A day in the Zoo

Yesterday Tina and I met a friend from university and his friend to enjoy the awesome weather in the zoo of Buenos Aires.

First the weather didn’t look so good but when we arrived there all clouds left and the sun could shine strongly.

For me the most interesting animal was the Patagonian Mara, in Spanish called Mara Patagónica (Dolichotis patagonum). You could see it everywhere ‘cos it was free-ranged.

After the zoo we went arround the corner to have some pizza and beer.

It was a very nice day.

At night Tina and I went to a bar in San Telmo.

At that day my ‘mosquito bite’ (?) at my foot became that bad that at the end I coludn’t walk anymore and the foot was twice as big as the other. Today I went to the doctor and he confined me to bed for at least two days. It might be either an infection or an allergy. Hopefully it’s getting better pretty soon ‘cos on Tuesday and Wednesday I have exams…

Half way through…

Last Friday I got up a little bit later than usual and prepared myself a rich breakfast with the papaya, the maracuyas and some selfmade tomato jam I bought at the sunday market in San Telmo. As almost every morning, I brewed some coffee (Brasil) I had bought - fresh grinded - two days earlier.

In the evening I went to my tango lesson in Belgrano - as usual - but this time  I stayed for the advanced course as well; just to see how difficult it is. The were dancing Milonga.

After that I went to Tina’s place to have dinner with her, her new flatmate from New Zealand, her landlord Pedro (friend, painter and passionate Tango dancer) and his brother. It was a nice dinner. At night Tina, Pedro and I went to a bar around the corner to have some drinks and a smalltalk. I tried a Mojito Daiquiri. Damn!, that one was strong in its taste! They slushed it WITH the mint AND the lime. At about 6am we headed home.

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The last two days were like hell! We had to finish and hand in our two finals (in ‘general translation’ and ‘cultural studies’). So Tina and I worked all nights through…

Now we are done with it. Hopefully we made it in order not to write an additional exam!

On Tuesday there is my written exam of my Spanish course and on Wednesday its oral exam. After that we are planig to travel to Puerto Madryn to see marine birds (like the Black-browed Albatross (diomedea melanophrys), the Sanderling (calidris alba), the Snowy Sheathbill (chionis alba), the Southern Giant Petrel (macronectes giganteus)),  the dolphins, Magellan Penguins, South American Sea Lions, Southern Elephant Seals, Orcas and Southern Right Whales (also called ‘Eubalaena australis’).

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I have to leave my flat in the mid of December due to my landlord’s uncle who “needs” to sell his apartment. Therefore I’m looking for a new apartment in Recoleta, San Telmo, Centro or Palermo. It should be a cheap apartment ‘cos I just need one during my travelling period. It would be great if it was in a party area.

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btw: the cockroaches woke up from their winter sleep. You can meet them now in the streets when you’re out for dinner. And it might not take long till you invite them into your house…

Feria de San Telmo

Today, I decided to finally go to the feria (market) of San Telmo. Every Sunday they close almost every street for this market. Therefore it is huge. And every street is crowded, every single table in every café is taken. They are selling food, drinks, handicrafts, etc. When I met Tina at 1.30pm the weather didn’t look so well, too many clouds. But later on the sun came out and we had just great weather. We enjoyed some lunch at a restaurant. Afterwards we went to the ‘Antiguo Mercado‘, a market hall tha is opened every day. There I bought a Papaya and two Maracuyas.

Now I headed for home. I came to Plaza de Mayo. There they had installed a stage for Reggea music. The Avenida de Mayo , leading to this Plaza with its Casa Rosada, was closed today. There was another stage. I heard some music coming from this street so I followedthe sound. There was a colorful parade. I got on a little stage to have a better position for taking some pics. This event was organized by the Government of Buenos Aires and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. This festivities were held due to the anniversary of 20 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall, 60 years of existence of the Federal Republik of Germany, and 15 years of partnership with Berlin. Along the avenue they set up some Domino which student shad painted.  It was a nice atmosphere, that much German flair, the drums/percussion, the dancers, …

When they left the avenue I headed for the café Olympica to get some delicious ice cream.

Long Day…

Friday the 13th wasn’t a bad day at all. It was a long day for Tina and me. We went to Tango class in Belgrano at 5pm. After that we decided to eat Pizza and drink a beer at ‘La Casona’. It had a lot of topping this time. Later, we wanted to watch a movie in a movie theater at Lavalle Street but at 11pm there was no good movie playing anymore. Therefore we decided to watch a guy performing a Jackson show in the same street. He was dressed like the ‘King of Pop’ and his moves were quite authentic. He sang playback. We enjoyed the little show.

Later we went to San Telmo and stopped at the bar ‘Aquí Me Quedo‘, one of the many bars at Chile Street. We had some Cocktails and a young funny (for me more likely weird) waiter named Martín who made some jokes. To round up the day (or should I say: night?) we went to the boliche Museum. This building was designed for the exhibition and sale of agricultural machinery of the Nocetti Company. Short time later we met Martín in this discotheque. We stayed there till 7am, untill they threw us out to lock up this location. 

Day Off

Today I had a day off because we didn’t have Spanish class. The professor just didn’t show up. Therefore I decided quite spontaneously to stroll along through the town with my camera again and enjoy the great weather.

I took some pics on the way home from university (Avenida 9 de Julio, Plaza Lavalle). My aims for today: Argentinean’s oldest café Tortoni (est. 1858) at Avenida de Mayo 825 and the museum of Tango right next-door, and Plaza Congreso with its National Congress. On the way I took some pics to capture some impressive spots. At the café I ordered some Lomo ‘au gratin’ (of ham, tomatos and cheese) with fresh pressed orange juice and of course a coffee. Sitting there was like eating in a museum. There are still the original tabels made of wood and marble. Every guest walked around and took pictures of all the pics and paintings at the wall or of the sculptures of famous guests in the corners. So did I at the end of my stay. Furthermore I bought a coffee jarrito (little coffee mug) of this café. I wanted to visit the Academia Nacional del Tango (museum) but time was too short.

After this refreshment I headed for the Plaza Congreso up the avenue. There was just one problem: the sun was already setting, namely behind the Congreso Nacional Nevertheless I went there and took some pics. There was one of the ‘every day demonstrations’ producing a big chaos on the street. On the way home I stopped by at my new favorite ice cream place ‘Olimpica‘  (Av. de Mayo 752).