Lazy Days in Buenos Aires

We have opted for a couple of quiet days in town…leisurely breakfasts of toast and café con leche at our local Café, Josephina’s…

afternoons in the park, reading, sketching, grocery shopping, early evening walks. David has arranged to start taking private Spanish lessons twice a week and I am doing some painting, using the tubes of watercolors I brought with me.

March 21, Good Friday

Many businesses are closed in preparation for the long Easter weekend (Monday is a holiday too). The sun is bright and the humidity low, so we decide to head out on foot. We leave the Recolta, walking down the Avenida Figueroa Alcorta (an area of the city that is predominantly “green”), past the Floralis Generica fountain…

and through the Palermo Chico neighborhood, home to diplomats, celebs, and the very rich.

Next is Jardin Japones (Japanese Garden) – a peaceful oasis in the middle of the city. The carp are huge, but the acres of flowering perennials (irises, azaleas, daylilies, wisteria) are past their prime (we’re heading into fall here) - still a lovely place to visit.

We next head over to Parque Tres de Febrero (one of the city’s larger parks) because I want to see Rosedal, a garden within the park that contains 12,000 rose bushes. But, like the perennials in the Japanese Garden, they are past their prime.

Oh well – at least I can cross it off my list.

By now we’re hot and ready to get off our feet (we’ve been walking for 3+ hours), so we stop in Palermo Soho at the 1^st air-conditioned restaurant we find. The menu is huge and we are not really sure of everything we’re ordering. We wind up with cold slabs of mystery meat for appetizers, lomo (filet) steaks with mushrooms and potatoes for David, and pasta with that Chef Boy-R-Dee taste for me. The good news is that the air-conditioning works really well. It's not too often you get a so so meal in Buenos Aires, but this one certainly was.

At the end of the day, we’ve walked at least 9 miles (as best as we can figure). Walking is what we do. We decided we did not want to have a car in Buenos Aires.... and based on how the "portenos" drive, that was a smart decision.

We haven’t quite figured out how the "colectivos" (public bus) system works. It is not as simple as you might think...or perhaps we are not as smart as we think . The following link tells you how to interpret the bus system routes (there is a book you carry with you until you know) but even knowing this we can't seem to find the exact pick-up and drop-off locations for the bus we want. (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g312741-c5232/Buenos-Aires:Argentina:How.To.Use.A.Public.Bus.In.Buenos.Aires.html

We have avoided taking subways because with the heat and humidity, the thought of going underground to ride subway cars without air-conditioning reminded us too much of the #7 Flushing line and the #4 Lexington Ave line in New York City (back in the 70's and 80's). Been there -done that!

While taxi's are plentiful, unless we are really beat from walking we avoid them. Walking ... the new exercise for retirees.