Buenos Aires, Argentina

I arrived in Buenos Aires on Sunday, the 10th of January, but did not do much because it was a 10 hour overnight flight from Atlanta, and I did not sleep very much. (It is three hours later than MN, by the way.) I met up with Argentine friends, German and Nelly, and they treated me to lunch, and we chatted and chatted. Speaking and understanding Spanish is a pleasure after having been in China. It is so easy to get around; the subways are great, but extremely crowded during rush hour. The subway I take into town is from 1913 and has lovely old cars. It is hot here, in the 80s, but there have been several down pours. One night it stormed and left many branches in the streets.

Every morning I have been meeting up with Glenda, my Canadian friend, that I taught with in Chile in the 60s. She has been taking Spanish classes here for two weeks. We have been having great fun exploring different places in the city, San Telmo, the oldest part of town, Plaza de Mayo, the historical center with government buildings from the 1910 independence, elegant Retiro, Recoleta Cemetary with huge beautiful mausoleums, including that of Eva Peron. There are wide avenues, magnificent buildings with amazing architecture, plazas and parks in many places in the city, and several huge parks with impressive statues. Actually there are huge statues all over the city, many military men on horseback.

I am very impressed with the city as are most people. Some shops are beautiful and expensive, but many carry cheap junk. There are beggars and street people, but also very well to do people, and they live in very beautiful expensive houses and apartments. The city is very European as are the people; there are no black people, no Africans, but there are Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese. One new area of town, Puerto Madero on the Plata River, has high modern glass buildings and ritzy restaurats and cafes. It used to have warehouses and custom offices.

Cafes are plentiful, and the coffee is exquisite. Pastries and sweets are sold every where and are very delicious. Nelly took me to a beautiful cafe, Violets, for tea; the cafe is 125 years old and has beautiful stained glass windows. It is fairly cheap here and the wine is excellent.

It has been fun watching the dog walkers, one young student had more than a dozen in tow. Dog poop is something you have to watch out for, however. We have entered many cathedrals, some more beautiful than others. We also visited the Museum of Latin American Art and saw interesting works by twentieth century artists; Glenda´s hostess gave us a great tour and we learned a lot.

Sunday Glenda and I will fly to Iguazu Falls to meet up with our other friends.