Buenos Aires, 28th Oct – 2nd Dec

 

The Thompson’s

Arriving in Buenos Aires, it was a real treat to be picked up at Retiro station by Uncle David, who kindly came to get us in his car. We went back to his house in Temperley to be greeted by May and a lovely spread of medialunas and to Mark’s delight, real tea! It was great for me to see David again, as it had been about 10 years since I last saw him, and the first time for me to meet my aunty May and my cousin, Martin. We stayed with David for 4 days, going into the city and looking around, seeing both of his schools and even helping with a kid’s Halloween party, which was cute! On the Saturday we went bird watching in the Pampa, and every night were treated to May’s delicious cooking as well as lovely nibbles and an asado on David’s very cool outside BBQ. Once I had started my CELTA course, I went back to David’s a couple of times at the weekend for lunch, which was a lovely escape from the city and good to have a bit of ‘home life’ which always included rummy! It was really nice that Teresa and Andrew were there one weekend as well. Big thank you’s to the Thompsons for their wonderful hospitality!

The course

It was great that I met everyone from the course on the Saturday night before as it meant that we all knew each other beforehand. It is unusual to have a group of 12 people where everyone gets on, so we felt very lucky, as everyone was genuinely lovely, really making it feel like a support group during the month. The course was very intensive, involving a 9 – 5 day, with an average of 5 hours work a night, plus most of us got up about 6am to make final adjustments to our lessons. The weekends were not so relaxing either, as we normally had a lesson plus an assignment to plan. However, because the course was so intensive, the learning curve is huge & it really is very rewarding. Most of us managed to go out for a couple of malbecs on a Friday night and usually managed to get at least one day off at the weekend. Everyone passed, which is great news, and most of us went to Uruguay afterwards to celebrate having so much free time again!

The City

Buenos Aires is a beautiful City which is full of character. Some people may disagree with that statement, claiming that it does not have its own identity as it’s such a mixture of different European cultures, but I think that makes it unique in itself. My highlights of Buenos Aires are as follows:
• The dog walkers in Belgrano, sometimes holding up to 20 dogs (although the dog shit is not such a good thing).
• Tango in the street
• Polo – we got to watch a match on our last day – the semi final & it was so exciting. The best thing was you could get so close to the players and the horses…we saw the best player in the world Adolfo, which was exciting.
• The food and drink: I am not sure how Argentines stay so thin. The pastries are to die for & far more delicious than anything I have eaten in France. Then there are the Parillas, where you can get the most succulent meat imaginable for very little money. And of course, the red wine. A two pound bottle of wine is very quaffable and if you spend, gasp, 5 pounds, you have a very luxurious bottle. Heaven.
• Bars – the nightlife in BA is fantastic with some really funky bars and restaurants. We went out mainly in Palermo, & of course, to the polo after party in Recoleta.
• Cemetery – based in the centre of the city on prime real estate, this amazing place is full of the deceased rich and famous, housed above the ground in luxurious crypts. The place is fairly eerie, reminiscent of ‘interview with the vampire’ and certainly not the sort of place you would want to get lost in at night. We even saw in one of the older coffins, an arm falling out, which was a bit gruesome. However, there is also something serene about the place, with lots of trees and flowers. It is also the burial site of Eva Peron, as well as many other famous people.
• Palermo Park – this huge expanse of green space is beautiful and full of beautiful gardens, like the Japanese & rose ones, as well as lakes and fountains.
• Puerto Madero – this rejuvenated dock area is similar to Canary Wharf and full of up market bars, restaurants & cafes – it’s really pretty just for stroll up and down.
• The ice cream – Volta & Persicco are the best – I had the best ice cream of the whole trip and Persicco: raspberry and lemon pie, which had real pieces of meringue and fruit in it. Yum.

In summary, Buenos Aires is a great city and definitely somewhere I would like to return to spend more time. There is something familiar about it, yet still exotic and exciting, which is a wonderful balance. JG