Buenos Aires T+5 - Monday
Oddly, Monday was a recovery day in many ways.
Rafe and Alan went to class.
Jim and John slept in a little.
Because John followed drinking rule #1 and #2, he didn’t have any hangover, but was just a little slow.
Around 10am, Alan called and said that he’d walked out of the Spanish class. He needed a pure beginner class and that wasn’t available so he was placed in a 2nd week class. Rafe studied and with his Italian language background was already on his way. Rafe stayed in the class.
The other 3 did a walking tour with short shopping stops. 6 miles later according to my pedometer and we stopped for lunch. Alan has this habit of ordering a beer with lunch and getting 985 ml worth – almost a quart. The place was recommended, the pasta was fantastic, and the walk home pleasant. Traversing through the music store section of BA – about 5 blocks of stores with instruments, music to play and musicians getting their stick fixed.
I haven’t mentioned the weather – for me it has been wonderful. The first day here, it was almost 80 deg. A cold front came thru and it didn’t reach 60 deg yesterday, but it is very sunny making for weather where a coat is nice, but there’s little chance of overheating. The other guys are from warm climates and would like it to be hotter.
The afternoon saw a longer than expected siesta followed by shopping on Avenue de Santa Fe (another 3 miles). My knee was screaming from overuse.
Change for dinner with Jim’s family around 9pm and back out for our reservations at a nearby pasta place just 2 blocks from our apartment. A mix of English and Spanish is spoken at the table – then add in Rafe’s Version of Spanish – La idioma de Capitan. It is a complex dialect with s added to make a plural word. Nine of us exchanged tales until midnight. Then is was kiss-kiss (once per cheek) and we headed home.
The hospitality shared with us by the family was tremendous. There was always a kind word and even when we couldn’t communicate due to poor Spanish, there was always a genuine smile and nod. Here we are visiting their country and occasionally someone would apologize for poor English.
