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Thursday was filled with

• a little extra sleep
• Famous Cafe for coffee – something about it being the oldest in BA
• Jardin Japonese
• Malba – Museum of Contemporary Art
• Shopping at The Mall
• Grocery shopping
• short siesta – I do a few Pimsleur chapters.
• whatever happens after this … it is Rafe and Al’s last night here.

We trek – 2 miles to the oldest Cafe in BA. It had a nice atmosphere, but the food seemed only so so.

Next was the taxi ride to the Japanese Garden across town. The driver had to ask were it was. The gardens were as peaceful as could be expected when surrounded by a city of 13 million. The roar of the city just outside the garden was always present. Lots of photos – more than it deserved.

There is a sushi restaurant at the garden, so we ate lunch there. Al found a new beer that he liked. Jim didn’t order sushi, Rafe was still in Spanish class, and I ordered mixed tempura and 4 pieces of sashimi (no rice please). As we were finishing up, Rafe called and was headed over in a taxi. He ordered a mixed sushi platter – muy rapido and paid the bill.

Next, on to the Malba Art museum. This is 2 floors of contemporary art. Not nearly as nice as the museum yesterday, IMHO. I find contemporary art to be either too simplistic or too busy. There were a few pieces that I liked, but much of the display was pencil drawings that appeared to me to be drawn by 4th grade students. Combine that with the entrance price and complete No photography rule, and I’m not happy. How many parallel lines does it take to make art? Phuft.

Next to the Malba is the 3 story mall – upper middle class shopping. Very pretty stores, nothing jumped out at me. I was interested in the supermarket on the ground floor, but we didn’t go into it.

Taxi ride home. The driver didn’t take the most direct route, so as soon as we were near walking distance, I said aqui – here – we got out, no tip.

Grocery store – water, bananas, apples, some biscuits and we get into the shortest line. 20 minutes later it becomes clear the different lines are for different purposes. I’m not certain, but it appears a few lines include home delivery if you buy a certain amount. There definitely is a need for optimization in this store. At 4 pm, the manager was called to provide change for 50% of the transactions, not very efficient. A guard followed her between the cage, other checkout lines and ours – for a AR$40 change need. That’s about US$15. I didn’t see any credit card use, but I did see a few checks written with photo ID required. The fruit selection had more varieties than normal, but none of it seems like the high end quality I’m used to at my home Publix store. None of the bananas were like what we get in the USA. Zero cauliflower, nada broccoli and the oranges were smaller than I’m used to seeing.

Back to the apartment … things seem a little off inside. Jim and I both have a feeling that someone was in here. My bathroom window is closed, but not quite closed. Jim’s bathroom is missing a roll of TP. I check all the windows – nothing else seems open or wrong. We decide to use some 007 techniques when we leave next time. In theory, nobody else should be entering this apartment – even the cleaning lady had to be let in and out. Hopefully, we’re just being paranoid.

We plan to be cautious especially the few days before we leave.

There are fires covering hundreds of square miles of cropland here. The smoke is covering the river delta and most of Buenos Aires to the point that both airports were closed and traffic accidents occurred. The in-town airport is closed more than the international airport, which is good for Rafe and Al. However, my flight to Iguazu Falls early Sunday morning will probably be impacted in some way. With all the smoke comes respiratory concerns. Even I’m feeling the smoke, but Al and Jim have allergies.

Thursday evening, we go to a restaurant that is supposed to be known for BBQ to meet up with others going to the language school with Rafe. Rafe is the only beginner to show up, the other 8 or so people are near the end of intermediate class or in advanced. They are from all over the world. Anyway, the food is ok, bad, good depending on what you happened to order and fairly inexpensive. We leave ASAP and split up for the remainder of the evening. Rafe probably spent his last night with a local girl we’d met on day 1.

Al and I head back to the Shamrock Irish Pub – packed with youngsters for a few drinks. We know the main bartender there by now and get good treatment from her. The upstairs and downstairs are filled with 20-somethings exchanging cell phone numbers. This bar has a completely different feel than on slower nights.