OK, yesterday I took the plunge and tried out the Buenos Aires transportation system. I figure if I keep taking taxis all the time I’ll never get to know the city, so I bought a pass and I was ready.

I asked Cecilia to help me understand it so that I wouldn’t get lost on my first expedition. She showed me a site online where I can put in the “to and from” information (kind of like the TTC Trip Planner) and find out which bus, train or subway to use. The thing is, there are a gazillion buses in this city, all buzzing around in different directions, so it’s a little scary. Anyway, we went to a great barrio called Palermo, which I’ve been to several times and which I love, and that was quite easy. I’m pretty sure I could get back there on my own.

But then, I had planned to go to The English Group of Buenos Aires at night, and I invited Cecilia to come with me. So we took two more buses and went straight there from Palermo — which totally messed me up! I think I’ll be OK next week if I just go straight from here though. But it was great, as I already saw areas of the city that were new to me.

TEGOBA was great fun. The people there are a mix of locals, expats and visitors, and the objective is to help locals practise their English. There were people there from several different countries as well as several porteños (Buenos Aires natives), and they were all ages including a wee boy of about nine. He was with his parents, porteños, and he spoke fluent English and had beautiful manners. What a great start for him, eh?

The event finished about 10 pm — and then I had to get the bus home! It was quite near where Cecilia lives, so it seemed silly for her to come all the way back here with me — it was about 45 minutes. I have to admit I was very nervous, but Lady Luck was on my side as a young couple heard Cecilia speak to the driver and it turned out they were getting off at my stop. It’s a good thing they were, because I might have had a problem recognizing it. I then had to walk a couple of blocks to get home from the bus stop, but it was fine. I wasn’t nervous at all because I recognized my own neighbourhood right away so it was easy from there. But I feel like the world is my oyster now that I know how to ride the bus!

Here are a couple of sketches I’ve done here. Cecilia greeted me at the airport with this enormous bouquet of flowers to welcome me back — nice, eh? The other is a cafe right on my corner, which might be a regular haunt for me. I might gradually built up a collection of cafe sketches over my time here, as there are so many of them, each with its own personality.

OK, I’ll sign off now. It’s Saturday morning and I’m off to find some adventure!