Down to Business...

The AC adapter bridge super-project has been completed. I'd like to thank all of the dedicated workers for their tireless efforts. I can now sit anywhere in the apartment and work. My lap is warm...

Our apartment is at the intersection of Charcas and J. L. Borges, in a neighbourhood (barrio) called Palermo SOHO. A sub-barrio of Palermo, which is a name loosely given to a large area of town surrounding the complex of parks close to our apartment.

Walking east along J. L. Borges from our apartment, you hit Santa Fe, which is a busy commercial street that stretches all the way to the downtown core (Microcentro), and is packed with storefronts the whole way. Crossing Santa Fe leads into the complex of public parks, botannical gardens, and zoo.

If you walk in the opposite direction along J. L. Borges from our apartment, after passing art galleries, cafes and restaurants, you meet Plaza Serrano. The plaza is surrounded by about eight bar/cafes with outdoor patios, rooftop terrasses, and open windows. This is the rue Prince Arthur for under-35s. On Sundays there is an arts and fashion sale in the plaza and surrounding streets. We were there last Sunday, and it was ridiculously packed. I'm too large physically to have a good time at such events, so we escaped into one of the bars and had a pizza.

The blocks immediately surrounding us are packed with grocery stores (tiendas), bars, pharmacies and newsstands. The subte line is two blocks away, and we found a good wine/cheese/tapas specialty store a block away, so we have been supernaturally fortunate in terms of landing in a convenient spot! It has also felt extremely safe up to this point, so we have high hopes.

Lamp stores and pharmacies are everywhere.

Yesterday's adventure was going out to see a lecture on the history of Argentina by a foreign policy student. The lecture was held in a clubhouse for American expats in a barrio called San Telmo, which is an old, narrow cobbled neighbourhood with freely pissing street dogs and auto shops carved into decaying alleys. It is well on its way to gentrification; artists have moved in, and there are very definite signs of a move towards increased hipness. For example, in the midst of light decay, there is a Puma running-shoe storefront that features signed-by-the-artist designer sneakers.

The lecture focussed on Peronism, the polarized political climate, US-Argentine relations leading up to the economic collapse of 2001, and the current political landscape. It is a very interesting history, and the young guy who gave the talk, named Mariano, did a wonderful job of answering questions and painting a broad picture of the country's history.

The clubhouse itself is a cool space; one half of the three-storey space is open to the roof, and you can see walkways on the other two floors overlooking this open space.

We walked around San Telmo after the lecture in search of food, and found a place called La Farmacia. We sat on the roof of the two-storey building, which was covered in cacti and vines, and had a really great avocado salad and some extremely rich cabernet.

The rooftop was packed by this point, and we invited a couple to sit with us at our four-seater since we were about to leave. These guys were locals of Buenos Aires (who call themselves Portenos), and happened to have excellent English, so after a few minutes of conversation we realized that we needed to order more beer. Being forced out of necessity to speak English to native Argentinians has really ratcheted up my desire to learn passable Spanish...

Ricardo and Juan had just bought an apartment in San Telmo, and described the neighbourhood to us in detail, as well as the relative pros and cons of other Buenos Aires barrios. They both love to travel, but have been somewhat limited in their trips abroad since the peso crash of 2001. As a consequence they have developed a very keen sense of shoestring travel around South America, and they had an abundance of really great advice for us concerning our own travels. So it was great to meet these guys, and we'll keep in touch with them over the next couple of months.

We took a Radio Taxi home, and that was the end of our first San Telmo experience. I managed to get a couple of hours of work done after that, amazingly. I'm finding that the late dinner hour of about 10:30PM has had very strange effects on me. I go to bed at 3AM, wake up at 10AM feeling refreshed, and work in 2-3 hour spurts at any time between 10AM and 3AM.

This morning Jen went back to the South American Clubhouse to do yoga with young American women. I was sorely tempted, but I forgot my unitard in Victoria...