with the best resorts and fine beachfront apartments. This place becomes the playground of the wealthy people of the region during the summer.

I came here out of season and it was deserted. besides fine beaches, the port is small but interesting with the odd sea Lion sitting on the docks.

The lighthouse is another favourite place for nice pics, and  of course do not miss the sunsets.

Piriapolis

About 100 clics East of Montevideo you´ll find the city of piriapolis, named after its creator Piria, its an interesting stop if your going to Punta del este, or just for a day trip. One of its attractions is Piria´s castle, that was built as his residence.
Francisco Piria was a wealthy man of his time that bought some land in the 1890s and decided to create a Summer resort to entice the locals and nearby argies. The place had  a big hotel,casino and all the necessary tourist trap attractions of the time.

On the occasion of the marriage of his daughter Piria built a church for the ceremony, but was never consecrated as a Catholic Temple, cuz of his a affiliation with masons and alchemists, and unfortunately is now in ruins.

Needless to say that the place has very nice beaches, and a breathtaking view of the whole city from the cerro San Antonio.

Barracas a remnant of a more prosperous time

It seems to me that Barracas has a time of prosperity back in wich they built some sumptuous buildings that are now in a semi decrepit state, like this one on Icalma Street.

Calle Lanin, Barracas

La Calle Lanin is a two block strech of colourfull houses whose fronts have been painted and decorated with mosaics ,the murals there, were created in the year 2001 by local artist Marino Santa Maria ,who  lives on number 33. Its worth going if you have mobility, but the area in general is quite rundown, and gets spooky after dark.



Top 10 pizza joints in Buenos Aires, Angelin, Villa Crespo



Angelin is located at Av. Cordoba 5270, in Villa crespo. Its tucked in a small non descriptive location, But it ranks amongst the best pizzas in B.A., It´s said to count with ilustrious custummers such as Frank Sinatra and Robert Dubal. Its only open after 6pm and is mostly eat on the bar style, with no tourist amenities.

This one is worth the extra mile to enjoy a very good pizza, and fainá with cheese, that is´nt served everywhere.

Oh I was forgetting that they have a very good draught beer as well.

Otra joya del Barrio de Villa Crespo es la Pizeria Angelin, para comer pizza de dorapa y una fainá excelente con un chop bien tirado. El precio no es barato, pero vale la pena, aparte de tener un buen servicio, y te dejan comer y pagar al final, no como esos lugares antipaticos que exigen pagar todo antes de consumir.

Russians in the Pampas



Everyone emigrated to Argentina, including the Russians. Across from Parrque Lezama sits the Russian Ortodox Church of  Buenos Aires, with beautifull blue onion domes, held by chains as was the custom in the white steppes.



Top 10 pizza joints in Buenos Aires, Banchero, La Boca

Located at Av. Almirante Brown 1200, Banchero is one of the places you must visit when you go to La Boca, and you probably will if sightseing in Buenos Aires. Forget bout other tourist trap resto´s, walk a couple of blocks from caminito and you´re there.

The place is a true institution in "La Boca" and in the City for its great Pizza

El Banchero, parada obligatoria de una visita a La Boca, una institución porteña en materia de Pizza.

Parque Lezama, Reminiscing the Past

Benos Aires has a great ammount of Parks, some are called Parques, wich usualy occupy several blocks, and others are called Plazas, wich vary in size, but usualy are´nt bigger than a block.

Parque Lezama is one of the oldest parks in the City, and is said to be the site where Buenos Aires was originally founded.

Its in the boundary between San Telmo and La Boca, two places that you will visit for sure if you come here. Unfortunatelly, it´s a little unkept, but still has some features of its former splendour.

On the Park premises sits the Museo historico Nacional, wich used to be the house of Lezama,that was a whole with the park itself. Its woth visiting if you´re interested in argentine history.



Que decir del Parque Lezama. situado en una zona media abandonada de la ciudad, donde San Telmo deja de ser turistico, y antes de lo único turistico de la Boca, que es caminito. El Museo Historico Nacional, que se encuentra anexo al Parque tiene objetos interesantes de la epoca de Rosas y de la naciente nación argentina.

Top 10 Pizza joints in Buenos Aires, San Antonio, Boedo



San Antonio is located in the intersection of Av.Boedo y Av.Garay, in the neighbourhood of Boedo. Its Pizza is good, but I imagine it was better in the past. Defenitely the best of Boedo. The place has been renovated keeping some of its traditinal elements. This a place to sit down and order a whole pizza, opposed to eating one on the go.

San Antono sigue produciendo buena Zappi, pero me da la impresión que cambió de dueño recientemente y al modernizarla le quitaron algunos elemntos tipicos de las pizerias de barrio.

Top 10 Pizza joints in Buenos Aires, El Fortin, Villa Devoto

El Fortin is located in Villa Devoto, a neighbourhood quite far from the tourist areas, The pizza they make there is good but the Fainá is supperb, The place is in a vintage-derelict state, and the sevice is in your face, only spanish spoken, the price is very cheap, and defenitely worth stopping by if you´re in the area.



Jalapeños with argie attitude
















While living in Mexico, I picked up one of many cullinary bad habbits, wich is my love for hot peppers. I said goodbye to the fresh version of these, since outside Mexico you can only find the canned type. To my amazement I discovered that they also grow them in Argentina, and they come with an extra punch., so I decided to marinade an can my own. powerfull stuff these jalapeños. They seem to have adquired the local attitude.

Vauquita, Bliss in a snack

Allow me to introduce you to the ultimate argentine brain food. Its called Vauquita, maybe in analogy to vaquita, that means little cow, and consists of a small bar made entirely out of dulce de leche (no translation for that, even if someone says its like caramel. you wo´nt know till you have some). I have finally found an alternative to Jujuves and Jelly beans, that are very hard to come by here, to provide some high sugar content in a small size snack, that will get me trough hours of photo editing.

¿Por que se llama Vauquita? Nadie lo sabe, a pesar de que muchos le dicen Vaquita igual, he aquí la solución para el antojo de comer dulce de leche sin tener que acudir al pote y la cuchara, y al enchastre consecuente. Indispensable en el cajón de todo esclavo fotográfico, y adicto al azucar.

The rain in spain...

The rain falls mostly in the plain, not only in spain. Buenos aires has had a tendency to flood every time it rains, still there are nice shots to be taken.

Chacarita and its Cemetery

The cemetery owes its existence to a yellow fever epidemic in 1871, when existing cemeteries were strained beyond capacity (La Recoleta cemetery (see other post) refused to allow the burial of victims of the epidemic). Students of the of San Carlos Colege appropriated 5 hectares (12 acres) in the adjoining Colegiales neighbourhood to bury the thousands that had deceased.
Its Buenos Aire´s biggest and has many famous buried there, such as Carlos Gardel, the Tango Icon.

Top 10 Pizza Joints in Buenos Aires - El Imperio - Chacarita

El Imperio de la Pizza has two locations Av. Corrientes 6899 and Fco. Lacroze, Chacarita, both in Buenos Aires (city). These pics are from the one in Chacarita, that has retained its original looks. Right across from the train Terminal and the subway station, it has been a resting spot for millions of hungry travellers during decades.
By the way, when you go to this places, do´nt order a large pizza, go for the slice with fainá and eat it at the counter.

Entre las pizerias mas clasicas de Buenos Aires, se encuentra el Imperio con sus dos sucursales, un poco mas lejos de las que están en el centro, o en la Boca, pero con la misma calidad porteña.

Fall in the southern hemisphere

The trees are finaly ripe for good autumn pics, same way I have my favourite Maples in Canada, I´ve found some Oak trees here that are wonderful in the fall.

Tandil

Tandil, located 360 kms to the south of Buenos Aires, is a nice rural city, with few urban atractions but with nice pampean views and rolling hills. It features a Way of the cross made in marble. also renownwd for its salame (dried sausages) and dairy products. There´s a store called "El Mundo del Dulce de leche", where you can find all the home made types, that you can't purchase in the city.





Top 10 Pizza joints in Buenos Aires - Guerrin - Centro

It´s known that the Pizza in Buenos Aires rankes amongst the best in the world, among the many pizza joints in the city, one of the best 10 is Guerrin, in Av. Corrientes. I had the house´s own, with sweet peppers and olives.
Stay tuned for my pilgrimage to the top 10 pizerias in Buenos Aires.

La pizza en Baires es la mejor, despues de haber comido en varias pizerias de Norte a Sur en Italia, te digo que si no le gana le empata. Aqui se puede comer pizza en cualquier esquina, pero hay ciertas pizerias que son únicas pues no tienen sucursales, o franquicias. Guerrin es una de ellas ubicada en el corazón de Buenos aires en la calle Corrientes a dos cuadras del obelisco, el precio me pareció un poco caro para los locales, pero para quien viene del exterior, es un regalo.

San Luis Province a well kept secret

Had the chance to visit the city of San Luis located in the province with the same name. I must say that it was a welcome change from the cement jungle that´s Buenos Aires. Nice folk and fair wether along with simple but charming hills.

At the Malvinas Memorial

In Passing by Retiro the other day I spotted the Malvinas memorial located there, that is normally guarded by static soldiers, at that moment the sun was lighting the Cavanagh building at the background. To take it I had to dodge a tourist guide lecturing to some tourists and wait for some shady caracters that were wandering around, to leave, all this while the sun was rapidly setting. This was the place where an unfortunate photographer was stabbed and killed to rob him of his camera last year.

Have I mentioned San Telmo

San Telmo (named after Pedro González Telmo, Saint Telmo, who was a Spanish Dominican Saint) is one of the primitive neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, much visited and crowded by tourists. There you can find well established antiquee shops as well as a semi-permanent antique fair.San Telmo's attractions include old churches (e.g. San Pedro Telmo), museums,restaurants and antique stores, which provide many colourful subjects for photos.

Embu, the colonial Brazil

Blogging has been kinda slow in 2013, in part due to my laziness in processing and my aversion to writing. Why did I get into this in the first place?
Anyway while in Sao Paulo,Brazil, I dropped by this Little colonial Town called Embu. Its as colonial as you´ll get close to the mega city of Sao Paulo.

Photos from my last trip to Montevideo

Montevideo was very prolific in photo oportunities, so here is the PDF with some shots from the Trip.

Chillin in the Sun

That's basically what I've been doing lately, same as this Dragonfly. Have'nt been taking too many pics, but have been concentrating on editing what I have already stocked.

NORCO Scrambler Stolen

They got me this time, I left my NORCO bike chained at a most busy intersection (Av. La Plata y Venezuela) and it was gone without a trace. I survived Toronto,Mexico and London, but they got me in Buenos Aires. Anyway this post is intended for you expats living in Buenos Aires. Since this is a very unusual make in Argentina, if you happen to see a NORCO Scrambler, drop me a line.