(Picture of Shyama which sums up our experience of the poor food quality).
Love Buenos Aires! Wish we could have stayed here longer. You need atleast 4 or 5 days to enjoy this city.
The Hostel Estoril was fantabulous!! Besides the noise factor in our room which was facing the main road, it was a great place to stay.
We spent all day wondering around Buenos Aires trying to find tiketek. That was quite an adventure as the only words of spanish we seem to know or use are "si (yes) and gracias (thank you)". Anyway after much wondering around from place to place we managed to find tikatek. The only problem, as we have found over and over again was the fact that the bookings officer didnt know a word of english. We finally booked a tango and dinner show not realising that "Cena" means dinner. But as fate would have it it was all worth it. The Tango show has been the highlight of my trip so far and Shyama has some fantastic footage and photos which you will see later. I strongly recommend any visitors to check out the San Telmo area that has most of the tango bars. We went to a show at Taciendo and I absolutely loved the music and dancing and absolutely hated the food. So far Sth America has measured up to it´s reputation of having really really bad food, especially for vegetarians. Although, we found a vegetarian all you can eat restaurant in Buenos Aires called Bodhi which was great! The only half decent food I have eaten so far.
While leaving Buenos Aires, I left my mark at the airport. Let me explain. So far both Shyama and myself each have encountered really really really bad food at certain places and we tend to laugh it off-partly because in most cases we don´t know what we are ordering since everything is in spanish, but also because we came with low expectations. But this went too far. Airports usually charge 10 times the usual price for a sandwich anyway. I ordered a foccaccia because in the picture it looked good (Tip: never judge the food by it´s picture- even though its difficult since you cant judge it based on the written menu without knowing the language). So when I ordered it, they brough out a dried up, stale, shrivelled so called foccacia, which was costing me about $9 or 10 AUD. Shyama and I looked at it and couldnt help but laugh out loud. She was so amused that she even took a photo of it (u will c it later). I took a bite but it was completely inedible so i went up to the counter to complain. Again, very interesting when you don¨t speak the language. But overall I think it translated and they were going to give me a fresh one, instead they sent me a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich (which costs about $5AUD). I didn´t say anything since I assumed they had no fresh ingredients for the focaccia and I am trying not to be fussy...lol. The toasted sandwich was edible. When the bill came out however, the lady had charged me for the focaccia instead of the sandwich- overcharging by about $4 which is a lot when you are travelling, but more so if you havent been give the food you are paying for. Then she was being a total beeeyatch and saying its not her problem that i ordered the focaccia and returned it. So the story goes on and Shyama was by my side the whole time- the righteous side..lol. Eventually Shyama and I were the last people to board our flight because of this little incident. We finally got the right change after much argument with 2 different counterhands. Uff! What an ordeal. I have a feeling that I can proudly say I have tasted food with not only Australian spit, but possibly even Argentinian spit..lol.
Our theme song for this trip has been decided - DONT WORRY BE HAPPY! Lyrics are currently being brainstormed.
Adios
Jag.
The Hostel Estoril was fantabulous!! Besides the noise factor in our room which was facing the main road, it was a great place to stay.
We spent all day wondering around Buenos Aires trying to find tiketek. That was quite an adventure as the only words of spanish we seem to know or use are "si (yes) and gracias (thank you)". Anyway after much wondering around from place to place we managed to find tikatek. The only problem, as we have found over and over again was the fact that the bookings officer didnt know a word of english. We finally booked a tango and dinner show not realising that "Cena" means dinner. But as fate would have it it was all worth it. The Tango show has been the highlight of my trip so far and Shyama has some fantastic footage and photos which you will see later. I strongly recommend any visitors to check out the San Telmo area that has most of the tango bars. We went to a show at Taciendo and I absolutely loved the music and dancing and absolutely hated the food. So far Sth America has measured up to it´s reputation of having really really bad food, especially for vegetarians. Although, we found a vegetarian all you can eat restaurant in Buenos Aires called Bodhi which was great! The only half decent food I have eaten so far.
While leaving Buenos Aires, I left my mark at the airport. Let me explain. So far both Shyama and myself each have encountered really really really bad food at certain places and we tend to laugh it off-partly because in most cases we don´t know what we are ordering since everything is in spanish, but also because we came with low expectations. But this went too far. Airports usually charge 10 times the usual price for a sandwich anyway. I ordered a foccaccia because in the picture it looked good (Tip: never judge the food by it´s picture- even though its difficult since you cant judge it based on the written menu without knowing the language). So when I ordered it, they brough out a dried up, stale, shrivelled so called foccacia, which was costing me about $9 or 10 AUD. Shyama and I looked at it and couldnt help but laugh out loud. She was so amused that she even took a photo of it (u will c it later). I took a bite but it was completely inedible so i went up to the counter to complain. Again, very interesting when you don¨t speak the language. But overall I think it translated and they were going to give me a fresh one, instead they sent me a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich (which costs about $5AUD). I didn´t say anything since I assumed they had no fresh ingredients for the focaccia and I am trying not to be fussy...lol. The toasted sandwich was edible. When the bill came out however, the lady had charged me for the focaccia instead of the sandwich- overcharging by about $4 which is a lot when you are travelling, but more so if you havent been give the food you are paying for. Then she was being a total beeeyatch and saying its not her problem that i ordered the focaccia and returned it. So the story goes on and Shyama was by my side the whole time- the righteous side..lol. Eventually Shyama and I were the last people to board our flight because of this little incident. We finally got the right change after much argument with 2 different counterhands. Uff! What an ordeal. I have a feeling that I can proudly say I have tasted food with not only Australian spit, but possibly even Argentinian spit..lol.
Our theme song for this trip has been decided - DONT WORRY BE HAPPY! Lyrics are currently being brainstormed.
Adios
Jag.
