Maté, Bizcocho and Wool

Our quest for good king crab was fulfilled at a spot called "Volver," along Ushuaia's waterfront. The restaurant was staffed by a husband/wife combo who were the nicest people ever and gave us a rundown of their sustainable crabbing practices. Afterward, I was able to find my favorite brand of Yerba Maté along with my favorite brand of bizcocho biscuit to have with the Maté. Any Maté fantatic knows that a sweet, buttery biscuit is the perfect thing to accompany the bitterness of Yerba Maté. This brand knows their stuff, they even put the Maté gourd on their package to let everyone know:

A cold rain came down throughout the afternoon, causing the temperature to drop significantly and sending us scrambling for last-minute warm clothing for our boat trip. We stopped by an artisan market on the waterfront and met a nice older man who spun clothing out of alpaca and wool in the style of his mother. I bought a wool Ruana, which is a cross between a Sarape and a Cape. B got a Chalé, which is like a shawl. Both kept us warm as we sipped our delicious Maté, eating bizcocho and playing cards into the night.

Broke at the End of The World

Flying into Ushuaia reminds me of flying into Pasto, Colombia;surrounded by mountains to the point where you feel as if you might fly right into one. I withdrew a little cash at the airport to the tune of a $6 dollar ATM fee. This actually became a huge problem as the ATMs in town cap the number of pesos that one can withdrawal daily. The fact that Ushuaia is already really expensive made things complicated when restaurants weren't able to take our credit card.  

I asked our host about exchanging dollars on the black market rate, which had previously been at 13-14 pesos per dollar. She replied that as of yesterday, there was only one rate, Argentina’s new president had devalued the currency by 40% to eliminate the black market rate. B and I dug out our US dollars and trotted down to Banco de la Nacion where around 40 people were waiting in line (a trend throughout the entire country).

 I remembered reading that casinos were a place to change money in Ushuaia so we popped in the first one we saw. When I asked the Casino doorman, he initially said no, but when I pressed him he directed me to the cashier, who wanted me to change $1500 but then allowed me to exchange $1000 at 13 pesos/dollar. The whole experience of money troubles reminded me of my days in La Plata where my boss would dedicate entire days (‘bank days’) withdrawing money for projects. It seems an Amex card is the most advantageous to have in Ushuaia as there are few places that currently accept Visa/MC.

We got the centolla al ajillo (king crab with garlic) at Tia Elvira's. The place had so many artifacts and old pictures, it should be considered a museum. Although the crab was a little too chewy and not very good. Had a great local cerveza artesianal, the Cape Horn Pilsen. We walked around looking for a mate and played cards over mate while a downpour battered the house. Later on we braved the rain to check out Kuar, where we had a delicious salad with fried cheese and some lamb ravioli. Everything in Ushuaia seemed to shut down around 9pm and the town had an eerie and vacant vibe about it.

Day 1: Beers, Broodjes and Boat Hotels

Our flight from NYC to Brussels was on Jet Airways, an Indian flight continuing on to Bangalore. I managed to obtain the bulkhead seats for my brother, father and I before the flight so we could sleep. Unfortunately, cultural differences on personal space resulted in several Indian passengers stepping directly over us in order to cross from one side to the other while we were sleeping. We created a makeshift carry-on barrier to keep passengers from stepping on our feet, which led to a small confrontation that was eventually settled by the flight attendant in our favor.

First order of business in Brussels was a quick breakfast before catching our train to Kotrijk. After clearing customs it was a short train ride to the station where we grabbed espresso and one of my favorite takeaway snacks: broodjes. A broodje is a simple sandwich on a french-style roll but this ain't no Subway. The bread is usually freshly baked and filled with tasty meats, cheeses and veg. In selecting a good broodje, one must often choose between the butcher shop or bakery which have their respective strengths and weaknesses on the meats and bread front.

It was too early to check into Bootel Ahoi, so we dropped our bags and wandered around. town. Koffehaus is a charming cafe in one of Kotrijk's scenic squares that had decent food and a few older couples drinking some wit beers at lunchtime. We even got a suggestion to check out the "bar for weirdos" at the train station. It was quite the scene of characters drunk by early afternoon who regarded us with polite curiosity as we drank espressos trying to stay awake. "Why do you come here to Kotrijk?" was the usual refrain. "For the bikes and the beers" was more than enough to elicit smiles from our fellow weirdos.

Relaunch!

After a hiatus from the blog (busy working on The Wandering Paisa Hostel!), I have decided to relaunch the Rockstar Diplomat blog as a way of sharing my personal experiences concerning cultural diplomacy through food, music and travel. I have recently started an MBA in Sustainability program at Bard College, which will also influence the content of the blog.

I will also be linking photos and videos here instead of directly to Facebook.
 

3 Stupas, 2 Mosques and a Pizza Parlor

We got into Rangoon late, but not too late as to hear the last Muslim prayer call from a nearby mosque. The next day, walking around was perhaps the biggest cultural shock I've seen in my travels. Within a five block radius of our hostel, there were 3 Buddhist temples, 2 mosques, a synagogue, a Hindu temple and an Italian restaurant (ok so not quite a pizza parlor). There was also a Chinese (Tao/Buddhist) temple nearby.

These religious differences were accentuated by the racial diversity I saw on the streets; people whom I might have identified as Thai, Nepalese, Indian or Bangladeshi, all in one place as a result of Burma's geography (as well as British colonialism). This diversity will inevitably dominate many of my Burma bloggings to come. I only wish I had the means to upload photos on the road to share this smorgasbord of culture.

Stupormarkets

Supermarkets in Colombia have been around for years, only in Eighties and Nineties did one see vast expansion around virtually every large population center in the country. On Sundays and holidays, it is impossible to navigate the packed aisles of an Exito or Carrefour, due to Colombians' obsession and reliance on these two monster grocery chains. Groceries isn't just all, both sell consumer electronics, clothes, bedding, furniture; they are more like a Target or Fred Meyer on steroids. Carrefour even has movie theaters.

While the convenience of having EVERYTHING in one place is not to be overlooked, there are some big things the grocery stores here are missing:

-The produce is way overpriced and of questionable quality. This is the most observable weakness of any Colombian grocery store: wilted veggies, rotten fruit seem barbaric to see at a grocery, especially when it is possible to get delicious, fresh (and even organic) produce at a corner market or the large central market. The price of avocados says it all: 3500 each at Carrefour or 500 each at Minorista.

-The meat and dairy is not very fresh. This is shocking for Antioquia, the heartland of cattle and dairy.   I suggest a trip to MerColanta or your neighborhood butcher to see what real cow products look like.

-The imported products are nice, but are sometimes spoiled. Being French-owned, Carrefour does have one of the best wine and cheese selections in the city, the problem: there isn't that much of a market for that here, at least where we live in the city so the products have often sat on the shelves so long that they go bad. Twice I've had to take back wine (a $20 bottle) that was corked (at least they accepted the return right?) And most recently a wheel of Gouda cheese that was spoiled.

What I usually end up doing is going to Exito for several products, then Carrefour for the next, and Makro for others; almost the same amount of time it would take to go to the veg market, the meat market etc. So I've resolved to start doing exactly that. I've found a great organic bakery that also does produce, there is a small farmers market closeby; I figure if I'm going to more than 3 places to get what I need for dinner, better to support the little guy AND get better quality. My only limitation is what I can carry with my own two hands and backpack.

Fleeting friendships

I meet a lot of really cool and interesting people coming through the hostel. The fact that the hostel draws such a similar-minded crowd I will tout as one of our biggest successes. Of course, we have the occasional d-bag, but I can honestly say that of the 1,000+ guests that came through our doors the past year, I genuinely disliked only 3 people.

The hard part is that you develop these friendships with travelers whom you will probably never see again. It's a great surprise having friends come back to the hostel for a 2nd or 3rd time but after they leave I kind of write them off or leave them to the unfulfilling friend-dom of Facebook. I have some local friends in Medellín, but my schedule is too busy to make a lot of time for them, so they usually only see me when we host events at the hostel. So the friendships I make through the hostel are often fleeting however, in my commitment to my Medellín friends, I'm the one who's fleeting. It's not a terrible thing, but it does make me miss my friends back home more often than not.