Well, summer has definitely reached Buenos Aires! Temperatures are in the high twenties, and even thirty for a short time. I hadn’t expected that for a couple of weeks yet, but I’ll take it nevertheless!

I have settled into a work routine, so haven’t been out and about as much during the day. I do, however, continue my habit of taking an early morning walk, as I do in Toronto. I don’t stop for coffee here, but just walk. I’ve been exploring the area and have found new ways to get to familiar places, and new streets I hadn’t been down at all.

I haven’t taken many photographs, or even done any sketching. But one of these days I’ll get in the mood again and start — I’ve found sketching isn’t something you can force, or when I do it never turns out right.

Yesterday morning on my walk I passed this tall palm tree. I love palm trees, and there is quite a variety of them here. The fun thing about this one this morning was that there was a big flock of green parakeets flying around the top and having a full blown conversation! That put a big smile on my face. I took this photograph later in the day, so you can’t see them. Maybe I’ll be luckier next time.

I’ve always been fascinated by doors. I don’t know if it’s the mystery of not knowing what’s behind them, but I always take note of them in my travels. I must say the most beautiful doors I’ve seen anywhere are in Madrid, but Buenos Aires comes a close second. At some point I may do a collection of photos and sketches just of doors, but in the meantime here’s one example. This lovely black wrought iron door isn’t on a special building. It’s just an ordinary apartment building near me. Isn’t it beautiful?

One thing I’ve started doing in the late afternoon is going out with my notebook and just writing my thoughts and observations on my daily life here. Sometimes I just find a shady seat in the park, and sometimes I find a cafe and have either coffee or a cool drink. On this day I had a very popular drink around here called Fernet, which is always drunk with Coca Cola. It took me a while to try it because I don’t like Coca Cola, but I found that it’s not so bad when it’s spiked with Fernet! Now “Fernet con Coca” is one of my favourite afternoon indulgences.

Last night I went with some friends to a huge tango party — in the street! I have to edit my videos, so I’ll tell you about that next time. Stay tuned!

Well it’s Saturday, November 26, and my vacation is officially over. Pauline left yesterday, and I will be back at work on Monday. Because I’ve been on vacation, I haven’t been very diligent about posting to the blog, but I will do better now.

The weather has been fantastic — until today! When we arrived it was not quite summer weather, but still warm and sunny. Then last weekend summer suddenly arrived, and it has been HOT and sunny ever since. Today, they were calling for rain and thunder, and we got it!

I’ve spent the morning at home, moving things around in my apartment. I didn’t like any of the knickknacks that were around the place, so I’ve bundled them all into an empty cupboard and put out the few little souvenirs I brought — something from Canada, Portugal, Scotland and Ecuador, as well as my picture of Felix and me. That makes it feel more like home, and I plan to add a few more small things as I go along. I like the apartment very much, although a coat of paint wouldn’t go amiss! (I won’t be doing that!)

Here are a few random photos taken over the past couple of weeks.

It’s hard to realize it’s only a month till Christmas when the sun is splitting the trees, but here’s a Happy Holidays message I came across the other day.

The jacaranda trees are beautiful this time of year, and they are lasting quite well. This one looked nice beside its green neighbours, but some of the downtown parks and plazas are even more lovely. This is just around the corner from my apartment — photo and my sketch of the same tree.

In the famous Recoleta cemetery, this is the family mausoleum of Eva Peron, as well as a couple of the plaques dedicated to her personally. It’s easy to find this among all the other, as it always has flowers.

I’ll leave it here for now. Tonight I’m going to a party with Cecilia and her sister. I’ve met these people before and they are all great fun, so I’m looking forward to it.

Hope you enjoy these pictures, and feel free to leave comments.

Well, it’s ten o’clock at night, and I’ve just come back from dinner at my local restaurant. My packing is almost done, except for the things that can’t be packed until the morning.

I am feeling very sad, as you can imagine. I know I am going to miss Argentina terribly. A friend took me to breakfast the other morning and she asked me why I was going home. I said because my three months are up, and she said, “I know, but you don’t want to go home, so why don’t you just stay here?”

I’m not there, but I have to say it did give me pause.

Anyway, I had my last tango lesson yesterday and I did make a little video. Uploading from here is v-e-r-y slow, so I’m going to wait till I get back to Toronto. Stay tuned. In the meantime, here is a selfie with my lovely tango teacher, Alejandro.

And while I’m about it, here is a selfie with Yoni, the young waiter at my local restaurant. Absolutely charming — as are most Argentine men I have met!

When I get home I will post the tango video and do one last post, and I’ll send an email to make sure everyone gets it. I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing my Argentina adventure with you all, and thanks to everyone who has written to say they enjoyed it too.

Hasta luego!

It’s Monday morning, and I’m just waiting to leave for a late breakfast with a friend. Sadly, I’m now into the final stretch, and it’s a time of “lasts”.

As I walked around the artisan market on Saturday, it was tempting to buy everything in sight because it was my last opportunity. I resisted, though, having already bought enough to start my own artisan market when I get home!

Yesterday I spent Easter with Cecilia and her family and I couldn’t have been in a better place. There were about fifteen of us, including her family and some friends, and it was a happy, noisy gathering. My Spanish got a workout, and I’m happy to report that I was able to follow most of the conversations even when I wasn’t part of them. Of course my own Spanish improved after copious quantities of Malbec!

I spent some time talking to an elderly lady called Maria, and I was a bit perturbed that I was having trouble understanding her Spanish. Then I found out she was Italian — and just as my Spanish is liberally salted with Portuguese, so was hers with Italian! That is so-oo Buenos Aires!

I’m not working this week, as I want to make the most of these last few days — I’m already plotting next year’s time! I will blog again at least once before I go.

Tomorrow I have my last tango lesson, and I’m hoping to have video — so stay tuned!

The first time I came to Buenos Aires I took a tour through its famous Teatro Colon. Ever since then I’ve hoped to see a performance there, and tonight I got my wish. I went with a group of people from InterNations to see a production of Beatrix Cenci, which I had never heard of.

It is truly a magnificent theatre, both inside and out as you can see from these photos (which I didn’t take, needless to say!)

The most amazing thing about Teatro Colon, though, is that it has no sound system as we know it. There is not a single microphone in the whole place. The accoustics are completely natural, coming from the way the theatre was built. The effect is wonderful. We are so used to hearing voices always electronically amplified, and this is so different. The voices all projected beautifully to all parts of the theatre. There was one scene where a cleaning cart was wheeled onto the stage, and you could actually hear the wheels turning.

The singing was excellent, and the staging beautiful.

Having said all that, the opera itself was the worst bloody rubbish I’ve seen in a long time. From the minute the curtains opened until they closed, I had no idea what was going on. Lots of slow walking and breast beating — and several totally naked men, which I never did quite figure out. Several times I just sat back and looked around, enjoying the theatre itself and ignoring what was going on onstage!

Culture is hugely subsidized in Argentina, and I paid only about Cdn.$14 for my seat. If only I could be here next month to hear Don Giovanni! I would like to go there again next time I’m here, but I’ll pay more attention to what I’m going to see first.

On a different note, today was Palm Sunday. I was walking along Avenida Santa Fe, and several people were selling olive branches, rather than the palm branches I’m familiar with. I realized it was because there was a church nearby. By the time I reached it, it was clearly standing room only, and many people were standing outside on the steps, holding their olive branches and listening to the mass broadcast from inside. I joined them and listened for a while, but it was hard for me to follow.

Here is my little olive branch, now standing on my coffee table in a glass.