November 08, 2005
Winding Down with the Canadians
The Nicholson's Story
It was Friday Sept. 23, 4pm Happy Hour. The last of our summer guests had left & Jim & I were so tired that we decided to open a bottle of wine & go to Bill's Blog...Off we were in Argentina! The vivid descriptions, of Bill & Betty's adventures caught us off guard! For the next 3 hours & another bottle of wine we got to know them all over again. We saw their decorated new home, their new friends, their favorite haunts & restaurants, their parties and oh how the time flew! I looked at Jim and said "let's go!"
After a few e- mails & phone calls Bill & Betty guided us through some planning such as; buy your internal flight tickets before you leave your own country, hotel arrangements for Iguazú & Mendoza & they reserved our B&B in BA before we got there too.
We left Edmonton on Oct 15th & we were drinking wine with Bill & Betty in their sunny garden on Sunday the 16th @ about 3pm & the wine kept flowing! We were somewhat guarded at first, after all, we had only spent a day together < a great one at that> in Karlovy Vary last Aug 04, touring the Moser Glass factory , drinking a few beers & talking a lot
We had our first taste of Beef & I couldn't believe how good it was! The restaurant was quaint & the meal was superb. Off to our B&B & 4 days of exploring BA. We loved the Cathedral with San Martin the great hero's tomb guarded by two soldiers of his regiment, Florida street, where the Tango dancers were, Recoletta & yes I went to see Evita's grave! Also enjoyed the Museum of Art & The Melba Museum, the Japanese Gardens, the San Telmo district, LaBoca area & we felt safe & took the subte & taxis, not expensive. We met Bill & Betty at the Armenian Hall & took Tango lessons! Jim & I were in the beginner's class & Bill in the advanced class, he cut up a rug!! WE enjoyed the traditional Parrilla, the Mate, the wine but most of all being with Bill & Betty to share it all! Betty taking photos of the whole thing! Jim was asked to dance, & he was very flattered until Bill told him that young girls liked to dance with older men because they were the ones that usually knew how to Tango!! Ha!
We flew to Iguazú Falls & spent 3 days enjoying The Flora & Fauna! The falls are majestic & the walkways easy to maneuver I even touched the spray of the Devil's Mouth! It always amazes me, back in Edmonton it is fall & cold & here the further north you go the warmer it is! Spring time I love IT! The Grand Hotel & Casino Hotel was superb & we saw a most spectacular Tango show! The men can really lead! Back at our B&B in the Belgrano district in BA we were invited by Pablo the eldest son of Christina, the B&B owner, to join him at the horse races. We bet, we lost, but what a great day! Staying in a B&B has great advantages, a tourist gets to be part of a family & really get the feel of a neighborhood.
On oct.19th we flew to Mendoza the wine area near the Andes & Chilean border. Our 5 days there were filled with wine tours, & we tasted & bought wine to share with Bill & also visited an Olive Plantation & bought Oil. We toured the Andes on the region's western edge and we were awed by the changing colors of the 3 ranges. The massive Aconcagua Mountain, as it is called, rose up to great us at 6960m the highest peak! We enjoyed Mendoza very much, the walks to Independence Park, near our Hotel Internacional, the nearby Restaurants, but especially the people. Jim bought a couple of pairs of shoes, lovely leather, 80 pesos cheaper than on Florida Street in BA
Back to BA, we stayed in the Palermo District, at the Christopher Colombo Hotel for a few days, to give Bill & Betty some time to finalize their trip home & then we moved in & the fun "with Bill & Betty" began! Sounds like a first grade reader eh? I had to put in an EH? They were organizing furniture sales and we met a lot of nice people at their English club night. On Saturday, Nov. 5th, preparations for the party were in full swing! Bill cleaning, Betty preparing her famous Potato salad < the Germans thought it was Manna from heaven > me chopping veggies & Jim preparing Hamburgers. Betty decorated the garden with lovely jar candles & the mood was set!
The guests arrived & I counted over 50 people, Bill & Betty are greatly loved & admired. I observed genuine love & admiration for Betty & Bill & they will have left a great impact on their Argentinean friends! The party broke up after 4am!
We spent our last Sunday at a Market in BA, walking, eating& shopping for last minute gifts for the Grandkids. Thanks to Bill & Betty we had a trip of a life time, and I can't even describe, in a narrative, how much it has meant to us to have been so well "looked after" & included in their last days in BA.
Thank you so much Bill & Betty, Tks for your good humor, your generosity of spirit, your "Joie de Vivre ", your incredible knowledge &selfless time devoted to our comfort. We are looking forward to reciprocate with good ole Western Canadian Hospitality next summer in Edmonton!
Lovexx Lise & Jim Nicholson
Little Feet in BA
by Luke Rader
Hola friends,
I'm still feeling a little out of it, because Argentina is at the bottom of the earth. You have the feeling of being upside-down, like a fruit bat hanging from a limb. All the blood rushes to your head and there is less for your feet. So, your feet shrink. My feet have already shrunk a half-size. I used to wonder about why Argentinean men had small feet or why certain men's shoe shops only stocked size 8Ω shoes. Now I know: at one time Argentinean men wore hats, but their heads expanded and they had to give up on that. This condition does not seem to effect the women. Maybe it's because of the water density in their bodies.
Un hug y beso,
Luke
Before I get into heart of my entry, I want to tell you about the story that Luke Rader wrote. He has begun to write a series of very funny little stories about Argentina. They are extremely fanciful. I think that he refers to them as urban myths. Whatever they are, they are funny and I love them. I have included the outline of the first one that he sent to me in this entry. I hope that you enjoy it too.
Steve left jus three weeks ago. As I said in my last entry, no sooner did he leave than the Nicholsons arrived from Canada. Jimmy and Lise are a delightful couple and good company. We took the opportunity to visit some new restaurants with them. Like a day or so after they arrived we went to Polermo with them to visit Social Paraíso. It was a lovely old restaurant with excellent foods and wines. Later that night we stopped at Olsen's for a drink. We took them to La Viruta one night to try the Tango. They came over and spent a day with us between their visit to Igauzu and their visit to Mendoza. The really loved visiting both places. When they got back from Mendoza, they decided to step up a notch and stay at a hotel in the Palermo neighborhood. We had diner one night with them near the hotel at La Cádedra, another very fine restaurant. They moved in with us just last Friday and stayed with us until they left on Monday
Press HERE to see a slideshow
from Jim and Lise's visit.
With Jimmy and Lisa at Social Paraíso
Olsen's Wall Fountain
At La Cádedra
During the past three weeks I have had lots to do. Some of what I have been up to has been pure fun, and other things preparations to leave. The primary preparation has been my electronic online Moving Sale. I created a web page that had pictures and prices for all our stuff. I created an ad on Craig's List for Buenos Aires and then posted a link to my web page. Yes, Craig's List has listings all over the world. I mentioned my Moving Sale in my last BLOG notification and soon I began to get calls. I have sold just about everything. And people will come later in the week to pickup what they have not taken yet. This Saturday everything will go and we will have to move out, not because the rent is not paid but because there will be no bed.
Dancing at La Viruta
The other thing that I started doing about a month ago was going to a Saturday evening event called Talkarama. I have met a lot of interesting people on those Saturday nights. Daniel and Pablo had asked me many times to join them at Talkarama.. They are a couple of my best friends here and it was inevitable that we would start to hangout on Saturdays. We meet in Puerto Madero and talk from 7:00 to 9:30. Then we usually head a half-mile or so to a restaurant in San Telmo. After eating many will go to one of the hundreds of great pubs in San Telmo. It makes for a great evening of socializing. On one of those Saturdays Betty came with me. We did not join the others afterwards that night, because we had a dinner date at Don Ernesto's in San Telmo. We had dinner with Marisol and her son Arturo. Maria Ines and her son Nicolas and his girl friend were there too. Marisol had also invited one of her best friends and her son. Arturo had decided to buy Dain's camera and our bedroom set and we closed the deal. So, Saturdays have been a lot more fun this past month.
A Recipe for Salsa Cruda
Mix the following ingredients:
- 1/2 kilo firm, ripe tomatoes, diced
- 1 large jalapeno chile, seeded, minced
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Pinch of ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
You can also add some garlic,
but make it with out garlic the first time.
Saturday we hosted our last party in Buenos Aires. At least 50 people came. We tried doing less and having more fun at this party. It seemed to work. Jimmy and Lise Nicholson were a great help. Jimmy did the grilling of the hotdogs and hamburgers. I had made a huge pot of Texas Chili the day before. Laura brought Ukrainian dumplings. Marisol and Maria Ines brought some interesting food too, most notably an eggplant dish that was great. I also made Salsa Cruda, which continues to be very popular among some of my friends. I have included a recipe for it. Many people brought wine. We drank more wine that ever before. I tried to get people to drink the hard liquor we have, because it ain't coming home with us. It was absolutely great fun. They ate everything that we prepared. The chili went first. The other thing that was different about this party was that people started bringing their friends. So there were a dozen people that came that I had never met before. I will let the pictures below tell the rest of that story.
The last guests left a little after 4:00 AM. I was exhausted but still could only sleep about five hours. Despite dragging we took the Nicholsons to the Mataderos Fair on Sunday. It was our last visit there, so I bought lots of stuff. We had a great meal. My favorite foods there are the country dishes like a stew called Logro, and empanadas and humita de choclo.
A Note from Jimmy in BA
Hi Bill,
I am running a little late due to all of the foreseen and unforeseen situations that arise when one returns from three weeks in Argentina.
Lise and I arrived at the BA airport after about 27 hours of air travel and airport waiting rooms. You could say that we were not as fresh as daisies but handling the jet lag reasonably well. We negotiated, probably the worst deal in taxi history with the remise counter and were on our way to join Bill and Betty. After 45 minutes we arrived to a gracious welcome, a splash of water to our faces, we were ready to get re-acquainted,
The Bill and Betty residence is well set for an afternoon welcoming "tea" and we were immediately treated to good wine, good cheese and good company. It was as if we had not been apart for one full year and, as we became more and more refreshed with each introduction to new Argentine wines, we relaxed in the comfortable courtyard and confirmed that we had made the correct decision.
As we were staying at The Acacia B+B, as arranged by Betty and bill, they drove us to our lodgings and left us and introduced us to Cristina, Who was to look after us in first class style during our stay.
During our stay we had the pleasure of Bill and Betty's company and also were able to get good travel advice and direction. We shared many wonderful meals of Argentine beef and Mendoza wines and not just a few laughs. We enjoyed the eclectic style of our host couple as we discussed everything from family trees to sudoka. The time flew and we were back and living with Bill and Betty in their comfortable house for the last three days of our stay.
The event of our trip was about to occur as they were planning a final party for their friends. Happily for us, we were included in this Barbeque party cum major social event. Bill had invited about 50 of his friends from all walks of life. I guess that the party was successful as around seventy people arrived, bearing gifts of wine, food and smiles and good humour.
During the day Bill and Betty cooked, cleaned and organised while Lise and I were delegated to prepare food. My job was the barbeque so I mixed the hamburger into patties with special ingredients of onions and cilantro and received my orders from Bill to handle the cooking detail as well. This I had done on many occasions, but not recently on a special grill (adjustable in height) placed over a good cooking fire and coals of argentine variety. I was happy with this job, because it would put me in a position to meet all of the guests and spend a little time with each.
I was inundated with orders and the barbeque was a great success. I actually got a few compliments< which, of course inflated my ego. The people were ALL wonderful and I especially enjoyed meeting the abundance of beautiful and well spoken women of all types' sizes and life styles. Needles to say the party was a great success and will remain in people's minds and conversations for a long time to come.
Bill and Betty have attracted a great variety of strong, capable people into their circle of friends and, because of that and the energy that they have brought to BA, will leave a legacy of positive influence and even lifestyle changes on the people the befriended on their short stay there.
Lise and I feel blessed to be considered as new members of their eclectic group and are waiting to have them on our own territory so we can return the favours.
Thanx again Bill and Betty for EVERYTHING!! Kisses!
Jim
Yesterday in the morning, I transferred my car to Javier. He will need the four-door sedan when the baby comes. In the late afternoon, we drove the Nicholsons to the airport. I know they had a heck-of-a-time. We enjoyed their company and becoming good friends, too.
Luke, Jimmy and Matias  |
Marisa and Marisol  |
Lidia and Me  |
Lidia, Betty, Elisa and Ingo  |
Laura and Lise  |
Irish Tom and Mario  |
Lidia and Susana  |
Martin, Jimmy and Matias  |
| Andrea, Esteban, Sergio and Pablo  |
Guillermo, Esteban and Nicolas with Four Ladies  |
Mario, Gonzalo, Andrea, Monica, Sasha, Carrina and Gustavo  |
Pato, Gonzalo, Gustavo, Ingo, Elisa and Daniel  |
Me and Abraham  |
Gustavo, Javier and Guadalupe  |
Griselda and Daniel  |
Guilad, Betty, Tom and Marina  |
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Betty in Black  |
In the Garden  |
Sergio Olinski  |
Mariana Passo  |
Daniel Grimberg  |