Art and Scribbles

Palermo, Buenos Aires

Traipsing around the city of Buenos Aires is a daily activity. There are errands to run and new parts of town to discover, cafes to try and window shopping to amuse us as we wander.
We wake up late (around 11am) and take our time making tea, oatmeal with apples, or eggs with toast. We leave the house around one and walk around for hours before finally heading home as the sun goes down and the air gets cold. By "we" I mean Rachel and I, as Lily flew home on Monday and Adam wakes up early (before 8am) to head downtown for his Spanish classes. He spends four hours a day on Spanish grammar and conversation while we drink cappuccinos and play.

Our little one-bedroom apartment is perfect. Full of light, comfortable and in a great part of town. We can walk to anything, or just walk the few blocks to the Subte (subway). Adam and I are still enamored with the hot water in the shower, and are enjoying not having to repack our things. Rachel brought me a suitcase of "city clothing" which I packed before I left. I had her remove half of it before she left, but it is wonderful to have a few more options including my pretty boots and pink coat.

Woody headed out last week, and his last night he came back from a long day at the shipping office (getting his motorcycle packed up and off to the States) with a few bottles of wine and all the fixin's for his famous beef and ginger dish. We had several conversations on our Bolivia trek talking about our favourite foods (longingly) and he had promised to fix the beef and ginger if I made apple crisp. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take part as Woody, Adam, and Lily enjoyed the wine and the food. I had food poisoning (I think) and was dry heaving and laying on the bed feeling miserable. Blech.

Woody left Wednesday, and Rachel came in on Thursday morning. We had a fun weekend, and Sunday went out to a late lunch with a couple of friends Lily had made. We started out with champagne at Cecily's apartment and after Rob showed up, the six of us headed to a lovely restaurant to enjoy three course meals, drink wine and act silly. It was a good day.

Rachel's cousin Amos and his friend Ariel are visiting the city from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel and Wednesday night the three of us met up with them for dinner and drinks in Las Canitas, a little sub-neighborhood of Palermo. We ate an amazing dinner at Las Cholas, whose candlelit tables and friendly staff set the tone for a long, luxurious dinner discussing Israeli politics, the California budget problem which includes cutting up to $4 billion from Education (and that's just the start). Yikes.
Adam headed home just after midnight, and the four of us crossed the street to share stories at bar Mona, a pretty place playing bad 80's music (shockingly, it does exist) and with fun, chatty bartenders. We came home around 3am, early by this city's standards.

Last night Rachel and I met Ariel at a local live venue called La Cigale, where we had read about some fun local bands who were to play. The bands didn't start till nearly 1am, but we had fun sitting at the teal-tiled bar sipping beer and watcing the local hipsters with their pretty hair and lyrical accents. We watched Agustina Paz and then Rosaria Ortega whose voice was reminiscent of Feist and whose band played cover songs with some serious pizazz. If you visit, check out this bar. The sound is beautiful, and it is a great, low-key place to hang out. We plan on returning.

Tonight we will go out to dinner with Amos and Ariel, and after the last place they took us I am pretty sure the food will be fantastic. Tomorrow we take a bus ride to Colonia, Uruguay for a fun day trip to wander the markets and add a stamp to our passports!

Yesterday was three years since our first date, a Manu Chau concert at the San Diego Embarcadero. It was the night of our first kiss, and the beginning of great things.

Warmly,
Grace and Adam