Monthly Archives: December 2010

Dakar

31 Friday Dec 2010

Posted by in blog

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

, , ,

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The name has changed a bit : they omited the “Paris” but kept the Dakar. The race that used to go from Paris to Dakar has, since 3 years already, moved to Argentina. It  starts in Buenos Aires and goes to Chili and back. The first year it was quite chaotic, but the Argentines are really getting organised now.

Tomorrow the 1st they are leaving, all passing by av 9 de julio. But now you can already go to the “Dakar Village” in La Rural, to see the motorcycles, ATV’s, cars and trucks go for the technical check up. Lots of people, the press, and of course lots of vehicles in bright colours.

It’s definitely worth a visit, even if racing doesn’t really interest you. But if you are into cars, trucks, motors, or ATV’s you should really check it out. I wouldn’t mind hopping in one of those trucks and join the race. Must be great!

official dakar website

Running empty

24 Friday Dec 2010

Posted by in blog

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

The city is running empty. Porteños are leaving the hot town for the holidays. Punta del Este, Mar del Plata (and a lot of other places in and outside of Argentina), behold : it’s going to be crowded!

Of course many wait until after today. Not only is it Christmas eve, it is also the best day to go shopping for christmas presents as you get 50% off. Let’s hope you have your cash : the banks in the whole country are closed because the ran out of it yesterday. Only on Monday a plane with new pesos-notes will arrive from brazil. How is Santa going to explain that to the kids?

I have also left my Buenos Aires Querida to the tourists, 😀 and will enjoy the summer elsewhere. But not after wishing you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Dread Mar I

17 Friday Dec 2010

Posted by in blog

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Who would expect that this is Argentine? Well it is! A song that sounds like summer and that I love so much. They give concerts all over the country, unfortunantely missed one last sunday, while I was watching the pologame…

I tried to download this song but it’s not on Itunes (and I am no illegal downloader), I suppose that means that I should ask the CD to Santa Claus?

Enjoy! (Although personally I would say : don’t watch, only listen, as you also listen with  your eyes :D)

The Polo Finals (part II)

13 Monday Dec 2010

Posted by in blog

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

After yesterday, when we left the appartment, we glanced up to the sky in fear. We couldn’t believe it. The sky was dark again! But this time we were armed with umbrellas (plural), sweaters, jackets. Another camera (sorry not really suited for the occasion but better then nothing) in another handbag (the other one was still drying) and a garbage back to put my camera in, just in case. And this time we were going by car. So let it rain : we were ready!

The place was the same. The crowd was the same. The teams were the same. The clock stood still at 3:17 minutes, where it had stopped the day before. But the sun had come out.  It was a different day altogether. The hard core fans were again sitting at the opposite side, and they were again- obviously- ready for the game. They were La Dolfina fans, they were especially Cambiaso fans, or so it seemed.

This time I was lucky to have a polo conoisseur next to me, who enlighted me about the 2 teams : Ellerstina and La Dolfina. He prefers the 1st team as they play more like ‘a team’ (he said) while La Dolfina is all about Cambiaso. The Best player in the world, it seems. Me, I supported both teams, as they both played very well and the goals went up equally. My neighbour told me that the last 5 years finals have always been between these 2 teams, once Ellerstina won, 4 times La Dolfina. It was tense until the last minute, when Cambiaso tried to make the final goal, but alas, he didn’t make it. Ellerstina won with 13-12.

We were sitting really high and had a great overview on the game, and a wonderful view over the city, although I would have prefered to sit downstairs, closer to the horses, where I could have seen their muscles and their faces. I would have prefered to sit closer to see the power in the game, the movements of the horses and the players, not just the speed and the direction of the ball. But then again, I am no real polo fan. Although this doesn’t mean that I ‘m not waiting to go and see another game soon! It was a great day altogether.

The Polo Finals (part I)

11 Saturday Dec 2010

Posted by in blog

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

It had gotten cloudy when my husband picked me up to go to the Polo Finals. I suggested I’d go back upstairs and get an umbrella but then we decided not to : we were running late. Sitting in the taxi I realised the sky was really dark and it really looked like it was going to rain. But it was too late.

There was a huge crowd at the Polo Court, music playing, people dancing. I am not really a polo fan. I like polo, but I don’t know much about it. I saw a really good game 2 years ago, between Ellerstina and La Dolfina (not finals at that time), and I was really impressed. The speed of the horses, when you think they are moving really fast they just accelerate even more. The power of the horses is really spectacular. The way they move is and turn is incredible. I knew I had seen an exceptional game at that time and I never really asked for more. So today -this was really typical me-, we were sitting down, watching the players go on the court, when I asked “Who is playing?”. Yes, shame on me! To be honest, the only reason why we were here in the first place is because my husband was having business relations from Colombia over and they wanted to see a polo game. My husband had to move heaven and earth to get tickets to the so called sold out game. And they had cost him a fortune.

It immediately was clear to me that the hard core fans were on the other side, and they were really into the game! But yes, it started raining. A little bit. We tried to cover ourselves with the magazine we got at the entrance while everyone was standing up to sing the national anthem, which was quite funny when you realised what happened later.

The game had only just started when a thunderstorm broke out right above the field. Surprisingly the horses didn’t seam to mind. WHile people yelled everytime you saw the lightning and at every loud roaring thunder, the teams just played on as if nothing happened. The horses too didn’t seem to notice. But then it started to poor and the players left the court. So did the supporters : under the poring rain we all went down, slowly, to look for shelter. But there wasn’t enough room for everyone. By the time we were down we were already soaking wet, as wet as you can be if you take a shower with all your clothes on (including shoes, purse, cellphone, money,…). Fortunately I was not wearing some light white T-shirt. We decided to go home, what else was there to do. We didn’t even run anymore : we couldn’t get any wetter. We didn’t try to evade big puddles : our shoes couldn’t get any wetter. Of course no taxi wanted to take us, not even if we offered him exhorbitant prices, and one of us decided we should take the bus. There was an exceptional nice, fun atmosphere in the bus – full of soaked people all coming from the polo game.

Of course the further from the Polo Court we went, the less soaked people like us you saw. It was quite funny how people stopped talking and started whispering, or just stared at us when we were passing. We were just laughing. My husband said it is probably the most expensive rain shower ever (our Colombian friends are leaving tomorrow, so they will not have seen the polo finals), while I was thinking about my shoes -last year collection that go perfectly with my dress- and my nice leather handbag -that went perfectly with the shoes- all soaked. The biggest shock was yet to come. When I arrived home to plug my Brand New Camera to my computer, I realised it was….. dead.

So I ‘m sorry, no nice pictures to accompany this post, although I had taken some real nice ones.

Hopefully we’ll have The Polo Finals (part II) tomorrow.

Sinterklaas

06 Monday Dec 2010

Posted by in blog

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

I thought it’s about time I taught you some Belgian/Dutch tradition. The tradition of Sinterklaas, the “original” Sante Claus.

Sinterklaas is a saint who lives in Spain. Every year he comes to Belgium and Holland with a steamer, just before the 5th of december. That is his day. Or better, his night. That night he goes from door to door, he on his horse, his helpers on foot. Actually he doesn’t really go from door to door, he goes from chimney to chimny, over the rooftops. His helpers are called Black Jacks and they carry big bags with toys (and empty bags to put the bad children in, but that ‘s been getting out of use these days). If these helpers are “real” blacks, if they are black because their job is delivering toys to kids through the chimney, is not known. Personally I would go for the last option, as the 9,999 out of 10 they are whites with a painted face.

Traditionally, the “goede sint” (the good sint), brings toys, chocolate in the shape or sinterklaas or his black jacks, marsepin in different shapes, and biscuits called ‘speculaas’. The only thing the kids have to do is put their shoe together with a carrot and a sugar cube (for the horse) in front of the chimney, if possible with a letter to the sint (although nowadays they an e-mail is OK), and sing a lot of sinterklaas songs. The best thing is that although sinterklaas is known as a big friend of the children, he remains their friend, even when they grow up. The Holy Man even brings his sweets to adults… Fortunately. Because chocolate, marsepin and speculaas are my absolute favourite sweets.

This is our first sinterklaas here in Argentina, and I needed a bit of imagination to organise it here. I made my own marsepin and speculaas (brought Speculaas-herbs from Belgium), and I found the sinterklaas chocolate figure standing next to Santa Claus in the El Viejo Oso. Unfortunately very small and Mr Black Jack is missing.

I found some real original sinterklaas presents for my kids, although almost adults, at this time of the year they consider themselves babies. They even write the traditional sinterklaas letters, and if I want, they would sing the songs. Yes. I am late. He was supposed to come yesterday, but he was too busy in Belgium. He is on the plane to Argentina as we speak, and will come to our house tonight. The shoes are waiting. We ran out of carrots, and they don’t have sugar cubes here. So in the shoes, I see an orange and an apple. Let’s hope sinterklaas’ horse likes fruits!!!

You find more about the Sint and his relation to Santa on Wiki