Argentina - a tale of travel & wine

[David M. Bueker]

So Laura and I just returned from Argentina. I'm a bit worse for wear having suffered a rappelling accident on the very last day, but overall it was great fun, and the visuals, people, food and wine were generally outstanding. There's no way I can encapsulate the whole trip into one post, so I will add info to this one as I get a chance.

We started out with a day and a half in Buenos Aires, which was nowhere near enough time, but at least we visited. The first day we were hopelessly jet lagged from the overnight flight, but we soldiered on, taking a quick nap then heading out for some sightseeing and some food. Our hotel was in the theater district, quite close to one of the central sights:

Obelisk.jpg

Then it was time for some pizza. It's not bad in Argentina, adding one more reason why Buenos Aires reminded me more than a little of New York City.

Pizza.jpg

I had never had pizza with nuts, but they were quite good.

Later in the evening we stopped for a snack of empanadas.

empanadas.jpg

With the empanadas I had a half bottle of a rather young wine:

2010 Trapiche Malbec
This was so grapey I would have thought it Nouveau. No fizz, no bananas, but fresh, bright grape flavors with barely any hint of it really being wine. As a beverage with snack food it was fine, though I would not use it any other way. We had many, many better wines during the trip.

Looking forward to reading more.. and more photos. Nuts on pizza? I haven't had an empanada in years.. but I have a hankering now!

Well I think we've all had pine nuts on pizza, but that looks like almonds. Interesting.

Sounds like a fun trip. (Aside from the accident). Bravo!

[David M. Bueker]

Almonds and pecans. The pecans were in season & incredibly good. The almonds were...almonds.

Pecans, wow. Never would have thought of that. Walnuts maybe. Will have to think about this especially during the winter when varied toppings are more difficult to come up with.

Thanks for the quick trip down memory lane. I had just been there a few months ago but was only able to visit BA (3 days) and Iguassu Falls (amazing). Had a chance to try many wines while there but never got to the wineries though. I wish I could have.

[David M. Bueker]

We did not get to any wineries either. The vast majority of our time was spent in Patagonia. More on that soon.

[David M. Bueker]

Day 2 - Buenos Aires

Life is much better after a good night's sleep in a real bed (as opposed to a coach class airplane seat). Even the vagaries of an ultra-modern hotel room with bizarro-world bathroom fixtures doesn't faze us.

Saturday is a half exploration/half travel day, as we have the evening flight to Trelew to begin our Patagonian adventure. First though we have a personal tour of the city by a local guide that Laura found through cicerones.org. Carlos is a great guy who has lived much of his life in Buenos Aires, and is eager to show us the city, the market and (for me) the wine shops.

The presidential "palace", pink House is open for tours on Saturdays, so we went for that. It was interesting to be allowed to see everything, even to the President's office and the cabinet room. It was a very structured tour (no shock), but the building was beautiful.

Pink House.jpg

Carlos then took us to his old neighborhood (San Telmo) for a tour of the market, and a stop by the statue of Mafalda.

Mafalda.jpg

The market itself was notable for its resemblance to things I had seen in Paris, and once again reinforced the European influence in Argentina.

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Then it was off to lunch, though "lunch" is a poor word for the 3 hour feast of beef, salad (yes!), ham, wine, desserts & digestifs that consumed the rest of our tour. A sumptuous lunch for 3, with a full bottle of very good wine, steak for 4 people (all orders were for 2, so what can you do!) and all the trimmings added up to $75 including tip!

Meat.jpg

The wine itself was quite good. The 2008 Navarro Correas Malbec Coleccion Privadas certainly showed its fair share of ripe fruit, but it was balanced, reasonable in alcohol (13.4%), and paired beautifully with the beef. Laura even drank a glass!

Off to Trelew!

[David M. Bueker]

Part 3 - The art of eating late, late, late

After our lovely day in Bueno Aires we flew to Trelew, arriving at about 9:30 PM. We were informed that dinner would be waiting for us at the inn! Of course we had a 30 minute drive to the inn, plus had to get settled, plus had to meet and greet and so on. Thus it was nearly 11 PM before we even settled into salad, and empananda starters, much less the main course (a chicken dish that tasted fresh enough to have been running around the yard that morning).

With our meal we enjoyed two wines, neither of which I actually wrote down. That's a pity, as the Torrontes from the Cafayate region was delicious, with floral, spice and tropical fruit elements to go along with a slightly unctuous mouthfeel that reminded both Laura and me more than a little of Gewzurtraminer. I was not nearly as taken with the Pinot Noir (from Salta), but such is life when picking from a list with no background information at hand.

Up (too) early the next AM for our dual animal day of whale watching and elephant seal viewing. The drive to get to each was long, dusty (lots of gravel roads) and full of inspired, though rarely factual, commentary from our guide, Armando. The man can spin a yarn. Anyway, we did see some right whales.

Breeching Right.jpg

(apologies for the out of focus - whale photos are always more than a little bit of a surprise)

Post whales, it was time to get back in the car for another 90 minute drive to have lunch and see the elephant seals. Lunch was classically huge, and included Patagonian lamb, cooked over coals.

Grilled Lamb.jpg

Then off to brave the 50 mph winds on the beach (which permanently abraded my sunglasses) to see the elephant seals. Elephant seals are impressive for the size of the males, the cuteness of the young and the ability they have to do absolutely nothing & get people to watch them. The most excitement was when one would thrash at the sand with a flipper, raising a cloud of mud and dust. Some of their more engaging antics are pictured below.

Riveting Seals.jpg

More driving - umm, do we have enough gas. Oh yes, just barely. When's dinner? 10:00. Ugh.

I'm loving the photos so far and am particularly looking forward to your take on Patagonia as an experience.

First though we have a personal tour of the city by a local guide that Laura found through cicerones.org.

Have to type that I thought cicerone.org would be a weird place to find a BsAs guide, until I saw yours was a different website!

[Robin Garr]

Great report and photos, David. Like everyone else, I'm looking forward to the ongoing report.

[David M. Bueker]

Part 4 - Formal Attire Required

Returning from our whale/seal adventures we were "treated" to another late, late dinner. This time it was Italian food, and really quite good - spinach, beef and cheese filled pasta that resembled enchiladas more than cannelloni, but that's just a quibble. We did have a nice wine with them - as per usual Argentinian versus the perhaps more appropriate Tuscan. But hey, when in Trelew!

2007 Humberto Canale Malbec 'Intimo' (Patagonia)
Very food friendly and drinkable (especially at 11 PM) Malbec with lots of red and black fruit, supple tannin and good balance. The lowish (13.6%) alcohol for the variety was also a plus as we were working on too little sleep the night before and too little to come.

The next morning it was time to get back in the car with Armando (I checked & the gas tank was full), for a 2 hour ride to the penguin colony. This was something Laura and I were really looking forward to, and it did not dissapoint, despite the massive, holiday weekend (they take Columbus Day very seriously in Argentina, as it's the first big SPRING holiday weekend) crowds.

Along the way we were treated to the stories of ghost-like roadside bandits, 19th century genetic modification of llamas and tales of Welsh oppression (in England, thus the move to Argentina) among other things. Armando even managed to weave in a few facts, as we wove past massive ranches on dusty gravel roads.

Spring Lamb.jpg

Tonight's dinner? Maybe not.

The main stop for the day was a masive (and I mean that word literally) penguin colony on the Valdez Penninsula. Hundreds of thousands of Magellanic Penguins were nesting, walkng, playing and generally putting up with holiday crowds. Visitors were restricted to a cordoned off walkway, but the penguins didn't care & used that area for all of their activities.

Working the Tan.jpg

You Missed a Spot.jpg

After viewing, photgraphing, photographing, photographing and photographing the penguins we had a more than satisfactory boxed lunch, and headed back to Trelew for a tea at a Welsh tea house. There we were treated to enough cakes and bars to feed 10 people, much less the 4 of us present (on our trip we traveled with another couple for the first 9 days, and enjoyed our time together). Then it was off to the airport, where I learned about arriving 60 minutes prior to flight being early by Patagonian standards. Off to Ushuaia!

[David M. Bueker]

Part 5 - Tierra del "in Fuego"

Imagine a landing strip in the middle of the mountains, that is also in the middle of an ocean channel. It is dusk, and the light is just fading over the mountains, and the runway lights illuminate a single, safe strip of pavement for the 737. This is the airport in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, and a wonder for more than that. Despite being only several hundred miles from Antarcica, Ushuaia is a vibrant city with light industry (electronics), shipping, and tourism - not just people hawking parkas to groups headed for the big ice.

Ushuaia.jpg

We arrived late enough that Laura was not interested in dinner. I had a bite in the hotel restaurant, and supplemented it with a couple of beers (Quillmes - not bad cold) while I talked with another American who happened to be eating there as well.

Day 1 of our Ushuaia experience was focused on Beagle Channel, and Tierra del Fuego National Park. For the whole day we would be in Argentina, yet often staring at mountains in Chile. In fact the reason Ushuaia was originally founded was to ensure Argentinian presence in the area, thus preventing Chilean mapmakers (a very dangerous group according to the Argentinians) from drawing boundaries in the wrong places. Anyway, we were able to take short but beautiful strolls on some of the park trails, with all the expected visual benefits.

Shore of Beagle Channel.jpg

One interesting bit of trivia, is that in Ushuaia is the "end of the road", the terminus of the Pan American Highway. Some 17,000+ Km from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska is this sign (and the guy who was ready to drive all the way north).

The end of the road.JPG

In fact he had already completed a motorcycle trip from north to south across Africa, and had shipped his bike to South America to make the trek all the way up north. And I thought we were using up some free time!

Next up - a boat cruise through Beagle Channel, and King Crab so good you can taste it through the photos.

Great pictures and travelogue, David. Thank you for taking us along..

[David M. Bueker]

Part 6 - King Crab and Other Creatures

It would be unfortunate to write about our visit to Ushuaia and not mention the bounty that is King Crab. I had expected to eat almost nothing but beef and lamb while in the country, but truth be told, two of my three favorite meals were at Freddy's in Ushuaia, where we feasted on crab two nights in a row. Both nights we had crab-based appetizers (the soup was amazing, with huge chunks of crab), as well as crab entrees, wine and dessert. Both nights we escaped for less than $50. Continuing with our exploration of Patagonian wines, we drank a bottle of 2007 Bodegas Fin Del Mundo Viognier Reserva which was typically floral, with citrus elements that were a beautiful match to both the crab soup and Laura's appetizer of crab legs. I do think the wine was a little lacking in flavor concentration, but it served its purpose well. The following night we would try anothe Torrontes (forgot to note the name) that while objectively better wine did not match the food as well.

So despite walking up and down the streets of Ushuaia, evaluating menus and peeking in windows to see what was available, we ended up with king crab. I owuld suggest to anyone who loves shellfish to do the same if you are ever lucky enough to visit Ushuaia. Do not be tempted by sights such as this:

A decent appetizer.jpg

Our final outing day in Ushuaia was spent exploring Harburton Ranch and two of the nearby islands. As if we had not seen enough, we were taken to a small island to view yet more penguins. Eventhough we had seen thusands previously, this visit was a little more special, in that there were only the 4 of us plus our guide, and in addition to the Magellanic Pengiuns, we were able to see a small group of nesting Gentoo Penguins as well. Note the orange/yellow beaks and feet of the Gentoo.

A different kind of penguin.jpg

Following the brief visit to the penguin colony we got back on a boat for a short (though very cold) trip to Gable Island where we tramped though (nearly) trackless wilderness, stormed through thorny cayafate bushes, and passed by, around and even over numerous beaver dams. Beaver had been introduced to Patagonia for the purpose of eventual hunting for the fur trade. That didn't pan out, and lacking natural predators, the beaver ended up doing what they do best - felling trees and creating dams.

A beaver dam crossing.JPG

Gable island may not have the most dramatic mountain scenery, but the generally wild nature of the terrain, and the views across Beagle Channel were fascinating. As in many areas of Patagonia, the winds are constant and consistent, causing the trees to grow the way the wind blows.

Adapting to with wind.JPG

Our hike was wrapped up with an unexpected treat. At an old shack near the shore of Gable island we were treated to yet another lunch of copious grilled meat and wine. Laura and I had honestly expected a sort of boxed lunch, but there was sausage, beef, lamb, chicken, and even some salad! The ambaince was a little rustic, but the food was good, and the was no shortage.

Lunch Stop.jpg

Of course that didn't stop us from having more crab later that night!