Events

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Another Great Concert at the CCK

On Sunday night, Venetia and I went once again to the Centro Cultural Kirchner (popularly known as the CCK) this time to see a concert by the Damian Boletin Quintet. We had no idea what to expect, but what we got was fabulous.

The program was an eclectic mix of non-traditional tango, modern jazz and material written by Damian himself that isn’t readily categorized. But it was one of the best I’ve seen there. I really can’t believe these excellent concerts are totally free.

Here are some photos and, if you are curious about the music, a short video shot by Venetia — who is thrilled with the quality produced by her new iPhone!

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Great Women, Great Conversation!

Last night I went to a meeting of a book club run by my friend Lola — she is American and her real name is Dee, but Lola is her tango name so that’s what I call her!

Anyway, there were some really interesting women there and the conversation was fast flowing and varied. People read poetry, including one by the iconic Argentine writer Jose Luis Borges, which was challenging even in English!

Here’s a photo of us all except Venetia, who took the photo, and the next photo has her smiling face in it too. On the left is Jeanette, who is from Australia. When she divorced and her children left home, she took out a bank loan, sold her house and embarked on half a year of travel around the world! And now, six months later, she’s at it again and that’s how she found herself in Buenos Aires. Now that’s badassery!

I expect to attend a lot of events with this lovely group in 2019.

 

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The Big Game!

I don’t know how widespread news of this went, especially if you are not into football (soccer), but a couple of weeks ago there was supposed to be the final of the Copa de Libertadores, between eternal Buenos Aires rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate. But the rowdies among the fans made so much trouble they had to postpone the game. After much deliberation it was decided that it was just too hot a ticket to be played locally, so the championship would be played in Madrid! Today was the big day.

I was at Cecilia’s house for lunch when she got a phone call from her nephew, who had flown to Spain for the game! He told her to switch on the TV, and we found him hovering in the background behind a television crew waving to us on camera! (That’s him on the phone.)

A little while later he sent this video, taken before the game started. You can get a feel for the atmosphere, and the red colours around show that he is firmly in the River camp. He must have been very happy, because they won the game 3-1 — worth the trip to Spain!

I can hear a lot of celebrating going on outside. I hope they run out of breath before bedtime as that singing isn’t the kind that helps you sleep!

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At the British Embassy

Yesterday I went to the annual Christmas Fair at the British Embassy. Last year I was disappointed because it was billed as the annual garden party, so I was expecting something quite different! Anyway, as a Christmas Fair it was quite nice.

We had a lovely day for it, with the temperature more the way it should be, as it has been a little below seasonal. Bought some plum pudding for Christmas dinner and did a little Christmas shopping (including for me!)

But I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to Christmas in summer!

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Osvaldo’s New Studio

Before going to the BAIN event last night, Venetia and I stopped off at the studio opening of our friend Osvaldo Puente, a talented and innovative artist. His studio is in a beautiful old building with original wrought iron features and elevator — unfortunately my photo missed this, but it also has a high, high, high skylight ceiling.

Osvaldo uses actual earth in his paintings, combined with old photographs, pieces of lace and more to create evocative pieces that make you think as we as enjoy visually. You can read more about his art at his website at http://www.osvaldoeduardopuente.com/

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Holiday Dinner Party

Last night was the holiday party of Buenos Aires International Newcomers, commonly known as BAIN. It’s my favourite of the expat groups I belong to, mainly because there are quite a lot of Argentine members too.

The event was held at a restaurant I hadn’t been to before, Cabernet in the barrio of Palermo. It was fun meeting up again with folks I hadn’t seen since I left in May, many of whom were welcoming me “home” and that felt good. Here are some photos of the evening.

Two late nights this week — and work to do next day! That’s Buenos Aires!

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Ricardo’s Birthday Party

Ricardo Hadis is one of the people I met socially last year in Buenos Aires, so when he came to Toronto on a business trip a few months ago, he invited me to spend a day with him. We had a great tour around the St. Lawrence Market area and then had lunch at the Distillery District and dinner in a great French restaurant — can’t remember the name.

When he celebrated his 75th birthday here in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, he invited me to his party. And what a party it was! It took place in a lovely Italian restaurant called Giuseppe, down by the river. The theme was heavily Italian influenced, but there was one fun Mexican song, and lots of Argentine ones which I didn’t know but clearly the locals did!

I forgot to take a a photo along the waterside outside, but you can kind of see it through the window behind the performers in the video. Note the birthday candle Argentina style! I hope you enjoy the video.

By the way, YouTube seems to have disabled the ability to stop related videos coming up at the end. If anyone knows how you can still do this, would you please let me know in the comments? Gracias.

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I’ve arrived!

Well, I’m here. I just spent my first day in beautiful Buenos Aires, and it is as magical as ever!

The trip down was pretty good. The Air Canada direct flight was good, but just v-e-e-r-y long! My Canadian friends Joanna and Gary met me at the airport, which was great. I had not one but two long naps yesterday, and then after a casual dinner with other friends, I was in bed by 10.30 am and slept till 9 am this morning! So I should be caught up.

But of course there’s no rest for the wicked, so I was out and about today with my friend Venetia. We had coffee at La Biela, one of my favourite spots, and I was surprised to be warmly welcomed back by one of the waiters!

There was an international festival on today, so we went there for the afternoon. It was a beautiful, hot, sunny day and the jacaranda trees are in full bloom. We ate Syrian street food for lunch and watched some dancing from different countries.

After that we went to the racetrack. Watched the horses walk around the paddock and then saw a couple of races before coming home. I am sunburnt!

Here are some photos and a short video from the day.


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Sinfonia Toronto

Last night we had a treat, when an orchestra from Canada performed at the concert venue we usually go to. Originally I thought  it was the Toronto Symphony (unlikely, as the concerts are free!) and it turned out to actually be called Sinfonia Toronto. They are a chamber orchestra, so all strings. There was also a solo clarinetists, and they played a good variety of music. When they came back for an encore they played music by a well loved, but controversial, tango composer, Astor Piazzola.

They did an interesting thing I never saw before. They were standing throughout the concert, and in one piece they all strolled across the stage while playing their violins and stopped on the other side. Then they did the opposite in the next movement. Very attractive.

Our group of five went out to eat something afterwards — it was about 10.30 pm, which is just about right for dinner here. But the concert hall is in the business district, so most of the restaurants were closed. We eventually found a Spanish restaurant open, and got a table. Just as we sat down, someone noticed that a bunch of the musicians were at another table!

I went over and introduced myself and congratulated them on the concert. They have been touring various places in South America, but loved Buenos Aires (of course, what’s not to love?) When we were leaving they were still there, so I introduced them to my Argentine friends, and one English, and they were delighted to be recognized. Audiences here are knowledgeable and appreciative, and I was happy that they got such thunderous applause for their work.

Sorry about the quality of the photo, but it was the best my phone could do in the dim light.