Today was a lovely fall day, but c-o-o-l-d! Patti and I had a great day and she saw two different sides of this city.

First, in late morning we took the bus to Caminito, a small touristy hub in the larger barrio of La Boca. We went to the Museum of Benito Quinquela Martin, a renowned and much loved artist born and raised in this area by the docks. His paintings are so powerful, speaking of the hard lives of the people he grew up with, and I never tire of looking at them. Here’s just one example.

Next it was lunch time. We went to La Perla de Caminito, a favourite Bar Notable of mine. But because I’ve always been in Caminito in summer, I had always sat outside and never seen the inside. It’s delightful! Dark and noisy, walls covered in photos that tell the history of the place. The food was excellent and plentiful and the service good. All in all, a good choice.

After walking around for a bit, we then headed to the Teatro Colon, not to see a performance but to get tickets for the English language tour of the building on Tuesday. I’ve seen it before and it’s magnificent, so I’m looking forward to Patti seeing it.

Behind the theatre is a cool little Bar Notable, very different from La Perla, and we sat outside and had a glass of champagne. It was well heated, and because it was so bright, it almost felt as if we were sitting in the summer sun!

As I said at the beginning, two sides of Buenos Aires: the fun tourist trap that is Caminito, and the elegant Teatro Colon and Le Petit Colon. We thoroughly enjoyed them both!

Last week I went for a glass of wine with a friend, who told me about this place she had discovered. It’s called Palacio Balcarce and although it’s quite near me, I had never noticed it before. It’s one of those Buenos Aires hidden gems that don’t look like much from the outside, but inside is a different story.

Susan and I had our wine, and were able to see it has a lovely outdoor courtyard, with heaters, and a fancy restaurant upstairs. The maitre d’ explained that this is the only palacio in Buenos Aires that was designed and built in the British style rather than the French.

We thought it was worth trying the restaurant, so last night I went for dinner with Lina, Venetia and Patti. Patti and I arrived early and had a glass of champagne in the courtyard, and then we joined a very long lineup on the stairs. We didn’t realize till we got to the top that there was a concert in another room, and that’s what the lineup was for! Anyway, it didn’t take long and was definitely worth the wait.

Beautiful old, dark wood paneling everywhere, which was definitely different from the cream and gilt of all the French style palacios. The food was excellent, and we all really enjoyed our evening. I think the courtyard might become a regular place for afternoon champagne!

A couple of months ago I came across a review on Google of this amazing little water colour palette, and I just had to have it. Fortunately, Patti was coming soon afterwards, so I ordered it sent to her and it’s one of the many items she brought for me. Here’s a photo of it. It’s the same size as a business card holder, and as you can see it has 15 pans! I just filled them from my tubes, and have a full range of paint that fits neatly in beside my small sketch book. How cool is that?

When I finished my tango lesson this morning, I walked up to Plaza Congreso, sat outside a cafe with a cafe con leche, and the palette made its debut. This is one of the most beautiful trees in the city and I enjoyed every minute I spent sketching it.

Cecilia and Patti both said they wanted to meet each other, and we finally got together on Thursday when Patti and I went to Olivos for a visit. They took to each other right away, as I knew they would!

Patti was also delighted to meet Cecilia’s dog, Mora — being a dog person herself, again I knew she would!

After a glass of Malbec at Cecilia’s place, we went along the river a bit to a restaurant called Tribu, which I had been to before when another friend of Cecilia’s was visiting. And since it is right on the river, we went for a stroll afterwards.

Thanks for sending the photos, Cecilia!

On May 25, we celebrated the Dia de la Patria at Pista Urbana, a funky little club in San Telmo. The show was a mix of folkloric singing and dancing—here’s a short taste.

At night Lina and I had our usual night at the milonga, and Patti and Venetia joined us just to watch the dancing. After that we went for dinner at La Poesia. It’s probably my favourite Bar Notable, so I had to make sure Patti went there while she is here.

On Sunday I had lunch in San Telmo with Patti, Lina and Venetia at a lovely French restaurant called Petanque. It closed during lockdown, but we are all happy to see it has reopened. It’s a lovely place with great food—but the waiters are not very good photographers!

Today is the Dia de la Patria in Argentina, a huge national holiday. The Argentine national anthem is quite long, but this wee boy knows every word — and I love how he hums the non-vocal parts!

Viva La Patria!

I booked a lesson for Patti with my lovely teacher, Ale. I didn’t want her to miss having at least a small experience of tango. She had a lot of fun, and by the end she was pivoting like a pro – pretty good for her first lesson!

I also had my lesson, of course, and Patti took a couple of shots of me learning a new “adorno” (embellishment).

Friday was Patti’s birthday, so Venetia and I took her to La Parolaccia, our favourite Italian restaurant in my neighbourhood. Patti has spent her birthday in many cities around the world, so we were happy to have her spend this year’s in beautiful Buenos Aires.

On Monday night Patti came to the milonga with my tango teacher and me. Although she doesn’t dance, she was interested to see what tango is all about.

She took lots of video of Ale and me dancing, but she also managed to capture the old world feel of the milonga itself. She was quite fascinated and said she could see the appeal.

I also had a dance with Carlos, one of my regular partners, and Ale shot some video of that too.

I have to say in the last dance my dress seemed to get shorter and shorter as the dance went on. Ale swears it was nothing to do with him, but hmmmmm…