22 April 2007 - Trip Report

My buddy and I left Panama on April 5th bound for Buenos Aires, me in search of the world’s best steak and a good red wine.

It’s an eight hour flight and because I am claustrophobic, I numbed myself with pills prescribed for the occasion by a physician so I could sleep through most of it and also ward off the assault of airline food.

We stayed in a section of the city called Palermo, in a small but upscale hostel, called Hotel Costa Rica. We were out of the mainstream and in retrospect it cost us a lot in taxis to get to where things were hapnin’. The service was excellent as were the accommodations with a daily breakfast of excellent café au lait and croissants served with cheerful honest smiles.

The city is like a blend of Paris and Madrid. It is modern. It is business like. It has a sophisticated infrastructure nothing 3rd world here. BA is known for having the world’ widest street. Ave. 9 de Julio has ten lanes in each direction, plus four feeder lanes and all separated by a wide, manicured median that is probably the world’s longest and skinniest park. Aside from that claim to fame, it is a quiet, beautiful city with an abundance of parks, architectural originality and the obligatory collection of generals and politician's bronze statues.

The populace is a mix of Italian and German heritage and the people are beautiful. Their Spanish is the best I’ve encountered and I could understand most of what they said, unlike Panamanians who speak Spanish with the velocity of an Uzi on full automatic.

The Argentine people have a reputation for being arrogant. The rumor is the elite have mixed Spanish arrogance with Italian indifference. I didn’t find that to be the case. Everyone, from Taxi drivers on up were friendly and helpful. You could easily tell the Italian influence as the taxi drivers were eager to point out significant beauties standing on street corners.

Buenos Aires is a port city and one day we took a ferry across the world’s widest fresh water river. It is startling to be in the middle, no land in sight and watch Water Hyacinths floating by. Fifty minutes later we set foot on Uruguay. We toured the old city of Colonia, whose quiet, 17th century ruins and laidback status, compared to the honking noise, rush and worry of Panama City was a refreshing change.

Yes we did see the Tango, for free at an outdoor street festival in San Telmo. I’m not a big dance fan and what I saw was entertaining and good enough. On Sunday’s San Telmo is noted for an enormous street fair, replete with musicians, dancers, street performers and a park studded with kiosks selling antiques and crafts.

I did find the world’s best steak, a filet mignon at a waterfront restaurant called Cabanas las Lilas. We dined on the patio and I enjoyed a bottle of Malbec ($7), which was new to me. According to Wikipedia, “Malbec is a black, mellow grape variety originally grown in France, in the Loire Valley. Long known as one of the six grapes used in the blending of red Bordeaux wine, it is increasingly celebrated as an Argentine varietal wine.” It now my favorite red.

The filet was about three inches thick, juicy, tender and cooked perfectly rare-medium ($15). It came with an assortment of relishes, including Chimichurri sauce. With it, we shared a green salad with a nice Balsamic dressing. We had steak three times in Buenos Aires, each was excellent but the best was at las Lilas.

One night we had Pizza and it had to be the best I’ve ever had, anywhere. It was at a place called 1893 in Palermo. The crust was thick but fluffy. The sauce, toppings and molten cheese were perfect. It was about three bucks.