Day Trip From Buenos Aires: The Tigre Delta

by Jessica Festa on

When most travelers visit Buenos Aires, Argentina, they explore the main hubs on San Telmo, Palermo, Recoleta and Centro. However, there is another area 45 minutes from Retiro Station that is like an entirely different world: The Tigre Delta.

I learned about Tigre from an expat who had been living in my hostel for the past year. When I asked him if there were any good day trips I should consider, he immediately replied, “You have to see the Tigre Delta. It’s like a cross between the canals in Bangkok and the Jersey Shore.” As I had no idea what this might look like, I decided I had to go.

Tigre gets its name from some very virtuous jaguar farmers that had lived in the area long ago. Arriving in Tigre Station, I immediately walked up to the nearest tourism operator and booked a boat trip down the Tigre Delta with Sturla. For 70 pesos (about $20) you’ll get a guided tour of the river and one of the Delta Islands, coffee, an Alfajor de Maizena treat and a pass for the Tigre Touristic Bus.

Upon first glance of the specialized rivers and rental houses on the water, I understood what the expat had meant. Although the area was definitely very PG for Pauly D’s tastes, it had the summer vacation feel of The Shore, mixed with a very unique lifestyle based on river commerce like in Thailand.One thing that really strikes most people is the smell and sight of the murky brown water. According to my tour guide, the Tigre Delta isn’t polluted. It is sediments that give the water its unique smell and color. In fact, locals use it for bathing, doing laundry, cleaning furniture and watering plants – everything but drinking (thank goodness). There are no poisonous or aggressive animals in the water either, so it’s safe for swimming.

Once I got used to the cloudy water and began to learn more about the area, I started to appreciate its purpose. The people of the Tigre Delta live completely different from the porteños of Buenos Aires. Think of the river as a city road. Not only are there parking lots for boats, but also boats that act as hospitals, supermarkets (shown right), police stations, banks, taxis and garbage “trucks.” Moreover, the look and design of the houses are completely based on the water, which changes tide depending the course of the wind.

The average price of a home on a Delta Island is about $50,000 to $80,000 to purchase. If you’re just looking for a unique summer hangout, you can rent a six-person house for 15 days for about $1,000. While it may sound like you’ll be away from civilization, there are actually public schools, restaurants, hostels, bars, a public library, artificial beaches and opportunities for water sport lessons. There is obviously something drawing people to the area, as the population of 9,000 grows to 30,000 during the summer months.

If you choose to explore the Tigre Delta for yourself, you can either book a boat tour, or rent canoes or kayaks and go on your own. There’s no need to be afraid of falling in; apparently, the water is perfectly clean and safe.

Once your boat tour is complete, there are other activity options on the mainland of Tigre. Just make sure to visit on a weekend, as many attractions in the area shut down during the week. There is the Parque de la Costa, which is the largest amusement park in South America and features over 70 rides and attractions. The cost to get in ranges from 63 to 125 pesos (about $14-$29) depending which pass you choose. Adjacent, there is a great fruit and handicrafts market that sells some of the freshest produce in the city. For gamblers, the Trilenium Casino is an option, with over 1,900 slot machines, 74 board games and seven restaurants. Additionally, if you’d like to do something educational, there are some worthwhile museums, including:

  • Tigre Art Museum (shown above)- Founded in 1910, this palace-like building was the former home of the Tigre Club. Today it houses an expansive collection of Argentine art.
  • National Naval Museum- Formerly the National Navy Workshops, this national monument features paintings, sculptures, naval furniture, flags, ship and airplane models and more.
  • Museum of the Reconquista- This museum focuses on the British Invasions of 1806 and the history of Tigre. There’s also an impressive library with specialized collections.

Times Square’s Courtyard Marriott Accused of Bugging Your Internet

by McLean Robbins on

Justin Watt, a web developer, is accusing the Courtyard Marriott in New York’s Times Square of bugging his Internet, injecting ads into each page he viewed while logged into the hotel’s Wi-Fi network.

After some digging (and complex code you can read more about on his website), Watt found that Marriott’s Internet provider injected CSS and JavaScript code into each page to run a “Revenue eXtraction Gateway” for the purpose of putting targeted ads on each page.

Chris Rill, a software engineer and entrepreneur familiar with web application development told Gadling:

“This is much different from a typical ad pixel because the Internet provider (the hotel in this case) is injecting the ad, not the content provider (website).

This is a key issue in the net neutrality debate. The “network” is looking for a way to increase revenue and this is an example of how the network can modify the content to monetize the user.”

In modifying the code, YouTube was also disabled in the browser – another fact that didn’t make Mr. Watt particularly happy.

A Boston-based digital media expert, familiar with the industry but not with this particular case said,

“I think it’s safe to say that this is not a Marriott-wide, or even Courtyard-wide effort. This is a single hotel (or particular HSA provider) doing their own thing.”

“It’s unclear to me if something that crosses the line is actually happening,” He adds. “From where I sit, [Watt] is using a free service, and in this day and age when we are using a service for free we should expect to have advertisements shown to us. Heck, even when services are not free, we should expect to have ads shown to us.”

Watt is angry – as are most of the commenters on his blog post and other places it has been shared. Many feel as if they are being spied on by the hotel.

While users are understandably outraged by what they see as spying, displaying contextual ads following a user’s visit is fairly common practice. At question here, as Mr. Rill points out, is whether the network or the hotel is actually profiting off of the user by placing targeted ads.

Still, if you wish to guard your privacy, Watt suggests that you BYO connectivity or connect through a VPN so that a public network can’t detect your traffic.

UPDATE: 5:30 PM, April 6, 2012:
A Marriott spokesperson says “This is not a Marriott-endorsed protocol and we are working to investigate the issue.”

[Flickr via StreetFlyJZ]

New Experiential Moroccan Hotel Brings Chic Luxury To Traditional Berber Style

by Jessica Festa on

In Morocco, the indigenous people are Berbers, and their traditional architecture uses rammed Earth and wood. Aside from in big cities, the Berber-style is plentiful across the country. While this rooted design may be popular, however, the country has never seen it done in a modern and luxurious way – until now.

At the end of March, Max Lawrence opened a brand new experiential hotel, Chez Max. Located 45 minutes outside of Marrakech, this all-inclusive catered villa is offered exclusively through Lawrence’s company, Lawrence of Morocco. The property takes principles of Berber building techniques and infuses them with dramatic effects and trendy accents. For example, while Berber rooms are customarily long, low and narrow, Chez Max features squared or curved rooms with high ceilings, giving them more space and light.

“Normal Berber properties are built around the Islamic principle that strangers and prying eyes cannot look in, but the problem is that this means you can’t look out, either,” explains Lawrence. “But Chez Max is able to flaunt that rule, and offers views for kilometers, over the local hamlets towards the hills, from inside and from its terraces.”

While this is the designer’s third Moroccan property, the style of hotel is one-of-a-kind in the country. Along with the tradition and luxury infusion, the property works to help guests feel completely at home. For example, the housekeeper, Saida, makes sure the rooms are tidy and also prepares delicious home-cooked cuisine. Additionally, there is no bill to pay on departure, as the designers do not want to intrude on the peaceful and relaxed feeling of the villa.

“There’s absolutely nothing else like this in Morocco,” says Lawrence. “Other Berber impersonations aren’t nearly as stylish or dramatic, nor are they situated in a such a quiet spot in the country, but within easy reach of Marrakech.”

Rubens At The Palace Allows Guests To Be Harry Potter For The Day, Magic Wand And All

by Jessica Festa on

Do you ever wish you could be Harry Potter for the day? You know, walk around with a magic wand, wear a cloak and giant glasses, hangout at Gringotts Wizarding Bank and visit all the places the young wizard himself did? With a stay at Rubens at the Palace in London, now you can.

The luxury boutique hotel, which is located across from Buckingham Palace, is currently offering a “Harry Potter Experience” package. Guests will not only get the chance to take photos at Harry Potter movie set locations, like Platform 9 3/4, Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron, Gringott’s Wizarding Bank, Victorian Leadenhall Market, and Brockdale Bridge, they’ll also get to feel just like Harry Potter himself. Package amenities include:

  • Complimentary breakfast
  • World-class accommodations
  • Three-hour Harry Potter tour in a chauffeured black cab
  • Harry Potter wand with cloak and glasses
  • Turndown service with Harry Potter cupcakes
  • Framed family photograph taken before the tour
  • Certificate of tour completion, to prove to everyone you did, indeed, visit all the set locations

Package is valid until December 31, 2012. Prices start at $965 per night, based on two adults and two children under 10 years old. Email bookrb@rchmail.com or click here to make a reservation.

Chef Paul Virant On Working With The New Hotel Lincoln In Chicago

by Grant Martin on

Chicago‘s Hotel Lincoln opened this March, the relaunch of a pillar in the Windy City. This version of the hotel brings new investors and a whole new look, including tight collusion with the neighboring well acclaimed restaurant, Perennial Virant.

We stopped in for a visit while construction was still underway and grabbed a drink with Paul Virant, the head of Perennial Virant, Vie and a dozen other projects, to see what he had in store for the relationship and get a feel for the space.

The hotel is now fully open for business.

***

Drinks at the Perennial Virant, Lincoln Park, Chicago.

Paul Virant: You know my oldest son’s name is Lincoln. He’s kind of feeling like it’s named after him.

Grant Martin: You let him believe that?

PV: Oh! Of course.

GM: Did you know that the hotel was going to be opening when you got involved with Perennial Virant?

PV: Yeah, from when we formed a partnership with Rob and Kevin at the Boka Group I always knew that it was going to open up as well.

GM: Part of the master plan…

PV: When Perennial opened up in 2008 there was a group that owned the space and they were going to build it out with a hotel. That was always the plan. Those folks went to jail. They were some shady finance people. So another investment group bought the building and then brought in Joie de Vivre as the hotel group that’s going to manage. It’s cool because they renamed it its original name. Have you seen it recently?

GM: Not since I visited a few weeks back.

PV: You should see it! You can go around the bar and take a look at it. It’s got this very historic charm to it.

%Gallery-151920%GM: I liked the tour. It’s hard to work with some of the layout they had. The rooms were originally a bit smaller – it was a Days or Comfort Inn earlier.

PV: It was a Days Inn.

GM: Transitioning from that layout to a boutique property is a little bit harder because you need more space and a wider footprint to appeal to a modern yuppie demographic.

PV: I think there is some truth to that. If you look at a lot of major city hotels – like in New York – many city rooms are small now. But they’re designed really well.

GM: So how did you get into this arrangement?

PV: I knew Kevin Boehm [of the Boka Restaurant Group]. I have my other place, Vie in Western Springs. And I had been actively looking for restaurant space in the city for a couple of years prior. Kevin also knew that and when Ryan Poli left the former property he called and said ‘Hey, what do you think about closing [Perennial], partnering and reopening as a new restaurant – with us – at no expense to you?’ It was a great opportunity.

GM: Working with a hotel directly like this – how does it affect your brand? Does it dilute it?

PV: It could potentially, but the reputation of the Boka Group is entirely solid so I was never concerned with partnering with them.

I think hotels in general have really evolved into not only a place to stay but a destination for dining. There have been a lot of partnerships with great chefs and big hotles all over the world that do a pretty solid job. Why shouldn’t there be the same sort of integrity that’s put into a small restaurant and hotel?

GM: So you think that the trend of top line chefs working with hotel brands will continue?

PV: Look at Sandro Gamba, who was the original chef at the Park Hyatt here – the Elysisan having Ria on premise, what Graham Elliott did for Avenues. It’s a challenge, but I look at it as more of an opportunity to preach a bit about what my philosophy is towards food and the kind of stuff that I want to do.

GM: So will you have the exact same menu between the restaurant and in-room meals?

RV: The way that in-room dining works is that it’ll be offered during restaurant hours. The restaurant menu will be offered in the rooms with some exceptions. If there’s no issue with compromising integrity or quality then I’ll say that we can do it.

In any relationship there’s got to be some compromise. But for the most part – as far as the food goes, I’m calling the shots. [Boka] is excited about having a caliber of restaurant like this.

GM: So how will your focus change? Will it shift with a hotel clientèle in play?

PV: There won’t be a big difference. [Perennial Virant] is going to become a seven-day operation, so that encompasses a lot of different types of food. It’s largely a matter of staffing and opening up a little earlier.

GM: But you do expect traffic to pick up with the hotel opening.

PV: I think there are statistics that claim that 20 percent of the hotel’s occupancy will visit the restaurant. That’s a lot of growth.

GM: You’ll be spending the bulk of your time on site here then?

PV: My other restaurants are well staffed and I spend a lot of my time down here. My ultimate goal would be to promote a head chef here so that I can pursue some other things. One of the things I’m looking to do is start a farm. I also have a canning book coming out in April that’s all about canning and preserving.

GM: Great, well after the tour we’ll stick around for dinner.

PV: Thanks for stopping by!

[all photos by Erin Drewitz]