The first day of spring came along with green leaves erupting on all the trees below my balcony ..
The parks are filling up...this guy did amazing dances around all those paper cups on the road....
I got invited to a fashion show put on by the wives of the embassys here....much better than I thought...each country paraded their native costumes, did dances or sang or carried on .....
The countries of Africa seemed to know how to dance and party best....
And my what-is-this-about? weird prize goes to the United States entry below....
Dave has been a focused artist dervish of late He's been working on this Happy Buddha Pig that he wants to cast........
And putting in lots of extra hours working on his stone sculpture at the Central Cultural Recoletta terrace...
I have been focused on grand lunches...I found this little mid eastern snack stand in Almagro...
and fancier fare at the Tea Connection in Recoletta. There are several of these throughout the city, with exotic organic fruit/tea infusions being sipped by fancy city ladies...I had lemon/green tea/ginger/honey and a great "tortilla" (potato/carmelized onion/egg in layers and baked)
Last week, I not only finally figured out how to get videos on this blog (I promise I will learn how to also edit them soon) but I also achieved one of my dreams....to canter on a horse (the wind blowing through my hair, the horse and I as one, zooming through the landscape, etc etc)... Adrian Di Stefano of Caballos A-La-Par (www.caballos-alapar.com) picked me up in BA and we went out to a National Park in Buenos Aires Providence for the best horseback ride of my life! -Well, I have only been on three others, and then just got brief instructions of how to hold the reins, stop and go. Turns out riding a horse properly is like hitting a golf ball. Everything...how you hold each hand, position of knees, foot, heal, how fast or slow you lean forward or back...makes a difference. Adrian has been riding in this National Park all his life, and seems to have a passion for having his students be successful....
And by the end of the lesson, I was not only cantering all over, but able to do it without using the reins! I won't tell you how my whole body felt for the next two days...it doesn't matter...it was worth it....
I include this next video for the ending......
This week, Central Cultural Recoletta had an opening for showing of works by Argentine political cartoonists active in the 60's and 70's....dramatic times down here then....the folks gathered for the opening made us think of Oregon (lots of grey pony tails)......
I have spotted El Pici before on a Santa Fe street corner....He turned up again while I was reading a book at an outdoor cafe and I watched this guy for 30 minutes or more...he never turned on his microphones or did any kind of act....just waved at cars and talked to people who came up to him....does any one know what his deal is????
This week, you get three food shots! I tried a new restaurant for lunch...Vinos y Sabores, Laprida 1805 in Recoletta.....my favorite thing is to eat my biggest meal at lunchtime...taking advantage of Menu Executivo"...(much cheaper than the same thing at dinner time)....this place even had an entrada (starter course) of spinich with a big sun dried tomato/three types of olive on a toastee.....
Main course of Caesar salad with chicken and cheese rolls....
And melt in your mouth warm apple cinnamon strudel....
with aqua con gas....total 35 pesos....
BAIN (Buenos Aires International Newcomers) hosted a tour of the Palacio San Martin this week...General San Martin didn't build it, a rich cattle family did back in Argentina's hay days...Now, it"s owned by the government and used for formal presentations, meetings of heads of state, pomp and ceremony type shindigs. Its a hodge podge of styles, but still comes off stunningly...
In the back yard was a piece of the Berlin wall....
The next day I was walking near Recoletta Cemetary and stumbled upon a small museum on Guido Calle...A meeting of train buffs was going on, and I found out that the train from BA to Rosario was up and running again...I cant wait to go
In another room was a display by textile artist Silvina Trigos....this piece above the piano was my favorite..
Ballet Contemporaneo del Teatro San Martin continues to wow....We saw three diverse pieces...with my fav being the haunting Syracusa....
I have been taking Spainish lessons with Maria for over a year ...and now we spend an hour a week with her grandmother painting pics...Grandmama is housebound and getting preety drifty, but still remembers how to hold a paintbrush and how to make a joke.....
This week's food shot is from a great little cafe for girlie lunches and pastry on Azcuenada near Las Heras....curried chicken wrap with a fine little salad...
La Rural once again was home to some knock your socks off art this week.....unlike ArteBA reviewed a few weeks ago (a showing of top selected galleries in Buenos Aires), this showing was of selected art dealers' favorite artists...
This guy Milo Lockett seems to have made the big time...he had a huge center space and sponsorship by Honda and Hewlett Packard, among others.....
These ladies are totally carved out of wood.....
If I could vote, I would give "best of show" to the sculptor below.....each piece was about 5 feet tall....
Drinking Liberally club is up and running again (the southernmost outpost of Drinking Liberally International, for liberal thinkers of all types, "no fear, just beer").....every monday night, starting at 7:30 pm at Danila Restobar , Bernardo de Irigoyen 82. Despite the cold, over 20 people showed up this week...portenos, yankees, people from all over the place, including Texan Larry Rogers, who has started a salsa company (El Tejano, eltejano3.blogspot.com) down here for all the folks who miss HOT on their food....We ordered chips and wings and he slathered on the sauce.....
Here is Drinking Liberally founder Mike with Larry the salsa maker
After all those rowdy guys, I was ready for some woman time, and met friends Mia and Roxana for lunch at Viejo Agump (Armenia 1382) That's Roxana, a Porteno pharmacist returned from working at the U.N., drinking some yogurt concoction (I had a beer in memory of Drinking Liberally). They serve grand Armenian and Middle Eastern food in Palermo Soho area. Its just the way I love to eat...lots of different tastes in little plates, followed by kebobs... Up til now I have kinda avoided Palermo (I think of it as where all the tourists live), but I may reconsider.....tree lined streets with single and two story houses, and lots of restaurants and designer fashion stores to gawk at....
Dave and Jamye Smith opted to relive the parts of their youth filled with making art, new peole, new places. They quit their jobs, sold their possessions, and went to Argentina.
