A Quiet Day and then Back to Normal Chaos

On Saturday, after our hectic Friday move, we decided to hang loose and relax a bit. We explored our new neighborhood and bought some groceries. At first we were disappointed....it seemed like just another residential neighborhood with few attractions. But then we found the local ice cream shops, restaurants, some beautiful streets, and saw that there were museums and lovely squares nearby (to be described in a later blog in more detail).

We lunched at a lovely restaurant a couple of blocks away - surprisingly good. And like almost all restaurants in BA, it had Wifi.

Since Sunday was Valentine's Day (apparently a big day all over the world - not just a Hallmark holiday), they advertised their Valentine's Day special dinner.

Saturday night we dined at our hosts' home.Alicia Candiani is the founder of Proyecto 'Ace and a wonderful artist in her own right. Her husband Adolfo is an agronomist who has a a business that takes him out of town most weeks, leaving Alicia time to do her art and run Proyecto 'Ace.

Also at dinner were Denis and Juliana were two artists from Trois Rivieres, Quebec. Juliana teaches art at a university, and Denis also publishes a beautiful art magazine. My guess is that Linda will be heading there to do some work in the near future! Our conversation was lively and far ranging!

Dinner started late (as is customary in BA), and didn't end until past 1:00 am.  We're not used to those hours (yet), so we slept in a bit on Sunday morning, then got ready for a day of flea marketing in San Telmo, an lovely old gentrified part of town. We took the 152 bus...very easy and only 1 1/2 pesos (about 40 cents) each.

From the moment we arrived, we liked San Telmo. There were a lot of attractive people walking around, the merchandise was lovely and reasonably priced (compared to the USA), although we didn't buy much (Linda 3 - Carlos 0)

Indiana Soberman (?). Needless to say, I didn't buy this hat.

Mostly we walked around and enjoyed a beautiful day. The weather was cooler than it had been all week...in the high 70's instead of mid 80's, so we were much more comfortable.

This puppeteer was wearing the same outfit as his puppet.

and Linda got a kick out of this guy's windswept outfit...

At least three times we walked by this "statue", and each time he was deep in conversation with the same guy. I'm sure he didn't do too well that day.

Tired, we found a restaurant called Lezama, next to Parque Lezama. This is a traditional bodegone, or grilled meat restaurant. Very old fashioned and attractive, full of people and happy noise.

I "had" to order the parrilada - mixed grill, even though it was normally for two people. There must have been at least two pounds of meat of all kinds - steak, ribs, liver, kidney, tripe, and other things to weird to mention. Riquisimo (delicious)!

Carlos was definitely a happy camper!

and Linda put up with it like the good sport that she is.

 Afterwards, we waddled over to another attractive area of more shops and restaurants, and finally, went home. No dinner needed!