extra fun & fab trip

February 10, 2009

extra fun & fab trip - Part 2

part 2 for the excitement continues..

flight from houston to buenos aires was 14 hours. had a good rest to save every bit of my energy for the next excitement. on arrival, queue for immigration was long.. oookkkaayyy... here's the real deal. but the moment i stepped into the SUV i booked, i know this is going to be a great trip. the town was humble just like any normal town. not new and posh, but average. clean with sunny sun glaring in the sun. to my surprise, the people is not as latinos as i expected. i learnt there were lots of immigrant in past days from italy and other european states, thus explain the slight tanned skin with average build. but gawd!! the guys were hot looking, slight tanned-blue eyes-dark hair just like in the MTV video clip. and the babes were all in D cup donned in tight top and shorts. very laid back. i am living in the telenovelas!

+can you imagine i actually woke up every morning to these view?. puerto madero is soo urban!
you can see here the rio de plata riverbank+

Strongly influenced by European culture, Buenos Aires is populated with 13 million people. mostly roman catholic with very little muslim population ~ 500 people which are turkish or syrian. was made to understand they have 4 mosques funded by king fadh. its port is one of the busiest in South America.

4 things i learnt and loved about buenos aires are :

a. the birth place for tango. originated from the squat neighborhood of the immigrants and lonely sailor man. daniel (our tourist guide) shared that the dance somehow evoluted from a kind of 'cheap dirty dancing'' until it is commercialized today - hot & sexy choreograph with expressive and strong foot skill!

b. Architecture is strongly influenced by Italian and French. Great historical buildings with art-deco and neo-classical style. Visited San Telmo, the oldest neighborhood with 19th century architecture, Recoleta which is an upscale district and La Boca where it is the old port district which maintain 19th century ambiance.

c. Eva Peron, the First Lady of Argentina (second wife to President Peron). She was born out of wedlock and pursued as a stage and film actress as career. She was powerful in speaking of human right which made her popular among the low income and middle class. However with the military ruling and her declining health from cancer, she died at 33 and became one of the national heroes.

d. Argentinean steak. argentina has more cows than people which explains why it's a major meat producer. the cuisine is a strong resemblance of Spanish, Italian and French. it is a meat-eater country, thus grilled meat is a staple food with beef steak and ribs as the common dish.

+now i understand why buenos aires is called paris of the south america+

halal food, as expected is limited. so, i'm also an official vegetarian by day and always look forward for dinner at the only and chic muslim restaurant at baraka.

+great food, cool atmosphere, fabulous place to hang out, i'm a huge fan of Barakaa!!!!
left to right - so-called nasi goreng with chunky beef - beef steak - tortellini pasta with spinach
& cheese filling topped with sun-dried tomato gravy, burp +