Written by fubarrio on 21 August 2006
Not sure if it would be seen if i just edited the original entry, but here is a snippet from it:
“Our first stop was “arman suites” on a popular road for shopping, eating, (and also apparently construction, demolition, sawing down trees, accidents, beeping horns, loud diesel engines, etc. 
“
What I didn’t get a chance to flush out was the, “etc.”
One of the more charming things in the country are the garbage collectors. The garbage collectors are horse drawn carriages — well, ok — not carriages — crap wagons, is more apt.
However, late into the night the silence on the street would be broken by the “clip clop, clip clop” of a horses shoed hooves on pavement. These guys are everywhere. If/when u come, u won’t have to go more than 10 or 15 minutes before spying one.
Pretty cool.
FB
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Written by fubarrio on 21 August 2006
…So, as a continuation of my intial impressions…..
This time of year the weather can be gloriously sunny and crisp. But, it can also be a little windy and downright cold.
The buses, not blessed/cursed with the same emissions requirements can belch out diesel exhaust at an alarming rate. My travel partner (forever more referenced as “Golden Lotus” or “GL” for short) is finally over having a spontaneous asthma attack each time she sees one of these on the street.
The people here REALLY love their dogs. REALLY love them. In that regard, again, very euro. However, for some reason or another they can’t quite lower themselves to being responsible for picking up after them.
The main streets get some doo-doo traffic, but the side streets….charming, tree lined, quite, cobblestoned, scenic walks, are made a little less picture postcard by the bomblets strewn seemingly everywhere on the sidewalk.
Here and there i see people sweeping in front of their homes and I get the feeling that short of homeowners, there is no service (save a VERY strong rain) that can/will clean up after these pooches.
GL and I, (here after known as “FuBarrio” or “FB” for short when referred to by her) took a trip to the old city, “ciudad vieja”. Wow. Have I blogged about this yet?
Anyways, old colonial style architecture has always REALLY struck a chord with me. Almost the more decrepid, the more interesting, I’m very sorry to say….It must be my love of pouring money down endless ratholes (?) Because ciudad vieja has some of the most incredible buildings in the most hit-and-miss state of disrepair I’ve every seen….Aw heck…it’s the hands down winner.
It seems obvious to me from the activity that it is undergoing a period of revival, but there are SO MANY buildings, that it could be another 30 years, or two or three RE cycles before it really begins to “wow” normal people — “normal” people being people that see broken windows on main street buildings and cringe in horror…..”abnormal” being like me, who say, “gee, i bet i could fix that up really nice”
We took some great pics. There is a street market in a section that is cordoned off for just foot traffic, lots of cafes, bars, etc. There are WONDERFUL little urban parks strewn throughout old town and it is also home to the “mercado del puerto”. As soon as we get a cord to download our pics to the pc, i’ll post some. in the meantime, i’ll find some stock photos online so you all can get a drift of what i’m talking about….just keep in mind that the architectural detail tha you’ll see in the pics, though in various states of decline/repair, are THROUGHOUT. It’s not just a building or two here or there, so it’s hard for me to capture just how many interesting buildings there are without u actually coming and visiting….which brings me to my next bit of news:
We have secured a three bedroom, two bath, duplex on a busy street, however immediately next to a charming little “walkabout” neighborhood….the best/safeest of its kind in the city. our home is directly opposite of the Italian consulate, and they run this town it seems like (the italians).
Two spare bedrooms, plus your own bath and the whole thing is furnished. The visiting lamp is now lit….might want to wait for more favorable weather conditions (late sep, early october and on), but we’ll be waiting to hear from each of you!
–It dawns on me after finding a pretty good photo bank for ciudad vieja with the link to the right that it isn’t really representative of the THRASHED sections of town.
Before u sell everything and move here thinking it’s Madrid at 1/5th the cost, I’ll try and find some pics that represent ciudad vieja’s “handyman specials” & “needs a little TLC” (which are rampant)! Of course, the perverse me, I look at these as opportunities in disguise!
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Written by fubarrio on 20 August 2006
Well, we’re here. The start of a big/long (hopefully) adventure.
Although the majority of our “adventure” so far has been because of an untimely departure on the 10th of Aug with some very heavy bags, tons of skincare/makeup/cosmetics, and things generally considered dangerously liquidy, I’ll refrain from too many boring details and confine most of the anecdotes to what we’ve found in South America.
Our first stop was “arman suites” on a popular road for shopping, eating, (and also apparently construction, demolition, sawing down trees, accidents, beeping horns, loud diesel engines, etc.
Our room was on the “2nd” floor (3rd to you and me).
They don’t include the “base floor” in the counting mechanism. Our room unfortunately, fronted the hotel and we were treated to quite a bit of noise the first couple of nights (weekend).
The room, I would give a rough equivalence of a Courtyard Marriott, with a decidedly more urban setting, so there was more of a premium on space in the Armon Suites. The suites were outfitted with kitchenettes, which we barely used….the reason you may ask….We found “Chez Pineiro” at our first meal.
Anyone who knows my travel partner, knows that she is a pizza connoseur. I ordered the pizza americana “capri”. The capri includes a thin crust, tomato slices under the cheeze, fresh mozzarella, and black and green olive chunks in the cheese. It cooked in about 30 seconds in a wood oven slightly cooler than the surface of the sun.
My partner instantly declared it “the best pizza” she’d ever had…..I secretly concurred (before she ever tasted it) but i wanted to hear her unbiased opinion first.
Now, I know what you’re thinking….end of a long flight, unfamiliar surroundings, we could be impressionable….we returned the next night and had the same experience with the pizza….8 ish bucks. Service was great, but not all the waiters could help if you only spoke English….”Juan” was a really cool waiter that we had the second day (we’ve been back alot! ) and he can help out if you get stuck on what some food on the menu is.
While a fine cafe, I can’t recommend anything else on the menu since we are still going “vegetarian” and I didn’t try any of the many many many meat dishes….all of which are cooked on an open bbq-like pit. This style of cooking all manner of meat is about as common as starbucks, 7-11’s, and gas stations combined…..basically every corner and then some in certain parts of the city.
It turns out there is a big Italian population in the country. REALLY big. Like 1/2 of the people here are of italian descent. The other half look spanish.
I’m consistently mistaken for a Uruguayan on the street and people look at my travel partner as if she just came from the moon! ….ok…she’s back from a shopping trip. more later.
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