This week a bunch of us went to hear our friend Cliff Williamson singing at a lovely old local bar called La Dama de Bollini. It was a lot of fun. Cliff sings mainly American folk and country music, although towards the end we were all singing Beatles!
This video is a little longer than my usual, but it has three songs: Folsom Prison Blues, Shenandoah and I Saw Her Standing There.
Enjoy!
I had hoped to send you photos or at least a report on the Carnaval, as Venetia and I went there last night. Carnaval in Buenos Aires is quite small in comparison to the huge events in other parts of the country, so it’s more small local events in various parts of the city. We chose San Telmo, but unfortunately it was a bit of a bust.
It was to start at 7.30 pm, but of course we knew it wouldn’t because nothing starts on time here. There was some acrobatic entertainment as the crowd started to gather, but after an hour with no sign of anything starting we decided to give up.
So we went to La Poesia, one of the great old cafes in San Telmo, for wine and picadas. I think the picadas were meant for more than two people! But we managed to eat almost everything, while washing it down with good old Malbec!
Picadas are a great way to eat here. They vary quite a bit from place to place, but basically they are tapas trays, with cold meats, cheeses, olives and more yummy things. I often have them if we’ve arrived at a cafe and it’s kind of late for a full meal.
While I was back in Canada for six months last year, I sketched only once, while I was visiting my friend Lynda in Quebec. I’ve been hoping I would be inspired to start again now that I’m back in Argentina.
Well, last week in Chile I did do a couple of sketches on the spot, although some of the things I would like to have sketched were during walking tours when I didn’t have time. I don’t like sketching from photographs, as I lose much of the sensory experience, but in this case I didn’t have much choice. I haven’t made those sketches yet, but I will soon.
In the meantime, I took my sketchbook on Sunday afternoon and ended up doing this little doodle in La Biela, my favourite people watching cafe.
I had a couple of client deadlines to meet in the past few days, but now that they are done I will be able to spend some time putting together the Chile videos — coming soon.
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!
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.
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!
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)
Last night Venetia and I went to an event which we had misunderstood from the announcement. We thought it was a guided walk to see some of the flora and fauna of Argentina, but it turned out to be a lecture — all in rapid Spanish! We weren’t up for two hours of that, so we left. After a walk around the lovely Parque Lezama, we decided to look for a place to have something light to eat. It was a bit too early for typical Argentine dinner, so we thought some tapas and wine would be in order.
We walked up a lovely street called Caseros in the barrio of San Telmo, and discovered Napoles. We had both walked past the window before and were intrigued but never went in. Tonight we did, and what a discovery it was.
I made a quick video from some photos I took, but if I had photographed all the cool things it would be a feature length movie! It was a huge place, filled with an eclectic collection of artifacts — statues, busts, pictures, vintage clothing, full size cars and more!
We sat at a table near the front and enjoyed some provoleta (a typical Argentine dish made of grilled provolone with herbs and spices) and a glass of mellow Malbec, while glorying in the fantasy all around us!
Check it out.
There are many people here in Buenos Aires who love tango music, but don’t dance. It’s such a complex and varied form of music that it’s possible to enjoy it on many levels. As you know from my posts here, my preference is to dance, but I also love being exposed to other forms. This past week brought two such opportunities.
La Hora del Tango
On Wednesday night Venetia and I went to the Kirchner Cultural Centre to see something called The Hour of Tango, and neither of us was quite sure what it was all about. It turned out that La Hora del Tango is the name of a television series that is currently being produced, and this was the final episode. So the show was being recorded for television, which of course made it a whole different experience. There were takes and retakes, and a great deal of “hurry up and wait”, which stretched the hour out beyond two hours! The process was a bit tedious, but the tango itself was lovely.
A full tango orchestra performed by itself first, and then provided accompaniment for a troupe of at least a dozen dancers. We saw the first dance number twice, as apparently there was a small technical problem at the end, which was fine for the audience but I’m not sure how the dancers felt about it!
We had a couple of tango songs from Chico Navarro, who is very old now but was apparently a very big deal in his day and the audience loved him.
I have no photos of this, because they wouldn’t let us take any because of the television people.
Lola Mora at Bar Celta
One of the Bares Notables I’ve visited for my research was Bar Celta, and I remember reading that they had live music downstairs. Lola recently discovered a whole series called Music at the Bares Notables, and last night we went to see the show downstairs at Bar Celta.
Lola Mora (no relation to my friend Lola!) is a duo of women, one pianist and one violinist, who play a wide range of music but with a specialty in tango. They were fabulous! What musicians they were!
Here’s a short video clip of just one of their songs. This is a famous song called Adios Nonino, by a famous and controversial Argentine tango musician of the fifties called Astor Piazzola. He wrote it after learning that his father had died while he was off on a tour — the title roughly translates as “Goodbye Daddy”. As you can tell from the comments by my friends, it’s a well loved popular favourite.
And just to round things off, tonight I’m off to the milonga to actually dance tango — still my favourite!
I knew I hadn’t been keeping up with my posts, but I was surprised to see it had been a couple of weeks since I’ve been here. Combination of work, lots of social dashing about and yet another summer cold!
I’ve continued to visit the bares notables with various friends. Here are a couple of shots from one of the most interesting, Los 36 Billares. There aren’t 36 billiard tables, but I think I counted about twenty, some in the main cafe area and a bunch downstairs.
These next three photos are of the oldest, and certainly among the best kept of the Notables, Cafe Tortoni. Definitely a tourist trap, often with a lineup to get in, but well worth it. I always enjoy soaking in the ambience in Tortoni with its pictures and its lovely art deco ceilings.
Cecilia and I, and her Peruvian friend’s daughter Nicole, went away for an overnighter on Good Friday to Chivilcoy, a provincial town a couple of hours away from Buenos Aires, to visit Cecilia’s daughter Macarena. Summer made a spectacular return — sunny and very hot the whole time we were there. This was a bonus, and allowed us to have a real mini-vacation. We sat in the plaza on Friday evening and drank mate, and then joined the Good Friday procession into the cathedral. Then we went home and retired to the backyard with malbec, where we played cards until two o’clock in the morning!
Now it seems it actually is fall, and we are getting a bit of rain. But it’s only a month till I go back to Canada, so I’m determined to make the most of every day and evening — rain or no rain!
I’ll try to keep up the blog better for the remaining weeks of A5. That’s “Argentina 5” if you haven’t read my book yet — and if you haven’t yet, you can get it at http://amzn.to/2oddkmF !