Chivilcoy

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Cecilia’s Fiesta!

As I mentioned last week, Cecilia had her 70th birthday on January 19. She had an asado at her home on the actual day with a few friends, but the big celebration with family was the whole of last weekend. Given the pandemia situation, there were only 15 people there (and several dogs), but it was a fun event anyway.

We left on Friday morning for Chivilcoy, where Cecilia’s daughter Macarena and her partner Daniela live. It was definitely the place to be, because the temperature was 37 degrees on Saturday and 38 degrees on Sunday—and they have a pool. You’ll see we spent quite a lot of time in it!

I hope you enjoy this short video I put together from some of my own photos, some photos and videos Venetia took, and one video of Cecilia’s entrance that somebody sent me and I’m sorry but I don’t know who took it. Thank you anyway. It was certainly a fiesta to remember!

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Cecilia’s Birthday Weekend in Chivilcoy

I’ve been very lazy this week about posting videos. This is Saturday and I’m just posting the video from last weekend in Chivilcoy.

Cecilia’s birthday was on Sunday, so all the family plus Venetia, Gillian and I descended on Macarena and Daniela’s home in Chivilcoy, a pleasant market town a couple of hours from Buenos Aires. It felt as if there were about 700 people and 50 dogs in the house, but in fact there were 11 adults and 4 dogs. In any case, it was enough to produce a lot of noise and a great deal of fun over the whole weekend.

Here’s a short montage of photos I took over the two days.

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Catch-up Time

I knew I hadn’t been keeping up with my posts, but I was surprised to see it had been a couple of weeks since I’ve been here. Combination of work, lots of social dashing about and yet another summer cold!

I’ve continued to visit the bares notables with various friends. Here are a couple of shots from one of the most interesting, Los 36 Billares. There aren’t 36 billiard tables, but I think I counted about twenty, some in the main cafe area and a bunch downstairs.

 

These next three photos are of the oldest, and certainly among the best kept of the Notables, Cafe Tortoni. Definitely a tourist trap, often with a lineup to get in, but well worth it. I always enjoy soaking in the ambience in Tortoni with its pictures and its lovely art deco ceilings.

Cecilia and I, and her Peruvian friend’s daughter Nicole, went away for an overnighter on Good Friday to Chivilcoy, a provincial town a couple of hours away from Buenos Aires, to visit Cecilia’s daughter Macarena. Summer made a spectacular return — sunny and very hot the whole time we were there. This was a bonus, and allowed us to have a real mini-vacation. We sat in the plaza on Friday evening and drank mate, and then joined the Good Friday procession into the cathedral. Then we went home and retired to the backyard with malbec, where we played cards until two o’clock in the morning!

Now it seems it actually is fall, and we are getting a bit of rain. But it’s only a month till I go back to Canada, so I’m determined to make the most of every day and evening — rain or no rain!

I’ll try to keep up the blog better for the remaining weeks of A5. That’s “Argentina 5” if you haven’t read my book yet — and if you haven’t yet, you can get it at http://amzn.to/2oddkmF !