The other news is that Nat´s brother Andrew is in town after making a snap decision to be here for NYE. We spent a day on the delta at Tigre and visited Evita´s tomb at the Recoleta cemetary... but we keep heading back to Palermo where almost everything that involves eating and shopping is centered. As a happy coincidence Nat and Andrew´s friends Mel and Tommy are here with a whole group which means that NYE will be on the bigger side of enormous.

We had an excellent night out at an underground site where we enjoyed an orchestral performance of Tango music. Underground in this case meant being dropped by our taxi at the address with 10 minutes to spare and arriving at a closed garage door with 20 other people milling about...

We´ve also been hanging out with friends throughout the festive season and spent a really nice day at home on Xmas day with Aaron and Sarah from San Diego. The above photo is a selection of Mate mugs (think tea mugs) which young Argentinos pass around as they lie about in shady parks.

Puertas cerradas - Restaurants With Closed Doors

Last night we celebrated the Oaxacan Festival of the Radishes with a Oaxcan inspired feast at Casa SaltShaker - a 5 course tasting menu prepared by an ex-NYC chef served in the living room of his BsAs apartment. The idea is kind of like a public dinner party with 10 strangers.

Booking a table at Casa SaltShaker proved a little more difficult than we had anticipated as an article was published in the New York Times' travel section last Sunday on the hip underground club and restaurant scene in Buenos Aires. Our host for the evening, Dan Perlman, was quoted as saying “There’s something kind of cool about knowing what’s behind the secret door ... of being in on something that no one else knows”. He is right!

Our menu for the night was-

Chilled Watercress & Melon Soup
Ricotta & Squash Blossom Empanadas
Shrimp in Pumpkin Seed Sauce
Shortribs in Chatino Mole
Oaxacan Chocolate Lasagna

The food was delicious and we were glad to have another stab at mole (a savoury chocolate sauce) after a not-so-positive experience in Mexico earlier this year. Although Dan´s version didn't include the traditional ingredient of chocolate, it was divine. The company from our fellow diners was also great, although we were flying the flag as the only non-North Americans (this might have had something to do with the NYT article, given that half of them were from the Big Apple).

No mas español (no more spanish). We are now officially on holidays having finished up our Spanish studies.

In addition to helping us try and make some sense of the subjunctive, our school proved to be a great way to meet fellow travellers as it organised weekly social events. This included drinks at Milion, an old mansion which has been transformed into a trendy bar and restaurant.

We were a little confused by the process for ordering drinks which required you to line up at the cashier to pay while at the same time the cashier was trying to manage all the bills from the restaurant. Then once you had your ticket you could proceed to line up at the bar until you were served. It was a long time between drinks and the more dependent among us (mainly Australians, British and Americans) could not wrap their heads around such inefficiency.

After Milion, we headed to a club where our fellow students received a lot of attenion from the porteños for their raunchy 'American' booty shakin. Argentinian youth, and this has been widely commented on, just don´t throw themselves into it.

We have spent the last few weeks enjoying our laid back life in Buenos Aires - a few hours of Spanish school, sipping on cafe con leche as we wolf down medialunas (the Argentinian equivolent of a croissant), a spot of shopping - who could complain!

We also met up with Emily and Georgia (Nat's old flatemates), again, who were in town for a few days. We had a delicious parrilla dinner together (Argentinian BBQ) in true porteño style, sitting down to eat at 11.30pm.

The nocturnal lifestyle here does take some getting use to. The other night we went to the opening of a bar with some friends from Spanish school and were surprised to see the Argentines sitting around chatting and sipping their beers in a most civilised fashion at 5am as if they were spending a leisurely Sunday afternoon at the pub! (in contrast, we were rolling out of the place heading home for a day of hungover misery)

Other news from Buenos Aires:

• Last night Boca Juniors lost their chance to make history as the champions in three consecutive seasons as they were narrowly defeated by Estudiantes who had not held the champion's title for more than 22 years.
  
• Argentine purse-snatchers have proved themselves a cut above the rest, successfully managing to steal W Bush´s daughter´s handbag from right under the nose of the US secret service, whilst her and her twin were filling their bellies in the San Telmo neighbourhood. Classic!