Friday Family Newspaper #1
Each day of this trip to Buenos Aires, we are doing Thompson Travel School. Each day has a theme (Math Monday, everyone’s favorite!) and Friday is Friday Family Newspaper. Each person takes a “section” and creates their news story about that section. Sections will vary weekly, so keep reading for updates about the news around here.
This week, we present the following:
Ruthie Thompson, Photo Editor
Harper Thompson, Top Story
Anna Thompson, Culture Reporter
Tommy Thompson, Food Reporter
Fun Times at the Eco-Park
By Harper
On July 7th, we walked from the Botanical Garden to the Eco-Park. The Eco-Park is a repurposed zoo, after letting most of the animals go, only keeping the ones that needed help. Most of the animals are free-roaming, such as peacocks, Patagonian hares, and ducks. There is also beautiful architecture. When we first walked in, we saw maras and some of the pretty sculptures placed around the paths. A mara is a like a large rabbit with very skinny legs. We looked at the maras, then moved on. We walked on, and as we went, we saw peacocks, fish, ducks, and Patagonian hares.
There were only three male peacocks at the Eco-Park.
We also saw one camel.
The camel is getting ready to stand up. I haven’t seen a camel put its back legs up and then stand up before.
Then we approached the tapirs. Dad loves tapirs and was very excited. We saw them! The Eco-Park is lovely and we might go back!
Ballet at the Theatre Colon
By Anna
This week at the Theatre Colon, we saw Sinofietta / Carmen. We decided to buy these tickets initially so that we could go to the Theatre Colon, which is one of the top tourist destinations in Buenos Aires according to all the tourist lists. I thought it might be more fun to see it at a show instead of just doing a tour. Plus, I love the ballet.
We arrived just before the lights went down and were rushed to our seats. Our seats — in the second row of the orchestra, four from the center. It was incredible to be able to watch the conductor up close, to see the dancers sweat, to hear them breathe. A totally immersive experience. Sometimes the prices of things are surprising here - groceries cost almost the same as they do at home, but these ballet tickets were only $40 each. Our Air BNB is cheap (less than $200 per night for this gorgeous three bedroom apartment in a great location). Anyway, I digress. But the seats were incredible.
Sinofietta (the first ballet) is a ballet that is a celebration of liberation from the Czech Republic. I didn’t know that when I saw it, so watching it, I experienced a celebration of dance. It was the most technically difficult, jump and turn intensive piece I’ve ever seen live. The set and costumes were minimal but beautiful in light pastels. The music was beautiful and energetic and it was really just a joy to watch.
The lights came up, and we finally had a chance to look around. It’s impossible to describe the attention to detail and the opulence of this theatre. Buenos Aires is a grand city, with so much architecture and sculpture from the time when it was one of the richest cities in the world. But it’s not just a relic, it’s also a modern city, and the respect and care shown for the art and historic beauty of the city is evident everywhere, including this theatre. Even each seat is detailed and lovely, covered in velvet, ornately carved. It’s an unusual structure, with a large orchestra surrounded by a horseshoe of boxes, each one only 2-3 rows deep that goes six levels vertically. The ceiling is beautifully painted, and there is gold EVERYWHERE.
Then the intermission ended quickly, and Carmen started. Carmen was somehow a perfect ballet to see in this place, in this theatre. It’s set in Spain, a dramatic love triangle, with music that even a non-ballet fan could recognize. The cast was enormous, at least sixty people, including two flamenco dancers who played the castanets. At the end, the bows were long (huge cast). I loved hearing the people around me shouting “Bravo!” and “Arriba!”.
Another thing that has been surprising here is the ease of getting around for a city this big. We expected that getting an uber would take a long time after the show. But it was only five minutes, and we appeared to be one of three groups getting a car. Most people walked or rode the subway, I guess. We haven’t been stuck in any major traffic jams, or had to wait a long time to get picked up. It was an evening to remember, and even though our time in Buenos Aires isn’t over yet, it might be my favorite thing I did in the whole trip.
Ice Cream
By Tommy
Somehow I’ve been assigned Food Critic for this edition of the Thompson Travels Newsletter. Which is excellent, because I was expecting Argentina to be full of steak and wine. Which would have been ok, but I wasn’t expecting that my favorite food would also be a favorite of the Argentines as well. I mean, it’s not surprising that they like ice cream in Argentina, but it is surprising HOW MUCH they like ice cream. There’s a Heladeria on nearly every corner.
In our first week, we have stopped at two heladeria’s and at each one I declared it the best ice cream I’ve ever had. I’m probably leaving out some amazing gelato in Italy, but my favorite American ice cream is (sacrilege to all Bluebell fans) Jeni’s. Jeni’s is spectacular but I’d take a Melt or a Rapanui (our two Argentine contenders) over Jeni’s any day.
We didn’t intend to go to Melt. A name in English? That’s not why we came here. But then Ruthie, Theo and I had a day to ourselves and we went to a burger place for lunch and Theo’s kids meal came with helado (Spanish for ice cream) and he wanted chocolate (pronounced choco-latte) and the guy at the burger place, which was around the corner from Melt, comes back with a small Melt cup of chocolate ice cream. Theo predictably gets it all over his pants, shirt, hands, face and table. Even a little on his socks? And then decides he’s done with roughly half of the small cup remaining. So I do what any responsible dad would and eat the rest of it (so it wouldn’t make a further mess, of course). And holy moley – it’s fantastic. So rich and chocolatey.
Ruthie should definitely have some. One of my favorite qualities that Ruthie has is that she will just eat as much of a sweet treat as she wants. She doesn’t feel the need to finish something just because. So we go to the Melt window and she orders what we think is a scoop of Snickers on a strawberry cone. Then the woman points to a list of flavors and demands another one. This happens sometimes in places where we don’t speak the language and you have to just go with it. Plus, I know she’s not going to eat it all, so another scoop is great. Then the woman gives her a list of toppings. Then a list of sauces. So now she’s got a strawberry cone with Americana (it’s vanilla) and Snickers and cookie crumbs and chocolate sauce. She eats maybe 5 bites and is done. Don’t’ worry, none went to waste.
Ruthie’s ice cream is bigger than her face.
A couple of days later, Anna’s itinerary has us eating Rapanui before a walking tour of the city capitol. Because of the late hours kept by Argentines (and thus, us, while visiting) we essentially ate ice cream for breakfast. But at 11am. Rapanui is a small chain – maybe 7 locations – and is both a chocolateria and a heladeria. Each store sells fine chocolates and amazing ice cream. Cab drivers and tour guides have called Rapanui the best ice cream in the city, which is why it made the itinerary.
Crucially for our group, they have vegan Mint Chocolate Chip, which is Harper’s favorite flavor and she’s severely lactose intolerant. They also have very interesting bowls made of cone, so Anna gets one and liked it. On top of a double scoop, they put one of their fancy chocolates – a chocolate ball filled with jelly which was weird but everyone but me really enjoyed. Buenos Aires has a heavy Italian influence and it’s very evident in the ice cream. It’s creamy like American ice cream but very dense, like gelato. The double scoop at Rapanui was so big that I couldn’t even eat Ruthie or Theo’s leftovers after they abandoned theirs halfway through. It was all delicous though.
Dad eating his huge ice cream at Rapanui
In the end, does Argentina have the best ice cream in the world? I’ve decided that maybe it does – but 2 samples isn’t nearly enough to be able to say for sure. So in the interest of thoroughness, I’ve committed to sampling at least 3 more heladerias over the remaining week that we are in Buenos Aires and I’ll report back.