Empanadas, Empanadas

This morning we walked to the old port area, Puerto Madero, which is now completely renovated turning industrial warehouses into loft spaces and a place to go for shopping and eating. The Catholic University even transformed a number of the warehouses for their facilities. Here also lies a bridge by Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish architect. It's a sleek, thin, white bridge with one pylon keeping the bridge suspended. We crossed over the bridge and past the other side of shops and restaurants filled with people milling about, a very evident sign that the port revitalization is a success. Just past the port is the Ecological Reserve, Costanera Sur, which is right next to the river. We took a short walk into the reserve and found a place to sit under the shade. We had brought our own food to picnic: prosciutto and cheese sandwich and 1/2 a roast chicken. We noticed that there were a lot of people who seemed to be on their lunch break, running, but in their work clothes. We wondered how long their lunch break is and if they shower before going back to work. We hung out playing cards before walking the rest of the pathway around the reserve, past marshes, ponds and a beach.

Upon exiting the park, we realized how close we were to San Telmo, the neighborhood of the street fair we went to on Sunday. It was nice to be back in the neighborhood when it wasn't crowded with tourists. We stopped at an ice cream parlour, Freddo, for a quick snack before headed back up to Florida street to buy a few items from those street vendors. We bought groceries on the way home and made another round of pesto pasta with canned veggies and hotdogs.

The next day we first went to MALBA, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, the leading contemporary art museum in South America. There was a fun video installation of a fly buzzing and the attempt to swat it. After the museum, we went back to the hostel to eat our leftovers. We came back to find that all the long term students who are staying at our hostel also come back to the hostel to eat their lunch. Our leftovers weren't enough for a full meal so we decided to go on an empanada tour. We had found a New York Times article, written in 2000 about empanadas in Buenos Aires. Conveniently, two of the places mentioned were located in Palermo. First we wandered in Palermo Viejo, popular with young people and has the feel of the Lower East Side in New York. We found the empanada location, but it had been replaced by a cafe. So we went in search of the other location, but when we reached it, the restaurant space was up for sale. So we ended up at a bar and ordered drinks and carne empanadas, which were very delicious. Something about the pastry makes it so good, oh, that would be butter! We then wandered to Palermo SoHo, also a hip place for food and nightlife. We found another bar that served empanadas and ordered another round. It had been drizzling all throughout the day so we decided we would see a movie at a cinema. Jon agreed to watch Eat, Love, Pray featuring Julia Roberts and this was very exciting for Ching Jen. We had a snack before going to the theater. In Buenos Aires, they give you seat assignments and ushers escort you to your seat. It was an enjoyable movie with many gorgeous shots in Italy, India and Indonesia.