March 13, 2016 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

Submarines, International Women’s Day and Tango

This week I went again to Cafe Tortoni. I know it’s a tourist trap, but it’s really so beautiful I can’t resist it. I love the old pictures on the walls, the art deco ceiling—and the ghosts of artists and writers of the past that seem to hover over everything.

But on this particular afternoon I had been walking around downtown and it was time for some afternoon coffee. I was near Tortoni, so I decided to try a specialty they have made famous. It’s called a submarino.

They bring you a cup of hot milk, accompanied by a small submarine-shaped chocolate bar. You drop it into the cup and submerge it in the milk, and then you stir it till it melts. Now that’s how to make hot chocolate!

International Women’s Day

When I left the cafe after my usual breakfast, after saying goodbye as usual, the waiter said to me Feliz Dia, or Happy Day. I thought this must be some variation on Have a Nice Day. But no, it turned out it was International Women’s Day, and I found out they take it quite seriously here.

Cecilia called me later in the morning and said she was going out to lunch with Macarena and Daniela to celebrate El Dia de la Mujer, and invited me to join them. We went to a place called Victoria, about half an hour away from Cecilia’s home, and had lunch in a restaurant overlooking a lovely little marina full of boats.

I went for my Spanish lesson that night, and the place is downtown. At one point we could hardly hear ourselves talk, and the teacher explained that this was the main street leading to Plaza de Mayo, and these were people parading up there to celebrate the day, and also to protest injustices against women worldwide.

Tango!

Last night (Saturday) Cecilia and I went to a tango show at the same place we always go, Taconeando. It’s a small place with an intimate show and atmosphere, which I prefer to the big spectacles, and the music and dancing were lovely as always.

In this particular place, at the end of the show the dancers come out into the audience and invite people to dance. I didn’t think we’d be asked, as we were quite far back and not next to the stage as before, but I think Cecilia engineered it! Anyway, one of the dancers invited me up onto the cabaret floor to dance. There were only two couples in the show, so that meant only four couples now — including this handsome man and me — actually on stage, under the lights, with an audience!

And I thoroughly enjoyed it! Cecilia took pictures, but we were so far back you couldn’t really see it was me. But that doesn’t matter, because I don’t need a photo to remind me of such a lovely experience.

And now I’m getting ready to go to San Telmo for the Sunday artisan market, and maybe some sketching.

March 7, 2016 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

Mendoza — where wine is everything!

I spent this past weekend in Mendoza, Argentina’s most famous wine region. They are celebrating the vendimia, or annual wine harvest, and I was there for the show. And the drinking. And the eating.

My friends Susan and Michael were down from Ecuador for a vacation, so it was an added treat to spend this time with them. A bonus was that Susan had used her travel agent skills to hire an excellent driver and guide, Jorge, and my trip began with him picking me up at the airport and taking me to the hotel, where Susan and Michael awaited me. It was late morning on Friday.

First Tasting

About half an hour after I checked in, we were off with Jorge on our first wine tasting adventure, at a winery called Ruca Malen maybe 45 minutes outside Mendoza. We had a tour of the vines and the kitchen garden and the production area. Then we sat down at a table on a lovely veranda, surrounded by an array of wine glasses awaiting our attention.

Lunch was five courses, with a different wine pairing for each. To say it was delicious is an understatement, especially the beef course accompanied by everybody’s favourite, Malbec. We were so full we all declined dessert — and if you know me well, you know that is practically unheard of!

We came back to the hotel and had an afternoon nap, and then set off to explore a little. Jorge told us that there is a law in Mendoza that every ten blocks there has to be a “plaza” or green space full of trees and grass. This makes for a beautiful natural air freshening system.

After that we had the nerve to go out for supper!

The Parade of the Queens

One of the features of the vendimia is the crowning of the National Queen of the Vendima — yes, it’s an old fashioned beauty contest, but lots of fun nonetheless. Each region of Mendoza province sends its queen to the contest, and on Saturday afternoon there is a parade where they all get to show off. But it’s not just the queens. There are beautiful horses ridden by gauchos in full costume, and huge floats full of people throwing grapes to the crowd.

We couldn’t get over the number of young boys and girls of about five years old who were sitting astride these huge horses as casually as another kid might ride a bike — and controlling them perfectly while they waited during the long breaks in movement. Amazing. Susan took some great pictures of them, and when she sends them to me at the end of the week (when she gets back to Ecuador) I will do another post to show you them.

The Main Event

The main show takes place on the Saturday night at an open air amphitheatre just outside of town. We were picked up at 6 pm in a minibus with a dozen or so other people and a very competent guide called Florencia. We knew we were to be provided with a “box lunch” — but we didn’t realize it would be two enormous sandwiches, salad, dessert, candy, a bottle of wine and a bottle of champagne!

We arrived very early, and although that meant a long wait it was fun watching everything come together. The stage set itself was an engineering feat, and the lighting amazing. The program listed all the dancers, singers, aerial artists, band etc. by name, and I just counted them — 889! My little iPhone did its best, and I hope these shots will at least give you some feel for the grandeur and scale of it all. I also took a few short videos, and when I finally get around to sorting my videos out I will post a link to them here on the blog.

There was a fantastic show of dancing and music that lasted about 90 minutes, followed by the election of the queen, which lasted about an hour. They were all beautiful — as you would expect from Argentina, land of an amazing number of beautiful people — and the eventual winner deserved her crown.

The night ended with a fireworks display, and then we were ferried back to the hotel. We arrived about 2.45 am, tired and happy.

Second Tasting

Despite our late night, we were all up and ready for Jorge on Sunday morning at 8.30. We were headed further afield this time, for a two-hour drive to Tupungato and the glorious wine country of the Uco Valley. This is a veritable paradise of fertile wine growing land at the foot of the Andes, and so beautiful it takes the breath away. This is the Tupungato Volcano.

On our way there, we admired the huge state of Christ up in the hills above the valley, so Jorge decided to drive us up there to see it properly! It was a bit of a nail biter, but the view was worth the ride. The statue is interesting, with its very definite South American features.

We finally arrived at the Salentein winery, which is a relatively new one at only sixteen years old. This one has a lot for tourists as well as very fine wine. Way down below the vats and barrels is a wonderful cellar with a grand piano, where they hold concerts twice a year. You sit on the steps and lean against the barrels as you listen — I can’t imagine a better way to listen to music. There is one in September that features tango, which must be fantastic in that setting.

There wasn’t much time for sketching but I managed to snatch literally ten minutes to try for an impression of the place.

We had no food here, but tasted three different wines with a very good lesson on how to taste wine. I quite enjoyed learning about that.

Here we are with the wonderful Jorge.

Third Tasting (!)

That was just the morning, and we weren’t finished yet. Jorge had booked us for lunch and yet another tasting at Gaia, the winery of the Bousquet Estate. I had seen Bousquet wines in Canada but hadn’t tried them — I’ll definitely get them now!

Here we had a choice of a 4-course or 6-course lunch, with a wine pairing for each. We opted for four courses, as we were defeated by just the thought of six courses. Again, the food was fantastic, and the wines we had with each one were all delicious. We did manage to distinguish among them and we each had our favourite, but in truth they were all good.

This is Susan and me at the end of that lunch, absolutely satiated with great food and wine.

On the way back to Mendoza, Jorge told us about a little local ice cream shop in Tupungato, and he made it sound so amazing we just had to stop and try some. Yes, it was well worth it!

They took me straight to the airport, and I arrived home at my little apartment in Buenos Aires about 10 pm — and went straight to bed! All that food and drink compressed into such a short period of time was very decadent — but a wonderful weekend I’ll always remember.

March 1, 2016 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

Downtown, Rosedal and San Telmo

I’ve had a lovely weekend and beginning of the week.

Downtown

On Saturday, I went back to visit the Plaza de Mayo again, as there are other interesting buildings besides the Pink House.

This sketch is of the outside of the Catedral Metropolitana. I don’t actually care much for the outside, as to me it doesn’t look like a church at all, much less a cathedral, but I thought it was worth drawing anyway.

The inside is much more impressive, although like many major Catholic churches I found it to be a bit over the top. This was the “parish church” of the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, before he moved to Rome and became Pope Francis!

Ever since the first time I came to Buenos Aires, I’ve been fascinated by the magnificent door of the Naval Building. I’ve wanted to sketch it, but the problem was always finding a place to sit to do it, as it is at a major intersection downtown. I finally got lucky and found the perfect table at a cafe kitty corner from the building, so I had lunch and did the sketch at the same time! I was worried my sketching skills would not do the door justice, and I was correct. But I hope it at least gives an impression of what it looks like.

Once again, I was sitting right in the blazing sun and I was reduced to a greasy spot by the time I was done, but I think it was worth it. And the glass of white wine helped.

The Rosedal

Yesterday afternoon, Sunday, Cecilia took me to the Rosedal, which means rose garden. I had always heard it was lovely, but didn’t pay much attention because frankly I wasn’t really that interested in seeing a rose garden. But it turned out it is much more than that. It is a very large park with beautiful palm trees, which I love, a big lake with paddle boats, swans and geese, some beautiful gazebos where you can sit in the very welcome shade — oh yes, and a rose garden.

It was the last day of summer holidays before the schools go back, so it was quite busy, but lovely nonetheless. Here are some photos.

This is the sketch I did from inside one of the gazebos, while Cecilia read the paper.

We did go on the paddle boats. If I had known about that, I wouldn’t have worn a short skirt!

San Telmo

This afternoon I visited San Telmo, one of the oldest barrios in the city. It is known for its association with tango as well as all the artists that go there to paint the old buildings and cobblestone streets. To tell the truth, I prefer it at night when the lights are shining on the streets and there is lots of night life.

I found the Plaza Dorrego and sat at the outdoor cafe having a Campari while I did this sketch.

Once again there was one of these beautiful big trees with the pink blossoms which I love. I also liked the colourful blue umbrellas.

I will go back again one Sunday, when the street market gives it more life.

Work

People have been asking if I’m getting on with my work, and I’m happy to say I am, even though some days it’s tempting just to go out and play in the sunshine. I’m not as far forward with my novel as I had hoped, but I still have more than four weeks to catch up so I still hope to meet my goal of having it ready to go to the editor when I get back to Toronto. Fingers crossed!

February 26, 2016 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

Palacio Barolo

Today I visited a place I’ve been meaning to see for weeks, Palacio Barolo. As the name suggests, it is one of the many ‘palaces’ from times past that now survive in Buenos Aires in other forms. Some are office buildings, others private residences still and yet others condo buildings. Funnily enough, Palacio Barolo was built in the 1930s as an office building and has never been anything else.

It’s a fascinating place. The original owner and builder was one Luis Barolo, an Italian immigrant who had arrived in Argentina in 1890 and had made a fortune in knitted fabrics. He commissioned an Italian architect, Mario Palanti, to design the building. But there are two interesting facts that influenced the design.

First, Barolo was fascinated by Dante’s Divine Comedy. The building riffs off this work in the number of floors, the number of balconies, and a whole lot of arithmetic that frankly went over my head, but it all ties in with The Divine Comedy.

Second, both Barolo and Palanti were Freemasons, and the building is rife with Masonic symbolism.

The young woman who showed us around, Veronica, was very knowledgeable and interesting. Someone asked her why she dressed as she did, and she explained that this was how the mostly male office workers of the 1930s would have dressed. She looked very cute I must say.

She finished the tour with a visit to an office typical of the time of the building and I couldn’t resist having my photo taken at the desk, although it’s doubtful a woman would ever have sat there!

This is an official photo of the outside of the building. And this is what you see from one of those little round balconies w-a-a-y up at the top of the tower!

After visiting “hell” and “purgatory” by elevator, we then walked up a v-e-r-y narrow spiral staircase to “paradise” at the second top level of balconies, and then on to the lighthouse at the top. It was so blazing hot up there that some of us commented it felt more like hell than paradise!

An identical building was also built in Montevideo, Uruguay, and the original idea was that the two lighthouses would flash directly at each other and meet in the middle of the river. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone that Buenos Aires and Montevideo are not opposite each other across the river — so this plan never materialized. Ah yes, South America — you have to love it!

I sat on the sidewalk and sketched the building from the outside. The crick in my neck may take weeks to go away. The image in the corner is the souvenir stamp Veronica gave us at the end of the tour. All in all, it was a fun outing.

I was going to my Spanish lesson from there, but had an hour or so to kill. So I sat at a sidewalk cafe, drinking a lovely, cool Campari and orange juice, and thinking how happy I am to be in Buenos Aires.

February 24, 2016 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

Gaucho Day at Estancia Santa Susana

Well, the day tour worked out the second time around! I went yesterday, and the arrangements worked out fine this time.

The estancia day was, no question about it, very touristy, but enjoyable nonetheless — except for the elderly tourists from Florida, who kept complaining it was too touristy!!

The place itself is beautiful — lots of big, open sky, palm trees and horses.

One of the highlights of the day was the traditional asado. Here is a sequence showing the fire heating up the coals, then the meat (only a fraction of the length of it) grilling slowly. They explained that the traditional Argentine way of grilling meat is over coals that have stopped glowing red, and the meat is several inches above the heat. This means it takes a long time to cook, but the result is definitely worth the wait! Imagine the job this poor guy has — when the temperature outside is over 30 degrees!

The sequence is that you are served first sausages, usually two kinds, followed by steaks, sometimes lamb and then chicken. Seriously! All with copious quantities of Malbec of course. Then while we were watching the folkloric show, they served us dessert!

We did have some free time to wander around, so of course I took a chance to sit on the grass and sketch. This is actually the museum, but fashioned after an actual estancia house of old. It’s much bigger on the inside than it looks, and could house quite a large family.

It was really too hot to sketch!

They had a gift shop, so of course I forced myself to go inside! This is what I bought. It’s hard to see it here, but it’s a cowskin wall hanging with a depiction of a gaucho at work, and the picture is made of individual pieces of cowskin glued on. I like it because it represents a completely different side of Argentina from Buenos Aires.

For me, the gaucho show was the best part of the day.

These guys are quite something to watch. The horsemanship is amazing. In this contest, each gaucho rides like the clappers towards this long leather string that has a tiny ring on the end. They have to put a stick the size of a pen into the ring and pull it off. When they do, they can present the ring to a lady and she has to give him a kiss. Unfortunately I was not the recipient of a ring — that would have been quite an easy price to pay!

The horses are really beautiful. So are the gauchos.

This handsome waiter served me some fabulous food — and then morphed into an even more handsome gaucho after lunch!

As I’ve said before, I am not a tourist in Argentina, but a temporary resident. That said, though, there are times when you just have to get into the spirit of the thing and enjoy the entertainment for what it is, and authenticity be damned. I met some nice women from Vancouver, and a woman and her niece from Ecuador, so it was fun to enjoy their company on the day. And as they only had one evening left in Buenos Aires I was able to recommend a great cafe for them near their hotel.

The time is flying by. After my tango lesson today I was booking a session for next week, and realized we would be into March by that time. A few weeks ago I befriended a woman from Switzerland, and she was going home today. She sent me an email saying she felt as if she was being pulled out of the ground like a carrot, so badly did she want to stay in Buenos Aires.

Time, time, please slow down!

February 18, 2016 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

The Best Laid Plans…

To quote the Scottish National Bard, Robert Burns, “The best laid plans o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.” Well, mine went agley this morning.

I had booked with Viator for a one-day trip to an estancia 100 kilometres from Buenos Aires. I was really looking forward to seeing the gauchos at work and eating yet another traditional Argentina asado. They had told me they didn’t pick up at private residences, so I was to meet the group in the lobby of a hotel five minutes from here at 9.40 am. I had breakfast first, and arrived there around 9.20 am, in lots of time. Nobody showed up at 9.40 am, but that didn’t surprise me because this is Argentina and nobody expects to be on time. But there were four Australian guys who told me they were also waiting for the Santa Susanna tour.

Just before 10 am a guide came in and ushered the four Australians and me out to a mini bus. But five minutes later it turned out this was not my tour. They were going to the same place, but I was on a different tour. They took me back to the hotel, and the guide called her agency to let the Viator people know I was with them and on my way back.

Well, I don’t know where communication broke down, but when I got there five minutes later — my tour had left! I came back home and emailed Viator, giving them the play-by-play. I have asked to take the tour next Tuesday on the same booking, so I’m waiting to see what they say. It was quite expensive and they have a good reputation, so I’m hoping it will get sorted. Stay tuned.

Jardin Japones

Because I had planned a day off work, I didn’t feel like changing my mind and buckling down, so I decided to go to the Japanese Garden. I had been there before and was looking forward to doing some sketching. I got on the right bus, and I asked the driver to let me know when we arrived, which he assured me he would do — and then promptly forgot! Fortunately I had a vague idea where it was, so at one point I walked down to the front of the bus, and as soon as the driver saw me he said, “Oh, you missed the stop. You’ll have to walk back to the last stop.” Very cavalier about the whole thing he was. Apparently another plan was ganging agley.

Anyway, I walked back — and back, and back. Because of this, I came at the garden the long way and it was a very hot day, so by the time I got there I was reduced to a greasy spot. Anyway, after that the day got better. I had a lovely three hours in the garden, did one not-too-terrible sketch and had a nice lunch in the air-conditioned restaurant.

This shot shows today’s date, so I guess they change it every day. Cool!

This is Mine

In the gift shop, for 10 pesos I bought some luck from the Oracle of Good Fortune. It was an elaborate business, but I ended up with this scroll — apparently it’s all good! I went outside and tied it onto the wires, which apparently invests it with all the good luck from the other scrolls already there. Let’s hope my good luck begins with a trip to the estancia next Tuesday!

This is a sketch I did yesterday of an old building near me. I got the outline and a bit of the detail done, but it was so hot I had to leave and go back again later in the day when it was cooler to finish it. Never had to do that before!

February 16, 2016 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

Roundup of the Past Few Days

I haven’t posted since I came back from Gualeguaychu, so this will be a bit of a roundup of what I’ve been doing over the past few days, complete with photos.

First, I had a couple of days feeling under the weather last Friday and part of Saturday. When I came home from breakfast I had intended to get a lot of work done, but my energy level was below zero and I couldn’t drag myself to my desk. All I wanted to do was sleep, my joints were aching and I felt yucky. Dire thoughts of zika or dengue were going through my head!

In the end though, it sorted itself out by midday Saturday, and I figured there were two reasons. First, although it has been hot since I arrived here, last week it was more than hot — it was oppressive. When you stepped out the door you felt the atmospheric pressure pushing down, and I think that was the first problem. But the other part was probably my own fault, as I realized I hadn’t been drinking enough water. (Plenty of wine, but I don’t think that counts.) So I started drinking much more water, the atmospheric pressure has lightened up considerably and I am back to normal.

Cucumber Sandwiches for Tea!

I think I mentioned before that there is a very posh hotel across the street from me. It’s called the Alvear Palace — quite old and considered among the very best hotels in Buenos Aires. And for some reason, they are well known for their afternoon teas! I had been promising myself that treat for a while, so decided to do it on Sunday. People had told me to go there hungry, so I didn’t have any lunch and planned to make this my dinner as well. It was certainly something to remember. Here are some photos.

Very olde worlde, full of charm. The room is called the Orangerie, and the glass ceiling gives it a lovely outdoors feeling.

Waiters and waitresses in old style uniforms (as they are in many of the restaurants here). A pity there wasn’t a waitress in this shot, as they wore white gloves. Haven’t seen any of those in a while.

Lovely small sandwiches, and so many of them it wasn’t hard to fill up. I don’t know where they get their bread, because that’s something I’ve often found disappointing here, but there was a variety here and it was all good.

They did have lovely little scones with homemade jam, but — alas — no cream! For one brought up on authentic Devonshire cream teas, this was a big gap. But then again, when in Rome…

I had been told they excel with their desserts, and I thought this selection of small pieces was it. Wrong. See next picture!

I chose this feathery light choux pastry concoction because it was the smallest thing on the trolley and I was getting pretty full by that time. It was delicious though and I managed to eat it all — what a surprise!

There was no choice in tea, by the way. The one they served was some kind of blend of citrus and other types of black tea, and it was delicious. She kept coming to fill up my cup, and I’m usually a one-cup tea drinker. But again, it was so good I drank three cups!

This is a close-up of the silverware. They even had an elegant little silver container for the sugar substitute — how classy is that?

It was lovely, but the only thing missing for me was company. For the most part I don’t mind dining alone, but somehow here I needed someone to chat with. Frankly, despite the ambience and lovely food, I was a bit bored. But I’m going back next month with Cecilia, so that will fix that problem.

Dinner with New Friends

There was no problem last night with a lack of dinner companions. A year or so ago at an InterNations event in Toronto, I met Diana. She was born in Argentina, although has lived many places, the most recent of which is Toronto. She introduced me electronically to her cousin, Pablo, and he and his wife, Cynthia, invited me to dinner last night.

Coincidentally, they chose a great Italian restaurant that is less than a five-minute walk from my place, so it was perfect. They are an interesting couple who run their own business online, so we had lots to talk about. We also shared stories and laughs about our lives, and all in all it was a lovely night. I am going to return their hospitality next month before I go back, and I will look forward to their company again.

And don’t they both contribute to this idea that all Porteños are good looking??

Couple of Sketches to Round Things Up

I haven’t sketched as much as I thought, because it has often just been too hot. (I know I’ve mentioned that to some people before, much to everyone’s annoyance!) But I’m determined to get some more done, so here are two I did in the last couple of days.

Avenida 9 de Julio is apparently the widest street in South America, and I wouldn’t doubt it. But it has a lovely treelined boulevard down the middle, and I found this beautiful little fountain at one of the intersections. The bonus was that I could sit in the shade of a big tree as I sketched.

The lovely pink trees in the background are in full bloom right now. They are called ceibo and the blossom is the national flower of Argentina. Here’s a closeup I found online, although most of the ones I’ve seen are a lighter, more delicate shade than this.

I paid another visit to the famous Recoleta Cemetery, which is always fascinating. Here’s my sketch of one of the broad avenues that give the place the air of a little town — except everybody is dead!

Not many cities have a cemetery as a tourist attraction, but this one does. The rich and famous of Buenos Aires have been buried here for generations, including Eva Peron (Evita). Her family tomb is actually one of the less interesting looking ones, but of course it’s one of the most most visited and usually has a few floral tributes. By the way, contrary to most people’s perception and largely due to the movie, Evita is not universally adored here. Many still worship her memory, but many others don’t. The Peronista movement is, however, still alive and relatively well in Argentina.

I think that’s it for now. Please leave your comments so I know you are still interested in my adventures!

Now I’m off to meet with some expats and then have my tango lesson — always a highlight of my week!

February 11, 2016 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

Back from Carnival — phew!

We came home from Gualeguaychu on Tuesday and I’m only now starting the post, because it has taken me that amount of time to distill it all in my mind and upload a gazillion photos. We were gone for four days, and each day was an adventure! I hope this longer-than-usual post will let me share the fun with you.

Day 1: Arrival

Gualeguaychu is a three-hour drive north of Buenos Aires, and we arrived early in the afternoon. Our cabana was at a lovely little compound called La Serena, and given how hot it was we were thrilled to see a great swimming pool — to which we all headed as quickly as we could peel off our clothes!

La Serena lived up to its name — very peaceful and green.

We spent most of the afternoon there and then set out to see the town. We were all surprised at how big and modern the place is. There were lots of nice fashion stores and eating places, and we could see there was a big carnival atmosphere there. Also lots of carnival paraphernalia being sold — small sample in the picture.

I don’t have a photo of this, but there were literally hundreds — maybe thousands — of young people down by the river and in it, dancing, singing, drinking and having a great time. We looked forward to joining in the fun next night.

Day 2: Carnival! (Maybe)

The second day dawned bright and sunny, and we enjoyed our time in the pool in the morning, and Macarena and Daniela made us a real Argentine asado — yummy!

Here is Macarena taking pictures of some friendly geese who wandered over to say hello.

Early in the evening we got all dressed up and looking pretty, ready to enjoy the main event. We went downtown to have some empanadas in the open air near the consodromo (where the parade takes place), and just as we were sitting down — the heavens opened! Sheet lightning, rain like I’ve never seen before. Everybody pelted over to the consodromo, thinking that was the best place to wait it out. We stood with a crowd of other revellers under the stadium, while the water ran like rivers all around us. I had visions of the roof collapsing with us under it. Truly, I have no words to describe how heavy and unrelenting this rain was. I’ve never seen anything like it, and hope not to ever again.

After about an hour with absolutely no let-up, we decided it was a bust and we might as well go home. Macarena and Daniela were not going to the show, and they had the keys to the car, so we decided to head for the parking lot. The telephones were out of commission and we couldn’t reach them, so we were just trusting that’s where they would be. We had to wade through ankle-deep rivers of water — punctuated by pockets of mud — till we finally got there. Thank goodness, there were the girls waiting for us in the car, and we quickly headed back to the cabana.

I have to say here that although we were disappointed, it wasn’t a complete downer. We had a nice glass of campari and had a good laugh about it all. I had bought this daft carnival mask and was determined to wear it at all costs, even if it was with a drookit rain poncho!

Day 3: Go Home Early? (Maybe not)

Next day we woke up to more rain, although nothing like the night before. It was kind of dispiriting and we toyed with the idea of going home early. Fortunately, the girls persuaded us not to do that because it was such a lovely place. So we sat around the cabana and just enjoyed each other’s company for most of the day. Here are the girls, busy making the lovely braided jewellery they sell.

Much to our surprise, the weather cleared up as the day went on, and in the afternoon we decided to go down to the consodromo and see if we could exchange our tickets for the show that night. Guess what — we did! So we had a bite to eat downtown and then headed to the consodromo again — not dressed up and looking pretty this time, but in much better spirits as we filed into the place with the crowd.

And what a time we had! We had been told that after Rio, Gualeguaychu has the biggest carnival in South America, and people come from all over to see it. Having seen it, I can understand why. The show started around 10 pm, and we left just before 2 am. And it never stopped!

I’m inserting just a few representative photos here, but my plan is to put together a video using iMovie and post the link here. That could take a while though, so here’s a preview.

Honestly, I went snap happy and my phone ran out of battery before the final group came on. It was dazzling. On the way in, the ticket lady told us we would see “some lovely boys” tonight but we were not to touch them! (I’m not sure why she picked us to say that to.) Anyway, I can promise you we didn’t touch them — they were just a tad too far away!

One question I ask myself is, where did they find all those beautiful people? There was even a group representing motherhood, with babies and storks and such — led by a girl who was conspicuously pregnant, still in her skimpy costume and looking fantastic! People will always tell you that Argentines are good looking, and this show certainly doesn’t contradict that. This was my first experience of a carnival and it didn’t disappoint. We were all so glad the weather did clear up so that we didn’t miss this spectacle.

Day 4: The Trip Home (with a detour)

Despite our late night (got home at 3 am), we were all up and ready to leave after breakfast. We set out along the dirt roads, which of course were extremely muddy because of the heavy rain two nights before. You guessed it — fifteen minutes out of Gualeguaychu we got well and truly stuck. We had laughed at Cecilia for bringing her wellies, but she had the last laugh here as she was the only one without mucky feet.

The girls worked incredibly hard, pushing rocks under the wheels and pushing like mad, but no success. The sun was beating down mercilessly and the parakeets were laughing in the trees.

A man on a motorbike stopped to help, but it still wouldn’t budge. So Cecilia, Donna and I decided to walk along the road and see if we could get some help. And while we were away, along came a boy, a man — and a horse! I’m just sorry we weren’t there to take a photo of the horse dragging the car out of the mud. A few minutes later we were all back in the car, laughing about yet another aventura as Cecilia calls them.

But the problem was, we were filthy — and stinky — and it looked like an unpleasant three hours in front of us. But somebody remembered that a man at the cabana had told us about a terma (hot springs spa) in the area, so we turned around and headed for that. What a great idea! We got washed off, swam in the pool, sat in the hot thermal pool, had a great lunch and headed out with a new energy.

The drive home was smooth and we arrived at my apartment around 6 pm, tired but definitely happy.

What an incredible trip!

February 5, 2016 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

A Few Updates

This amazing tree is a five-minute walk from me. I don’t know if I can convey its immense size in these photos but I thought I’d try. It is a gomero, or rubber tree, and it is 200 years old — I think the oldest tree in Buenos Aires. When I took the photos they were trimming some of the branches, so the ladder up against the trunk might give you some sense of proportion. I’ve seen photographers trying to photograph just the trunk, but it’s difficult because the branches put it into such heavy shade. Fantastic.

Yesterday, Donna and I went on a mission to buy tango shoes. We were in a very old section of the city that is full of tango history. There is a museum dedicated to Carlos Gardel, the acknowledged father of tango in Argentina.

We found the shop, but both of us wanted shoes with a slightly lower heel. They had some, but those were boring compared to the brightly coloured, sexy ones with the four inch heels. I would last maybe five minutes in those, so I don’t think tango shoes are in my future.

Instead, I had my picture taken with this famous tango singer — unfortunately I’ve forgotten her name. But note the interesting grafitti in the background — that’s not something you see every day!

Finally, just to let you know I’m still sketching, here’s another example of me pushing my limited perspective abilities!

No more posts for a few days, as we’re off to the carnival tomorrow! It’s in a place called Gualeguaychu, and although I had never heard of it, this is apparently the second biggest carnival in South America — after Rio of course. We get back next Tuesday, so I’ll report in again then. Ciao for now!

February 3, 2016 by hwilkie@mhwcom.com

You Won’t Believe This!

You wouldn’t believe what happened to me today, so I have to tell you the story because it’s absolutely true.

I need to back up a couple of days when, before breakfast, I went to the ATM to get cash and left my debit card in the machine. OK, that part was my fault and I will definitely be more mindful in future. Anyway, I went back to the bank after breakfast, and lo and behold they had the card! It was under lock and key and I got it back with no trouble — I was so relieved I flung my arms round the woman’s neck to thank her!

The withdrawal limits are low here, so I have to go to the ATM every couple of days, and I did that before breakfast this morning. My card didn’t work.

I immediately assumed my PIN had been locked, so I came home and called my account manager at my bank in Toronto. She wasn’t there, so I left a detailed message telling her what happened. I asked if she could either reinstate the card, which I now had in my hand, or alternatively transfer money from my personal to my business account so that I could access it using my business debit card, because I don’t want to use my business money for my trip.

In the meantime, I went back to the bank machine with my business debit card. It didn’t work either! Now I was really concerned, and the knot in my stomach was growing by the minute. I tried my credit card — it didn’t work either! So then I was having dire thoughts about identity theft. I went into several banks in the area round my home, with no luck on any front. Panic was really setting in now, because all the cash I had was 180 pesos, which is less than $20, and no way to get more.

My rep emailed me back and told me to call telephone banking, which I did. I was on Skype to them for over half an hour, and the guy was super helpful and empathetic towards my situation. And he said there was absolutely no reason why my card shouldn’t work. My PIN had not been locked, I had plenty of funds in the account and I wasn’t asking for nearly my daily withdrawal limit. But he did link my accounts so that I could do the transfer myself online, which I did.

So… a few minutes ago I went back to my usual bank, put in the original personal card — the one that I had left behind — and it worked! So for good measure I withdrew money using my business debit card and my credit card — and they all worked!

I think the problem was nothing to do with me, and everything to do with the banking system here. This bit is just my speculation, but there was some sort of anti-government demonstration in the area this morning and I think the banks just shut up shop till it was over!

Anyway, all is well again in my world. But it’s been a rough day, and I had no appetite for lunch. So I’m now going out to my favourite parilla (steak house) to have a nice steak with a lovely glass of Malbec — I think I deserve it, don’t you?