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.

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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!