HappyDays – Week ThirtyEight
Reminiscing about our beautiful last week in Argentina this summer/winter in July and our family trip back home to Europe.
Currently, I am sitting on a couch overlooking a beautiful lake in Switzerland, being watched over by a gorgeous young black cat, going through photos from Argentina… Life takes some definite interesting twists and turns. I know it’s very American to relish in the fact that “I’m so busy”, but honestly life has been incredibly full that I haven’t had a moment to sit down and gather my thoughts that have been percolating in my brain over the past month. It’s Aug 23 and I’m writing about the last week of July. It’s good to experience life and be in the moment, but it’s also important to take time and reflect on what’s happening - and so much is.
July 28 – Day 261
Monday was the last day of our family visit to Villa Gessel and this luxurious cup of cappuccino at the bus terminal before our five-hour ride back to Buenos Aires was the perfect send off.
July 29 – Day 262
Tuesday we met with friends of Tía Mecha’s for an afternoon at Palermo and we went to the Botanical Garden and the Japanese Garden. The Botanical Garden has a very soft spot in my heart as that is where I had two exhibitions of photos of the Trees of Buenos Aires - the first about the Tipa trees and the second about the Jacaranda trees.
Unbeknownst to us, the Japanese Garden was free to Argentine residents and so it was packed to the gills, but it was lovely to visit. There were exhibitions of origami, traditional kimonos, origami workshops and Ikebana workshops for children and adults alike. We just wandered around and took it all in.
After all this beauty, we had an afternoon pick-me-up nearby at a heladeria/cafe called “Cremolati” and that ice cream is still heralded as someone’s all time favorite.
July 30 – Day 263
Wednesday morning we met up with a friend and walked to Confitería Las Violetas, an incredibly gorgeous traditional “Confitería” that was restored in 2001 and is officially one of the “Bares Notables” of the city of Buenos Aires.
Breakfast was an overload of delicious carbs. There is nothing like Argentine medialunas. They are dense, sweet and sticky with a delicate orange syrup painted onto the dough - they may have the same basic shape as a croissant, but “nada que ver”.
We met up with another friend for lunch and had a good catch up over a rustic Argentine lunch - perfect for a winter day. Then, we walked over to El Ateneo, one of the world’s most beautiful book shops. A former theater, it has been repurposed to a gorgeous book store - it’s almost holy in its reverence to literature. The stage has been converted into a cafe and it feels surreal and almost a bit heretical to sit there enjoying an afternoon pick-me-up but it also somehow just works.
The day wasn’t done with us yet - we hoped on the 152 bus to La Boca to visit with Primo Guido at the Volunteer Fire Station where he has been part of the team for going on 10+ years now. He gave us an impressive behind-the-scenes tour.
The only flame that ignites us is the one that keeps us alive.
July 31 – Day 264
Thursday we visited family out in the suburbs of Buenos Aires and had a nice tour of the town of Quilmes, including visiting the brewery of Quilmes - sort of like visiting Budweiser’s or Heineken’s headquarters. We had a delicious homemade dinner, enjoyed the cozy fire and played games, including the dice game 10,000 and David won outright - throwing six 1’s - he was ecstatic!
August 1 – Day 265
Friday our was our last planned full day in Buenos Aires. We went over to a friend’s house for a yummy homemade lunch and catch up including more games - including a board game to get robots to move correctly. They live in Barrio Chino, so we took advantage after our meetup and walked around.
The original street of Arribeños has gotten a facelift - all the stores seemed to have been improved with new furnishings, better lighting and just less overall dinginess.
I didn’t understand why until we walked a street over to the newly developed area under the overhead train line. Wow. Full of shops and restaurants just waiting for their instagram influencers to take their shots. Original Chinatown had to keep up with the Jones’ to stay afloat.
Goodbye dinner at Cafe San Juan in our old neighborhood of San Telmo. Photo by David. :)
August 2 – Day 266
We woke up at 6 AM to get into a taxi by 8 AM to arrive at the airport by 9 AM. Three hours ahead of time for an international flight to Madrid. Plenty of time, tranquillo. Seemed like everyone else had arrived at least four hours ahead of time because the line to even get to the checkin area was a “blockbuster” of old, as when we used to line up around the block to hopefully get into the movie theater for our favorite films. Yeah, I’m old.
Easily an hour waiting to checkin, then that same long line to get through security and then again through immigration and we made it pretty much just in time to arrive at the gate with a few minutes to spare before boarding at 11:30 for the 12:15 flight.
11:30 came and went.
12:15 departure became 13:30, which became 14:30, which became 15:15, which became 16:15 which became CANCELLED.
We were shuffled through the airport as one big group to get through immigration, and to the luggage pickup to get our bags and then on to various shuttle buses to take us to a hotel in Buenos Aires for the night.
August 3 – Day 267
Woke up to beautiful golden light in downtown Buenos Aires.
We had a lovely breakfast and Santi waited on hold for 45 mins and got us rebooked on a direct flight to AMS via KLM that left in three hours at 14:40. We were still in the hotel. We quickly packed up everything, called an Uber and were at the checkin desk by 12:40.
Santi calmly and quickly arranged everything - he’s amazing in an emergency and I hope to learn to be calm like him, but stress and anxiety seem to be my default. But I am learning to breath and accept situations as they are because worrying doesn’t change the present, just makes you anxious about the future and makes for an unpleasant present experience.
Because we were so “late” getting to checkin, there was no line, we breezed right up. We then breezed through security and immigration and were at the gate by 13:00. We even had time for a lovely goodbye lunch at La Cabrera which has almost become a tradition for us now.
Boarding a flight just 25 hours later.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t sleep so I watched Season 2 of The Last of Us and I was happily surprised to see Gustavo, the composer of the score of the series playing at a party in the second episode.
While we were waiting for our delayed flight, I was scrolling Substack “notes” and came across Suleika Jaouad’s note showcasing her husband’s latest music video with Randy Newman. I showed this to people we were waiting next to as it was just so exquisite. I get goosebumps watching this over and over. Enjoy.
Suleika Jaouad - Jon Batiste’s wife wrote:
Once again, I am biased. But in my humble opinion, this sets a whole new blues standard. I can’t stop listening.
Also, the hand kiss at the end? Randy Newman, you softie.
Lovely recap of that visit. And how homesick it made me - no - what memories it brought back for me - of such wonderful places in Buenos Aires. How lucky to have had that place and time in one's life. Love the ending with Jon and Randy. Thank you mxm