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A brief visit to Brazil - part 1
I arrived on Friday January 11th; the plane left Buenos Aires about an hour late - typical.
I arrange for someone to pick me up from the airport as I heard the airport is not so close to the city and a taxi can be a bit costly. Lino met me at the airport and we drove back into the city; at first traffic was not bad; but when we got to Paulista street in the heart of Sao Paulo, it slowed down quite a bit. It looks very modern here with all the tall buildings and glass and like many big cities in the world. The bus network looks quite modern in comparison to Buenos Aires; the buses in Bs As are privately run and in and various different states of condition; you dod see some smoke belching behemoths on the road there. Driving around Sao Paulo the city looks fairly well kept; many of the buildings look they were built in the last fifty years; some favelas were pointed out to me. A few people mentioned how the river here is quite polluted and can really stink on a hot day; the government says that want to clean it up like the Thames in London was but so far has anything been done?
Beginnings and Endings in Argentina
When I when I arrived in Argentina and left Argentina two curious & humorous things happened.
When I landed in Argentina about 3 months ago in early October; I was picked up by a taxi; it was arranged by the people I was renting the apartment from. It was fairly smooth journey from the airport to the Barrio Cabalito. Just by the apartment building, one of the first things I see is a really fat & tall police office bent over the a car with the hood up. This guy had a really large girth around his waste. I don't think I have even seen such a large police officer anywhere. It looks a car has been abandoned at a T intersection; it was quite a old looking beater. Whoever was driving the car appears to have disappeared. You do some see some real clunkers in Argentina.
And then when I was leaving now in January, my friend Juan called a "remise" (private car) to go to the airport. Juan lived on the way so we were going to drop him off first. It was a Thursday night and there seems to be quite a few road-checks in the area and sure enough we get asked to stop. A police office was speaking with the driver and checking his ID. Then the officers says "Chicas" and makes a 'big kissing' sound and a woman appears with a breathalyser. Of course the driver was clean and we proceeded on our way after his breath was 'checked'. We were all quite amused by the way the officer called the technician over. This was about 3:30 in the morning now. I got to the airport sometime after 4 and checked in. And then my plane which was to scheduled to leave around 7 AM left about an hour late.
Bariloche - Sunday January 6th
Well, here we are in "Bariloche" in the Northern region of Argentina called "Patagonia". We arrived last night; I came to Bariloche with a friend Lucy who I met in a Spanish class in Buenos Aires. Lucy plans to stay on for a few weeks here - what a great plan. It is quite blissful here and very tranquil.
Here is the view from the cabin - not bad. The mountains in the distance are actually in Chile.
The cabin we are staying in with Wifi internet & satellite TV - such a connected world we live in now...
We were very sensible and shared a steak; it would have been to much food to eat otherwise and the steak was so good. And we it had with some roasted vegetables and accompanied it with some fine Malbec.
Tomorrow, we are going on a boat tour that goes into the a park in area. The area is full of birds and insects; I don't think I have seen so many dragonflies in such a long time. I am told that there are small armadillos that live in the area and tiny deer. Apparently, the forests here inspired scenes in Walt Disney's Bambi.
Time is almost up - back to the UK soon
My time in Buenos Aires is coming to a close; I have been making an effort to go to as many places to that were on my list. On January 3rd, I went to the zoo and I went to bookstore that used to be a theatre to start. It was so incredibly hot over the past week; summer is here and people were not kidding when they say it gets too hot here.
I really wanted to see a Capybara or Carpincho as they are called here. When I was in Argentina the first time, some years ago, I did see some Capybara tracks in Entre Rios. The Capybara is the world's largest rodent and lives in around water.
I then proceeded to go to the largest bookstore in South America - "Ateneo Grand Spendid" ; it used to be a movie cinema.
Lastly, I went to a Tango venue called the "La Catedral". I got there sometime after 10 PM and there was a beginners tango class in progress. I heard from some people here that this is not a very typical place for Tango and they were right. The teacher had a haircut like a mohawk. I sat down and listened to some music for a few hours. I was hoping there would be a live Tango band tonight but alas no; there was a brief set with someone singing very beautifully in Spanish and playing an acoustic guitar. I found myself getting a bit hungry around 1:30 AM and ordered a tortilla - a thick omelette with potatoes in it. I will say this most if not all the concerts I have been to have been in places that serve hot food. It was true again this night with the twist that the menu here was all vegetarian. It reminds me how I was talking about the music scene in Rome and some Italian friends said people there were more interested in looking good and eating then going to check out live music. Well here in Buenos Aires, they like to eat, look good and also listen to music at the same time. So, I had a decent time at "La Catedral" but not a great time; I was perhaps unlucky with the night I went; there are some photos of the venue here on another blog: