The warmest welcome

It was still in cold Berlin December when I wrote to Miguel and Guillermo. Before that, we had only sporadic contact, actually only after every football match between Germany and Argentina, I think they did not like my messages too much.

“Hey guys, I’m coming to Buenos Aires, shall we meet for a beer?” We changed a few words in Facebook chat and decided to meet, but did not make any detailed plans. I had met the two of them four years ago on the Gili Islands in Indonesia. Some week go by and I’m standing in Heathrow in the boarding queue for my flight from London to Buenos Aires as my mobile phone is vibrating, Miguel left me a voice message:”Georg, I hope you don’t have a hostel and no plans yet, we’ll pick you up at the airport tomorrow and go to the country for the weekend! The wifi was barely enough for an OK and the flight number.

Fourteen hours and a not that delicious British Airways breakfast later I was in Buenos Aires. During the landing approach I was able to correct my false belief that BA was located on the seaside: Argentina’s capital sits on the Rio de la Plata, which gets as big as a proper sea or lake to my defence, but the river has a colour that is just as inviting to swim in as the one of the river Elbe in my hometown. Immigration was uncomplicated and as I go to the outside I immediately see Miguel and Guille: a short hug and we quickly move towards the car where Gigi, Miguel’s fiancée, and her friend Edna are waiting for us. Yes, now I have officially arrived!

Gigi’s driving. Miguel uses his free hands to pour new water on the mate. Gigi wasn’t even in the second gear, so I already had the mate in my hand. There are few things that are as typically Argentinean as drinking mate together. To this end, the mate weed, which looks like dried oregano or something similar – a friend in Berlin, during a police control, once had to explain very longly that Mate does not conflict with anz drug related law – is put into a small round cup, poured with water and drunk with a metal straw, the Bombilla. There are actually only two sips, then new water is poured onto the Mate again and passed around. Mate tastes bitter, but has a similar effect to coffee thanks to the mateine. Adding sugar is not cool, and you should also avoid saying thank you too soon, because that means I don’t want to have any more mate – it’s just as important as looking into each others eyes when you’re cheering while having drinks with a German.

Full of energy we arrive. The landhouse is located in San Vicente, but the actual house is part of a private complex which is fenced and guarded all around. At the entrance there are several barricades and a lot of heavily armed security guards: yes, we are in South America! Thanks to the passport card, we come in and shortly afterwards we are warmly welcomed by Hector and Beti, Gigi’s parents. The house is huge, it has a large garden and a swimming pool. Somehow everything looks a bit like Australia, owning land does not seem to be a problem here. After a few comments on Jenny, the very attractive neighbour, who quickly made a name for herself in the neighbourhood due to her bum and her public Zumba exercises, we are back in the car to go shopping for meat in the centre.

Apart from Mate and Christianity, the Asado, Argentinean barbecue is probably the third religion of the country. And the Carniceria Gomez in the centre of San Vicente is like a temple, the Mecca of every barbecue lover, barely the size of a living room, but filled as hell: five whole pigs are hanging on the wall, another 20 chickens and so much beef are lying on the counter, divided into different parts that one has the feeling that a whole herd of cows are compactly lying here. El Señor Gomez has a thick axe in his hand and is just waiting to put together the perfect barbecue mix, the Carniceria Gomez is the Disneyland for meat lovers, and a horropark of every vegetarian. Miguel orders and we’re going back to the house.

The boys prepare the meat quickly, only the piece of pork is marinated while the rest, mainly beef, only gets a little salt. Hector had already preheated the grill, a construction as big as a table with a two square metre grill surface, and off we go. Gigi and Edna had made another alibi salad, but it only takes up a fraction of the plate. Just as in a star restaurant, every piece of meat – in Argentina you really eat every part of the cow – is now served bit by bit. After the 6th course I stopped counting, probably distracted by the taste, which I don’t even try to describe. The most impressive is to discover how fresh meat can be, the edges of the piece of meat are beautifully crispy, the inside is so tender that you can spoon it. Sorry Australia, but I just had the best barbecue of my life… and after the umpteenth course I also understood why the siesta is so important for survival.

The weekend continued in a relaxed way, we ate, joked, drank the Hendricks-Gin I brought from Berlin and had a really good time. On Sunday evening, we went back to Buenos Aires, Guillermo and his girlfriend Guille (easy to remember) offered me to stay at their house and so I took the opportunity of this lovely hospitality to start my daytrips from there.

Buenos Aires is huge, but still cosy. Guille lived near the Palermo district, something like Buenos Aires Kreuzberg, which, funny enough, reminded me of Surry Hils in Sydney. Apart from that, Buenos Aires is beautiful, but architecturally nothing spectacular. The centre is a huge square with an obelisk, there are some colonial buildings in Spanish style, many churches, some modern giant buildings from the 50s – I was particularly impressed by the Ministry of Defence – and a relatively new harbour quarter with some skyscrapers. The other and smaller neighborhoods, such as San Telmo, invite you to sit down for a cup of coffee or a beer in a street café. In general, life takes place on the street. For this very reason, and thanks to the traffic, Buenos Aires feels like a modern metropolis in the south of Europe, perhaps like a mix of Barcelona, Naples and Sydney, or maybe “just” like Buenos Aires.

The next few days also pass quickly, we go dancing on Monday – la bomba del tiempo, a great open-air drum show – and eat pizza afterwards. Argentinians think the best pizza comes from Buenos Aires, but don’t worry, it’s not true, the best pizza still comes from Naples. On Tuesday, Gigi and Edna drive me to Tigre, a small town on the delta north of BA, and finally we finish the first days together with dinner (homemade empanadas!!) on Guille’s terrace  as I decided to continue on Wednesday my way to Uruguay.

It’s hard to say goodbye, Argentinians are warm-hearted, and so am I of course, and the first few days didn’t just feel like being with good friends, they were days with good friends. Miguel and Gigi are getting married in March and they didn’t miss a single opportunity to remind me to come. Actually, it’s not on my travel route at all, I would have to fly all the way down from Colombia, but after a few beers we agree on a deal: I invest 1000€ in Bitcoins (or Ethereums, for all those who want to share the excitement) and if the market wants it I come. Of course, the crypto currencies crashed a week later, but hope dies last … and to be honest, this just meant the wedding was going to be more expensive for me, no way I was not going to miss this opportunity … only Gigi and Miguel did not know that yet!