I haven’t posted since I came back from Gualeguaychu, so this will be a bit of a roundup of what I’ve been doing over the past few days, complete with photos.
First, I had a couple of days feeling under the weather last Friday and part of Saturday. When I came home from breakfast I had intended to get a lot of work done, but my energy level was below zero and I couldn’t drag myself to my desk. All I wanted to do was sleep, my joints were aching and I felt yucky. Dire thoughts of zika or dengue were going through my head!
In the end though, it sorted itself out by midday Saturday, and I figured there were two reasons. First, although it has been hot since I arrived here, last week it was more than hot — it was oppressive. When you stepped out the door you felt the atmospheric pressure pushing down, and I think that was the first problem. But the other part was probably my own fault, as I realized I hadn’t been drinking enough water. (Plenty of wine, but I don’t think that counts.) So I started drinking much more water, the atmospheric pressure has lightened up considerably and I am back to normal.
Cucumber Sandwiches for Tea!
I think I mentioned before that there is a very posh hotel across the street from me. It’s called the Alvear Palace — quite old and considered among the very best hotels in Buenos Aires. And for some reason, they are well known for their afternoon teas! I had been promising myself that treat for a while, so decided to do it on Sunday. People had told me to go there hungry, so I didn’t have any lunch and planned to make this my dinner as well. It was certainly something to remember. Here are some photos.
Very olde worlde, full of charm. The room is called the Orangerie, and the glass ceiling gives it a lovely outdoors feeling.
Waiters and waitresses in old style uniforms (as they are in many of the restaurants here). A pity there wasn’t a waitress in this shot, as they wore white gloves. Haven’t seen any of those in a while.
Lovely small sandwiches, and so many of them it wasn’t hard to fill up. I don’t know where they get their bread, because that’s something I’ve often found disappointing here, but there was a variety here and it was all good.
They did have lovely little scones with homemade jam, but — alas — no cream! For one brought up on authentic Devonshire cream teas, this was a big gap. But then again, when in Rome…
I had been told they excel with their desserts, and I thought this selection of small pieces was it. Wrong. See next picture!
I chose this feathery light choux pastry concoction because it was the smallest thing on the trolley and I was getting pretty full by that time. It was delicious though and I managed to eat it all — what a surprise!
There was no choice in tea, by the way. The one they served was some kind of blend of citrus and other types of black tea, and it was delicious. She kept coming to fill up my cup, and I’m usually a one-cup tea drinker. But again, it was so good I drank three cups!
This is a close-up of the silverware. They even had an elegant little silver container for the sugar substitute — how classy is that?
It was lovely, but the only thing missing for me was company. For the most part I don’t mind dining alone, but somehow here I needed someone to chat with. Frankly, despite the ambience and lovely food, I was a bit bored. But I’m going back next month with Cecilia, so that will fix that problem.
Dinner with New Friends
There was no problem last night with a lack of dinner companions. A year or so ago at an InterNations event in Toronto, I met Diana. She was born in Argentina, although has lived many places, the most recent of which is Toronto. She introduced me electronically to her cousin, Pablo, and he and his wife, Cynthia, invited me to dinner last night.
Coincidentally, they chose a great Italian restaurant that is less than a five-minute walk from my place, so it was perfect. They are an interesting couple who run their own business online, so we had lots to talk about. We also shared stories and laughs about our lives, and all in all it was a lovely night. I am going to return their hospitality next month before I go back, and I will look forward to their company again.
And don’t they both contribute to this idea that all Porteños are good looking??
Couple of Sketches to Round Things Up
I haven’t sketched as much as I thought, because it has often just been too hot. (I know I’ve mentioned that to some people before, much to everyone’s annoyance!) But I’m determined to get some more done, so here are two I did in the last couple of days.
Avenida 9 de Julio is apparently the widest street in South America, and I wouldn’t doubt it. But it has a lovely treelined boulevard down the middle, and I found this beautiful little fountain at one of the intersections. The bonus was that I could sit in the shade of a big tree as I sketched.
The lovely pink trees in the background are in full bloom right now. They are called ceibo and the blossom is the national flower of Argentina. Here’s a closeup I found online, although most of the ones I’ve seen are a lighter, more delicate shade than this.
I paid another visit to the famous Recoleta Cemetery, which is always fascinating. Here’s my sketch of one of the broad avenues that give the place the air of a little town — except everybody is dead!
Not many cities have a cemetery as a tourist attraction, but this one does. The rich and famous of Buenos Aires have been buried here for generations, including Eva Peron (Evita). Her family tomb is actually one of the less interesting looking ones, but of course it’s one of the most most visited and usually has a few floral tributes. By the way, contrary to most people’s perception and largely due to the movie, Evita is not universally adored here. Many still worship her memory, but many others don’t. The Peronista movement is, however, still alive and relatively well in Argentina.
I think that’s it for now. Please leave your comments so I know you are still interested in my adventures!
Now I’m off to meet with some expats and then have my tango lesson — always a highlight of my week!
