Buenos Aires

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Bureaucracy — Next Episode

So today I girded up my loins to go to the Canadian Consulate in the morning and the Argentine Customs in the afternoon.

Canadian Consulate

It was a lovely morning and the consulate is located in a pleasant, leafy area, so I didn’t mind the walk. When I got there, I first had to give up my cell phone to the guard on the front desk. Then, at the reception desk, I explained what I wanted.

I had found out from the website that they were open Monday to Thursday, 8.30 am to noon, and 2 pm to 4 pm. But now I was told that they don’t see members of the public in the morning, just in the afternoon. However, I could go into a little booth and hit the yellow button and I would be connected with Natalia, who was the one I wanted to talk to. (Why did I think this would be easier just because it was Canadian? Dealing with any government is never easy!)

Anyway, even though it seemed a silly way to have a conversation, her upstairs and me down in the lobby, she did give me the information I needed. I have to get my fingerprints taken here and then they have to be sent (on paper, not electronically) to a designated fingerprint company in Canada. They will digitize the paper prints (!) and send them to the RCMP. The RCMP process takes about three days, and then they will send the document to me, or someone I designate — by Canada Post! Then that person has to have the document notarized and then take it to be authenticated by Global Affairs (where all the problems started last time). Then it must be sent to the Argentine Consulate in Toronto or Montreal for legalization, and finally sent back to me in Buenos Aires. Only then can my residency application continue.

Fortunately, through my CAPS connections, I have found someone who will take care of all the steps for me in Ottawa, so it shouldn’t take more than a few weeks. Of course I can’t do the fingerprints until next Wednesday, because they are only open on Wednesdays and Fridays!

My Boxes

We went back to Customs and Immigration this morning with my list of contents duly translated into Spanish. Imagine our surprise when they told us everything was now in order! Did that mean we were done? Well no, not quite. The file will now be sent to Customs (in another location), and if all is OK they will tell this morning’s person when we can go to release the boxes. But of course they can’t advise us of this by email or phone or anything 21st century, so we have to go down there again next Friday. The guy told Cecilia if they are not ready then he will “see what I can do”!

But I must say I feel this is very close to done now. I think my boxes will soon be mine again.

Isn’t this fun?

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Bureaucracy, Argentine Style

You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had! I just got back from Chile yesterday and had to plunge right into two, count ’em, two tangles with bureaucracy.

My Boxes

The first, which I’ve been wrangling with for several weeks, is getting access to the two bins of personal and household stuff I shipped from Canada before I left. Apparently I got it all wrong from the start, and putting it right has proved to be nightmarish. I won’t bore you with all the many email exchanges and phone calls, but today I think we are getting close. Thank goodness for Cecilia coming with me — I can never repay her for all the help she has given me and I can’t even imagine doing this without her.

Anyway, this morning we showed up at one of the customs offices, where we had been told to go, to find that of course it was the wrong place. We had to get a taxi to another building a couple of miles away. To let you understand, these offices are all in the port area, which right now is undergoing massive infrastructure work and when you tell a taxi driver where you’re going he groans and rolls his eyes. “Muy complicado!” is the cry.

Anyway, here we lucked out, as the woman who served us had visited Canada and loved it — couldn’t understand why I would leave it to come here — and she seemed inclined to help us. I had painstakingly made up from memory a list of the box contents (because the idiot freight people in Toronto told me I didn’t need it), but of course it was in English. So I would need to translate it to Spanish and bring it back, and also get copies of many double-sided documents. We are to present ourselves there tomorrow, and if everything is approved, we will then go to the location (miles away) where the boxes are actually languishing. Will we get them? Who knows.

Residency

The other situation is to do with my residency application. I carefully gathered all the documents for that before I left Canada, thinking that dealing with the Canadian government while on the spot would be best. At one point, I dropped everything and flew off to Ottawa to get documents authenticated by Global Affairs Canada. The day cost me $700 — and they did it wrong! So now my criminal record clearance from the RCMP is useless and I have to get a new one one. The agent who is handling this sent me the instructions from the Canadian consulate but, being government instructions, they were totally incomprehensible. So tomorrow morning I’m going there to get instructions in plain English. This will hold up my residency, which will probably push back the timing of my getting my own apartment etc. etc. etc.

But as someone told me, in Argentina nothing is easy, but everything is possible. I’m clinging to that last bit. Stay tuned.

By the way, about Chile. I didn’t take my computer with me, and using my phone to post to the blog was just too finicky. So I have a ton of photos to sort out and then I can do a series of posts covering the trip. Hopefully I’ll get this done over the weekend. I did enjoy Chile though. As I’ve said to several people, a week isn’t very long, but it’s easier to come home when home is Buenos Aires!

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How Things Change!

This is almost the same spot as yesterday’s post with the singer video — only from inside the cafe! When I left on my early morning walk it was dry and fine, and while I was having breakfast the heavens opened. That’s the way it happens here. I didn’t wear my raincoat, so just squelched home along the street — the drainage here isn’t what it might be, so it’s always a bit of an adventure! This is what I looked like when I got home!

Tomorrow I’m leaving for a week’s vacation in Chile and need to get ready, so it’s not so bad that it’s a rainy day. Having said that, it might well clear up and be beautiful this afternoon. Vamos ver. (We’ll see.)

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Entertainment All Around

I’ve been busy working this week, tied to my desk as it were, finishing up client work before going on holiday to Chile on Monday. Today, Saturday, after working all morning I had lunch at home and then went out to enjoy the beautiful day.

I walked around the weekend craft fair, bought a little top for my holidays, and then went to my favourite neighbourhood cafe, La Biela for a cool drink. This young woman was standing just outside the area of the patio singing, and she was very good. She sang a nice mix of Latin music and standard songs everyone knows. I did a quick video of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” to share with you. Enjoy!

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Bohemian Rhapsody

Last night Venetia and I went to see Bohemian Rhapsody. The movie received the Golden Globe Award for Best Dramatic Production and Rami Malek took the award for Best Actor. The movie received mixed reviews, some feeling it was light on fact and heavy on Queen music, to which I say, “And the problem with that is …?”

The movie was a homage to Freddie Mercury and Queen, and if you love their music, as I do, that’s all you need to know. From my viewpoint I knew it was a success when I suddenly realized that when I saw these four guys on stage performing, I forgot I wasn’t actually watching Queen.

If lack of historical detail or messing with timelines bother you, stay away. But if you just want a couple of hours of immersion in great music and great memories, don’t miss it!

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New Year’s Eve Picnic

This year we continued our tradition of having a picnic in Puerto Madero. This area is full of expensive restaurants and hotels that ask exorbitant prices for their New Year’s dinners, but we have all the fun of the music, fireworks and company by having a picnic, facing the beautiful Puente de la Mujer.

Unfortunately, we lost two bottles of Malbec when an unexpected gust of wind picked up the picnic table and they rolled off before we could rescue them! Disaster! We had champagne, but we wanted to save that for midnight, so Viviana and I went over to one of the restaurants and paid through the nose for a replacement! It was disappointing at first, but we soon got over it, and it’s one of those incidents that will feed “Do you remember when…” stories in years to come.

Thanks for your company and the delicious food Cecilia, Venetia, Viviana and Sally — and especially Cecilia for bringing the table and all the extra stuff that made the picnic so festive! Check out the video and share the fun.

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After the Milonga

In the summary of the week’s posts I sent out yesterday, I mentioned I had gone to dance tango at a milonga but didn’t have any photos. That’s true, but here’s what happened after tango.

Lina invited Annie and me to have champagne and nibblies in her new apartment. She just received final approval of her residency application — hence the champagne. I had thought I would just head home after that, but no. Around 10 pm Annie said she wanted to go find somewhere to eat dinner, and we all ended up at one of Lina’s favourite restaurants in the ‘hood. It’s called Il Sorpasso, a great Italian place with a lovely hidden inner courtyard.

The food was great and we were just enjoying chatting, when suddenly we had entertainment! Some typical folkloric music started up, and a fellow launched into the chacarera. It’s usually danced in couples, and it was unusual to see someone dance it solo. I know the video is really too dark, but I decided to post it anyway just to give you an idea.

Yesterday afternoon I had lunch with Darren, a new friend from Toronto who was introduced to me by Lynne, a mutual friend. We were having such a good conversation we forgot to take a photograph — sorry, Lynne!

Then Venetia and Viviana invited me to join them at El Sanjuanino, one of our favourite little local spots for wine and empanadas. This time we had tamales instead — delicious little parcels of meat folded into corn meal and enhanced by the restaurant’s famous hot sauce.

I don’t know if you can see this, but the white jug on the table is in the shape of a penguin, so when we want red wine there (as, let’s face it, we always do) we order a pinguino!

So you might be thinking that I do nothing but eat and drink and carouse with my friends. Well, is that a problem?!

I will take photos of the New Year’s Eve celebrations and post them tomorrow.

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Las Chicas!

Last night I spent a lovely couple of hours on the patio of La Biela with Las Chicas — a few of my great women friends in Buenos Aires. It’s interesting that other than Venetia and me, none of us knew one another just a couple of months ago.

Behind my left shoulder is Annie, on vacation from New York City. She found us at an InterNations event on her first evening here and immediately became part of the group. She had a tango lesson with Alejandro yesterday, and helped persuade me to go to the milonga tonight.

In front of her is Lina, a new friend who was introduced to me by Alejandro as she is also his student. She is from Arizona and, like me, she has been coming here on and off for years and has just recently moved here permanently. She’ll be at the milonga too.

Behind her left shoulder is Venetia. She and I have been friends for several years now, and she actually came to visit me in Canada last year. She is originally from England but lived in the U.S. for many years and has been in Buenos Aires now for about five years. She doesn’t dance tango, but we do go to a lot of concerts and other events together — she always has a finger on the pulse of what’s going on.

In front of her is Sally, a great woman from Ireland who has lived here for many years. I met her through a mutual friend and have been in her company a few times since then. Not only is she lots of fun, but she has a degree in South American Studies, so she is very knowledgeable about Argentina’s history and politics, which makes for fascinating conversation. Last night she gave me a copy of her book Tango, the Truth — look forward to reading it soon.

So now you know at least a few of my friends!

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Christmas in Buenos Aires

This was my fourth Christmas in Buenos Aires, and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it being in summer — oh don’t get me wrong, I like it but I’m still not used to it. My tango teacher worked in Japan for several years and he had the opposite feeling — he couldn’t get used to Christmas in winter! Anyway, Christmas is fun wherever you are, and this year was no exception.

The main celebration here is on Christmas Eve, as it is in many South American and European countries, while I’m used to celebrating Christmas Day in Canada and also in Scotland. This year I had the best of both worlds.

Venetia and I were invited to Cecilia’s for the family gathering. I had recently met a new friend, Lina, who didn’t have any plans. I had no hesitation in inviting her because Cecilia is famous for her hospitality, but it was even nicer when she invited Lina to stay overnight as well as Venetia and me. We arrived around 7 pm and were put to work making canapes, which we said we would do on condition we could drink wine while we worked!

The rest of the family arrived around 9 pm and we started eating half an hour or so later. It was all very informal, as it usually is — no ceremonial carrying in of turkey or anything like that. Oh, except for Venetia pouring whisky on the Christmas pudding and setting it alight, which was surprising to our hosts but we all enjoyed the delicious pudding. So all in all, we just simply ate, drank and chatted until midnight when we exchanged gifts in the usual chaos that involves.

Cecilia and I took the three dogs out for a walk around 2.30 am before going to bed, which was a lovely way to round out the day. Here are a couple of photos of the day. Below those is a video of the kind of thing that is typical on the train that takes me to Cecilia’s place. There are musicians of all kinds, carrying instruments and sometimes even sound systems! They are always much appreciated and everyone is very generous to them. Very Buenos Aires!

I took the selfie of the three of us, and the other photo and the video are courtesy of Venetia, our “official” photographer for all events! (Thanks Venetia.)

On Christmas Day all three of us came home on the train together, and then I had a lazy afternoon before getting ready to go to Venetia’s place for her traditional English Christmas pudding (again!) with ice cream and champagne — lots of champagne! We were a small but varied group of people and the conversation was fascinating. All in all I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Christmas. I hope you did too, wherever you are and whatever you did.

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Can’t Keep Track!

This week has been full of social fun — as I’m sure it has been for you wherever you are in the world! I’ve been remiss in not posting to keep you up to date, so this post kind of has a bit of everything.

San Telmo Market

San Telmo is one of the oldest barrios in the city and there are so many things to do there. Every Sunday there is an artisan street fair and also the market. This past Sunday I went with my friend Viviana, who lives in San Telmo. Here we are enjoying lunch in the market.

 

 

 

 

Wine Tasting

Venetia and I went to a wine tasting sponsored by InterNations and met two lovely new lady friends. The place was called La Malbequeria (guess what the specialty wine is!), but we weren’t really impressed by the event. The place is cool and the waiter was cute, but we all agreed we’ve been at better tastings. But it’s always fun to meet new people and we enjoyed that aspect. Photos below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Poesia

Last night Venetia and I went to another concert at the Kircher Center, and ran into Lola there. It was the National Orchestra of Argentine Music, and as always it was a lovely performance. It was 10.30 pm when we came out, and as we hadn’t eaten we decided to take the bus over to San Telmo and have dinner. We went to a favourite old cafe called La Poesia (poetry). I think it’s about a hundred years old, full of atmosphere and the food is great. The lady in the photo is a fabulous tango singer who just walks in and starts singing! Came home on the bus about 12.30 am, and up this morning at the usual time to start work — that’s life in Buenos Aires!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s all for now. Going to two events tomorrow night, so I will post about that before I do my weekly summary on Sunday morning. I wonder if things will calm down after the Holidays — probably not!

Abrazos! (hugs)