So, what can I say. I arrived at about 8 am in the morning, after the flight was delayed because we were running out of fuel over Brazil, and the pilot had to pitstop in Sao Paulo. I met up with my Dad, who said that I wasn't fat as he had expected - I think he was glad about it, but I'm not sure.
And it was raining. Bah.
For the first few days, I was just getting used to the way of things, and trying to catch up with Sepi, and Romina who I had made great friends with last time I was over, and who had come to England several times since 92.
I met Sepi first, who took me back to his flat, in Acasuso, on the main avenue, and introduced me to his wife, Luciana, and Mili, his daughter.
I also met up with Romina who wa son her way to pic up her artwork from a gallery in the centre of BA that she was displaying it in. I met Romina at Retiro train station, along with her friend Nati - and we ducked into the Subte and popped out near the Obelisco in the centre. There I met Adrian, and I was reminded about driving in BA - it is truely scary sometimes.
Rominas work, along with Natis was being displaying in an old factory that was on the verge of closing down when an art gallery asked if it could use the top floor for exhibitions. So to get to this gallery, we had to walk through a working factory, lots of wolf whistles from the workers - I assume they were for me, but the girls thought that they were for them, and dutifully ignored them.
After that, Romi and I walked into the centre of town, and found a ncie restaurant, and had a meal. For 2 people, in a nice restaurant, with really godo service, on a busy crossroads - lovely juicy steak, milanesas, beer, coke - it only came to 20 pesos including the tip. When I got home to the UK, I found out that that the exchange rate was pretty much exactly 5 pesos for 1 pound - so that whole meal for 2 cost 4 pounds.
I feel sorry for Romi, and Adrian, because after Adrian arrived home late in the evening, I would try and get them to come out drinking with my until 2, 3, 4 am each night. Usually they would come out - we'd drive to the river, and find a bar, and have a good time. Usually drinking Quilmes, or Isenbeck, but in the ridiculous places that didn't sell any Argentine beer we'd have to sometimes resort to Heineken, or even (yuk) Budweiser. I don't know abotu anyone else, but when I go to Argentina, I like to eat and drink Argentine. When I go to Russia, I like to eat and drink Russian. And it's sad to see those two great countries eschewing their (far better) local food and drink for "popular" foreign versions. End of my rant.
My father is very talented musically, linguistically, and - how could he not be, having a son like me? I went along to La Viruta in Palermo with him (calle Armenia 1366 ), to try my hand at Tango. It's a pretty good laugh actually - but the trouble was that there were more men than women (unlike Latin clubs in the UK ) and I wasn't very good at picking out the Spanish for "change partners", so I got left out quite a lot.
As an aside, if you need translation work that involves any of these languages: Spanish, English, German, Celtic, Gaelic, Latin, and probably a whole lot more - get in touch with me, and I'll put you in touch with him.
My father is pretty heavily into Macrobiotics - apparently I suffer from the terrible and fatal San Paco Syndrome. To cure myself, I apparently need to eat lots of salt, which he tried to sneak into my food all the time. Oh, and plums.
Last time I was in Argentina, I didn't leave Buenos Aires. But in the summer everyone heads off into the Interior - Sepi went to Pinamar, and Romina was going to Cordoba with Sylvia. She said that I'd be welcome to come along for a week or so, so I thought I should.
Tickets for the bus were 48 pesos one way - for 500 miles in super comfortable reclining seats, with coffee, TV, and videos, I'd say 12 pounds was OK.
I met a nice girl on the bus - the neice of a politician who was telling me about Creamfields in Argentina - this was good news to me, as last time I had been there ( 92 ) everyone kept asking me if I listened to the Rolling Stones, and were there lots of punks walking around.
http://www.generalurquiza.com.ar/Cordoba was hot. I wasn't staying in Cordoba, but in a smaller town about 3/4 hour away by bus called Rio Ceballos (pron. Sebazjos where the zj is like the j in the French je )
After I was feeling better, I went to Cordoba to meet up with Romina who was staying at Sebe and Euges house. Me and Romina went to watch Lord of the Rings at the Patio Olmas Shopping Centre, about 2 blocks from Euges flat. That evening, (Thursday? ) it was suggested that we went to Carlos Paz, so we hopped on a bus at about 10.30 and headed off. Carlos Paz at night is just a massive tourist area. Loads of party-goers, lots of restaurants, clubs, strip-bars, etc. We eventually ended up at a club called Baku.
Clubs in Argentina never seem to play one kind of music, which means that just when you're enjoying yourself in one, they change it all. :(
Baku went like this. 1 hour, live band, singing covers in English. 30 minutes, really good funky DJ. 1 hour, live band singing national songs in Castellano. Rest of the night, Latin music. I wished that funky DJ had played all night to be honest - 4 hours of Latin music non-stop can get a bit much.
At about 5.30 we went to the bus station - me and Sebe were pretty much drunk, and the girls weren't. Sebe bought another beer, and Euge didn't seem to impressed - considering that they both had to be at work at 9 am :) The girls went outside to wait for the bus, while me and Sebe discussed the world, and sorted it all out. Needless to say, we missed the 6.10 am bus, and had to wait for the next one. When we arrived back in the flat, we managed to get onto the subject of Communism - and you know what, I think we cracked it. We solved all the problems in it, but I can't remember how we did it.
People that I didn't know were very friendly - after hearing me talking English, they would ask where I was from - after I said Inglaterra, they would smile, and be pleasant - I think England has a lot of good will in the world - I hope our government doesn't squander it.