In Baires for 6 Weeks

A Fake 100 Peso Bill...???

We've been here over a month now and are enjoying the time here, but it seems much harder to get things done than in Montreal. We find ourselves tired and weary at the end of the day. We walk (mostly) or taxi everywhere because we can't figure out how to use the buses and the subway (we've no one to explain it to us in English and they speak so fast and with an accent that sounds more Portuguese than Spanish so I can barely keep up at the grocery store at the checkout counter). Counterfeit money is everywhere so you have to be careful that you don't get fake money in change - sometimes you'll get fake money from the ATMs!



Learning how to play Chess
with Quilmes Stout on the side


It helps that we are in a nice apartment - some days, it's nice just to stay in the apartment and read, cook in the tiny kitchen and do laundry - drying the clothes on lines I've put up in the laundry room. Practicing Tango on the beautiful wooden floors is lovely. I'm even learning to play chess so we can stay in and enjoy each other's company in the tiled patio with the awning up.
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Our latest "project" has been to see about taking a Grimaldi Freighter Cruise from here to France for the next leg of our "Big Adventure." Of course, this has become quite an exhausting project - with our limited Spanish we have come to a lot of road blocks, in that, the address and phone on the website was wrong/old. We went to the address after trying to call the "no longer in service" number - the doorman didn't speak any English and we didn't speak enough Spanish to be able to find out if he knew where the agency moved, etc.  Someone who spoke English gave us an address to go to, but the address wasn't there.  Back to home, I went online again and looked up the agency (not the freighter line), got a current phone number and called.  No, they no longer handled Grimaldi Freight Lines - Grimaldi has it's own office here in Buenos Aires - I got the phone number and address. I called and the person in charge of passengers was out to lunch, "call back in an hour."  After another call, John took over and talked to Martin, the passenger agent, and made an appointment to talk with him to find out what we need to do to make reservations. 

What we need to take this trip:
1. Transfer the fees to Grimaldi's bank account - credit cards are not accepted - problem here is that John needs a verbal password to make the transfer and so John had to find a notory to send a letter with the verbal password to the bank in the USA.
2. We need yellow fever shots - we went to a clinic which told us to go somewhere else
3. We need special insurance for medical emergency on the frieghter - a simple  international long distance call to our insurance agent in the US
4. We need to be prepared for the date we want to be cancelled at the last minute
5. We need a health certificate from our doctor saying we are healthy - another simple call to our doctor's wife in Monterey who may or may not understand what we need
6. Other things I'm not sure I want to think or talk about right now
I'm exhausted just thinking about preparing for this month long "cruise" that will take us up the east coast of So. American (mostly Brazil), across the Atlantic to the African Ivory Coast then to Northern Germany and down the western european coast to La Havre, France where we will disembark. 
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With all that information gathering, this week seemed to take most of any energy we had to find something new to do.  But I perservered and found that the Feria de San Telmo where we could find wonderful antiques, jewelry, clothing and Tango in the streets was only 1.6 mile walk away from our apartment.  I mapquested the walk which was a straight shot out Urugauy (our street) and take a left on Estados Unidos or Defensa.  Simple, yes? 
I'm not sure what happened, but we started out and somehow missed the left turn and got terribly lost.  We found the train station....

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Walking towards Al Centro

and then went on in the direction I thought San Telmo was... (I am the worst - I always think I know where I am and where I'm going so don't like to ask for directions, especially when I don't understand most of the directions that are given to me in Argentine Spanish.)
Not sure where we ended up, but after walking for 2 plus hours, John saw a sign in the street that said "Al Centro".  We followed that sign, found ourselves eventually on Belgrano (a main street we know) and when things got familiar looking we turned left and voila! we were in our neighborhood. 

The Congreso...
almost home



Tenderloin Medallion
with quinoa and veggies

After getting home, resting our feet, watching the Steelers beat the Bengals, refreshing ourselves with peanuts and beer,  John decides to take me out for dinner to a place where we can decompress, i.e., order familiar food, order in English, be able to order drinks and dessert.  We go to the Sheraton Libertador for refreshment and relaxation. 

Hamburguesa con queso y pancheta
(John's heart attack waiting to happen)

We get home well fed, relaxed and revived for the coming week.