by

Home from Miramar — a Day Early

We were supposed to come home from Miramar on Thursday, but unfortunately the weather was not at all kind to us and we decided to come back on Wednesday instead. I managed to get my usual holiday cold, which is now entering bronchitisland, so I didn’t mind leaving early.

The drive back was horrendous, with thunderstorms that turned the sky black as night and torrential rain for a large part of the time. Only when we got to within about 90 minutes of Buenos Aires did it clear up, and by the time we arrived home it was lovely. Of course we got reports that the weather in Buenos Aires had been beautiful all week!

We did enjoy the company though. Cecilia’s cousin Carlitos was a wonderful host, and he cooked a mean asado! And when he left he gave us all a bag of apples and wonderful tomatoes from his garden in Neuquen. One day I’d like to go down there and visit him. Maybe the weather is better there!

 

by

Miramar Beach

Yesterday we spent some time on the beach. The sea was quite rough, and even I wasn’t daft enough to go in the water — just an ankle dip. But it was lovely breathing in the sea air and lying on the sand. Here are a couple of sketches I did to capture the feel of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the house preparing dinner. Everybody was buzzing around in the kitchen doing the work, while Claudine and I decided to stay out from under everybody’s feet and quaff a glass of red wine!

by

Miramar — finally!

Well we finally arrived in Miramar in the middle of the afternoon yesterday, after a longer trip than we had expected.

There was an accident on the highway, but at first we didn’t know that. All we knew was that we were moving v-e-r-y slowly. There were two lanes on our half of the highway, but as only Argentines do, they gradually expanded that to three lanes by everyone moving onto the shoulder. I told Cecilia that if she did that in Canada nobody would let her back in, which she thought very strange!

As we sat on the shoulder, at a stop, we suddenly realized another lane was forming on the right, as people drove on the grass! So of course Cecilia, being Argentine, thought it was a good idea and joined them. I thought the next stage was going to be into the farmer’s field with the cows, but fortunately it didn’t come to that!

Unfortunately, in the end we found it was a double decker bus that had gone off the road, but there was no sign of any passengers so we think they all got off.

 

 

 

 

Anway, Cecilia’s family were waiting for us and we had a long-awaited lunch. The house we have is great, and personally I think it’s great fun being in a house with ten people! We all went out to explore a little last night, and this morning we went to the beach. Venetia did a lovely video of the ocean, which I will try to upload via YouTube and post here.

Apparently tonight we are all going to watch the Oscars. I’m having fun in Miramar!

 

by

A Very Argentine Vacation!

A few weeks ago my friend Cecilia asked me if I’d like to go to Miramar. As I’ve said before, the only thing wrong with Buenos Aires in my view is that it doesn’t have a beach, but there is a series of ocean resorts on the coast about five or six hours from here that are very popular vacation spots for Porteños. Cecilia and I went to Mar Del Plata a couple of years ago, but I’ve never been to Miramar, so I was up for it.

Her cousin, Carlito, was coming up from Neuquen province to join us, and I also invited Venetia. So that was it originally — four people. Then there was the possibility that Carlito’s daughter would come. But that was it — five people.

Then we started to look for an Air BnB house. It had to have an asado so that we could have the traditional meal at least one of the nights. We needed three or four bedrooms, depending on the distribution of the beds. Venetia did the original Air BnB research and sent some suggestions to Cecilia. Apparently none of them suited, for various reason, and she and Carlito took over the search. They booked us a house, two blocks from the beach with its own asado — and big enough to sleep twelve!

Apparently the word spread, and first Carlito’s daughters and one of their children were added. Then someone else — who the heck knows how it all happened. Anyway, we now have a house that sleeps twelve and it’s a full house. Twelve people — that’s definitely it. If anyone else joins us they’ll have to sleep in the garden.

When I told a few people the story, they all said the same thing. “Oh yes, that’s typically Argentine!”

I don’t know these people yet, but since they are family and friends of Cecilia, I know it will be a riot!

We’re leaving at 7 am tomorrow. I’ll post here to let you know (and see) how it’s going!

 

by

I’m Fit to Be Tied!

I just got back from the latest visit to the Customs people about my famous boxes, and I’m fit to be tied.

We first went back to the people we’ve been dealing with, carrying the latest document they requested. They gave us a new document with a great flourish, giving us to believe that the last thing was a signature by the senior officer and it was pretty much a rubber stamp. Hah!

We were with this guy for at least half an hour. He could have told us everything in five minutes, but he just kept telling us over and over again as if we were kindergarten children.

Anyway, I think I know what it is I still need and how to get it. Unfortunately I have to go back to see this guy again when I have it.

Argentine bureaucracy is stretching my Everything is Figureoutable philosophy to its limits!

by

Venetia’s Video from Chile

I still haven’t had time to put together my remaining photos from Chile, but this is a video Venetia made of a lovely Mexican restaurant in Santiago. It’s called Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate — like the movie). We had a lovely meal there, although the waiter was a pill.

It’s an advantage travelling with a friend who is a professional photographer, so I can show you lovely things like this instead of always my own “point and click” efforts! Gracias Venetia!

by

Chinese New Year in Tigre

The Chinese New Year festival was supposed to be held in Tigre last weekend, but it was postponed on rumors of rain! Honestly, people are hothouse plants here, and things get cancelled and people stay home with just a little rain. Since I’m from Scotland and was born in the rain, I find this weird!

Anyway, I went to Tigre on the train with Venetia, Montserrat, Cecilia and two Mexican friends of Cecilia, Antonio and Lina. It was hot hot hot, and we watched only part of the show because we just wanted to get to a nice restaurant where we could sit in the shade and have a light lunch and a glass of wine.

We found a lovely old place called Vivanco that fit the bill nicely.

Since none of us could be bothered cooking when we got back to Buenos Aires, we decided to go to my favourite empanada place, El Sanjuanino — the last of the photos shows us relaxing there.

Fun day!

by

Our Friend Sings at La Dama de Bollini

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!

by

Look at all this food!

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.