Noche Buena con Amigos Buenos

Last night we went with Belen to the home of the Moltenos: Eduardo and Stella and Andres, their youngest of 5 children, to celebrate la Navidad. Eduardo owns and operates the La Cava de Vittorio vinoteca (wine store) around the corner from our apartment, and we have become good friends.

Buenos Aires winds down on Christmas Eve; stores close early, traffic decreases substantially, and quiet pervades. We left our apartment shortly after 9 pm, and spent the next 15-20 minutes trying to catch a cab, a process that normally takes 30 seconds in our neighborhood. We still arrived at the Moltenos in plenty of time for a glass of wine before dinner.

Stella had prepared a sumptious spread of cold foods (perfect for the warm humid night): stuffed beef and chicken rolls, deviled eggs on tomatoes, beef with a tuna and caper paste, salads, all complemented with one perfect wine after another. Our contributions were shrimp ceviche, tabouli, and (in the small world department) a fruitcake from Texas' own Collins Street Bakery, sent to us for Christmas by Linda's sister Judy in Sweden.

At midnight the quiet was banished with fireworks large and small. Lacri, the Molteno's dog, hid in the bathroom while we toasted the season with a sparkling blend from Eduardo's collection. Stella drove us home at 2 am.

¡Feliz Navidad!

Jacarandás 2009

Plentiful spring rains in recent days have washed most of the flowers from the jacarandás while creating a beautiful purple carpet beneath the trees. Photos don't do justice (especially on an overcast afternoon), but we did our best to share the beauty.

These photos were taken along Avenida Libertador, about a dozen blocks north of our apartment, from the Museo Nacional de Belles Artes (and the Law School directly across from it) down to the Museo de Arte Decorativo and Plaza Chile, then back to Plaza Francia.

November is a good time to be in Buenos Aires.

Tomatillos in the Making

In an ongoing effort to promote Mexican cooking in Argentina, we bought packages of tomatillo and chili poblano seeds during our last visit to the States in June. Once the cold weather had passed here in Buenos Aires, Kurt started the germination process on the roof of our building.

Planting occurred Sept. 3; tomatillo seedlings sprouted Sept. 15 and poblanos about 2 weeks later. Kurt thinned out the seedlings about the middle of October. Today, after a weekend of heavy spring showers, the first tomatillo blossom appeared. More are on their way. We are encouraged.

North to Brazil

For Kurt's birthday trip this year, we headed north to Bombinhas, a small village on the coast in the southeast Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Quite a change from last year's celebration, in terms of both weather and world financial news.

Getting to Bombinhas took some doing. First Linda had to get an emergency US passport, since the one she had was due to expire in February 2010. Brazil requires that the passport be valid for at least 6 months. Then we had to apply for a Brazilian visa, paying $130 USD each for that document. We had to admit the fee was fair, though -- it's exactly what Brazilians have to pay to apply for a visa to the United States. Apart from the pain to the pocketbook, the process was relatively straightforward and efficient. You apply at the embassy, go pay your fee, and then come back in two days to pick up the visa.

Bombinhas was everything we had hoped for. Small, quiet, clean, and with lots of secluded beaches, plus we were able to get by speaking Spanish. The food - both seafood and Brazilian style BBQ - was great and inexpensive. On the recommendation of Argentine friends, we stayed at a complex of six bungalows built on the side of a hill halfway between "Four Islands Beach" and the town itself. Because we were there before the start of high season, we paid only $45/night for a very comfortable and well equipped cottage. Dubai Bungalows is another place we plan to revisit.

Photos here.

Investing in Argentina

We did it again: bought another apartment in a gorgeous French-style building in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires. No, we're not moving, though we certainly plan to take advantage of some features of the new place that our home here doesn't have. Like a patio with a real Argentine parilla (or grill).

The new apartment is an investment. Before we retired in early 2008, we'd made certain assumptions about the income that our savings would generate. That was then . . . we've spent the last several months revising those estimates and trying to figure out how to preserve principal and earn more than 1.35%.

Argentine real estate has consistently held its value, in large part because mortgages are not easy to come by and have more stringent terms. Purchases generally are cash transactions. Speculative bubbles, like the one that most recently blew up in the US and elsewhere, are nonexistent.

Tourism from the US, meanwhile, is on the rise here, as exchange rates continue to make Europe too expensive for many Americans. So we've dipped our toes into the vacation-rental business, buying a new apartment in an old Belle Epoque building that has been completely refurbished and retrofitted over the last 3 years. The photo here shows it off nicely!

UPDATE 2011: We have sold the apartment.

Mas Pastas

Pasta - in all shapes - is a staple here in Argentina, thanks to the Italians who immigrated in masses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Pasta "factories" offering freshly made noodles, gnochis, raviolis, and pizza dough, and more abound; we've sampled the wares of at least four such fabricas, all within easy walking distance of our apartment. Each offers great products at great prices, but we like the service best at Mas Pastas, located around the corner and one block down. Our friends in this photo are Hugo, Eusebio, and Mario.

One-half kilo of tallarines at Mas Pastas costs 9 pesos and 80 centavos, a "bollo de pizza" (after a recent price increase of 10 centavos) is 2 pesos 50, and a large container of grated parmesan is 6 pesos 50. (One US dollar currently buys about 3.85 pesos.) Great deals, no?

What Happened to August?

It's a good thing we're retired. This is the only post in August because we've been working overtime (ha!) to finish out and furnish a 66-sq. meter apartment 3 blocks away at Junin 1280. The building is an old family manse estilo frances that has now been added to and converted into 18 short-term rental units. Ours is on the planta baja (ground floor) and thus has its own private patio. We put in the plants last week as the building nears completion. A parilla (grill) is coming soon. We're looking to start renting Oct. 1.

Yet Another Home Improvement Project

We marked this chilly mid-winter day by having burletes installed on the balcony doors and the front and service doors of our old apartment. What a difference! We could immediately tell that the burletes -- a type of weather-stripping made from cloth -- were working. Cold drafts (and, hopefully, dust and dirt) are now blocked and the street noise has been reduced considerably.

Our burletes were made and installed by the Alberti family. Esteban (son of Eduardo, the marketing and estimating chief) and Martin (cousin to Esteban) did the job for us today in a little under 3 hours. Their next stop: the factory where the family makes the burletes in different colors and sizes. When they're not installing, they're helping out there, under the supervision of Esteban's mom. The burletes are guaranteed for 4 years. We're happy.

Health Through Vino

Mike and Kelly arrived at our apartment in Buenos Aires on June 30 in the midst of the worst flu epidemic to hit Argentina in years. All three of us Fernandez were suffering, with ailments ranging from chills and fever to full-blown bronchitis. Could it get any worse? 

We thought not, so provisioned with antibiotics, super ibuprofens, and prescription expectorants and wearing surgical masks, we ignored the advice "not to do anything" and boarded Aerolineas Argentina for our long-planned trip to the wine country of Mendoza. The warm winter sun and the fruit of the vine did wonders for our health.

Highlights from our visit:

• Scenes along the wine routes
  
• Shots from Quinta Anabtawi, our home away from home in Mendoza province, supervised by Homero, the best beagle in the world
  
• Wine tour and tasting at Nieto Senetiner
  
• Wine, snacks, and sun at Tempus Alba
  
• Fantastic 5-course lunch and wine tasting at Ruca Malen
  
• Our incredible drive up into the Andes, complete with a snow-chilled Sauvignon Blanc
  
• Scenes from our brief visit to Mendoza City prior to returning home to Buenos Aires

June 26: International Day Against Torture

One man's story underscores the need for international efforts.

Here's more about what happened to Mohammed Omer on this day one year ago.

This Morning at the Fruit & Vegetable Stand

Purchased:

1 gorgeous cauliflower, 3 large zucchinis, 2 cloves garlic, 1 kilo Italian tomatoes, 1/2 kilo strawberries, 2 bananas, 1 head butter lettuce, 6 eggs

Paid: 20 pesos ($5.30 USD)

Celebrating Year 1

One year ago today, we arrived in Buenos Aires for the first time as residents rather than as visitors. In 12 short months we've completed the renovations to and bought furniture for the apartment, secured residency permits AND renewed them for another year, set up Argentine bank and credit card accounts, made friends, and basically gotten into the swing of our new lives here. And thanks to the much more economical cost of living here, we've been able to pursue our dream of traveling both regionally and internationally.

On this fine fall day, we celebrated with daughter Belen (who is staying here for a while) with lunch at Croque Madame. Que bueno!

To the End of the World & Back

On April 12, we boarded a large ship in Buenos Aires; two weeks and 3,972 nautical miles later, we arrived at Valparaiso, the major port for Chile, some 1.5 hours driving time in a bus over the mountains and down into Santiago.

In between we saw southern Patagonia on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides. We rounded Cape Horn, thus earning the right to wear a gold earring in our left ear, sailed through the Straits of Magellan, and cruised the Chilean fjords.  We saw penguins, llamas, and guanacos (sometimes all together) and the Skua Glacier. Here's the itinerary and some of the 750 photos we took:

Leaving Buenos Aires: the city looks much bigger from the sea than the land. We get ready for the shipwide "emergency" drill. Our stateroom is on Deck 3, one up from the water line, giving us a great view of rocking swells later on in the voyage.

Montevideo, Uruguay: the boat stops for 6 hours of shore time at Uruguay's capital. We wander the historical and downtown centers, buy a bottle of fine Uruguayan Tannat, then head back to the malecon skirting the Rio Plate to enjoy it and the view. Kurt says he's reminded of Havana.

Punta del Este, Uruguay: the Altantic beach retreat in this part of the world. Calm, clean and organized; Linda liked it a lot more than she thought she would. On the list for future short vacations. The fish market on the wharf is extra special.

Puerto Madryn, Argentina: we hook up with Modesto, Rosa, and Diego from Miami and grab a cab to Punta Tombo, home to 1.5 million magellenic penguins at the height of the season (plus assorted other Andean wildlife) before winter migration. Enough are still there to make the two-hour ride each way worthwhile. The scenery looks like a mix of Hill Country and West Texas. The penguins burrow into the ground.  

Navigating Cape Horn & Environs: Chile claims title to this toenail of South America, protected by a light house and a garrison of naval personnel stationed for 6 months at a time. Fortunately, we have great weather; only later does the captain tell us that the same cruise a few weeks earlier had encountered 40-foot swells and Category 3 hurricane winds. The scenery is breathtaking. 

Ushuaia, Argentina: "The end of the world," only 50 miles from the tip of Antarctica. It's a small town with nothing fancy except the scenery.  It's gorgeous.

Punta Arenas, Chile: Chileans call this the southernmost city of the world (ignoring Ushuaia's claim to fame). Everything is neat and clean. The main plaza is centered on a huge monument to Magellan. The saying is you will return if you rub the Indian's toe. Around the square are turn of the century mansions and government buildings. We have a glass of wine in one former mansion now restaurant and hotel. The populace seem innured to the rainy weather; we're the only ones with an umbrella. Linda buys an alpaca sweater in the plaza for $15 USD; no one seems to have Chilean pesos here.

Strait of Magellan, Chilean Fjords, and Skua Glacier: We cruise through the strait, delineated by fjords and other remnants of glacial activity. The captain makes a slight detour to the Skua Glacier. Incredible.

Puerto Montt, Chile:  Bigger and funkier than Punta Arenas, Puerto Montt is a haven for seafood lovers. The specialty is king crab. We later are told that the town was devastated in the early 1960s by a 9.5 earthquake that produced a tidal wave which also destroyed Hilo, Hawaii and did extensive damage in Japan. Another finding: trained llamas do their business just like dogs.

Santiago de Chile: We leave our ship at Valparaiso (with regrets after such a wonderful time!) and head inland to Chile's capital. Like the rest of Chile that we've seen, the city is very neat and clean, though the smog is unfortunately a real problem. 

• Day 1: We spend our first full day exploring Cerro San Cristobal, the city's highest hill and home to the municipal park. We hike up part way, stopping at a hillside restaurant for a great lunch. We take the teleferico (like a ski lift) to the summit, wander around the shrine to the Virgin, and then take the funicular back down the hill. All along the way are places to eat and sit, all neat as a pin.
  
• Day 2: The next day we head out for quick tours of the neighorhood and central markets, the precolumbian museum (complete with figurines depicting all sorts of every day activities), and the other hill in town, the Cerro Santa Lucia.
• Day 3: We've just a few hours to wrap up our visit. We breeze through the plaza outside the government house (where we are treated to "saluting" dogs of the federal police), and catch the tail end of demonstration in front of the statue to Salvador Allende, who was overthrown by a Pinochet on Sept. 11, 1973. At the airport, we don masks against the threat of swine flu, only to find out later that they probably offer no defense. 

What a trip!

Recent Events

The mirror masterpiece by Raul (the artista en cristal) is now installed in the living room. What a difference! We're reminded of the line in The Big Lebowski about "bringing the whole room together." 

In other events, we've started the process of renewing our residency papers. Hard to believe that time has already arrived. Step 1 was completed this morning, with another criminal background check, which consists of checking our datos personales and fingerprints. We passed. Next week we'll lug photocopies of all relevant documents (which were properly apostilled in the US state of origin and then officially translated and legalized here) down to the immigration office. The process gets much easier, since we already have most of the necessary documentation from our initial permit gained last year. New items are bank statements showing monthly transfer of pension funds to Argentina, thus complying with the terms of our residency permits.

Meanwhile, signs of fall are everywhere. The air has turned much drier and cooler and the sun is now shining into the apartment from different angles. Should be perfect weather tomorrow for our next date with Lorenzo (our pretend dog), scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

In addition, tomorrow is a holiday in Argentina, meaning that both vehicular and pedestrian traffic will be much lighter in our neighborhood. The holiday honors those who served in the Malvinas War of 1982. In one of those strange coincidences, the funeral of Raul Alfonsin also is scheduled for tomorrow. Alfonsin became the first democratically elected president of Argentina in modern times, following the disaster of the Malvinas War and the political oppression and human rights violations of the military dictatorship in the 1970s and early 1980s. Alfonsin passed away at age 82 yesterday, March 31.

Save the Windows

The bedrooms, dressing room, and bathroom in our apartment flow around an "aire y luz" (less poetically called a ventilation well in English). The windows opening on to the well are beautiful examples of the French-style design that dominated architecture here in the first part of the 20th century. When we bought the apartment, Kurt vowed to restore the windows to their original beauty. Today he completed his mission, sealing the panes of the last of this set of five windows.

The job was not easy, requiring some gravity-defying contortions to remove old paint, putty, and other debris from both the inside and the outside and then to apply sealer to 24 different sections of glass in each mullioned window. (ADD 1: That's on the outside, Kurt points out. Inside work involved cleaning 156 individual sections of glass on each window.)

The project also featured several trips down to the planta baja (ground floor), where Sr. y Sra. Recondo good naturedly retrieved for us a variety of tools and materials that landed in their patios. It's one way to get to know your neighbors.

London for Less

There are some silver linings to the economic crisis. First, for some reason the U.S. dollar is up against most other currencies, including the British pound. Second, air fares are down. Both good reasons to finally make that trip to London. 

Another good reason: we very much needed to change our travel pattern from Texas - Buenos Aires - Texas to BA - Texas - BA. So on February 26 we flew back to Austin, using the return portion of our tickets that had brought us to Buenos Aires last May. (Thanks to our good friends Roger and Maria Nasr for putting us up!)

With our Texas business (tax filings, bank runs, and medical appointments) out of the way, we left for London on March 4 on an open-jaw ticket that allowed us to return from London to Buenos Aires. Of course, we had to connect through Houston on the return leg, which made for a very long trip: we left the apartment we had rented in London at 6:30 am on March 12, and arrived at our home in Buenos Aires at 11:30 am on March 13, some 31 hours later. 

London was worth it, though. We stayed in Southwark, right off the Tower of London Bridge, on the south side of the Thames, in an area of refurbished warehouses that had served the docks in past eras. We were pretty much in walking distance of most attractions: we trekked across various bridges, to Bloomsbury and the British Museum, to Westminster and Parliament and other government buildings, as well as to closer sites, including Burrough's Market, St. Paul's Cathedral, the National Theatre (where we attended a dramatic reading by playwright David Hare), and the adjacent Festival Hall area, with all sorts of enterprising entertainers performing for passers-by. Photo impressions here.

Lorenzo & Ceibos

Lorenzo, the Bounder look-alike from across the street, is now officially our "pretend dog." This afternoon we took him for an hour-long walk up Azcuenaga to the park across from the Buenos Aires Design Center and then around the British Embassy and back home. It was a treat to have some doggie time.

Here's Kurt with Lorenzo, framed by blossoms of a ceibo tree. The ceib0 blossom is the national flower of Argentina. A treeful makes for a pretty impressive sight - just about as impressive as the jacarandas in the spring.

Celebrating Bounder

Bounder didn't make it - at least not physically - with us to Buenos Aires, but his spirit lives on. We celebrated his memory today, on the date our favorite Austin yellow street dog passed away in 2008 after enriching our lives for 14 years. As a dear friend put it at the time, "it is hard to lose those trusty tail-wagging always-there friends."

We see Bounder all around us here. Lots of yellow Labs and yellow partial Labs and just plain yellow mutts that look and act like the B-dog. Right across the street from us, on the same level as our apartment, lives a Bounder look-and-act-alike whose owner we have just met. Tomorrow we have a date to take Lorenzo for a walk. Bounder lives on.

Nuevo Amigo

At mid-day Raul Vidal, our new friend, stopped by to final measurements and design for the mirror he's going to make for our living room. Raul is an artist in cristal.

Raul would fit well in Austin: he's a radical vegan whose workshop's walls bear the Argentine flag adorned with photos of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro with Cristina Fernandez. 

We took an excursion there last Saturday to see more of his work. Raul lives in Avellaneda, outside the limits of Capital Federal, in Buenos Aires province. We were reminded of Mexico City.

The mirror should be finished around the end of the month. Stay tuned. 

Protesting the Gaza Massacres

At 5 this afternoon, tens of thousands of Argentines in Buenos Aires representing some 50 political, social, and labor organizations marched from the congress building to the embassy of Israel to condemn the massacres in the Gaza Strip. Many held signs with gruesome photos showing the bodies of some of the 400 plus children killed in the 3 week bombardment that left dead more than 1300 Palestinians and some 13 Israelis (including several military personnel killed by "friendly fire"). Body counts and other reliable details at Free Gaza and the Palestine Chronicle.

Speakers at the march condemned the attacks and urged the Mercosur nations to repudiate any free trade agreement with Israel. Mercosur members include Argentina and Brazil (the two largest economies in South America), along with Paraguay and Uruguay. Associate members include Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. 

We marched today with our new neighbors. As the poet Miguel de Unamuno said during the Spanish civil war, "sometimes to be silent is to lie."

Tuesday, Jan. 13

The day turned nice. Some gentle rain fell last night, but not nearly  enough to break the drought affecting the campo. Though gray and humid was not intolerable after recent warm days, the cool, dry wind that blew in from the south around 6 pm scattered the clouds and also refreshed the spirit.

Daughter Belen continues here with us for another few days. She stays constantly occupied with her writing. Her most recent publication.

More ordered furniture arrived last week. That triggered a flurry of box-openings, selecting books and photos from our culled down but still ample collections.

The photo was taken from the living room around 7:30 this evening.

Peace in 2009

Buenos Aires welcomed in 2009 with an almost eerie quiet. By yesterday afternoon, the streets were deserted and most businesses closed. Later, as we waited with daughter Belen to ring in the new year, we noticed how many apartments in buildings around us were shuttered and dark. Even the few fireworks (more noise than lights) at midnight were sparse.

Many people here (as in Europe) take off for the mountains or the beach for several weeks over the summer, escaping the heat of the city. Our favorite pasta factory, for example, closed down Dec. 29 and won't reopen until early February. (Fortunately there are other options in the neighborhood.) 

The peaceful mood here contrasts starkly with the images of carnage, desperation, and grief coming from the Gaza Strip. How can we be allowing this massacre to continue?