Fuerza Bruta !!!

There is nothing like having guests visiting to get one out and about....I had been meaning to see Fuerza Bruta... the group of  6 Argentine performers puts on a show that knocked my socks off....most creative theater I have seen in years..imagine combining Circ de Soleil with a circus fun house and interactive theater and you get kind of the idea....a surprise every turn ...the show is on for one more week, so you still have a chance to see it....

Visiting friend Paula and I share a love of art, so I took her to Central Cultural Recoletta ...and the current shows there of  Argentine artists once again reminded me of why I moved to BA....huge beautiful old vaulted rooms for each artist...the above was a favorite from a lithograph show, and the piece below is from Leonel Luna's showing of new works (that is not a real person standing there) 

We also went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and, although I have seen their permanent collection many times, I had never spotted this cartoon strip by Picasso....

Here's Paula eating her first Argentine steak ......

And here is the plate we shared of my favorite desert, "Volcan..."

(the "before" photo of the volcan....warm chocolate cake with a creamy filling, accompanied by ice cream and berries)

Those Lovely Strutting Gaucho Men!

I'm a few days late with my weekly post due to being away on a 5 hour bus ride south of Buenos Aires to attend a three day Gaucho Rodeo out of internet connection (and out of cell phone/electricity except by a gas generator).....it was amazing!....

Kinda like the county fair, but much more macho,,,,(you can see all the gauchos working with the horses way over the great hardwood fences in the distance)

There was horse competitions like an American Rodeo, but lots of time in between where guys were really struttin their individual stuff...The gear they all wore was "regulation"....hat (a special barrett or a felt sombrero), gaucho pants that are pleated at the top and buttoned at the bottom), a belt that is either a woven patterned wrap around strip or a wide leather belt with silver coins or decorations, leather riding boots or canvas casual pull ons, hundreds of neck tie variations, hundreds of special hat-holder-on bands (silver chain/horse hair, etc) and each guy had his own combination of variations of the basic ensemble ..(and fancy long knives stuck in the back of their belts for cutting off hunks of asado (or fighting after too many beers).

this young guy had a very fancy belt he was proud of....

The above photo was taken among the concession stands....a stand that did big business was one that had all sorts of plastic play guns and machine guns made in China...it was the big hit among the kids...note that each boy has a plastic gun....

And here is my token girlie photo....but she placed second in the barrel races!!!!  I only saw one other woman competing.....

 The pampas in Buenos Aries Providence are beautiful.....so flat, so green, millions of birds....and clumps of beautiful shade trees and border planted Poplars and Eucalyptus.... and I found out that every tree you see has been planted (no native trees in the Whole country of Argentina!!!!).  Perhaps that is why they are much more respectful of  trees and do not cut them down because they might "make a mess""....


OK  your food shot for this week is Grand!!!  The true Argentine Asado at the Rodeo....there is beef in the foreground, amazing strings of sausages grilling in the background, and spread eagled lamb cooking in the middle....so goood!

Drunken Trees and Big Juicy Steaks....

There is a big old hospital (Hospital Rividavia) across the street from us that is scheduled to be torn down (previous posts showed aerial views of the workers protesting its demise....it's full of beautiful old buildings with lots of green areas and grand trees...the tree  in the center  with the bulbous trunk that hasn't got its leaves yet is called "Palo Borracho"....it's covered with huge thorns and, after flowering, forms pods full of a silky fluff that used to be used to stuff pillows....I hope this all doesn't become an asphalt parking lot...

 About a block and a half away from my place is the Museo de Decorative Artes....I go there mainly for the great restaurant in the courtyard outside, but revisited the inside this week....it was originally a private mansion and this portrait of the owner's young son is my favorite thing in the whole fancy place....

 Here is the dining room.....

 I also went to my first play in spanish (I understood some of the lines, but mainly enjoyed my fantasies of what was going on).   The woman at the far end dressed up like Cleopatra is the mother of my spanish teacher.....

 But the best find of this week was the restaurant Don Chicho (Jujuy 136, Once)....Now that so much of the cattle breeding stock have been slaughtered due to the long war between the government and the farmers over export tax increases, and now that much of the pasture land has been converted to soy bean production making feed lot beef be the norm, most of the steaks I find now have been expensive and flavorless (kinda like the steak in the USof A).   For 20 pesos at Don Chichos, I got a huge steak with that nice yellow fat and great flavor that cries "range fed!" covering one dinner plate, and a second dinner plate of fries with two fried eggs on top...(I know, I will have to eat salads for days to balance out this meal)!  And on top of the fantastic food, this place had the great old waiters, and pride of place that I remember as the best part of the traditional Argentina Parrilla.