Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Pampered Dogs and Spa-Treated Cows


I've taken about 20 pictures of the Casa Rosada, the Argentine equivalent of the White House, from several angles and at several times of the day. I don't like any of them except this one, which shows the life of the surrounding plaza -- and I snapped this with pretty much no composition at all out the bus window as we rode past yesterday. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Yesterday was our city sightseeing tour, a five-hour affair that began just before 9 a.m. We rode around for an hour picking up other passengers for our minibus -- which I actually didn't mind because it gave us time to see more street life in Buenos Aires. Then we drove up to the Palermo and Recoleta neighborhoods and worked our way south.


This isn't a great photo but in Palermo we saw several dog walkers with HUGE numbers of dogs. This woman has at least 15 that I can count. The tour guide said middle-class dogs get walked in groups like this, but rich people's dogs get walked alone.

The guide's name was Luz, we think, although she said it so fast we weren't sure. There were two Scottish women on our tour and one other American, from Los Angeles. Everyone else was Brazilian, so we got an intro to Portuguese, hearing the tour conducted in both languages.

Luz, extolling the virtues of Argentine beef, said Argentine cows taste so good because they live on flat farmland and are pampered in "spas."

"If you have an animal without a spa, it's nervous," she said. And I specifically wrote down that quote to use on my blog because I thought it was so funny. Words to live by. I'm sure Olga would agree.

Anyway, in Recoleta we saw the famous cemetery from the outside, but we didn't have time to go in. So I may go back to do that today. We also saw a 200-year-old ficus tree in a public park, and the colonial Church of Nuestra Señora del Pilar.

Then we piled into the bus and made our way via several other sites to the Plaza de Mayo, the central square.


Inside the Metropolitan Cathedral, we saw the tomb of General José de San Martín, who is considered a founding father of Argentina (and also Peru and Chile). Yes, those are real guards standing there, but it's possible to walk in and look around the chapel, as you can see those kids are doing.


Then we went to the Caminito Market (above) by way of the football stadium, known as "La Bombonera" and one of the most famous in the world. Dave and I aren't much for football but we took an obligatory photo. The guide asked us a couple of questions early on about which team we followed and that kind of thing, but it was so clear we were utterly clueless that she gave up talking football to us.


The Caminito Market and surrounding neighborhood of La Boca were great for photography. Lots of brilliant colors and busy street life.

We finished up with an early afternoon wine tasting, and rather than ride back to the hotel with the group Dave and I left the tour at that point to have lunch and find our own way home. Dave got empanadas, which are quite popular here. And we bought this bottle of wine:


Because really, how could we pass up a giraffe boxing a man wearing a paper bag, with a UFO hovering in the background and beaming up a spa-treated, not-nervous cow? Oh, and all the musicians on the bottom of the label are monkeys.

Last night we went to La Brigada, a steakhouse and grill recommended by Luz. It was fabulous -- full of quirky photos and memorabilia, like framed, autographed football jerseys covering the ceiling. I had lomo (filet mignon) and it was tender and beautiful. That cow was clearly not nervous, though it should have been. I also had salad and tiramisu. We left happy. I'm not sure I have ever eaten so much beef in a single sitting.

19 comments:

  1. I admire the interior of "white house". The sculpture is incredible.

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  2. Middle class dogs!! Great virtual tour, a city I know nothing about. I wonder if the tour guide was amazed that you don't follow teams?

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  3. A failed attempt by dogs to recreate The Beatles Abbey Road crossing.
    I buy wine by the label and that bottle I would buy.
    I pretend I follow a football team, just to answer the often asked question. I have no knowledge.

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  4. My guess is that it isn’t the spa but the diet. I bet their cows eat grain. Grain feed beef is so much more tender and flavorful than grass fed beef, I have assumed the reason they market the grass fed stuff so much in the U.S. is to sell the leftover stocks after those in the know bought out all the grain fed stocks.

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  5. Ooh, I want to go! I’m loving this tour. I would have bought that bottle of wine!

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  6. Oh wow - Argentine! So envious in many ways; it always strikes me (from afar) as an amazingly diverse, beautiful, flawed and yetmfabulous country!

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  7. Love the tour and the colorful photos but I would be scared trying to corral fifteen dogs down a busy sidewalk!

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  8. Color! So much color! I love it all. And that is the best wine label I have ever seen in my life. I would have bought that bottle and I don't even drink wine.
    So get this- Glen is meeting up with his sister in Dallas before the flight to Las Vegas and they are going to an Argentinian restaurant to celebrate their birthdays. I have seen the menu. It is basically MEAT. I hope it all comes from spa-raised animals.

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  9. The streets are buzzing and the colors and light are amazing. I hope you bring the fun/unique wine bottle home. The beef dinner sounds fantastic. There must be a London spa for Olga...

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  10. This is such a fun post. Your meal sounds great. I remember eating a lot of beef when I was there. I never heard the "spa" story about the calm cows.
    That wine label is crazy. I hope you do go to the cemetery. It is certainly worth a visit. I have hundreds of photos from there.

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  11. I would be the hit of Cork Poppers if I brought a wine with that fabulous label! (I hope it was good!) Can you imagine picking up that much dog poo on a walk? And what do you do with that many dogs when scooping it up? And how many bags would you have to have with you? And where to dump them? Oh, and the city looks fabulous too. (And your dinner sounds great!)

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  12. I think the pink house is all the better for showing its surrounding life.

    That is an intriguing label....I would do a little research on all the images..perhaps soak the label off?

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  13. Thanks for the photos. I'm traveling vicariously through you and Dave.

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  14. America is so drab compared to latino cultures. and how could you not buy that bottle of wine just for the label alone! curious that Argentina figures so much in Brazil.

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  15. I love all the brightly colored buildings! So was the wine as good as its label was cute?

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  16. From what I've heard you're in the right place to overeat beef. I've read that Argentine steaks are the best in the world. (Take that, you Japanese with your Wagyu and Kobe stuff!)

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  17. I would say that even after one day you are happy you went to South America.

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  18. Argentina is famous for beef for a reason! Is their wine also good? You're seeing such beautiful sights and eating well too. I love tiramisu!

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  19. I love the shadow of the tree. Fascinating set of pictures. That steak sounds quite divine.

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