We’re in the heat of the summer and even though bikini season is in full swing here in Argentina and Uruguay, we’ve got our eyes on the future in 2009.  But that doesn’t mean that 2008 won’t come back to haunt us so that’s why I’m here to remind us of the best and worst of 2008 so we can take from the good things and learn from the past so that we don’t let history repeat itself.

BEST OF BA 2008

Democrats Abroad Debate Parties
It was great to see people of all nationalities come together to cheer on the dems in the debates.  Great feats of organization, hand holding, tears of joy, etc etc.

Hair Flowers
Nothing says, “I’m a passionate woman who may have just come from a Latin country” like a flower in your hair.  These little trendy accessories have been around since the Spanish Inquisition however, they’re gaining in popularity again.  Ole!

That perfect little summer dress - in so many shapes and sizes.
What goes better with your little flower in hair accessory than a lovely lazy summer dress.  2008 saw so many designers reinventing that simple dress - some even went very sassy.  Luckily, the right one is out there for anyone who visits this city in the next few months!

Global Awareness
So it’s catching on…earlier this year I reported on the passing of the law for the province of Buenos Aires to start banning the plastic bag. It’s getting easier to see sustainable design here in BA - although we have a long long way to go here, something is better than nothing. I wholeheartedly give my blessing to the continued success of this trend in BA.

Google Maps Reach Argentina
Just a few months ago if you typed in an address in Google Maps for something in Buenos Aires, you would see a big blank page.  Finally, they got the hint and even put in the directions of the streets.  Above and Beyond the call.  Thanks! Google Maps.

WORST OF BA 2008

Poopypants!
Okay, I have to admit, I’ve been seeing these since I first moved here, but I just don’t know how this trend hasn’t stopped.  Seriously peeps, can we not move on?  Friends don’t let other friends wear poopypants.  It’s just not right.

poop! poop!

Fights with the Campo
Mid-year, President Christina took on farmers as they fought for their rights and taxes. This led to the farmers to blockade major routes and stop products from getting to Buenos Aires city.  Shops were without meat, vegetables, low on flours, sugars and other products that come from outside of the capital. Let’s not do this again.

Spare some change?
In the last few years, Argentina (not only BA) has had some problems with spare change - mainly - there isn’t any.  From small shops to large firms, banks and everyone but the bus companies - everyone’s having trouble finding monedas.  But with this economy’s ups and downs it’s worthy to note that the change isn’t even worth the amount of money that it takes to print.

Fires in Ushuaia
Surprisingly, very little notice was given this year to a tragedy at the southernmost city in the world.  Literally hundreds of hectares of forestland have incinerated in the past month due to raging fires in Patagonia.

Visa Fees Announcement for Yanquis
Even though it’s starting in 2009, looks like the Kirchner camp is trying to make a few bucks by playing the reciprocity card.  As of March, 2009, countries that charge a visa application fee will be reciporically charged upon entering the country.  This means you, United States. lookie.

This past week my best friend from university came to visit me, so I’ve been on holiday.  Sorry for the late replies in email and lack of posting.  But now I’ve got a lot to catch up on.

Let me start off by saying that I played “tourist” in Buenos Aires all week, and even after living here for three years, I learned new things, met new people and above all, fell in love again with the city that I call home.

Even though we had unseasonably warm weather this week (heat index around 42 degrees celcius - 107 farenheit) and then the last two days flash flooding - we still managed to get out to enjoy Buenos Aires and stay in a few hours to cook up some lovely treats.

This is just a preview as I will definitely give more detail on this later - but one of the highlights of the week was invtenting a cupcake from a very very very awesome cake recipe.

For those people who associate the trendy city of Buenos Aires with slender, good looking people - it must seem pretty confusing to see the locals overindulging on steaks, fried foods and lots of carbonated drinks.

Here in what is arguably South America’s most cosmopolitan city - where the body-obsessed come for plastic surgery and body treakments; where a size 1 is “average” - it’s surprising that there aren’t more places dedicated to eating and drinking for health.

Just two years ago, then life insurance salesman Marty Hanna came to visit Buenos Aires from Miami.  He and his friend Juan Dulanto noticed the same thing - a lack of healthy alternatives to the charming cafes that line the sidewalks of this city.  Needless to say, their lives turned a new direction when they decided to open Pura Vida Juice Bar that year.  It was the beginning of an uphill climb to get the portenos to ditch their cafe con leches for tropical smoothies and a shot of wheatgrass -but it’s a move that has resonated well with the locals and tourists alike.

I went to their original locale in the Recoleta (just a few blocks from the famous cemetery) last Thursday with my friend Bruno, a native of Rio de Janeiro who is undoubtedly used to the juice stands lining the beaches in his native Brasil.

As we walked in, we were shocked at the amount of customers in this small room - which was literally the juice bar and a few stools around it - but the line moved rapidly and everyone seemed to be in a good mood.  I approached the counter to see everyone behind the bar working furiously, yet the strangest thing occurred to me - everyone was smiling, laughing and getting their jobs done super fast!

We had a chance to sit down with Marty Hanna and Andrea Wiholm and talk a little bit about living in Argentina as foreigners, but somehow, every few minutes the conversation got directed back to the food that we were eating - mostly by me, and mostly because my body was in shock and so happy to be consuming delicious organic food.

Everything they serve at Pura Vida is organic and healthy - there are no sodas or sugary drinks and no alcohol nor coffee. This made the choice so hard because I literally wanted everything on the menu - luckily, Andrea suggested a Mediteranean Salad that included fresh greens, salmon and hummus and a “Berry Berry Good” Smoothie of mixed berries.  The combos and flavors were exciting and the dressing (made with soy) was absolutely DIVINE.  Bruno had a wrap with all sorts of greens and bulgur wheat topped off by a  “Maracuya Madness” smoothie - filled with passion fruit and banana flavors - what a combo! As Marty sat by watching us scarf down our food, he savored the moment that he could take his daily wheatgrass shot.

I have never tried wheatgrass, but I didn’t realize just how good it is for us until now. Aside from bringing the body’s PH levels down and flushing out bad cells and acting as a blood transfusion (yes! you read that right!) it holds all the nutrients that we can live by.  I’m not going to spoil any of Marty’s ideas, but he’s got some plans in the works that go above and beyond his company’s philosophy of education and will be working to help poor communities here in Argentina where children die of starvation and suffer malnutrition.

After our fabulous time, Bruno and I hiked off with renewed energy to the Recoleta cemetery and Design Buenos Aires.  I must say, I really liked being able to properly power up before going to do some touristy stuff, so the location is fab - but I fear that not enough tourists know about its proximity to that touristy area - especially if they’re coming from the group of hotels on the other side of the cemetery and park.

There are two locations for Pura Vida - the original (and smaller of the two) in the Recoleta and the other in the downtown area of the city.  Rumor has it that the Recoleta stand will be moving to Palermo (pre-emtpive hip hip hurrah!) so that us shop-a-holics can also get our daily fixes of healthy so that we can continue to look beautiful in whatever we choose to buy.

For some unadulterated YUMMY-ness, Pura Vida is located:

Recoleta
Uriburu 1489 (between French and Pena, just three blocks from the Recoleta Cemetery)
Tel. 4806-0017
Open Monday to Saturday: 10:30am - 9:00pm

Microcentro
Reconquista 516 (between Lavalle and Tucuman)
Tel. 4393-0093
Open Monday to Friday: 9:00am - 6:00pm

Delivery Hours: 11:00am - 5:00pm

Also check out their website for updates, menus, delivery maps and more information. http://www.puravidabuenosaires.com

Once upon a time in the 70s and 80s, Mar del Plata was THE place for the rich and famous of Argentina to have a weekend home near the beach.  Every summer this city just a few hours south of Buenos Aires along the Atlantic Coast would turn into a mini Buenos Aires with an ocean view.  Hotels would fill up, the glamour ous casino would experience its hay day and bars, cafes and expensive restaurants filled as this mini-Cannes would become the temporary home to Argentina’s elite masses.

Since the last economic crisis in 2001, Mar del Plata became more affordable to the middle class of Argentina and to this day hotels sell out completely during the peak summer months of November through March.

This year marks the 23rd annual Mar del Plata Film Festival - one of the most prestigious film festivals of South America.  Participants include filmmakers not only from Argentina but from the entire world, classifying this festival in the category “A” by the FIAPF, making its counterparts the festivals in Cannes, Berlin and Venice.

This year three movies to keep your eyes on are

1. Panorama by Thomas Clay (Spanish: Soi Cowboy) projected on the 12th and 13th of November
2. The Hurt Locker by Katheryn Bigelow starring Ralph Feinnes and Guy Pearce. Bigelow herself will be attending the event. Check the Mar del Plata Film Festival official website for more information.

From the official festival website:

The Cinema Festival is the annual meeting between the audience and the traditional and avant-guard cinematographies that are screened in the many parallel sections.

Since 1996 up to the last edition in 2007, many foreign personalities have attend the festival, among them Gina Lollobrigida, who was payed tribute for being the most popular celebrity to attend the first festival in 1954, Jacqueline Bisset, Elsa Martinelli, Raquel Welch, Renee Zellweger, Francisco Rabal, Amparo Soler Leal, Lina Wertmüller, Percy Adlon, Arturo Ripstein, Pilar Miro, Dino Risi, Alfonso Arau, Antonio Ferrandiz, Abbas Kiarostami, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Catherine Deneuve, Geraldine Chaplin, Sonia Braga, Emily Watson, Julie Delpy, Nikita Mijalkov, Sally Potter, Alex de la Iglesia, Liv Ullman, Jeremy Irons, Alan Rickman, Philip Noyce, Istvan Szabo, Gerard Depardieu, Volker Schlöndorff, María de Medeiros, Helen Mirren, Vittorio Taviani, Mario Monicelli, Hanna Schygula, Kathleen Turner, Héctor Babenco, Ken Russell, Bob Rafelson, Norman Jewison, Susan Seidelman, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Krzystof Zanussi, Michael Winterbotton, Abel Ferrara and Juliette Binoche.

To get to Mar del Plata, there are several buses running daily and nightly from the Retiro station as well as a slightly more expensive option of a train from Buenos Aires.  Reserve your hotels in advance as the Davis Cup is happening at the same time.  (Keep your eyes peeled for Guillermo Vilas!).

Surf’s up!

Don’t forget your bathing suit and some suntain lotion, because there are miles and miles of beautiful beaches, lots of shopping and nightlife around the city and great seafood to be eaten!  Right about now you can also catch a glimpse of the migrating Southern Right Whales by going out to the pier with the Jesus statue that looks like Rio’s Corcovado.

And don’t be fooled by the Port.  Although there are plenty of restaurants to find fresh seafood, the Port of Mar del Plata is more buffet style, not so awesome places to eat (imagine “Long John Silvers” food chain).

So my suggestion is to move slightly away from the port.  For excellent seafood a must try is the Taberna Baska at 12 de Octubre 3301.  One of their specialties is my favorite - “chupirines en salsa negra”, squid cooked in its own ink sauce.  Fabulous.

If you’ve got a car or rent a car while you’re down there, its worth a trip to drive just a 15 minutes south of the Farol, the lighthouse to the beautiful cliffs. If you’re not into landscape, there’s plenty of shopping to be done in the city center where they have a street similar to Florida Street in Buenos Aires - no cars allowed, just shopping shopping shopping.

If you’re looking for shopping but are looking for something a little more exclusive, go to the old city center of Mar del Plata, on Guemes Street.  You can find some really nice cafes, restaurants, bars, almacens and ice cream shops to enjoy a lovely warm afternoon.  But be sure to not overdo going to cafes during the afternoon and evening hours, because the real time to be seen at the cafes in the city so fondly called “La Feliz” (Happy) is at breakfast.

The typical Argentine sits at the cafe in the morning with his cafe con leche and tres medialunas (what other people know typically as croissants). but where you go says a lot about who you are.  There are two main cafes that are THE place to be seen in the morningtime.  Confiteria Boston that looks out over the ocean is right at the same level as the boulevard where people take their morning walks along the oceanfront just on the Bahia Varesse. Up until a few years ago, medialunas from this place where considered the BEST in Argentina, however there’s another place that has risen to the challenge with a little more sophistication and sweetness. Tio Curzio is a two story restaurant and reception hall located in a restored old mansion looking out over the ocean with an elegant patio, great views and medialunas that are addictive from the very first bite.

Of course, when you arrive to Mar del Plata, you’ll definitely see a lot of advertising for Havanna for the famous alfahore Havanna was born in this city.  Go to any of the cafes to try some of their delicious goodies and coffees.  Anything Havanna is a great gift from this little city by the ocean.

Just like in Buenos Aires, there are tons of great ice cream shops and pizzerias - which makes the city a great place to go weather you’re by yourself, with some friends or with your family.

For more information on the Film Festival, with listings of the programs and dates and times, go here: http://www.mardelplatafilmfest.com/.  But before you go, make sure you have lodging since the Davis Cup is being held in Mar del Plata at the same time this year.  That’s a big deal, so check things out before you go.

I’ve been to Mardel several times over the past three years, so check out my Flickr Mar del Plata set.

no. no. no. 

I love Buenos Aires Fashion.  I wish that I could pull off some of the wonderful, hot clothes that people wear here, like skinny pants, high-heeled pointy boots, these short tops… ohh I love it all (almost) but one trend that has been around since at least 2004 when I first came here are these terrible terrible pants.  Some might know them as parachute pants or hammer pants.. but I like to call them “Poopy Pants” because it looks like the wearer has pooped in their pants and their pants are sagging to the floor, slowly but surely.

Wearers of these pants say that they’re “comfortable”, but to me, they just look rediculous.  Just say no, Buenos Aires.  Just say no.

Today is Martin’s birthday.  Martin is not only a great friend and associate but seriously one heck of a guy.  He just returned from Puerto Varas, Chile, where he was working on some projects with Stiven Kerestegian.

One project in particular worth noting is Es Sustainable - and whether you’re looking at this project from an environmental or design standpoint, either way, these guys are on the right track.  They provide sustainable products to the design community and in turn, sales from these products go back to the local Patagonian communities and towards the efforts to keep alive the indigenous craft traditions that also happen to have little to no impact on the environment.

From cured salmon pelts that come out looking, feeling, smelling - and even with the surprising strength of cow leather to woven products and crin jewelry - there is a solid range of design products that needs to be seen - not only by the public but designers and stores looking to make high quality sustainable products a priority.

Without a doubt, I’m buying some of the salmon leather this summer and sending to my friend Marjorie (of Maud & Marjorie) in Paris so that she can make me the coolest bathing suit in the world.  How about it, swimming in fishskin?

Anyway, happy birthday Martin, and I hope you enjoyed your “Coconut-covered-lemon sponge with blueberry/strawberry surprise filling” cake.  I have to come up with a better name for it. Coconut Lemon Bomb, maybe?

Tomorrow starts the 8th German Film Festival in Buenos Aires.  The German film industry is one of the largest in Europe and since the 90’s has seen a great resurgence with films reaching international acclaim such as Run Lola Run, Good Bye Lenin! and Academy Award winner The Lives of Others that have managed to recapture the spotlight on this New German cinema.  Aside from international releases, a number of smaller budget German films have enjoyed critical success in France, where the term “Nouvelle Vague Allemande” has been applied to smaller productions mostly coming out of Berlin where a circle of directors of penetrating, realistic studies of relationships and characters informally bring their new school of cinema out from behind the shadows of underground cinematic culture.
Location: Recoleta Village Cinema
Link out: Click here
Description: German cinema comes to Buenos Aires for the 8th time.
Start Date: 2008-09-11
End Date: 2008-09-17