We arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday and it is just an amazingly beautiful city. It takes your breath away really. The buildings echo Paris and when one is driving by the cafes, one expects people are eating Croque Msr's or Salad Nicoise. There are great open greenspaces and squares and astounding monuments. If the computer guy were here I'd have him unlock the tower so I could post a picture. We took a four hour tour with a guide through the neighbourhoods and the Recoleta area where we've rented the apartment is just fabulous and very old and wonderfully clean. We spent a little time in La Boca where our friend Margaret did a power shop and purchased four handbags of exquisite quality in about 10 mins. People were dong the Tango on the street everywhere and in the cafes. So much fun and such a vibrant city. I didn't buy yesterday since I'm coming back here in two weeks to stay. The leathergoods in Argentina are finer and cheaper than they are in Uruguay or Chile. Jewellery is also beautiful and not expensive. The national stone of Argentina is "Rhodochrosite" which can vary from pale pink to a deep brown/red colour. Lovely. There is Rhodochrosite in my future ....BA is a dangerous place for me altogether. Emily - when you get here - bring $$$. Oh - and three of us went to a restaurant for lunch and had wonderful food for under $25. We are told it's hard to spend more than $50 on dinner, so that's the good news. What we save on food we can spend on jewellery and handbags. There is a bright side.
We're in Montevideo again today on the first leg of the return trip south, and we walked around the old part of the city this morning and bought a few things from the vendors in the shopping area. There are cobblestones often, and the walking is a little tricky for me but I'm managing pretty well. We had a very odd little lunch in town. Thought we were ordering grilled ham and mozzarella sandwiches and ended up with ham and pea sandwiches. That kind of thing happens quite often as we have no Spanish and they have little English. There is a lot of nodding which we think is understanding/agreement and sometimes the outcome of the exchange isn't as expected. ie. we were certain the guide knew yesterday that we wanted to drive down the street where our apartment is located in Buenos Aires and we did not. = nodding without comprehension ....... people are great though - trying hard and very friendly everywhere.
Am so looking forward to seeing the Faulklands and really hope we can get in this time. I've re-booked my trip to the sheep farm instead of looking at penguins there. Had to choose. Will see penguins again in Chile on the way back down and around.
Hope everyone is well. Have been picking up little things here and there but nothing major so far.
Michael - you'd love BA. You have to come here at some point. It's got a buzz like NY or Paris and after some extensive Tango lessons, you could work in San Telmo in a cafe if you got really good.
lol
love m
xx oo
We're in Montevideo again today on the first leg of the return trip south, and we walked around the old part of the city this morning and bought a few things from the vendors in the shopping area. There are cobblestones often, and the walking is a little tricky for me but I'm managing pretty well. We had a very odd little lunch in town. Thought we were ordering grilled ham and mozzarella sandwiches and ended up with ham and pea sandwiches. That kind of thing happens quite often as we have no Spanish and they have little English. There is a lot of nodding which we think is understanding/agreement and sometimes the outcome of the exchange isn't as expected. ie. we were certain the guide knew yesterday that we wanted to drive down the street where our apartment is located in Buenos Aires and we did not. = nodding without comprehension ....... people are great though - trying hard and very friendly everywhere.
Am so looking forward to seeing the Faulklands and really hope we can get in this time. I've re-booked my trip to the sheep farm instead of looking at penguins there. Had to choose. Will see penguins again in Chile on the way back down and around.
Hope everyone is well. Have been picking up little things here and there but nothing major so far.
Michael - you'd love BA. You have to come here at some point. It's got a buzz like NY or Paris and after some extensive Tango lessons, you could work in San Telmo in a cafe if you got really good.
lol
love m
xx oo
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