Yesterday there was a festival of coffee at the Plaza de Peru, one of the many green spaces amongst all the buildings in the city. Venetia and Lolly and I went along in late morning, and as soon as we got off the bus beside the entrance, we could smell the coffee! There were dozens of stands all around the sides, many of which had freshly brewed coffee, and the blending of all the aromas made for a heady aroma!
At the first stand we were offered a taste of something called “coffee marmalade”, which was actually quince jam strongly flavoured with coffee. Oh my — I bought a jar immediately and enjoyed more than I should have after dinner last night!
One of the most famous cafes in Buenos Aires, Las Violetas, had a very imaginative stand that was really a miniature cafe, complete with a waiter in white jacket!
Here are some photos of the goods on offer, as well as the people enjoying a late summer day and a cup of great coffee.
Well once again I haven’t been diligent in keeping up my blog, so I now find myself on Saturday morning having to think about what I’ve done all week — heaven knows it’s not that I haven’t done anything!
Saturday
I’ll start with last Saturday. It was a lovely warm, sunny day, one of those that reminds us that summer hasn’t given up yet— and which usually finds me wearing the wrong clothes! Venetia and I went off to Palermo, one of the largest barrios in the city. It has a distinct bohemian vibe, as well as some excellent shopping.
Our destination was the fair, where we both shopped quite a lot. I got some great pants and a very funky bracelet. I’m inspired by Argentine women who wear tons of big jewelry all at once — and of course if you know me, you know I need absolutely no encouragement!
We also had a very nice, healthy lunch in a great restaurant I will definitely go back to.
Sunday
Sunday was, of course, Easter. Cecilia, who loves nothing more than having her house overrun with guests, issued a lunch invitation to a Facebook group we have called “Fun in Buenos Aires”, and there were three takers: Venetia, Wendy and me. She also had Renee and Ximena who were visiting from Chile, as well as Nicole and her mother, Amalia, from Peru — they are both staying with Cecilia for a while yet. Then of course there was her own family — Joaquin and Corina were there for the meal, and Pia and Valentin dropped in for a moment on their way to Valentin’s family dinner. It was festive and fun.
Monday
Our Easter holiday here is Thursday to Sunday, so on Monday I was back at work. I did take time out, though, to go and buy calendula and arnica creams for my bruised face and knee. My face has actually healed remarkably well, and as I write this it has faded to the point where it’s not noticeable with just a touch of makeup. The knee is another story — but after I started with the arnica the healing has speeded up a bit.
Tuesday
Tonight I did a couple of paintings. As I think I mentioned before, I’m having trouble getting the paint mix right because down here I can’t get the stuff I used in Toronto. I used to buy it on Amazon, but alas Amazon doesn’t operate here — one of the things I miss most! Anyway, I did these two small canvases and they are not bad. I’m having a big party on May 10, and I want to have some large ones on the wall by that time, so need to get on with it.
Thursday
Thursday is my usual tango lesson day, and today it was even more fun than usual. Renee told me she would like a tango lesson while she was here, and I’m always happy to refer people to Alejandro. So we all went together. My lesson was first, and then he gave Renee an introductory lesson afterwards — she did very well. Ximena made a video of part of my lesson, but I won’t post it here because Alejandro and I plan to do one next week and I think it will be better. Love tango more and more!
Friday
Yesterday began with a visit to the hospital to see Cecilia, who was having some surgery. She went home this morning and is feeling fine.
The early part of the evening was the monthly BAIN event (Buenos Aires International Newcomers, which I’ve mentioned before). I always enjoy the socializing, but this time there was an extra surprise. Out of the blue, these two young women began to sing — and sublime singing it was. They performed three or four opera songs, and then everybody’s favourite Neapolitan song, O Sole Mio. It was such a lovely surprise and so typical of what happens in Buenos Aires! They are opera students, and apparently they perform free every Sunday at the San Telmo market, so we’ll definitely be going to see them there. Thanks to Venetia for sharing one of her videos of this extraordinary event.
After the BAIN event I was invited to a small dinner party at the home of two new friends, Rick and Lily. Rick is Argentine and Lily is Bolivian, but they live in the US. They come here for several months every year, and I was honoured to be invited to their home. There was an interesting collection of guests, and Rick was masterful in the way he invited each person to tell their story and encouraged interaction among the guests. They live just about a ten minute walk from me, which was a good thing because it was about 1.45 am by the time the party broke up!
And that brings me up to date. Oh, I almost forgot — I got a marriage proposal in the park last Saturday! A man invited me to sit down with him and enjoy the sun, so I did — why not? It’s Argentina after all. He told me all about himself and said he was looking for a woman to share his life. Someone beautiful, intelligent and adventurous. Then he said I could be just the one for him and what about it? I said I’d keep an eye open for the right woman, but it wasn’t me! Only in Argentina!
I took a taxi home from the boat, late on Wednesday evening. When I was walking across the road to my apartment, my suitcase got caught on the curb and fell, taking me with it. Because I didn’t have time to take my hands off the case, I couldn’t use them to break my fall, and I ended up hitting my face full force on the road!
I was too tired to do anything about it that night — although I should have at least bandaged it better, as I had blood stains on the pillow case in the morning! But next morning early, I went to Emerg and had it checked out. They x-rayed the orbital area, and all is well. My eyes and teeth are fine, so it was really just the one deep cut on my cheekbone. But the bruising is spectacular! I was going to post a selfie for you to see it, but it might frighten young children so I won’t. Use your imagination!
But I didn’t let it hold me back. I went to the hospital very early so as to be back in time for a Skype call with my Butt Kickers at 9.30 am, and I was. Then I went out to a museum and lunch event with a group I belong to, and finally I went for my tango lesson at 7 pm. I told my teacher I might not be able to do the whole hour, but of course once I got going I forgot about the face and did the hour and more. I feel sorry for everyone having to look at my face in this state, but the doctor said it should fade in about a week — after turning a variety of beautiful shades from purple to yellow to green!
Anyway, that’s it for Uruguay. It was an interesting experience.
The night before we left became the highlight of our visit, at least for me. Thanks to our Buenos Aires friend Montserrat, who did the housesit the week before we did, we were introduced to a lovely lady called Alicia, who in turn introduced us to her tango community. As it turned out, a group of them have a weekly practica, which is, as you can probably guess, a kind of practice session. It’s actually very similar to a milonga, but less formal. They invited us, and Alicia was kind enough to pick us up and bring us home.
The practica took place in the home of one of the group members, a great tango dancer nicknamed Cabeza, and the space was excellent. I think there were about twenty people there. They all know each other and are super friendly. Everyone danced with everyone else, which was lovely. We took wine and nibbles and that was part of the social aspect of it.
As Venetia doesn’t dance tango, she assumed the role of videographer. The photo at the beginning of the video is, left to right, Alicia, me, a wonderful dancer called Pablo, and his wife, Evelyn, who is also an amazing tango dancer. As you can tell, the lighting was quite dim, but Venetia did a great job to just give an idea of what it was like. I loved it so much I’m thinking about how I might do something similar in my apartment. Stay tuned!
Just up the road from us there is a lovely, chic little place called Felix Caffe. Of course I noticed it right away and decided we would have to go while we were here. One night we set out to have dinner there, only to find it was closed. As I said before, the season is actually over, but most places open again for this week. It is Holy Week, but they don’t call it that here, as there is official separation of church and state, and they call it Tourist Week!
Anyway, we stopped by yesterday morning and confirmed they were open for dinner, so we went there last night. We were not disappointed. We each had a different type of lasagna, which was delicious, and some Argentine wine — much better than Uruguayan.
We liked it so much we went again this morning, Venetia for some coffee and me for yummy hot chocolate. It’s a lovely little place with a French vibe.
Given that the season is really over here, we have been lucky with the weather. Out of the week we’ve been here, we only had one rotten day (the day after we arrived) and one with a sunny morning and then very cold in the afternoon, so we can’t complain.
On Monday, a friend of a friend of Venetia, Alfredo, picked us up and took us into La Barra to see the Museum of the Ocean. We had seen it mentioned online, but it turned out it was owned by Alfredo’s brother, Pablo. It’s a fascinating place, created and maintained by Pablo himself, obviously a labour of love. It has animals, birds, shells, pictures of Punta in the past, a room about pirates, and even an old fashioned bathing machine! Here are a few photos, including a visitors’ book just for children — I loved that.
The Port
After having lunch and taking care of the dogs, we set off again and headed for the port. There we saw a bunch of sealions who were hilarious, and a fine selection of fresh fish for sale.
Last night we were going to have dinner at a place called Felix (if you know me, you know why that’s significant) but it was closed. Holy Week is not called Semana Santa in Uruguay as there is complete separation of church and state. It is, however, the last hurrah for tourist season in Punta, so it’s called Tourist Week! Some places have been closed, but reopen for Tourist Week, including Felix. So it was closed last night, but we hope to go there tonight.
In the meantime, last night we still had to eat. We decided to go back to a great parilla we found just after we arrived, called 481. It’s open year round, so obviously popular among locals as well as visitors. We had exactly the same meal as before — brochette of lomo, which is beef tenderloin, accompanied by a delicious capresse salad.
We were open to trying the Uruguayan wine called Tanat, but after we tasted it we switched back to Malbec!
Today, a friend of our hostess picked us up in the morning and took us to the Sunday Farmers’ Market. It was quite small — this is not Punta, but a smaller suburb — but had a great variety of lovely stuff.
It’s obviously also a social gathering place. We met some other friends of our hostess, and were told they all met one another here on Sunday mornings.
These photos show the lovely variety of food available, and I particularly enjoyed watching this wee boy enjoying his apple!
Natural healing products. I bought some cannabis based cream — let’s see if it relieves the pain in my leg muscle. Maybe it will still be painful but I won’t care!
Yummy baked goods!
What’s better than fresh baked bread, still warm from the oven?
Our hostess’s friend, Pamela (in the middle), introduced us to other friends shopping the market.
We got a taste of delicious olive oil on fresh bread — unfortunately not practical to carry it back to Buenos Aires.
That apple must have been delicious because he ignored everyone around him as he concentrated on it.
We had a great day on Saturday in Punta. First, the sun was shining and the sky was cerulean blue and the temperature was definitely summer, so that was a large part of it.
While I had a Skype call with a client in the morning, Venetia went into Punta. After my call, I made us some sandwiches and took them with me, meeting her at the lighthouse. It’s a lovely spot, although you can’t get inside. We watched parrots flying around us — a sight that always makes me feel happy!
After having coffee in a place down by the port, we went for a wander by ourselves, and then hooked up with German, a tour guide who would take us around and give us some history and insights about Punta. It was great — and he even shared his mate with me as we walked around.
Finally, we went to a restaurant place at night to listen to candombe music, which was fun but VERY loud. We also met up with Alicia, a friend of our friend Montserrat who was here last week. She is a tango enthusiast, and she and some of her friends are taking us to a milonga on Tuesday, our last night here — glad I brought my tango shoes!
Here are some photos from yesterday.
The lighthouse at Punta del Este
The first hotel ever built in Punta del Este — now sadly abandoned with nobody willing to invest in it.
Lovely little church in Punta del Este — simple, much less ornate than most Catholic churches in South America
Wait for the candombe show to begin.
Sharing mate with our charming guide, German
In Cornelio, where the candombe show was
A glimpse of Canada in Uruguay!
Too bad I don’t have a Scotiabank credit card — I could have had a discount!
Well, for those who have written to ask why I haven’t been posting to the blog, as I haven’t done anything since the couch was out on the street, a lot has been going on. This will not be a full update, but just to let you know why I haven’t been posting.
Taken by Cecilia from the balcony
These bottles of champagne dressed for the occasion!
Anyway, the couch is now in situ and I love it! A couple of weeks after I moved in, I had a few of my best women friends over for a house warming — champagne and picadas. (Picadas are cold cuts, cheese and other nibblies that go down well with champagne — as what doesn’t?) We had a fun night. Cecilia stepped out onto the balcony and took this photo, which shows the girls as well as the living/dining room with the open kitchen in the background. Cecilia brought the lovely red roses. I think I’ll be having lots of parties here!
Internet
I moved in mid-March, but was told by the company I couldn’t get internet installed until Monday, April 1. Cecilia called them then and they said it would be installed on Thursday. When she called Wednesday night to confirm, they said no, it would be Monday between 8 am and 2 pm. So I figured a few more days using the cafe internet would be ok.
Monday morning, I asked Cecilia to call them to confirm — they had absolutely no record of me, my installation or anything else. She argued with them on the phone and got nowhere, so she got on two buses and went to one of the company’s agencies in the next town to hers. After she made a big noise, they finally agreed. She called me from there and told me to stay home as they were coming. Within an hour, the guy was here and installed it in ten minutes! It was painful, but I’m now online and the world looks sunnier!
My tango teacher, Alejandro — who is Argentine — told me his theory. Everybody makes everything so difficult and puts you through so many hoops that when things are finally done you feel so happy you think you’ve been given a gift — welcome to Argentina!! Never mind, I love it and I can put up with all the stuff — it’s fodder for the blog!
Punta del Este
Punta del Este is a very posh, upscale vacation resort in Uruguay, just across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires. Venetia met a woman who has an American friend who has a house here and two dogs. She was looking for someone to house-sit and look after the dogs for a week, and we jumped at the chance.
The season is over now, so everything is very quiet (except the dogs!) and many places are closed now as the summer people have gone. But it’s still fun being here. I’ve been put in touch with a woman who is going to take me to a milonga next Tuesday, the night before we leave, so I’m looking forward to that.
I have a business Skype call in about ten minutes, and Venetia has gone ahead into Punta itself. After my call I will put the dogs in the living room and join her there. We are going on a walking tour of Punta, which will also give us ideas for things we might want to do the rest of our time here. I’ll post some photos and sketches soon.
La Barra
Yesterday we went to a place called La Barra, half an hour from here by bus. There is a beach where the Atlantic meets the Rio de la Plata, and it’s quite fascinating as you can almost see the dividing line. I couldn’t take photos as my iPhone is acting up and keeps running out of juice, but Venetia took some. I’ll ask her for copies and post here tomorrow.
I must go now to get ready for my client call. Thanks for continuing to be interested in my doings here, and I’ll get back to regular posting soon.
