travelswithalice

December 30, 2018

Recoleta

Christmas at Alvear Palace.

We walk to Sottovoce for Noche Buena.

You can’t leave before 12, insists the pretty girl blocking my exit. She’s partying with her elderly parents and she teaches me how to dance the cumbia.

Everybody’s intent on partying right up to Christmas Day. You can’t walk two feet without someone handing you a glass of champagne. In the end, you just give up, drop your purse at the nearest table, and dance.

Soon, we’re Feliz Navidad-ing and kissing and dancing with whoever happens to be near by. I call over Sergio our waiter. He also happens to be a dance instructor.

We’ve left tango behind in San Telmo.

Labels: christmas, Noche Buena, Sottovoce

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # December 30, 2018

December 29, 2018

PLAZA DORREGO (a short film)

Labels: San Telmo, tango

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # December 29, 2018

December 21, 2018

San Telmo to Puerto Madero

It took us an hour to get from San Telmo to Sottovoce in Recoleta. Lunch was good but because it was raining, getting there and back cost us the same on Uber as the lunch itself.

We’ve decided to move to Puerto Madero. Anselmo has lost its charm for the moment; it’s too busy now.

But before leaving San Telmo, we have lunch at another favourite, Cafe San Juan.

And of course we have to soak up the Plaza Dorrego atmosphere once more. We ham it up with Natalia and Adrian.

After several days in San Telmo, Puerto Madero works on me like sorbet does at a meal that has become too rich or too spicy. It cleanses the palate; prepares it for more adventurous flavours.

Puerto Madero is cosmopolitan; it’s familiar; it’s comfortable. Life becomes easier here, less complicated.

And consequently, less exciting maybe?

Labels: Plaza Dorrego, Sotto Voce

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # December 21, 2018

December 20, 2018

Plaza Dorrego: Tango!

First lunch in Buenos Aires is in El Rincón on Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo, in front of our hotel, Hotel Anselmo.

It’s a beautiful summer afternoon. We arrived yesterday to a cold, grey evening but today has turned sunny and we sit in the shade of sheltering Kapok trees.

We share a green salad and a plate of agnolotti stuffed with beef, spinach, ricotta, and nuts. The food is simple and quite good but what we’re really here for is the tango.

Stuart sizes up the competition.

Even friars are not immune to the allure of tango.

Stuart’s got errands to do but I’m staying until the tango dancers leave at 5. I’ve got a glass of wine to keep me company.

Labels: Buenos Aires, San Telmo, tango

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # December 20, 2018

December 19, 2018

Patagonia: Earth, Water, Sky

Breathtaking beauty, wild nature in Patagonia.

Calbuco Volcano rises above the city of Puerto Montt. Its most recent eruption was in 2015.

Beside it, the glacier-covered cone of Osorno Volcano, one of Chile’s most active volcanoes.

And the two volcanoes side by side at dusk.

White water on the blue Petrohue River.

Sky over Puerto Montt.

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # December 19, 2018

December 17, 2018

In Patagonia

We’re in Puerto Varas, Patagonia, in Chile’s Lake District, on the shore of Lake Llanquihue.

There’s a white-tented Christmas market on the lakeshore, a choir singing carols in the town square, and circus performers at traffic stops on busy intersections, all lending a festive air to this lakeside town.

With Patagonian weather so changeable and unpredictable, and distances one must cover so vast, plans and schedules are fluid. This morning started sunny but rain clouds soon claimed the rest of the day. We set off anyway for Ancud, hoping to see penguins on the island of Chiloé.

For Stuart and me, newly arrived from five days in the Atacama Desert, the contrast between the driest place on earth (except for the polar regions) and this lush Patagonian countryside couldn’t be more dramatic. All around are verdant hills, forest covered mountains, and snow-capped volcanoes. Delicate field flowers and masses of gorse bushes line roads that wind through grazing fields and woodlands.

The lush green landscape gives way to blue waters as we board a ferry to cross the Chacao Canal.

We’re on the southern coast of the Pacific Ocean. The plan is to get a boat to take us to one of the smaller islands to look for penguins. The sea however has turned rough.

A pretty café overlooking the sea beckons.

In a tossup between getting tossed about at sea in a small boat and the promise of a nice cup of coffee, Café Amaranthine wins hands down.

As it turns out, we get something more substantial than coffee. Two steaming bowls: one of quinoa and vegetable stew and another of tomato and kale soup. It all sounds suspiciously healthy but they taste really good too!