Going Local Travel

I was in Miami on Sunday when Argentina played Mexico. I was told there was only one place for me to go: Normandy Isle, a northern part of Miami Beach known as Little Buenos Aires. My guidebook noted it was a big area for Argentinian immigrants, yet still nothing prepared me for what I found. [...]

Photo: Muma’s Cupcakes via Flickr Cupcakes are selling like …. well…  like hotcakes here in Buenos Aires. Spongy, little hotcakes. For proof, head down to Muma’s Cupcakes in Palermo.  I recommend nabbing one of the tables outside this Greenwich-Village-style store and watching the shoppers pass by.  My (unscientific) survey showed that 8 out of ten people [...]

So, I’ve made decision. I’m off to Montreal to swap the Argentinian winter for the Canadian summer. I’ll be there for two months from the end of June to the end of August. If you’ve been to Montreal, you’ll understand. But I’m finding those that haven’t look at little baffled by the choice. How can [...]

This week someone told me about a B&B in Buenos Aires called Abode that prides itself on its ‘full English’ breakfast. “Can they get ‘baked beans?” I asked instantly, trying not to salivate too obviously. I was told that if they can’t get baked beans, the owner has honed her own recipe. Perhaps I should [...]

  “There’s a great empanada place right near my house in Palermo,” I said to my Salteño friend recently. “Bah,” he scoffed. “Wait until you’ve been to Salta. Then you’ll know what a good empanada is.” Salta, in Argentina’s north west, is renowned for its empanadas and this week I finally got to check them [...]

I’ve just returned from a place where, when asking the locals for restaurant recommendations, there was one thing on the tip of all their tongues: El Vomito. It wasn’t looking good, was it? I was in Rosario – a lovely riverside city in Argentina, best known for being the birthplace of Che Guevara – and, [...]

What could make you feel more at home when travelling than an invite to dine at someone’s house? It sure beats a restaurant for making an experience relaxed and personal. But how do you go about getting such invites? Is the only option to make unsubtle hints to people you’ve just met in a bar [...]