When Patti was here from Canada, she and I did the tour of the Teatro Colon, the fabulous theatre that is renowned for its opera and ballet productions. They told us that beneath the theatre there is a huge area where all the costumes are made. That used to be part of the tour, but they realized it was too distracting for the people working there, so they cut it out of the tour.

However, they then went out and purchased a big old warehouse in the barrio of La Boca, which now houses the costumes and sets that have already been used in the threatre, and that is now open to the public. Today, Lina and I went there, and I have to say it took my breath away! I wanted to sketch, but it wasn’t practical as there was no place to sit down, so I took a lot of photos and at some point I will make a sketch of one of them.

In the meantime, I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. What a fantastic place!

Cecilia was in the area this morning, so we got together for a coffee in Le Blé, a cafe across the street from me. We hadn’t seen each other in a while, so we had a nice catch-up.

Then I went to my tango lesson, which was lovely as always.

Next I went to the French Food Fair. Usually there are two of these, one in summer and one in winter. This was the first one since the beginning of the pandemia, so I decided to go. Usually Venetia would go with me to this, but she is in Europe for two months, so I just went on my own. I took the bus straight from my tango lesson and had only a short walk to Plaza Francia, where the fair is held.

It was very cold, as you can see from the photos. But as you can also see from the photos, it didn’t keep people away, and there were still ridiculous lineups for the food. I bought this little selection of cheese intending it to be lunch, but it was too cold to stand around eating it, so I just brought it home and I’m going to have it as a snack in a wee while—with a nice glass of Malbec of course!

I had thought I might sketch, but who was I kidding? Instead, I went to a local cafe I like called Le Moulin de la Flor (strange mixture of languages, I know) for lunch. As I was sitting facing the door, I decided to sketch that instead.

It was an enjoyable day, and now I’m going to have a nice quiet night at home with a good book.

Well, as I said my post yesterday, I went with Gillian and Sasha to the Mercado Andino (the Andean Market) today, expecting something a little different. It turns out there are two markets, that one and one actually called the Bolivian Market.

The one we saw wasn’t really what I’d call a market, as it was really a number of fruit and vegetable and spice stores along one street. The Bolivian Market looked more like an actual market, but it was closed. In fact, a lot of the stores were closed, which made us realize Sunday was probably not the right day to go.

None of us had any idea what Bolivian food was like, so we went into one place that was full of locals (who are in fact mostly Bolivians) and asked what they would recommend. We ended up with peanut soup and Bolivian empanadas. I quite liked the broth of the soup, and the empanadas were very different from what we are used to. The pastry was kind of sweet, which I didn’t like with the savoury chicken filling, but at the time it was spicy hot. I think I might have liked it with apple filling instead of chicken!

Anyway, since Liniers (the barrio where these markets are) is a good hour’s bus ride away, it was an enjoyable Sunday afternoon out, and something different. And the weather was kind to us, quite a bit warmer than recent days. And it’s always nice to spend time with friends, so I have no complaints—although no plans to go back.

These two new art pieces from this week are very different, but both styles I enjoy doing.

First, my latest work from my Fileteado Porteño class. Traditionally, all Fileteado paintings, even the most complex ones, always have some kind of representation of the Argentine flag, or at least the colours in ribbon form. For my exercise over the last two lessons I chose to give it a try. It’s very complicated, and there’s a lot of light and shade work, which is what gives it the three-dimensional look. This one looks pretty good from a distance, but it’s not perfect. My teacher has set me homework to draw another one on the same sheet and paint it at next week’s class.

After I finished my tango lesson this morning, I walked up to the Plaza Congreso to look for something to sketch, and I found this. It’s a very old cafe/confiteria called El Molino, and it has been closed for years. They have been renovating it and taking it back to is original look for ages, but apparently it’s almost ready to reopen — we are all waiting with baited breath.

Anyway, today is July 9, Independence Day, and El Molino was showing the colours with this long, long bunting flag over its front door. Kind of a funky little sketch for a winter day.

Tomorrow I’m going with a couple of friends to a very special market I’ve never been to before, and I’m hoping there will be something for me to sketch there. Fingers crossed.

Venetia is leaving next Sunday for a two-month trip to Europe, so I wanted to take her out for a meal before she goes. She has lots going on this week, but she chose Sunday brunch at a place called Usina, which she really likes. As soon as she mentioned the place I had a mental picture — waffles with a mix of berries, which I had there a long time ago!

I got my wish—here it is, and it was as delicious as it looks!

On Thursday night there was an early Independence Day event at the US Embassy, and our friend Joanna was invited to sing at it — she was beside herself with excitement! An honour, and a well deserved one. Watch the video and I think you’ll agree she did an excellent job with the national anthem. Well done, Joanna!

Joanna is not only beautiful on the outside, but she is also a lovely person and I am happy to call her my friend.

As I think I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been trying to have a Canada Day party since I came here. The first year I ended up in hospital with pneumonia and had to cancel it, the second year we all ended up in lockdown, so this year I finally did it!

I tied it in with a BAIN wine and tapas night and it was lots of fun. I forgot to take photos of the food, but Gillian made an authentic tourtiere, which was delicious, and both Vivi and Beth brought red and white food! I even got to use the maple leaf napkins I brought with me from Toronto – you’ll see in the photos Vivi holding hers up for all to see. Patti brought some bunting with her and that shows up in the video.

Thanks to Venetia for the photos.

When Patti was here a few weeks ago, we took a tour of the stunning Teatro Colón. The whole place is beautiful, and the Golden Room is one of my favourite parts. It’s very French, as is much of the beautiful architecture in Buenos Aires, and I just love all the gold!

I wanted to sketch it, but I had to stay with the tour, so I just took a photo of a detail of the corner of the ceiling and sketched from that. Here it is.

I was delighted when Patti decided to spend her last evening here at the milonga again with Lina and me. She and Venetia had been at the same milonga with us the previous week and Patti was happy to go back.

She shot quite a lot of video, which you can see here. You’ll see Lina and I both dancing with our friend Martin, who is a great dancer and fun to dance with (Vals with Lina and Milonga with me). Some of our other partners found their way in here too, as did a photo of me with yet another. Usually Julia, the organizer, takes very unflattering photos, but this one isn’t too bad, so I thought I might as well include it.

It was a fun night at the milonga—as indeed they all are!