April 2-4 Lessons, Tigre and more..

April 2

Morning coffee at the "local" looking over my notes getting ready for another Spanish lesson (#4) with Diego... I get the brilliant idea that it's time I take control and let Diego know what I want to focus on, as I am not fluent yet and boy I should be after 3 lessons (very big grin)! Diego arrives and I go over my plan with him. Lets conjugate verbs.

If I get this down right then all I need to do is toss in a few nouns, pronouns and adjectives and I have this language thing down pat! With only 2 more lessons before we leave I am under pressure-my retirement career depends on immediate fluency! ''Claro" he understands. Diego has obviously sensed my impatience about not being able to read War & Peace in Espanol. He, it turns out, is totally prepared for any contingency. Out comes the papers on "Verbs", regular, irregular and reflexive verbs (verbs that describe things that you do with "your body" e.g., wake, sleep, wash, dress, etc.),

Next a sheet with rules for when they end in "AR" or "ER" or "IR", what to do if they are male or female, what do do if they are singular or plural, what to do if they are past, present or future tense. By the way, he is only speaking to me in Spanish! I think Diego had my number.....he buried me in verbs and at the end of two hours I was wasted...here's a picture of Diego trying his best to accelerate my learning (he's got his work cut out for him):

After a workout like this there is only one thing left to do....LUNCH, and then a stroll around the city and of course time to rest up for dinner.

The weather has been fabulous so we decide to go to the Hyatt again, but this time for drinks on the veranda, and then try out a restaurant that is highly recommended on "OLEO" (guide similar to Zagats, but specific to BsAs), http://www.guiaoleo.com.ar/, but never mentioned in any of the local books or magazines that we look at. TeaTriz turns out to be fabulous. Wonderful elegant setting and superb food. The best meal we have had to date in Buenos Aires, and as you already know we do eat out a fair bit.

April 3 – Time Out in Tigre

On Thursday, David and I leave our apartment early, walk over to Retiro Station (BA’s version of Grand Central Station) and board the train. An hour later, we arrive in the town of Tigre – gateway to the Delta, a labyrinth of over 6,500 miles of canals, rivers and islands. People have told us this area reminds them of New Orleans’ bayous, and now that we’ve been there we understand why.

We buy boat tickets and make lunch reservations for Gato Blanco (recommended to us by our friend Rick...who loves to eat out as much as we do), http://www.gato-blanco.com/, at one of the kiosks lining the river , then walk around town for awhile, taking shots of photo-worthy wicker stalls …

and rowing clubs....

Then we board the "Interislena XX" at 11:30 for the 1+ hour boat ride (depending on how many “locals” the boat picks up or drops off along the way) out to Gato Blanco, which like everything else in the Rio Plata is accessible only by boat. (See Sidebar for Video)

The first thing you notice about the Rio Plata is its color – brown…not dirty brown, but caramel brown, from all the silt. There are no roads or cars on the islands. And the same boats are used by visitors for sightseeing and by the locals for commuting and transporting their groceries – so every house has its own dock.

People wait on their docks till the boat comes…the boat captain pulls up to a dock, idles the boat for just a few seconds, people get on and off, and then it’s on to the next stop.

Boats are used to deliver bulk food and supplies; coolers of water, sacks of onions, bottles of soda, tanks of propane…

transport lumber for dock pilings…

and collect children who do their homework on their way home from school.

Every so often there is a gas station on the water. Check out the sign on the gas pump (double click on the picture to blow it up). Sometimes you can't escape politics!

Most of the houses are on stilts and have water collection tanks on their roofs. They are frequently small, colorful, surrounded by lots of tall trees – and often have 2 or more dogs running around the yard or barking on the dock as the boat pulls up.

We arrive at the restaurant at 12:50, have a leisurely lunch, then relax on the dock until the boat picks us up at 3:30 – and the routine resumes…picking up and dropping off locals as we head back to town.

April 4

All that fresh air tires us out, so we spend Thursday evening in. On Friday, David gets a massage cause his shoulders and legs are “tight” – must be all the stress he’s under! That evening, our friend Santiago comes over for drinks. After a great bottle of Malbec (thanks Santiago!) it's 9:30pm and we are off to Kansas (billed as an American style restaurant) for good ole baby back ribs. At 10:30 we are joined by Santiago's good friend Daniela, sit down for dinner, more cervezas and margarita's and great ribs.

After dinner Daniela is off to meet more friends and the three of us head back to our apartment for more drinks and conversation. At 3:45 a.m. Santiago leaves for home and once again we have lived "la vida loca".