Back in Buenos Aires for two months.

Arrived back from Uruguay a few days ago and are settling into our apartment in Recoleta. We've booked this place through July 15 to give us plenty of time to really get to know the city. Looking forward to doing some cooking and taking a break from restaurants for a while!

The apartment is big and old-fashioned, even has a maid's room in the back (with a tiny little bed with iron bedstead) and a service elevator. Also, a gigantic utility sink, clothes washer and an electric drying closet. It's probably 1,000 square feet. It was the longtime home of the parents - perhaps the grandparents - of the young woman who rents it on Airbnb. It's in a terrific area in Recoleta just a block from a nice small park and surrounded by shops, cafes and restaurants, and a few blocks from the famous cemetery. I'm imagining all the family activities, dinner parties etc that happened here over the years!

We've also been getting to know Buenos Aires through popular culture, in particular, TV shows. This two-season show from about five years ago has been great!

The weather has remained balmy - mid 70's during the day - but eventually winter will arrive. Even then, it should be relatively mild, a San Francisco type of winter, at least in mid and northern Argentina. We won't be heading to southern Patagonia any time soon, though... brrr.

The first thing on my list is to find a Spanish teacher. It's been fine navigating restaurants, stores and transportation, but it's time to have some extended conversations with someone who can correct my mistakes and explain grammar points and vocabulary choices. The Argentinians pronounce "ll" and "y" like "sh" rather than like "y", so pollo becomes posho, amarillo becomes amarisho, yo becomes sho, etc. Getting used to it now. There are several meet-up type groups for chatting in various languages which I will be checking out this week.

Working towards the goal of visiting all 82 of the "Bares Notables" -here are the first and second we've been to, the Montecarlo and the LaValle:

Some random images from wandering around the city:

Located one of the Jewish neighborhoods, this McDonalds is the only kosher McD outside of Israel. The building is a huge old train station that was gutted and turned into a shopping mall. It has a children's playground and a small amusement park inside. The neighborhood is also heavily Peruvian.

All around town are benches that are made to look like tufted upholstery but are actually cement. Not terribly comfortable but still glad to have a place to sit down sometimes.

In our neighborhood I've seen these guys several times, selling gigantic feather dusters:

Last but not least, a visit to the Evita Museum. It's located inside a beautiful mansion that belonged to a wealthy socialite couple - Evita convinced them to donate it to her organization that housed the homeless, mostly women and children. She was only 33 when she died!

What a woman!

Buenos Aires is no doubt a big city - population 15.5 million - with traffic and bustling people. But somehow the vibe is relaxed. The people are relaxed. Buen dia, ¿qué tal? - everyone greets everyone else, people are helpful and cheery. Looking forward to the next couple of months here and hoping to meet some locals.

Over and out.