¡Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!

Ah Christmas, I normally get so excited around this time of year, however travelling in a country where the weather is hot and the lack of Christmas decorations can make you forget it all together...I therefore wasn't really feeling it. On finding out I had no plans for Christmas, one of my friends who Id met in Rio had insisted that I, along with another American girl who was living in Buenos Aires, spend it with her and her family . With the alternative for me being the all you could consume pizza and beer in the hostel I was staying at, I wasn't going to refuse her offer. So off we went to her grandparents house in Maschwitz which is roughly thirty minutes drive outside of Buenos Aires. Their house was in a private golfing estate and was a welcomed alternative to the hostels to which I had become accustomed to.

My friends family were the perfect hosts, her abuela (grandmother) being the most glamorous granny ever and her abuelo (grandfather) was the sweetest man insisting on treating us to the most delicious artisan ice creams ever at Conti which is a serious competitor to any ice cream parlour I've ever visited in Italy. Unfortunately my lactose intolerance did not agree with me but I didn't let this stop me consuming my weight in ice cream.

On returning to the house it soon became clear that Christmas Eve in Argentina is similar to that in Spain whereby it is celebrated even more so than Christmas day itself. The rest of the family and close friends had arrived and the party was quickly in full swing. Presents were opened at midnight and then the youngsters amongst us all went over to a house party in the neighbourhood where we drunk pineapple daiquiris and danced until dawn : )


A few hours later, after a little shut eye, it was time to get up and celebrate Christmas Day.  And what a gloriously sunny day it was! We lounged by the pool for a while and then ate a typical Argentine Christmas lunch which took place in the garden and consisted of various meat dishes with salad and vegetables all washed down with beer and wine. 

One dish that still stands out in my mind is Pollo al Escabeche which is chicken swimming in oil, white wine vinegar, onion, garlic, carrots, white wine and bay leaves. It is truly delicious and a dish I shall most definitely be attempting to cook once I get home.


With Christmas over I took in some culture and visited the Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires (MALBA). It isn't as big as Tate Modern in London but it does have some interesting pieces of art including Frida Kahlos self portrait with a monkey which I attempted to pap but was instantly told off by a security guard. 

Photo of Andy Warhol and random Latin American Artist

Latin Americas answer to Vivienne Westwood?

After being quite impressed with the museum shop I indulged in an ice tea and cake at the museum restaurant. I always thought service abroad was better than in the UK (specifically London) where it appears to be non existent. Im afraid to say I have been well and truly mistaken. London it would seem has better service in its restaurants and bars than in Buenos Aires, and dare I say it the rest of South America.


A typical scenario, you walk into a restaurant and wait to be seated. And so you wait. After an eternity a waiter will notice you and then you are allocated a table. You then wait for a menu.  And wait. Again after an eternity you are given a menu. And so it goes on. The only thing that makes up for this lack of attention is the food itself which generally tends to be delicious. I have been told by my Argentinian friend that the solution to this irritating problem is to be quite assertive, verging on demanding when you go to any restaurant or bar. It is something I am (surprisingly) still working on but hope to master by the time I leave. Ill just have to ensure I tone it down once I get home. 


New Years Eve was approaching fast and I hadn't made any plans so once again my new BFF came to the rescue and invited me with her and some friends to Punto Del Diable in Uruguay. I was also excited about adding country number three to my travels!


Had I have known it would take us almost fifteen hours to get there then perhaps I may have reconsidered...however Im glad I didn't as Punto del Diablo ended up being a good place to spend NYE. My body has however refused to take another ferry and standard coach journey anywhere from now on, unless it has a bed like in business class. Otherwise I will just fly like I have done up until this point.

Homer randomly sporting a t shirt from the ferry company we took to Uruguay...

The town (I use this word loosely as there really isn't very much there except a few shops and some bars) is a surfers wild west and is full of funny looking eco houses, many of which have thatched roofs. Im not sure of the planning laws there as buildings appear to be situated wherever people choose to build them - mostly near the beach. The result is that most of the roads aren't tarmacked...just sand. Driving along them is therefore a feat in itself so most of the locals just use quad bikes. With most of the males sporting side mullets it sometimes felt like we were on the set of Mad Max.

Thatched roofs

The hairstyle of choice in Punta del Diablo...

I was meant to stay at a hostel as we initially didn't think there would be room in the ten bed house they had rented, however on seeing how far each of the hostels were and upon discovering the spare bed in the garage I was welcomed into the house....phew!

Our house 

View from the balcony of our house

The terrace at the back of the house

We ended up calling the house ´United Colours of Benetton´ given the range of nationalities we had staying there. Our backgrounds were a mixture of English, American, Russian, Philippino, Mexican / Japanese and Brazilian. The best cooks however were the Brazilians. Without them I think we would have ended up eating out all the time. 

Brazilian cooking in action!

NYE began with a day spent at Santa Teresa beach (the nicest, longest and most deserted beach in the area) followed by dinner cooked by the Brazilians (Barbecued fresh local fish along with prawn and vegetable skewers) vodka shots administered by the Russians, firework display by the neighbours and then dancing in one of the towns two nightclubs which looked like a barn with its wooden floor, walls and bar. Id like to point out at this point that Punto del Diablo is awash with stray dogs. They're everywhere. Including it would seem our nightclub. I spotted at least two whilst in there. One of whom we nicknamed Jagger, who even followed us home after sun rise. 

Santa Teresa beach

NYE dinner before it was blasted on the BBQ

Dog in club. The canine version.

I managed to crawl to bed at just after 7am although not for long as we had to get up at 9am to catch our coach. Despite the air conditioning blasting me from a 90 degree angle on the coach I managed to get a few hours shut eye before arriving in Montevideo where our ferry was scheduled to depart from. Given it was a bank holiday we were expecting not to see many people however Montevideo was literally like a ghost town. There appeared to be no one anywhere including the ferry station. When we finally tracked down a member of staff we were told that there was only one ferry running that day so we were faced with a nine hour wait...just what you need when you massively hungover and stuck in a place with nothing to entertain you.


Our stomachs were rumbling by this point so we went in search of food. Upon finding the one and only restaurant open in Montevideo we began the quest to get a table. As outlined earlier on this was not an easy task especially given how tired and hungry we were. Every table was occupied by equally hungry people vying for the waiters attention. Suddenly in the chaos I spotted a vacant table. Like a lion going in for the kill I advanced towards the table, except I needn't have bothered rushing as it soon became clear why no one was sat there - the table was covered with left over food swarming with flies. Given we were starving and this was the only table in the only restaurant in Montevideo, we decided to stay put and wait for our table to be cleared. And wait we did. Twenty minutes. I asked one waiter to clear our table and he simply responded that it wasn't one of his and that I should clear it myself! By this stage I was hangry (hungry and angry) and ready to leave this horrible establishment but given the lack of eateries we were forced to stay put. Eventually we were seen to and unsurprisingly the food was disgusting - my friends salmon was raw - and to top it off they had added an insulting service charge on top of the bill! Needless to say this wasn't paid by us. Moral of this story is don't eat at El Peregrino restaurant. Ever.


The upside to my day was that my return ticket on the ferry was in first class as that's all that was left when I had booked. So armed with my free glass of champagne I reclined in my leather chair and slept the rest of the journey back to Buenos Aires. 


I have a few days left here in BA before I fly on the 6 January to Ushuaia which is the furthest point south in Argentina also known as Tierra del Fuego.


Im making the most of the humid temperatures here in BA (hitting 30 degrees) as the temperature in Ushuaia is currently 12 degrees *sigh* .


P.S. Look who I spotted hiding out in Buenos Aires...!