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My New Friends from Scotland

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!

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A Travel Blogger’s Take on My Book

If you read a travel book review from someone called Travelling Book Junkie, you’re likely to read it, right? That’s what I thought, so I asked Tamason Gamble, the owner of the site and said book junkie, if she’d like to read Rare Steak, Red Wine, Hot Tango! She did, and I’m delighted to say she loved it.

“Would I recommend this book?  If you are even vaguely interested in Argentina pick a copy up.  It is a quick read at just 116 pages but it will give you a sense of the country.  It provides you with an insight into what it is like to have both a short holiday and a longer trip to this wonderful part of the world.” — Travelling Book Junkie

Check out what she had to say about my book on her blog here: http://bit.ly/2DhIDHv  This is not a quick one-paragraph review, but a well thought out description of a book she has obviously read carefully. I’m honoured that she did.

While you’re there, have a look round the rest of the site, which has lots of travel stories from Tam and her husband Paul, as well as great photos — oh yes, and reviews of other books!

Tam is yet another of my readers who says she had never thought of coming to Argentina until she read my book — a message I’m seriously trying to get across to the Argentine tourist people!

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Trying a New Art Form

Yesterday I began a four-week series of classes in Fileteado Porteño, an art form traditional to Buenos Aires.

It began as a way to decorate carriages in the early 19th century, and from there moved to doors and windows, and now you see it on all kinds of things. I’ve bought some of the small signs they sell to tourists. (This is not my work — it’s by a master of the art!)

It’s one of those things that isn’t as simple as it looks at first glance. There is incredible precision in the widths and curves of the lines, and the light and shade that make the designs look three dimensional.

I’ve had a hankering for a while to learn how to do it. Last week when I was in San Telmo with Venetia, we stumbled across an association for the artists, and it turned out they give classes. No groups in the summer, so I’m having private lessons with Martin.

Yesterday I learned about the history of fileteado, and the traditional way of getting the design on paper to start with. I also had a go at painting lines with the special brushes, which is clearly something that takes time to learn! Anyway, I can’t wait for my next lesson and I will put up a photo of whatever I produce by the end of the course.

A nice bonus was the tango music in the background!

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Two Different Art Experiences

I went to two quite different art exhibits this past week.

On Wednesday I went with five friends to MALBA, the Museum of Latin American Art, which had a special exhibit of Mexican artists. I was primarily interested in Diego Rivera, whose work I first saw and loved at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. However, there were many beautiful pieces there, as well as a few that required a strong stomach! There were two of my favourites, but I unfortunately forgot to note the artists’ names.

The first one is an abstract study of people in a cafe, and I liked it because it seemed happy! The lady in the satin dress was on a wall opposite the door and was very striking as you walked in. It’s a pity my iPhone refused to take photos without flash, as it kind of washed out the beautiful bronz colour of her dress.

 

 

 

 

Today my friend Hemilce called and asked if I’d like to go to the Museum of Fine Art to see an exhibit of the Spanish artist Joan Miró, and that was completely different from the MALBA experience. The two on the left ar typical of the artist’s strong use of colour and abstract subject matter.

The third (sorry it’s a bit dark) was a room off the main gallery where children were playing games associated with the exhibit and contributing their own efforts. I love this kind of thing, which helps kids appreciate culture while they’re young.

The entrance to the exhibit was this blue corridor — I thought it was kind of fun.

This beautiful lady was my favourite of everything I saw today, even though she isn’t part of the exhibit we went to see. She is called Bianca and is by the 19th century French sculptor Gustavo Frederic Michel. Isn’t she lovely? Most sculptured heads look blind to me, with their blank eyes. This one was different. The eyeballs were carved in such a way that she actually looks as if she is looking at something.

I don’t do a lot of galleries as a rule, so it was fun to do two such different ones in such a short time.

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Met Lovely People at the Cafe

Last night after dinner I walked up to my favourite evening haunts, the terrace at La Biela. La Biela is a famous cafe with a huge terrace and it’s perfect for people watching! I often wander up there of an evening for a glass of wine after dinner, and I feel quite comfortable being on my own. But of course, company is always nice.

I happened to choose a table next to a couple, and as I heard them place their order I noticed they had Scottish accents just like mine. So I spoke to them, and went on to have a lovely evening in their company. They are widely traveled, but this is their first visit to Buenos Aires — in fact they had only been here for a few hours when we met. As they are here for a week, I hope to run into them again.

I almost didn’t go out last night because it was v-e-r-y warm — the terrace at La Biela didn’t have its usual buzz because of that, but I’m so glad I did.

Also, if you know me well, you’ll know that speaking to people I don’t know has always been a struggle for me and I’m trying to cultivate the skill. I’m finding it pays off, as it did last night when I met lovely Lyn and David!

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I know it’s a strange tourist attraction…

Time for a new video!

The first time I came here I resisted the impulse to visit Recoleta Cemetery because, well, it’s a cemetery for goodness sake. Not something I usually do when I’m on vacation.

However, all the guidebooks mention this particular one and it certainly is popular, so eventually I went along to check it out. Now I get it! It is so worth a visit on many levels, and for me not the least of those is sketching. I’ve also been here when I’ve had visitors and they also found it well worth the visit. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this short video and a few of my sketches from past visits.

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My first visit to a Mosque

Yesterday I went with three friends to visit the Mosque at the Islamic Centre of Buenos Aires. I’ve never been in a Mosque before, and I found it interesting.

We had a complete tour of the complex, not just the Mosque itself, and it was all in Spanish. Our guide spoke very rapidly, so it was quite challenging but I think I understood the most important parts.

He took us into the classroom where they teach Arabic and there he took questions about Islam. There were many questions and he answered very fully.

Finally it was time to enter the Mosque, where the Imam was just about to start preparation for prayers, and we were all invited to sit on the floor at the back. It took quite a long time, and I took the opportunity to make a small sketch. Unlike the Mosques in the Arabic countries, which I’ve only seen in pictures, this one was not elaborate at all, and the sketch reflects that. I’ll put a photo of the same detail beside it so you’ll see what I mean.

Afterwards we had a lovely lunch together, and then took a v-e-r-y long walk home.

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Knitter Heaven!

I’m a knitter. I learned to knit at my mother’s knee and over the years there have been times when I’ve done a lot and others when I haven’t done much at all.

A couple of years ago, I idly consulted Google to ask if there was a yarn shop near me in Buenos Aires, and was amazed to find there wasn’t just a yarn shop but a yarn district! Actually it’s a small row of shops, probably about eight of them, side by side on a street called Scalabrini Ortiz, and it’s just a short bus ride away from me.

I didn’t have the wit to take a photo of the shops from the outside, but here are some shots of their interiors I found online:

 

 

 

 

 

Ever since that first time, I usually pay it a visit and come away with some nice yarn to work with while I’m here. This year was no exception. I bought this lovely, soft Peruvian cotton in a happy apple green colour, and am knitting a lacy top.

Choosing yarn here can be fun or challenging, or both. That’s because for the most part it doesn’t sit on the shelves in nice neat balls with labels that tell you how many stitches you get to an inch. No, mainly you buy it by weight. So I had a pattern I got on the Internet and it called for 5 balls of a particular type of brand name yarn. I had to estimate how much of my apple green cotton to buy! In the end, I bought half a kilo and it looks as if it will be enough. If not it will just have to have shorter sleeves because I’m not buying another half kilo to make up a shortage!

Maybe I’ll post a photo of the finished top.

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Beautiful Buenos Aires Doors

One outstanding feature of Buenos Aires architecture is the doors. Of course, the doors on important buildings are very fine, but so are many on ordinary apartment buildings. I’ve always meant to sketch a series of them, and I finally started. Here are the two I did this week.

Yesterday I was going up Ayacucho Street to visit a friend — and quaff some more New Year champagne — and I stopped to sketch this beautiful black wrought iron door. I had noticed it before, so I went prepared with my sketching materials.

It belongs to a restaurant, and the stonework above it is just as beautiful as the door itself.

The second one is a lovely honey coloured wood, also quite popular in buildings made predominantly from cream coloured stone — well, I don’t know if it’s actually stone, but I mean the building material is cream coloured. I sat on the doorstep of the building opposite to do this one, and I asked the concierge what the building was behind the door. He shrugged and said it was just a residence, “nothing special”. Mind you, it must be quite a residence, but anyway I just love the door.

I cheated with the third one, as I actually did it a couple of years ago. Now this is an important building. It belongs to the Argentine Navy. It was a blistering hot day, and I found a cafe kitty corner to the building and sketched it while eating fruit and cheese and drinking a cool glass of white wine!

Finally, on my way home today I saw this performance and couldn’t resist photographing it. Two men on the ground pulling ropes, two more men on a high-up balcony pulling the other end of the ropes, lifting a couch up and over the balcony rail. When they saw me taking the photo, the guys on the top couldn’t help showing off a bit, and I had a moment of panic that they might drop the couch and it would be all my fault. But no, all was well.

Just moving day, Buenos Aires style!

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Bienvenido 2018!

I’ve now brought in my second New Year under the fireworks in the Puerto Madero barrio of Buenos Aires. It’s one of the best places to see them, and it seems more and more people are discovering you can do that without spending a fortune on the expensive waterfront restaurants. In fact, because their music is playing loudly all evening, outside revellers can take advantage of it to dance along the edge of the water and across the bridge! If we need to go to the washroom, we just nip into the Hilton. My friend Lola calls this being “gypsies in the palace” — I like it!

I did shoot some video, for for some reason I couldn’t get any to load up to YouTube so that I could put them here. I did get one up on FaceBook though, and you can see it here.

Like everyone else, I’ve been pondering what kind of year 2017 was for me. Although of course there have been a few downs, there have been many more ups and on balance, for me at least, it was a pretty good year.

Over the past few years I’ve definitely been on board with the idea of spending my money on experiences rather than “stuff”. In fact, I’ve been actively reducing the amount of stuff in my life and that’s an eye opening experience in itself. It occurred to me that I live in Argentina for almost half the year in a tiny furnished apartment with no surplus stuff, so why on earth do I need bulging cupboards full of stuff at home in Toronto? The answer is that I don’t, and I’ll be actively working on that when I get back there in early May.

I began and ended 2017 in Argentina, and I hope to do the same in 2018, although I also plan a little bit more travel this year. That’s a much more fulfilling way to spend my money. Do you agree?

I’m having a bit of a lazy day today, and then I’m going to a friend’s house for even more champagne. And then tomorrow it will be back to normal. Although I do love Christmas and New Year, I’m always secretly relieved to get back to the work and leisure activities of my normal life.

I hope you are enjoying sharing my Argentine life through this blog and the occasional FaceBook post. Thanks for all your likes, shares, comments and emails. I’ll be back with more normal posts this week.

Happy New Year, Feliz Año Nuevo, y un 2018 prospero y feliz!

Helen