Here are a couple of photos with my new Scottish friends, Lyn and David. I really enjoyed spending time with them, especially when I showed them around a bit downtown the day before they left. I even took them on the bus — an experience most tourists don’t get, but an integral feature of Buenos Aires (as you will know if you’ve read my book!)

The first photo is in Cafe Tortoni, the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires. I think it opened in 1882 or thereabouts. The bronze in the background is Carlos Gardel, known as the Father of Tango. I love this place. It used to be a hangout for writers and artists, who would sit there all night, smoking and drinking and talking politics. A throwback to an earlier time.

The second one is taken with the life size figures outside La Biela, another cafe that’s a well known Buenos Aires landmark — as it’s five minutes from where I live, I spend a lot of time there! The word “biela” means monkey wrench, or spanner, or I’ve sometimes heard it as connecting rod, but in any case it’s to do with cars. The reason is that when the cafe opened in the 1940s it was a hangout for the famous race car drivers of the time, including Juan Manuel Fangio — even I’ve heard of him, but I didn’t know he was Argentine!

Like many who visit Buenos Aires for just a few days, Lyn and David loved it and I predict they’ll be back!