Argentine Ice Cream

This one is for you Ren.

Ya see, Ren and Alex had a pretty serious ice cream habit (Alex still does as you can see from his face). They needed a fix a day, minimum. We came close to intervention.

Nonna Bianca is the ice cream place a block and a half from our house. I have had gelato in both mainland Italy and in Sicily, supposedly the best ice cream in the world, and this ice cream easily competes. This was the first time I tried the frozen goodness and I was truly impressed.

I was also impress by a sign they had, one I have not seen in the last 33 days. "Here no smoking, thank you."


Everyone smokes everywhere in Buenos Aires. It seems to be the national pastime down here. So I was shocked to see a no smoking sign. Then, later that night, at an organic vegetarian restaurant, I saw it again. Bizarre. The food and beer at Bio in the neighborhood of Palarmo Hollywood was excellent.

Many were smoking at Peña Cordones in Palermo. A Peña is a bar where various groups of people burst out in traditional song called folklórica, centered around a guitar player or two. Others around the bar join in on the singing and clapping. When one group finishes, another starts up, seemingly trying to be louder and rowdier than the previous. It gets crazy. Alex was a good boy and went home around 2:30am so he could get a couple of hours sleep for his last day of language school. Andrew and I were not so good. But I would say it was the fault of the six young women we shared a table with. Not taking responsibility; good Americans. We had a great time Ceci, happy birthday.