Buenos Aires: Recoleta and Russians

There are several AWESOME things about our friend Todd, but let’s just talk about the photography part. One, he’s into it, which fits in well with us since we have really taken a liking to it once again. Both, Dusty and I took photography classes in high school. Second, he makes a good sidekick for Dusty. I can hang back and capture photos of them being total morons. On one occasion, an older lady walked by and muttered, “Que feo!” (How ugly!) when she got a look at a hilarious (so they thought) photo they were concocting. Third, he was nice enough to bring us the new camera we ordered!

Our wonderful Sony point-and-shoot finally bit the dust after 6 months of brutality. It got dropped, dunked, frozen, rained on, sweated on and utterly abused. It started to act up doing some strange vibrating thing every time we turned it on. We had to shake it really hard to get it to stop. Even still, it took great photos. But, it had had enough when I dropped it and the battery door broke open and would no longer close. We tried taping it shut, which worked for awhile, but even that wasn’t strong enough to keep it’s guts together. Poor guy. We enjoyed that camera so much that we wanted to get it again, but it was twice the price down here in Argentina. Luckily for us, a new better version had been released and we had just the friend to deliver it to us!

On Todd’s second day with us, I decided we needed to visit the Recoleta Cemetery again since it is ripe with photo ops. It’s a bit strange saying, “Hey, you wanna go to the cemetery today?” but he was game. And, just like the day before, he gave a new spin to a place we had already visited. We then took a big rainbow bridge to get to a big metal flower called Floralis Generica. Some dudes practicing their acrobatics nearby let me join in.

Later that night, it was time for something I had been trying to schedule for weeks. We had heard from a friend of a friend that there was a wine tasting “in a wine exporter’s basement”. It sounded intriguing, and became a minor obsession of mine when I failed several times to secure a reservation. If this thing was always booked, then I wanted in! When Nigel, the owner of 0800-VINO told me a Rosé tasting was added to the calendar, we finally got our in.

So, Todd, Oksana, Arlo, Dusty and I headed to the nondescript entrance and we ducked to enter the hole in the wall. Down in the cellar, the tasting began and all was quiet as we listened to Nigel and tasted the first Rosé on the list. He was right. All was quiet now but it would get rowdier in about an hour. In that hour, we made fast friends with the Dutch chicas Jori and Lisette, a couple from Denver, Canadian Ayngelina and a fellow OSU Buckeye, Stephanie. Imagine that! Another Ohio escapee!

Oksana and Nigel hit it off as he also could speak Russian. And what does one do after a wine tasting in the cellar of a building in Buenos Aires? Head to a Russian restaurant for pelmeni and vodka, of course! The night went on with good old fashioned teasing of the Dutch girls and me arm wrestling and slapping the guy from Denver. It’s nights like these that remind me how awesome it is to travel. You never know who you’ll meet and what shenanigans you’ll get into.

Details

0800-VINO
Tastings in the Evenings
Cost: $50 ARS or $12.26 USD
Contact for Reservations

Dusty’s Review: delicious and joyful!
Wendy’s Review: loved it, yum!
Todd’s Review: better with each successive glass!