Drawing and Dancing...

I found my dream place this week for figure drawing. Association Estimuto de Belles Artes, on the corner of Cordoba and Maipu, has lots of classes with models every day of the week, from 10 minute poses, to poses over a 4 week period of 2 1/2 hours each, and you can pay per class ( 20 pesos). I loved this woman's feet.
Central Cultural Borges had a great show this week of Belgium artists' fantasies about Patagonia...some very funny stuff.. Lots of jokes about the wind in Patagonia... you probably can't read the script by Adam's head, but it says "tirame del dedo," (pull my finger)...

I loved this one... it's a three D sculpture of a building...when you push the button below, the building slowly raises up and folds back to reveal...

a small 3D man facing a long road into Patagonia.

It's hard to believe, but this is me in a beauty parlor of all places....getting my hair done for the British Ambassador's Ball!

First the receiving line, then
champagne and tidbits brought to you as you mingled....

Then tidy up before going out to the gardens and the big tents for dinner and dancing....

It was a much more fun night than I expected.... two good bands that played everything from fox trouts to the Beetles, great conversations with folks from all over, and a very grand meal (no dry convention chicken breast served here)! The desert was a fruit compote topped with meringue bits, mint and a passion fruit sorbet.

A week of extremes...

We have had 85 degree (F) days, days of 45 mile an hour winds, torrential downpours...one must lug around all sorts of extra clothing, and expect to be surprised.

This first pic was taken in Plaza Dorego around midnight on a weeknight. I think this was a drug deal going down, with some other guys sorting through the garbage? shooting dice? It was still 75 degrees, jazz had just ended in Del Arbol and we were strolling home.

We have now lived in San Telmo long enough that we recognize and are recognized by some of the locals... I have watched this old guy several times now in the evenings..he is always dressed to kill, and very slowly hobbles out into the center of busy Defensa and waits for a cab ... i am tempted to follow him some night.

One evening we were walking downtown on Reconquista and spied these two contrasting buildings.... I wasn't using trick photography... the modern one really is curved...

On one of the torrential rain days, I managed to make it to painting workshop at Central Cultural Recoletta. The workshop is held in a great room in the top floor, and this is a view out the window. Central Cultural Recoletta was originally a catholic monastery, and this great cemetery (Evita is buried here among other famous folk) was originally the orchard of the monastery.

its a truly amazing place...
full of cobwebs and parts of skeltons, amazing sculpture...

and to top off a week of extremes, comfort food of lemon cake with candied lemon peel and savayon.

Cheers!

trips to the US Embassy and suburbia

I had gathered up documents, filled out forms, and had a new photo taken in preparation for my passport renewal appointment at the embassy....i waited in line in the pouring rain, finally got inside and up to the window to find there was now a NEW form... so i filled that out and got back to the window, only to be told that my photo was the wrong size... now they wanted a BIGGER photo. I was working up to a nice ugly American tizzy fit mood...then was told to go to the guard at the front entrance who would direct me to a photographer. Back out in the pouring rain, the guard pointed up the street and said i would see a black car with black windows, and to ask there for the photographer ("what is this??? is there a CIA guy looking for terrorists that will take time out and take my picture??"). Sure enough, I found the black car and knocked on the window. A smiling old Argentine man was eating a sandwich, listening to tango music. He hoped out of the car and got a bag out of the trunk and gestured for me to follow him into the park...He walked up to a big tree and hung a pull down screen from a handy nail in the tree, reached behind the tree and pulled out a stool, wiped it off with the towel he had in the bag, handed me an umbrella and told me to sit (all the while laughing and joking). Five minutes later, he handed me my photos, and I gave him the 20 pesos he requested plus a 2 peso tip. As I walked back to the Embassy, I contemplated my abrupt mood change, and vowed to remember the very patient old Porteno waiting in his black car when i felt frustration looming.... and then I heard a shout, and turned to see the old man running through the puddles after me, waving my 2 peso note, saying I had given him too much!

Dave wrangled two tickets to a fancy ball at the British Embassy! What to wear, what to wear? So we went down to the Retiro train station ...

and got two tickets for suburbia...past the fenced luxurious President's house in Olivos, to Acassuso...

... to the home of one of the few good second hand clothing stores I have found....its run by some great British ladies, and full of fancy clothes...

Instead of a food pic to end this week, you get a movie of a singing taxi driver ( who also tried to fondle my ankle, ...but that's another story).

It felt like the tropics this week...

This week, we have alternated from sundresses to raincoats. Big winds with lightning and thunder one night that was exhilarating to be out in... streets around us were blocked off Saturday for a marathon... 15,000 runners zoomed by...and the IMF(International Monetary Fund) announced it again has no plans to even consider letting Argentina back into the fold....

It stopped raining for the "Internations" party, so we were able to move tables onto the sidewalk....and along came a guy I had to admire for his entrepreneurial spirit..he had affixed his photos to magnetic sheets...true refrigerator art...

This week's food shot from the neighborhood french restaurant makes me salivate with memories...three chilled scoops of chocolate mousse (dark, milk and white)..and a truly grand mousse with lots of egg white and cream....

Technicolor Buenos Aires

No, I am not now using exotic South American drugs...just having fun with my new photo editing program....I bought it on line along with a new camera on Argentina's version of Ebay, and picked it up near the presidential palace....here's some of the buildings surrounding the palace plaza.

And here is a shot of just one of the rooms in our local gymnasium (SUTERH, Sindicato Unico de Trabajadores de Edificios de Renta y Horizontal).....its a beautiful old building, three stories high, build during Avita's day for the city workers.

There is a huge swimming pool, roller skating, aerobics, gymnastics, a restaurant, and even boxing for girls!

On the political front, here is a scene of the same Plaza de Mayo that's in front of the presidential palace, but instead of looking up at all the buildings, I am looking at several groups of demonstrators.... I counted at least 6 groups that day....

And my food shot for this week was taken at the interior patio restaurant of the Museo Sivori, in Lagos Palermo Park...the big pitcher was filled with mint ginger lemonade... Dave had chicken with a lemon mustard tarragon sauce accompanied with a great chutney....I had a salad (but couldn't stop eating Dave's chicken..

lots o rock...

For the last month and a half, Dave and I have been whackin' away at rock every Saturday on the plaza of Central Cultural Recoleta...its a great place to work. Every now and then people stop by and talk... there's a big fair out front selling snacks and crafts, and the slow, rhythmical chipping away is a surprisingly relaxing and enjoyable process... it reminds me of why I like knitting or weeding.... the repetition of the activity seems to allow my brain to

float and clean out the cobwebs...

This photo was taken when Dave had just started on his rock...

Dave is now putting in extra hours besides Saturdays, and this is what it looks like today...

Here is another side.....

And here is the tiny rock I am working on.... it's only about 7 inches long.... and if you are having trouble figuring out what i am going for, its a woman lying down sleeping... the big bump in the upper left is her butt, and the smaller bump in the upper right is her shoulder....

spring !!!

Although there are still yellowed leaves from last summer on this tree, it's decided to wake up and send out giant balls of seed down... note the two green big pods that have not opened up yet in the lower left hand corner... they are about the size of baseballs... i have no idea of the name of this tree....

carving by Dave, painting of the Andes by Jamye.....

Right down town is a memorial for the 649 Argentines who died in the war against the UK over ownership of the Falkland islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ....This war lasted 74 days in 1982, ending with Argentina surrendering. The war hastened protests in Argentina against the military government and contributed to its downfall . Argentina is still trying to negotiate with the UK, but so far no talks.

Right after I shot this pic, my trusty camera died , so you will have to imagine the food shot for this week.... we were in the Man San, a great blend of Peruvian and Chinese cooking, with most plates under 15 pesos....i had grilled duck with noodles and different peppers , and Dave had roasted duck....it was raining, so we had the extra treat of two musicians from Peru who got out of the wet....