Mar-2019 Relaxing in Buenos Aires 

I’m a bit late sending this out - we came back to UK on 9 March 

Our new flat in Buenos Aires is 3 blocks from the old one. It is brand new, and our flat is at the back 50m from the road, so we don’t get any street noise. It is on the top 13th floor, and one floor above is the gym, pool and barbecue area. Upstairs there are 2 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms with 
windows facing east over the River Plate. Downstairs is a large room with an excellent kitchen area, a loo, and large sliding glass doors facing west onto the balcony, which is 7m x 2m. I can move about OK, and park my buggy OK. And of course go in and out on my own at will. 

 

The sunsets can be amazing. Best is when there is a bit of cloud, and the sky view can go on changing spectacularly for over an hour. And the time is right just then for a negroni, g&t, Gancia & coke, Aperol spritz, vino rosado or sauvignon blanc, or whatever. Chin chin!

 

Ten years ago, the Riachuelo basin in Boca, about 300m x 300m, was murky, rubbish floating about, a few old boats and wrecks here and there. And now it is spotlessly clean and empty. I suppose that is progress, but somehow I preferred it how it was. Of course 50-100 years ago it 
would have been chock-a-block with all sorts of boats, loading and unloading, a mess, but interesting.

That’s why, having travelled the world extensively, I don’t particularly want to revisit places I may remember from 40 or 60 years ago. To do so will spoil my memories. Everything will be cleaned, and look more like everywhere else. And I would miss the cars! Willis Overland, Pontiac, Henry-J, Rover, I knew them all from whatever angle, and could even reliably tell which model year they were.

In San Telmo, people say “Buen día” or “Buenas tardes” when they know someone by sight, even when just passing them on the street. My problem is that many more people know me by sight than I do them (obvio). And since I don’t talk so good, after they’ve buen dia’d me in passing, my response gets rather lost. I think perhaps the best solution is to buen dia everyone, and if they don’t know me they can just smile indulgently.

We have Argentine identity cards (DIN) which have our address on them, so we needed them changed. The local office is quite close. We went for a lunchtime beer and papas fritas in the plaza, and booked on my mobile for an appointment in an hour’s time. We turned up, were attended immediately by a very nice young lady, were sent to pay £6 each, and then to another large room where we were seen by another very nice young lady, who took our details, mugshots and 10 fingerprints. 20 minutes total. 5 days later our new DNI cards were delivered to the door. So the Argies can make some services work efficiently and pleasantly.

Our local supermarket, or “chino”, is good and is as surprisingly big inside as other chinos, and there is at least one on every block. Ours has around 20 meters of shelves stacked 6 high with wine, 99% of it argentine, 85% red, all names you’ve never heard of. On special offer at the moment, at £3 a bottle, is our current favourite, Amalaya Rosado, from the high altitude Colomé vineyard in Salta (which we have been to with Astra and Finn, after a 4hr journey over mountain dirt roads, and visited their amazing James Turrell museum).

Life in Argentina is very cheap for us now, whereas a year ago it was relatively expensive. A meal for two, with wine, costs £20 today, but was £40 a year ago, and £25 a year before that. The changes are very big, and fast. Well-off argentines seem to manage OK. But the poor?

 
Our street in BA is very mixed socially. A block away there is a sort of hostel. On the wall outside there is a row of hooks. People hang there clothes they no longer want, and people who want them take them. Neat, huh? And obvious. 

Amber plays tennis early on Mon, Wed and Fri mornings. Sometimes I go out and meet her after at the Bar Británico and we have a café con leche and a couple of media lunas (Argentine 
croissants) and read the local papers, Clarin, Crónica, Perfil etc. The English BA Herald unfortunately stopped a year ago. 

We are on the 13th floor, and the wind howls a bit during storms, which can be fierce. The other morning, though, at about 7am, suddenly the wind was really really fierce, 10 times louder than usual. Amber went downstairs and saw one of our big foam cushions 60cm x 60cm x 15cm 
disappearing over the balcony, and then she looked over the balcony and it was nowhere to be seen. She quickly put on some clothes and went downstairs and out, and still couldn’t see it around. Then she went to the cross street, 25m on the opposite side to our balcony, and there was our cushion in the middle of the road, 50m away, and quite unharmed and unsoiled! I reckon we must have been in the eye of a tornado. It only lasted a minute or two, and friends who live a few streets away noticed no extra strong winds.

Amber’s daughter Astra visited us for 2 weeks in Jan from Beijing, avoiding the freezing weather.  It was great for Amber to have a break from just me, and to be able to wander about doing different and girlie things. The problem was that 2 weeks is not really enough, and getting here 
from Beijing takes 30 hours! Very nice all the same.