I have been reading a few other blogs and have come to
realize that my blog isn’t very helpful regarding living in El Salvador. Plus,
to be frank, this country is great for many reasons but it is small, somewhat
limited, and life here is a bit dull compared to some other countries.
So I will continue to mix entries on El Salvador with other
cities and countries that I have been lucky enough to visit.
I recently got back from Cuba. With the explosion of free
market retail in Havana and with the lifting of travel restrictions and with
many hundreds of thousands of Cubans with Spanish passports, there are a huge
number of Cubans traveling to Ecuador and Panama to purchase clothing,
accessories and small light items to import into Cuba for sale. Flying routes connecting to these countries
see business class seats full of upgraded Cuban flyers. I was unlucky to be on
a plane with about 40 of these mulas.
You always know when you are on a plane with a lot of
Cubans. They are loud, expressive, drink quite heavily, and carry on loud
conversations across aisles and sometimes back several rows. As an overly
polite Canadian, I actually like and admire Cubans for not really giving a damn
what you think.
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| Yeah, second last in the customs line up! |
So the flight was fine and I came loaded with three checked
bags and three carry-ons full of crap for my friends living in Havana. Landed
early, cleared immigration quickly, and went to the baggage carousel and waited
... and waited ... and waited. Finally
there were only two of us and the Russian woman who works for Taca went looking
for my bags and found them still in the back. Of course the xray showed some
items that needed to be investigated further.
Okay, that’s fine. I open my bags all the time for various
food stuffs like jalapenos and tortillas. Unfortunately, and here is the part
about being unlucky to be on a plane with mulas, I got into a line with 15 Cubans
with giant bags full of literally hundreds of items of clothing that had to be
checked by hand, piece by piece, before they could get to me. The majority,
maybe 25, of the mulas were in another line and just had to have their bags
weighed, pay about 1,500 Cuban pesos (about USD 60) and go off to make their
hundreds of dollars selling the clothes to the public or to kiosks. There were
a varying number of customs officers ranging from a high of 5 and down to 2
when I finally got to the head of the line two and half hours later. I complained
to a supervisor who went to an office behind us and yelled at someone to finish
the flight off.
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| That's the pregnant woman that got me. |
This very pregnant woman comes out (not in uniform since it
wouldn’t cover her large belly) and I start complaining to her that everyone in
the line was there for a commercial purpose, bringing in goods for sale, and
the customs officers are running their own commercial program, charging people
lots of duty for bringing in goods, while I was just a tourist coming in to
visit friends for a week! She wasn’t sympathetic and opened my bags to discover
a large ceiling fan for a friend and a big bag of heavy medals for the
international school swimming meet. She called over the supervisor and I
complained to him and he looked at what had triggered the xray and the search
and said I could go. So pile everything back into the bags and head for the
door to be stopped by the guard who said I hadn’t paid yet. More yelling back
and forth and finally three hours and 45 minutes later, I am out!
My friend was still waiting for me and I had to have a few
cold ones to revive myself.
Havana is still powering forward with free enterprise and
commerce. I attended a meeting put on by a Cuban service provider where they
gathered all their big foreign customers to fill them in on recent legal
changes and to provide information on new procedures and services they were
offering. This was quite extraordinary since these Cuban companies normally
just work for other Cuban Ministries and empresas and now they were actually
trying to do more work, provide more services, and help foreign companies
expand their businesses.
Made it to some of my favourite paladars.
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| Delia and I enjoying a leisurely lunch |
Had a nice 3 hour
lunch with Delia at Starbien on 29 between B and C in Vedado. A nice white wine
and shrimps, octopus and fish. Also had great brick oven pizza at Carboncita.
Took a chance and ordered food at the state run 19th hole at the
golf course and the food was pretty ghastly – the food was old, smelled off and
was badly prepared. The jamon Serrano sandwich was actually just processed
cooked ham.
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| Champagne? Why not. |
Found a new place called Mediterraneo Havana on 13 between F
and G in Vedado which we went to after hearing there was a cute waitress on the
upstairs terrace. She was cute but even better, they had a good cheese plate
with a slice of parmesan, blue, a semi-soft and fresh house made ricotta. And
they had a risotto made with porcini mushrooms and home-made sausage that was
so good that I went back the next day to have it for lunch. A different cute
waitress and I split an order of the porcini risotto with the seafood risotto
which wasn’t very good. Definitely will go back for the porcini one and will
bring some truffle oil to drizzle on top.
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| Giant baby octopus with pesto sauce |
What else ... checked out La Fontana for dinner and ordered
the grilled pesto octopus and a seafood plate for appetizers and was brought so
much food that I couldn’t get through it. It was supposed to have the busiest
bar at 3 in the morning but it was pretty quiet up until we left at 1:30 am.
Someone said it was done up like Miami style and, a tribute to the great
designers in Havana, I thought it was a bit cheesy and shabby compared to some
lounges I have seen like Milanos and Cocinero.
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| The lads at la Fontana before things got ugly |
So a fast 6 days in Havana and then flew home via Buenos
Aires. I was shopping tickets to get the best price for the most miles and
found a flight back to San Salvador via San Salvador to Lima to BA to Lima to
San Salvador. Lots of points but it was a 23 hour trip which included about 9
hours in the Lima airport. It is big and nice and they have an okay lounge that
has a sleeping room with chaise lounges and showers ... but they only want to
let you in for 4 hours for Star Alliance Gold card holders. Actually they will
stretch this to maybe 5 hours and I went early on the way back and she said I
would have to leave in 4 hours but she didn’t find me to chase me out – maybe
because I was asleep.
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| Stefan getting creative in the flea market |
Long trip later, I hit Buenos Aires for the first time! Got
through immigration quickly having paid my $150 reciprocal fee on-line (that is
for the multiple that is good for 5 years). Got my bags quickly and out the
door. My friend told me to get a taxi from Manuel Tienda Leon (I think that was
the name) and I had the choice of paying 340 pesos or USD60. That was close to
the official rate of 5.4 pesos to the dollar and to avoid changing money, I
paid the USD 60. The hand off was really weird because I was told to wait at a
spot and then this guy comes over and says he is my driver. I said where am I
going and he said he didn’t know – so I made him go back to the counter to
verify that he worked for the same company and was not some random taxi driver
who was going to ask me for more money or worse. He was a very interesting guy
named Julio Cesar whose mother gave him the “JC” initials since he was born on
December 25. He gave me a good run down on the economy and politics of the
country and blames the politicians for f*cking up such a resource rich country
and reducing it to a third world economy. Julio explained his economic
manifesto to me and said that Argentina should lease half their land to China
and the Chinese could start farms and ranches and mines and processing plants
and factories and pay a share back. Then all Argentines could retire and let
the Chinese do all the work. Sounds like a good plan to me.
My buddy Stefan is one of my closest friends from his years
in Havana but we hadn’t seen each other in eight years. I was a little
apprehensive that he might have changed (diplomats often get large heads when
they get promotions) but he was the same and showed me awesome hospitality. He
had a very nice two bedroom apartment in Palermo with a killer view of many of
the downtown parks and the big river.
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| Lovely architecture! Also demonstrations and riot police ... this is Latin America. |
So began a 6 day odyssey of beef eating and Malbec drinking!
I had some preconceived notions of course. There are a lot
of Argentinean steak houses in San Salvador and they usually serve steaks that
have been butterflied open and are very thin so hard to cook medium rare. I
have also tried a lot of mid-priced Malbecs that were okay but not great and
often with a slightly bitter taste.
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| First dinner at Don Julio's |
CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO SEE THE WHOLE SHOT.
Stefan took me to his favourite place, Don Julio’s which is
a very charming rustic parrilla. The walls are covered in shelves holding empty
bottles that I think have had their labels inscribed by clients. They have a
great salad system where you can choose exactly what you want and get and pay
for just that. I love arugula which we ate daily in Cuba (until a storm surge
flood during a hurricane killed off the plot planted in Miramar) but rarely in
ES (sold in tiny little bags for two bucks) and they had it everywhere. Along
with onions, tomato and parmesan cheese, a perfect salad for me. Stefan ordered
a wine which was fantastic – fruity and full but a bit acidic which helped cut
through the fat of the 5 steaks he ordered for the three of us.
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| 3 of the 5 steaks ordered. |
And we ate them
all.
I should explain that Stefan is a marathoner and Ironman
having completed two of those insane competitions. So the calories were no
problems for him. His girlfriend Mary is a really lovely woman from nearby
southern Brazil. She is a former model and still looks like and eats like one –
so not a lot of help with that much meat on the table. As for me, when the beef
and wine are that good, I can pull my own weight.
So I was happily surprised to see that they cut their steaks
very thick and prefer to cook them medium rare – the call this jugoso or
“juicy”. The rib-eye or “ojo de bife” was one of the best I have ever had.
Nicely charred on the inside and super juicy and rare on the inside.
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| Shopping with Mary. |
Stefan was working during the days so Mary was kind enough
to spend her days with me showing me the city. We took the subway to Florida
Street which is a long pedestrian shopping area stretching several blocks. Had
my first empenado which was warm and meaty and very tasty. Also did the tour of
the city on the open topped double decker bus. Stopped off in Recoleta to take
pictures and to have lunch. Stefan told me that they were treating me for all
of my meals that week so Mary insisted on paying for every lunch. A rather
disconcerting experience having a beautiful woman paying for me all the time
but I got used to it.
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| Hanging out with about a thousand tourists in Ricoleta |
Also did lots of shopping. While the official rate was 5.4,
the Blue dollar rate was 9.3 and I changed a few hundred at this rate. Ended up
getting some great shirts at Zaras. Mary explained to me that Argentinean men
are dandy’s and there are as many men’s clothing stores as women’s. Also went
to a bunch of shops looking for a purse for Fatima and Mary was very helpful
modeling them for me.
I think my favourite part of the city was Palermo Soho, a
nice walk from the apartment and full of funky shops and cafes. I had a great
salad there topped with another perfectly cooked sliced steak. Met some very
interesting shop keepers. One men’s store had great shirts and the gay floor
guy spoke perfect English and was very helpful and accurately predicted that we
would come back and buy a shirt they carried. Went to a place next door full of
edgy pieces and the shop girl was super pale and lethargic and looked like a
heroin addict. We had to get buzzed into another place and after picking up a
bag on a table near the window, the old guy sitting behind the cash register
came out and glared at me as he reset the piece on the table. I asked the older
woman working there who made the bags and he said the old man did. She also
showed us a replica Birkin Bag he made and was selling for around $300. I'd buy one but my sister wouldn't think that was very cool! Another
shop was full of hip clothing with a sales guy, in t-shirt, jeans and Doc
Martins leaning back on a table looking tough, who glared at us as we came in
and I “Buenos tardes”, glared at us as we walked around, and glared at us as we
left without ever moving or speaking.
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| Dining at La Cabrera - Charming room, great service |
We wanted to hit the best steak house parrillas in the city
so we called La Cabrera to make a reservation but they were all full up but
they did have an offer where you could line up outside at 7:00 pm, get a table,
and if you could eat and get out by 8:15, they would give you a 40% discount. I
think about 30 people were outside at 7 and every one of them looked like a
foreigner with mostly Germans and Brits I think. Obviously, they didn’t mind
eating earlier.
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| An 800 gm strip loin at la Cabrera |
We were a tad rushed but had 2 lb steaks, another great wine,
more arugula salads and it was about $60. Headed back to smoke some big Cuban
cigars on his 22nd floor balcony.
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| Churrascaria? Why? |
We also managed to hit the churrascaria on the waterfront
past the city airport. I forget the name ... something like Rodizio. When we
got there, we had no problems parking with only 3 other cars there. This giant
two level restaurant was virtually empty although there were two tables of Asians
– Chinese businessmen with their large families. I asked the waiter about them
and he said that Chinos often come to the restaurant very early. The buffet was
pretty good – lots of seafood like big head-on shrimps and smoked salmon, lots
of carpaccio and cold cuts. Stefan ordered a nice Malbec and we started a small
scene trying to accelerate the deliver of beef to our table. Lots of sirloin,
filet and then the picanha. I have to say that I finally had more beef than I
could comfortable eat or even look at. Then some giant desserts (included in
the price) like molten brownies with ice cream. I had an amazing grapefruit ice
cream.
Stagger out to the car and we decided to take a drive
through the park to check out the trannies. Hmm, a LOT of cars and some pretty
chunky ladies. One tranny was quite animated with a nice rack and a tiny
mini-skirt from which extended her very large unit which she was flapping in the
wind. Surprisingly big, especially on such a cold night!
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| Great way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon - drinking wine out of plastic cups, eating steaming hunks of grilled meat with your fingers, and smoking big cigars with a big view |
On Saturday, we went to a parrilla bbq at a friend’s place.
They had the top floor with a giant built in charcoal grill. Our host would
cook big hunks of beef and nicely marinated pork, then cut them up into big
pieces and serve them on a platter for us to eat with our fingers. Along with
big pieces of fresh bread, lots of chimmichurri and great red wine drunk out of
plastic cups, it was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. Oddly, there were
no Argentinian men amongst the approximately 20 people there. Most of them were interesting expats - one was half Canadian and half Argentinian with a foreign service Dad. Another guy was Iranian from Texas! Also a smattering of diplos, NGO workers, and Brits from whom I heard the word Argie for the first time in years. I was hoping to
speak to an Argentinian who wasn’t a waiter, taxi-driver, bartender or shop clerk but none of these expats invited a local male. There
were two lovely Argentinian woman who I was able to meet and speak to. I asked them why this group didn't mix with the local guys and they said that perhaps they found the men to be too arrogant. They said that the men could be quite the dandies as well.
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| Splurging at Osaka |
That night, we went to a Peruvian Japanese fusion restaurant
called Osaka. My family is originally from there so I had to check it out. We
tried 9 appetizers and some were amazing but the sushi was surprisingly bad –
the rice was terrible and way overly compacted. My favourite was a dish made of
small cubed raw salmon and small cubed fresh pineapple dressed in ginger and
sriracha with what might have been toasted ground sesame seeds on top. Again the service was pretty good and very flexible. They had a no cigar rule but the waiter asked the other three couples if they minded and they said no so we were able to go out onto the terrace to smoke big fat ones and finish our wine.
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| Diego used to be a member of the Havana Golf Club and I gotta tell you, he looked better back then. |
Went to a bar called 878 one night. Took us a bit to find it
because it was an ultracool place with no sign (makes you wonder how they stay
open). We finally found it when I spotted a big burly guy in a suit texting on
his phone – doorman, voila! Great long wooden bar, great mixologists, and some
interesting local cocktails. One was made with Cynar, a local aperitif made
with artichokes. My favourite was a cocktail with vodka, triple sec, campari
and grapefruit juice. And while leaving, I reportedly made friends with the
doorman and gave him a big Cuban cigar. This was my instinctual reaction to a
possibly hard to get into bar in case we want to go back and there is a line
up.
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| Gladys wrapping up my photographs. |
Last day, Sunday, before my flight, we took the subway to
Catedral Station to go to a big outdoor flea market at Plaza Dorrego that
stretched like 10 blocks through the city. I bought some great photographs by
Gladys Blanco, ate two delicious and really filling beef empadados, got some
books in Spanish and a hand painted shirt for Fatima and a cushion cover for
her collection.
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| Eating empanadas in the flea market |
Keeping to Stefan’s schedule, we briskly made it back to his
hood and had plenty of time for our last steak – this time at a place a block
away from his house. I ordered a rib-eye with an arugula salad and he said I
should try the mollejas or beef cheeks.
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| Mollejas .... yum! |
They came grilled to the table with
quartered lemons and they turned out to be sweet breads and were perhaps one of
the most amazing things I have ever eaten. I spent a long time slowly chewing
each piece and washing it down with another excellent Malbec. I never saw the
prices of the wine but I think Stefan said we could get great wines for around
$10 each.
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| My last steak. Goodbye Argentina, goodbye beef. |
I thought I would get sick of the beef but, other than the
night in the churasscaria, I never did. I couldn’t finish my steak so I asked
the waiter to take it to the kitchen and put it in some bread and wrap it for
my trip home to ES. Oh, and I learned what’s up with the chimichurri sauce.
They sell it in bottles and have it at every steak house but every version was
a muddled olive oil condiment with too much stuff in it like oregano and other
herbs, pepper and vinegar. The recipe that I was taught, and which I love, only
has fresh chopped parsley, garlic, salt and extra-virgin olive oil. This
restaurant was the first place to have what I thought was authentic chimichurri
– turns out this is a different version called chimichurri provenzal.
So back to the apartment, call a cab and this time the ride
was half the price using the pesos I had changed at the Blue rate (and getting
a discount for using the same cab company). Quite a long ride out to the
airport and passed a lot of car clubs meeting at the side of the highways.
Airport was big and noisy and there was a big line-up at immigration. It made
me think of how different Canada is where we don’t have to pass through immigration
when you leave the country – just check in, bag check, gate check and then
airplane. Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador and Cuba all have exit procedures.
Europe as well where your passport gets stamped when entering and leaving.
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| A lovely visit with a lovely couple. |
Went to a very nice lounge and had a few cold beers while
catching the golf. Then bought a big box of Havanna Alfajores and boarded the
plane to Lima. Eight hours there and slept very well in the lounge and then
onto the plane to El Salvador. Landed at home, hit the duty free store to stock
up the whiskey larder and then out to the sunshine and heat.
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| Puerto Madero from a tour bus |
Buenos Aires was definitely a great place to visit. Lovely
city with lots of gorgeous European style architecture and lots of shiny condo
towers. Some lovely rustic areas like Boca and Recoleta (although the later
seems to exist to cater to tourists) and great food and shopping. I bought
three slim fit shirts that would look good on me except they won’t fit over the
big belly I developed from eating all that food.
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| It's the Falklands! |
My only regret was not meeting and speaking to any
Argentineans. Over lunch one day, we started chatting with the people on the
other end of the table. They were Venezuelans and super friendly and happy to
talk about Chavez and socialism and what countries they had visited. Maybe next
time?
For many of us, Argentina is that big country down in South America with Evita Peron and the Falklands conflict and the terrible economy. As rich as the city seems, and it could easily pass for any city in North America or Europe, I hear the country side can be equally poor. I heard that much of their problems stemmed from their corrupt and ineffectual politicians and that consider it a tragedy that their country is the way it is.
At the turn of the century, emigrating Europeans had a choice of going to two different countries with very similar economies, natural resources and job prospects. One was Argentina and the other was Canada. Now the countries are vastly different and Canadians are charged $75 to enter Argentina for the sole reason that Argentinians need a visa to enter Canada.
I paid double that fee to have multiple entries for the next five years. I hope to go back soon, eat more steaks and share a few bottles of wine and some cigars with some locals!
