Ready to Leave

Yesterday the plan was to go to the Feria de Mataderos in the morning and San Telmo in the afternoon. But as I was looking at the website for Mataderos, it was not clear if there was going to be a fair yesterday. Afraid to take the chance, because Mataderos is pretty far away, and not the best neighborhood to be wandering around aimlessly, I decided instead to take us to Belgrano.

Belgrano is a nice neighborhood to the west of Palermo. It is comfortably middle class (or above) and has a busy shopping area, parks, and Chinatown. They also have the feria de Belgrano every weekend and holidays. I had never been, but I thought it would be worth a visit.

As we got off the subte at Juramento station and walked down Juramento, we saw that they were just setting things up, so I suggested we go to Chinatown first.

Chinatown here is not big, but it is fun to visit. There are a few shops selling made in China products. I got a little statue of the Virgen of Lujan, Argentina's virgin, that lights up in different colors, and some pads to put in my shoes that look like they will massage my feet. Diane bought some slippers.

We walked the two blocks of Chinatown and decided on a restaurant called Chinatown Cantina. It was on a corner and looked like it had been an old classic Argentine bar.

The restaurant was busy and the food was good. It was interesting watching Argentines, who seem very particular about their food, interact with the one waiter who was running around like a chicken without a head. At one table they were not happy with their food. The cook (who looked like the waiter's father) came out and told them that was the way they prepare it, but it would take it back and make it the way they wanted it. At another table, a woman seemed unhappy about something, but I couldn't tell what. Diane and I were very happy with our food, especially after Diane asked for "picante" and we got a small dish of chili sauce. In a country where they consider black pepper too spicy, it was great to have a dish of something that was so hot I was sweating!

We walked up Mendoza, another street in Belgrano and back to Cuba where the fair was. They were still not set up completely, but there were a few vendors. It seemed pretty kitschy. There were some baby clothes, jewelry, mates, wooden stuff, but not a whole lot, and what was there was not that impressive. It turned out we were early, the fair is more of a late afternoon/evening thing, and it will be on now every day until January 6. I don't know if Diane will bring the girls back.

We took the subte back to Puerrydon, I took a bubble bath, and Diane and I met back at the corner of Puerrydon and Santa Fe, which is almost halfway between our apartments. Our locations couldn't be better. We went to Catedral, the end of the line in the other direction, and walked to San Telmo.

By now it had really gotten hot and humid. Defensa was still quite crowded. I bought a beautiful wooden salad bowl. I had seen these bowls before and that was the one thing I knew I wanted from San Telmo. The one I got it huge, but it is really a work of art.

We walked all the way to Plaza Dorrego, turned and stopped to listen to a tango orchestra that had set up outide of the church of San Telmo, the saint who gives the neighborhood its name. This tango orchestra is one of the alternative tango orchestras that set up in San Telmo. I love watching them. This one had four bandoneon players (the little accordians typical of tango), several violins, a piano, and a cello or viola (a big stringed thing that rested on the ground). They also had a singer. Diane bought a CD and they seem very irreverent. One song is called "maldito monogamia" - damned monogamy" and they have a "maldita milonga" - damned milonga - with lessons and a performance. They look kind of like the crowd that hangs out on Valencia street in the Mission in SF, long scruffy hair, unshaven, a little on the dirty side, but armed with the typical instruments of a tango orchestra.

By now I was very hot and thirsty. A woman was selling fresh squeezed orange juice and had the last remnants of ice in a little bucket on her cart. We approached her and she was tying a string around her cart to keep it from falling apart. I was waiting for her to finish before telling her what we wanted, when out of nowhere, a young latina walked up and ordered an orange juice. The women selling the juice, who knew we were there first, went ahead and prepared her juice. I told her we wanted two, but when I saw her use up the last bits of ice, I told Diane, "let's go", and we walked away. I was pissed that she didn't serve us in the order we arrived, and really didn't want hot orange juice.

So instead we walked down Balcarce, which was much quieter and easier to walk than crowded Defensa. We came across a little bar on the corner and I suggested we go in for something to drink. Usually I'm not one to just pop into any place I come across, but this place looked comfortable and we were just going to get a drink.

They had licuados (smoothies) on the menu, so I asked the server what kind they had. He rattled off a bunch of fruits - strawberries, pineapple, orange, and then said they had lemonade with mint. It sounded so refreshing, that is what we decided on. But we had to wait for someone to come back and take our order. Even though it wasn't that busy, the service was kind of slow and inattentive.

Another server, this time a woman, came back. She told us the lemonade came in a pitcher, which was fine. I also ordered a vanilla budin (loaf cake) and mus de maracuya (passionfruit mousse). Passionfruit seems to be quite popular here, which is odd, because I don't think it is native to Argentina. Maracuya ice cream is one of my favorites.

Everything was fantastic! The mousse was light and creamy, the lemonade with mint was blended with ice and was so refreshing and the vanilla loaf cake was moist and flavorful. We gobbled it all down and the experience would have been extremely pleasant were it not for a young french woman who was sitting with a group of people, who seemed to be of varying nationalities. This woman was speaking English very loudly and arguing (it seemed) over the uselessness of reading. She was challenging the guy across from her to tell her what writer she must read that would change her life. She got quiet for a few moments when her food arrived, but soon, her voice was filling the bar and competeting with the music for attention.

We walked back towards the subte and as we crossed Avenida de Mayo, we saw that they were setting up for some kind of concert. To kill time, I suggested we go to Cafe Tortoni, which is a must-see for any tourist visiting Argentina. It is a like a living museum.

We had to wait in line to get in, but we decided they make people wait just to increase the apparent value of the visit. Once you go in, after waiting in line, you see that there are plenty of empty tables.

It is a fun scene, mostly because it is a classic old Argentine bar/cafe, and everyone is snapping photos while eating and drinking. There was one very old woman sitting with a guy who looked like he was her son. The son sat reading a newspaper and then he picked up a Borges book, while the mother sat there looking around and for about 5 minutes picked her nose. It looked like he had taken her out for the day, but they did not interact at all. Here is a picture of them (over in the right hand corner).



From there, we walked back out to Avenida de Mayo and it looked like the concert was still not ready to start. I was hot and tired, so I suggested we just go home. Of course all of my suggestions are ok with Diane. I took her on the A line of the subte, which runs up Avenida de Mayo and has old wooden cars. It is the oldest subway line in South America. You have to open the doors manually, which is really fun.

We got off at the Congresso and since we were near, I wanted to show Diane the water building on Cordoba, which is a masterpiece in extravagence. The building is covered in Royal Doulton china which was shipped from England and numbered to be pieced together. Since it was half-way between where we were and where we wanted to go, it wasn't worth taking a taxi there or from there to our apartments. I ended up walking too much again, and my feet and legs were really sore and tired by the time I got home.

I took another shower and changed for the third time and went to Diane's to see what we were going to do for dinner. Our first plan, to order delivery from the Sirian-Lebanese club fell through since they were closed on Sunday. We found a listing for a Spanish restaurant two blocks from Diane's apartment and walked to find it, but either it was no longer there or was closed, so we went to Romario, a pizza restaurant chain and got a small pizza that looked like a large. It was good, but I was really stuffed and tired. I'm feeling fat, old and achy, and look forward to returning to SF where I can eat healthy food again, drive, and work out at my comfortable gym. Hopefully, between not walking so much, some acupuncture and massage, and a better diet, I can get my body back into decent working condition. It feels like it has been abused these past five months. I think I really messed my feet up by walking so much in shoes with bad support on sidewalks that tilt in every which direction. Hopefully the damage can be undone.

This morning I have the entire morning to relax, and then I have an appointment at Aqua Vita Spa for a massage and a facial. Bozena arrives at 11:15 today and should be at Diane's by 1. Then Diane's sister arrives at 2:15. Once they get in and settled, they are going to come here and we'll have a little drink here before going to Milion, for a drink and an introduction to the world that Buenos Aires has to offer.

I took one last load of laundry to the lavanderia across the street and will begin packing today. After 5 long months, the end has finally come and I'm ready to go home.