Losing by a head (Por una cabeza).

‘Writing is the supreme solace’ said Maugham, but I guess I’m either not needing solace or, more correctly, I find mine by reading.  Anything.  A few months ago, I was talking to a friend of mine and said that if one could get paid reading and playing tennis, I’d be amazingly rich.  Maugham also said that the ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit, which in my case is a must.

I told Roger yesterday that this being our last week feels very mixed.  On one hand we miss home, Kobe, friends, American food, coffee (we really missed our good American coffee, if you don’t believe me, ask Louisa), tennis, English-speaking people, to name just a few, but on the other – it is sad to leave.  We really like Buenos Aires.  From the first person we met, Luis, out Portero, who brought us his home made stew yesterday.  He cooks daily and the whole building smells like whatever he’s cooking, which is mainly the meat asado that he makes in the basement.  On a real fire:

Browsing on the streets of Buenos Aires.  Louisa and I used to walk on the streets of Yerevan every day for several kilometers.  Not to some place or destination, but just walk.  For years.  That habit got cut short about 20 years ago, except occasional trips to NYC.  Especially, on Sundays.  When the craziness of the city was quieter.  But we don’t really walk around much, except our lovely Ellard hood.  Here, in Buenos Aires, we just walk.  We leave the apartment and go out.  We end up in a different streets and neighborhoods.  Suddenly, there is an entrance in the building and we enter and there is a shopping area or a restaurant/cafe or just nothing, but long orange wall, stairs and a shop:

Subte (thank you, Andrei, for forcing us to try it and now we’ve became very knowledgeable about the subways in BA):

One time it was really crowded.  I mean, intimidatingly crowded, where people were everywhere and no personal space was allowed or spared.  Luckily, I was by myself.  

And this dude really smelled bad.  He was sitting right next to me at that crowded station.  Not sure sitting or living there, but his smell was unbearable.  I couldn’t move.  I waited for the train to arrive.  After a mega-crowd got on the train, I left the station with about dozen people through a narrow “walkway” between hundreds of people on the station, stairs, escalators, stairs again waiting to get on the train.  I was really happy that I didn’t take the family with me that time.

Street musicians.  On famous (or notorious, depends how you look at it) Florida street, with all the touristy attractions and shops and restaurants.  And men and women on every corner say fast and loud ‘Cambio, cambio’, which is an offer to exchange currency.  You see, the official rate of foreign currency doesn’t reflect the real rate.  This brought back memories of former real evil empire of mid 80’s.  The official rate of USD was 64 kopeks or .64 roubles.  Unofficially or really, the exchange was about 6 roubles.    Here, the official rate is about 1 USD is about 5.3 Argentinian pesos, but so called “blue rate” is about 8.  It was 10 about 2 months ago.  Fluctuates daily.  Oh yeah, cambio is illegal.  There are policemen and policewomen on every corner too 🙂  Back to musicians.  There are some really talented ones.  Beatlemania never left Argentina.

This guy played and sang ‘Something’ so good that it would’ve made George Harrison proud.

Good museums.  Museo de las Ninos, Museo de Armas de la Nacion.  Evita’s museum was cool too:

I bought this guy’s CD.  He was playing in a crowded Subte station: IMG_2081

 

Will miss tango.  Por una cabeza has been and still is my favorite tango tune (in two versions: Gardel’s original and more “polished”)

In two hours we are off to Colonia for a day trip.