Mafalda, Real Estate, Art and Eats

I had been seeing this cartoon character around town... on tee shirts, posters, like "hello, kitty" in Japan, and I didn't think much about it....then this statue appeared last Sunday in the square half a block from our apartment, and people (many with tears in their eyes) started gathering for a ceremony to honor her creator, Joaquin Salvador Larado. Mafalda is her name, and her comic strip has been described as "Doonesbury meets Peanuts in Buenos Aires." The series ran from the 60's to the 80's, during military dictatorships, repressive times... and for many, Mafalda's questionings struck a personal chord. The ten books of her strips have been translated into 20 languages..so I bought one in Spanish and have been stumbling through it... what a great way to get better with the language..




Larado is the grey haired man on the right...

An Argentine friend let me tag along as he checked out an old hotel building he is considering buying that is a block away from our place... right now there is a business on the first floor and 14+ apartments on the second and third floors, two huge interior courtyards, and a huge roof top patio... some of the 20 foot ceilings have plaster relief decorations, marble stairs..beautiful old tile floors, all for $150,000!.... His dream is to remodel into 11 apartments, adding half lofts in each for bedrooms... but to do that he will have to install plumbing, wiring, fix all the cracked marble and tile floors, etc. etc. and ECT., plus somehow get the current tenants out (not an easy feat down here).

The view out to the terrace and down into one of the interior courtyards....

view from the court yard up to the third floor...

Second floor mezzanine looking out into interior courtyard...

After yet another trip down to the port area Immigration office for another stamp for another three month wait on our permanent visas, we saw this sailing ship that is part of the Argentine Navy. She goes around the world each year with graduate sailors.

this is the part I liked best.

This week's food shot is our new favorite neighborhood hangout... most of our neighborhood joints are pretty fancy, but I spied this place next to a car park down the alley... back in the patio, there's a BIG outdoor grill and great daily specials.....

But they can't beat the french restaurant on our corner for onion soup and fancy deserts... this is a piece of apple pie...but not so simple... and I think the apple slices were poached separately in liquor based syrup? , then placed on a shortbread crust...

Bon Appetit!