Goin downtown...

We went to one of the cultural centers for a puppet show, and found out back a circus tent with people practicing on the high wire... circus is big down here ... a big revival world wide I think, thanks to cirque du soleil ... we have spied circus workshops in old factory buildings all over town, seen agile folks shimming up long stretchy cloths in the park trees... jugglers and clowns come out and preform for waiting cars at big intersections... the city seems to focus more on promoting art and culture than on fixing potholes and bad sidewalks...they reduce rent and taxes to property owners who hold an event or workshop. This whole cultural center, in barracas, does all the art theatricals exclusively... circus acrobatics, mime, puppetry, movement improv, musical theater ... its a really interesting place. The buildings were once an estancia, wide open air balconies, open but covered stable facilities for thirty plus horses. These are still intact looking like an open air stable, with a stage and seating in the middle. This is a neighborhood we are seriously looking at as our next place. In a dozen blocks, right by the river, lots of combination living and light industrial buildings, plenty available and far enough upstream that the river is quite clean.




... a shot from the top floor, fifth floor of the downtown university of buenos aires, housing the schools of language and philosophy. I spent a month here for first spanish classes. It, (unfortunately no photo) is a huge magisterial structure with twenty foot ceilings for the first two



floors, sweeping marble staircases, sixty by sixty foot mezzanines and is, unfortunately, the case with public buildings in serious disrepair, but what a place it must have been. This photo is looking east to Puerto Madera, the huge river right beyond, and the trees and park like area below is the landing zone for the presidential helicopter. The residence and offices etc. for the presidential couple, pink house it's called here, is a block to the right.





















Out the same window looking the other direction, some of the dense downtown business district. There are actually apartments to be had here, some very inexpensive and quite nice, but you're living in a zoo. Millions of pedestrians on the narrowest of sidewalks, lots of bus traffic, tons of delivery motorcycles, it's really exhausting for us to spend even one hour going to just a couple of places. The building in the center low part of photo is the Chinese trade delegations permanent home. I'm not sure how, but lots of business gets conducted in this madhouse. With this mass of people, there are probably twelve restaurants per block, all surprisingly good and inexpensive and contrary to the Argentine norm, fast and efficient service is the order of the day. Of course, for the heavyweights of the business world are the small, tucked away bistros where a two hour business lunch is a couple hundred bucks, that's dollars. I'll wait for some heavyweight to invite me before commenting on the quality of the food in a place so exalted. Just had a call from our Portland pals, Malia and Jason who are just now, in a taxi in front of our place here for a two week visit. i get to be a bit of a tour guide and that sounds like fun.



Jamye has been working on this piece for a few months now.. its in homage to all the centuries of artisans who beatified rugs and tiles and cloth and everything around them with tiny repeat design...

and here's to more dogs in the park and more good meals!

hot golf, hot food, hot art...

Fredrick, the swede, and i in the early stages of a fine round on the only 100% public course in town. the early stages were just fine and then i felt as if old age happened all at once. i was really just crawling forward, aiming at trees so i could be in the shade. it reached 41, that´s 106, a fifty year high. i promise to check the forecast next time. other than that, a pretty nice course, a bit dried out in this season but really inexpensive. a bit long for me, but not for the young guys. also, too many bunkers. maybe this winter i´ll try to find, refind some kind of game. as i´ve probably mentioned this course is just a dozen blocks from home, on the edge of the huge long park. up the street a few blocks is the club atletico excursionistas. the local level "c" soccer club. the newcomer "pros", they get a couple hundred bucks a month and the opportunity to be picked up by higher level clubs for more dough and so on up to the big leagues and real dough. last night was the home opener, a 1 - 0 victory in the rain. loved sitting in the rain. didn´t take the camera though, next time. i joined the club, so i can be in the clubhouse for cheap beer and burgers and futbol bullshit with a bunch of other old know it alls. great place.


While Dave was baking in the sun golfing, I was making instant silk screen art with a group of 30 on a terrace at the downtown cultural center, in the shade. This free 4 week workshop is hosted by artist Coco. He has a huge current showing of his work and his group projects at the center. The green flying razor blade to the left is a big metal sculpture of his, and the yellow piece uses a combination of printing techniques. Next week, 4 of us are going to attempt a group print.







Democrats Abroad hosted one of the best and most surprising meals... we took bus and taxi to a somewhat shabby barrio, went into an unmarked building, through two barred doors and up the stairs to this great Korean restaurant. No menus, the waiters just kept bringing on plates heaped with all sorts of things... each table had a sunken well with metal grill, with coals underneath where everyone cooked their meat or shrimps, etc., then dipped into all sorts of sauces... a truly great meal complete with beer or wine... for about $16 each.


and some hot local graffiti...

Lanin Street in Baracass barrio

(The advertisement on the left of Dave's charcoal grilled steak and ribs is an enticement to visit Buenos Aires and our patio)












We have started putting the word out that we will be needing a new place to live in alittle over three months. There are lots of nice furnished apartments in the spiffy sections of Buenos Aires we could easily rent, but finding a place where we can get messy, slop some paint around, that's not so available. Dave wants to build "big things" and lingers at every big shop we pass...so a friend suggested we check out the Baracass area on the funky industrial edge of town, down by the river and docks and such.....We ended up on Lanin street, where as you can see, an artist neighbor has created quite a fine thing with paint and little tiles...

We found a great house a block away from Lanin with a for rent sign and a big gravel side yard perfect for making messes....and grilling meat. Stay tuned for info on availability and price...

focus on artwork

For the last two weeks, Dave has been focused on finishing a sculpture he brought down to Argentina. He has been carving up on the roof, lugging it on the bus to the local museum where we both are in workshops, and here on the plaza of a downtown cultural center....

Here is my painting workshop in the musem attic..

local live music, work almost done

down one block, a sidewalk cafe, very personable, limited menu, unlimited cocktail menu, live singer thursday nights - that means it starts around midnight, goes till four - sort of a combination folk, pop, tango singer that is a skinny middle aged guy with a huge voice, he wanders the crowd, gets people joining in the songs, especially the folk songs and all of the ladies are up and moving. the upper body doing wide armed swooping folk dance loops and snaps while the lower part, belt down, is straight from brazil and twitching like a bat out of hell. as a whole, it works perfectly and can't help but induce a smile. later on, our singer invites people that were good singers in the walk around part to come up and solo, almost karaoke. so, about four, we walk home to listen to the last couple hours of the young kids and friends who have moved into the new building across the street and are singing along with, making rhythm with, dancing with the current pop folk hits. it's really quite refreshing, but a little late, oh well, live with it all.

two quick shots of a small figure carving that's almost done. my ego, which doesn't need any, got a boost when this reasonably famous local carver lady asked if i would exhibit it in a museum show displaying the range of argentine wood carving - i think i'm the retired foreign carver type - if i could finish by the end of feb. so, i backed off on most everything else, and am almost done. it's ok, but a pretty predictable smith carving, oh well.

a poster on the wall of the clubhouse of the local futbol club, i'm amember, of course. they're "level c", about the same level of play, and pay of the eugene ems. lots of young talent that may make it "to the bigs". hard to see, but in the upper left, you'll see a banner with a marijuana leaf and the words suggest that the green of the " excucursionistas - excursios -" .is as assured of success, as the marijuana green in the hills. it's a great spot for me , lots of old fart beer drinkers, futbol talkers, political talkers - that, by the way, is it's own full time hobby locally - real cheap drinks and eats for members { five bucks a month} . their main focus is on very serious training for young talent, starting about ten years. the folks have to pick up a tab, not too big, for the coaching. scholarships happen for serious young talent and the training regimen is serious marine tough. when matches start, in march, i'll try to get it together for a video.

Sunday in the Park

Could it be that this 60+, chubby, ex-9to5-sit-at-her-desk-for-ten-years finally rode a bike for two hours? Yes, it's true and here are the pictures to prove it! After finding bike lanes that I thought I could navigate and survive (no taxis or buses), I tracked down a couple of bike stores, read adds on the Argentine equivalent of Craig's List (Segundo Mano), but I just wasn't ready to take the plunge and buy one. One, "acquiring" another possession, and one that could not fit into one of my 3 suitcases went against my goal of simplifying; and two, for all I knew, after one ride, I would have to lay in bed with ice packs and pain pills for the whole of the next day. Then Dave spied a big purple garage full of bicycles to rent right near our entrance to the park. So this Sunday,we took off! ...and its a good thing cars arent allowed in the park on Sundays because I immediately forgot how the brakes worked and crossed in front of two pedestrians and ran into a tree. Thankfully, after about half an hour of riding , I seemed to have remembered the skills last used when I was a teenager.





It was truly idyllic to ride through all the park land that I had been seeing from a bus or taxi window for two months now. We made it to the big Palermo Park and followed the sounds of cheering, announcements on loud speakers,...then found the final ceremonies of the Dakar Rally. I am not a big race fan, but this 15 day race across Argentina and Chile had caught my attention, seeing all the different landscape those speed happy guys went through. You can maybe make out the big screen that everyone is looking at...City events have these so that people in the back can see what's going on on the stage...


As we road away from the stage, we followed the temporary white fences and got to see the different driving teams up closer as they drove into the park...










I had been looking forward to riding a bike, but Dave had been looking forward to testing out this barbecue stand he had been noting from our bus route to downtown. The charcoal grilled steak sandwich with chemmychurri sauce was just as rico as he hoped it would be.










There I am in the back middle of this picture, ready to pedal home with sauce all down my white shirt...... A great day and no ice needed!