The New Abode

After a great 2 weeks with the Abuelos Vances, we returned to our new apartment in Cordoba. We are on the 20th floor of a high-rise in the "hip" part of town. So far, the only person we've seen in our apartment building anywhere near our age is the doorman. This place is full of 20-somethings, I think that some are in school but so far I have yet to see anyone toting around books.


Our apartment is a good size (2 bedroom) and we have a cool balcony to sit on. We only get morning sun, so we've got our sliding door open all day. We haven't seen any mosquitos up here either, which is nice. There are no screens on any of the windows, so I'm hoping it stays that way. At night the lights twinkle, this is a fun place to experiment with big city living. Here are some quicky shots taken this evening with Helen's camera (thanks Helen!)


The country had a census here yesterday. All businesses are closed (and are fined by the police if they are caught open) and all schools are closed. People are supposed to stay home, where they can be acounted for. Argentina hires enough workers to knock on every door in the country in one day. What that equates to in our building is a major party night. I mean, its perfect, right? You stay up all night partying and go home and crash with the explicit directions from the government to stay home all day. Why didn't I have holidays like this when I was younger?


We recieved our knock 3:30 in the afternoon. The polite census taker (who spoke a few words of English) came in and sat at the table with us while she filled our her forms. She said she wasn't sure if we were supposed to be counted, but since we were here - she thought so. She asked us our first names, our birthdates, whether we could read/write, what we did for employment, our education and whether we used a computer. That's it.

We bought a bus guide today. We are going to figure out how to get around. We've probably only been in a taxi a few times ~ we walk everwhere Downtown. The bus routes/bus guides are not quite as cut and dry as I'd like them to be. When we err, we've got a lot of walking to do.

Tomorrow we're headed out of the city into the Provincia for the first time. We're headed to a small town called Alta Gracia where there is a Jesuit estancia and the Che Guevara Museum (he spent his adolescence in A.G.) It'll be our first foray on the collectivos (small buses) that run out of town in every direction.

Back to Cordoba!

We took the train back to Cordoba Friday night.Instead of seats like the Uyuni train we bought cabins. We had to get two because they were only for two people but it was still really cool. The beds weren't exactly like bunk beds but they were on top of each other. The bottom bed folded up into a bed that turned into a pretty comfortable couch. The top bunk folded up into the wall and the ladder went under the couch. In the corner of the room next to the window that you couldn't see out was a tiny sink. There was a top that you folded down to make it a table kind of thing. We got our own toiletries packet including: 1 comb, 1 toothbrush, 1 thing of toothpaste, 2 plastic toilet covers(weird huh?), and toilet paper. Oh, and a water bottle. So that was our tiny, cramped, cool(as in cold)neat, awesome room! It was 8:30 when we got on the train so we were tired and ready to go to bed. We used the buzzer to call the attendant to make our beds. I got to watch him do it!!! We brushed our hair and teeth and I climbed up into the top bunk. I was a little afraid that i was going to fall because there was nothing to keep me stationed. However I slept well and woke up happy the next morning. We ate some of the good we broughtand then went into the dining car. media Lunas were for breakfast and we finished about at the exact time we got there. We took a taxi to our new apartment . I'm glad we are now in Cordoba!!!

Another Museum

We went to another museum that had everything! and especially dinosaur bones. They had every sort of bone that you could imagine from all over the world. Most of the bones were enormus, they were from big dinosaurs. Some of the bones were very tiny, as small as rats bones. In the next room they had shells. Theere was a pointy one with holes on the side. There was another pointy shell but it was green and was from Antartica.
There were more bones too but they weren't dinosaurs they were zebras, giraffes, monkeys, slothes, lions and even a head of a whale. There was a dolfin head and an anteater. There was a gigantic room full of birds - owls, tucans, flamingos and so on. They had a glass tank that had stuffed birds in it and there were buttons with speakers and when you pressed them the bird made noise.
Our last room had animals, not bones, animals that had been stuffed and there eyes were marbles. There were apes, foxes and penguins. The fox family was a female and four babies that looked like a happy family. The apes had very mean faces. There were at least 6 of them and they were big black and furry. When I first saw them they looked alive. The Emporer Pinguin was very fat and there was a baby. He was very small and very fat and his flippers were on his checkered, fat belly.
I was very cheerful at the end of the museum, I was glad to see lots of stuff and it was very interesting. I was also sad to think that the animals were killed because they all looked like a happy family.

Chau chau Abuelos Vances

We said goodbye to Mom & Dad, Abuelos Vances on Tuesday evening and return to Quatro Vancesinsouthamerica. It was a wonderful 2 weeks with them and it was sad to see them go. We have a couple more days in Buenos Aires before our return trip to Cordoba via train on Friday night. Maybe the extra time will be enough to finish Grandma's puzzle - dancers in the rain. Today we found a suitable violin for Meghan (her first 4/4) as a belated birthday present. She is very excited and it is nice to hear her play again. There is a Suzuki school in Cordoba not far from our new apartment that we hope to enroll the girls in upon our return.We hit some additional sites today, visiting the Plaza Congreso and the MALBA, museum of art, traversing the city by foot and subway - our favorite. Fares run 1.1 peso equal to 30 cents for each of us, and the routes and stops cover most of the central city. After a near miss of leaving Grandpa Steve behind, or stuck in the doors, we have had no more incidents in the tunnels below. Garbage collectors in the city have been on strike for a couple of days. We thought it odd that piles of garbage bags were on every street corner Monday and the piles got larger on Tuesday and today. The news says that the strike is settled but I guess the collectors haven't been paying attention... we'll see. It doesn't smell bad yet but it quite unsitely in an otherwise very clean city.We like it here and have pondered whether Cordoba is the right city settle in for a while. BA has a little more to offer and doesn't seem daunting with 10 times the population of Cordoba. There are no Gridos in BA, serving up our favorite helado, so we will stick with the plan and catch the night train on Friday.

Dancing with the Stars

Buenos Dias!

This city of 12 million is like any other huge city - full of distinctive neighborhoods. We have wandered into the top 10 in the Eyewitness travel guide. Walking and the subway has made me feel like a local - except when I open my mouth and try to ask a question. Very helpful folks even with our very limited Spanish.

Last night we visited a traditional Tango Show at Cafe Tortoni. Piano, bass and cello accompanied the dancers who twirled, kicked and intertwined to the seductive music. WOW!!

Today we're off to the National Arts Museum and last minute touring before our 20:30 flight to Miami.

The highlight of our visit is being with Mike, Debby, Meghan and Helen. Mike is the breakfast cook. Debby the city guide who knows the difference between derecha and izquierda has led us all over town. Meghan and Helen lead with their exuberance and joy!!

Dia de Madre! (It's Mother's Day... again!)

Who knew changing hemispheres would give me 2 special days in one year??? Today, we celebrated by going to a free concert in Teatro Colon (Columbus Theatre). We had the best seats (first balcony front row) to watch the Trio Luminar (flute, viola and harp). The 3 women musicians were fantastic - we were all impressed.

The theater was amazing and the performance was the only way to see the inside. Thank goodness for the free concert! It re-opened in May of this year after an almost 5 year overhaul. Its such an old-world style performance space - red velvet, fancy marble bathrooms, wide grande staircases. It's built in a horseshoe shape (for perfect acoustics) with floor seating and then multiple levels of seating above. Delightful morning!

This afternoon we walked through the San Telmo area and checked out their street market. The main square had antiques dealers set up, but the rest of the streets were covered with tables and/or blankets selling any number of knick-knacks or art works. The area was a mob scene. We had heard that there were "impromptu" tango shows going on in the street for tips - but we only caught the last 10 seconds of the only dancing we saw. I think a Tango Show might be in order... we'll see.

Tomorrow we have to return to the Retiro station to see if we can get the train back to Cordoba. I sure hope that works out. I think a train trip would be fun!


The time with the Vances here is coming to a close. Tomorrow is their last full day here. I'm not ready for them to go! We've been having such a fantastic time.

Time seems to be flying by these days. I think its almost moving faster now than it was when we were travelling non-stop. I'm not quite sure why that is though. It could be the wine, of course. But I'm pretty sure that days on the balcony in Recoleta are special and we need to pay attention and take them in (see photo). So we do our best to savor the day. :)

Recoleta Cemetery

Today we went to the cemetery there was lots of stained glass and crist on the cross in every tomb. We had a guide, her name was Patricia Salao. The cemetery was very big and was easy to get lost. One women died on her honeymoon, she was going skiing. She was fast asleep and a cliff of snow fell on her house and the glass fell on her and she died, her family built this butiful tomb and buried her in it. Some tombs couldn't pay the govermet any more to get it cleaned so they didn't take care of it and the tomb got dirty and wood fell from the cieling and glass spraled on the floor. the scariast thing was that a young women had a heart attack and she was put in the tomb alive and she died trying to get out and the family saw that the tomb had moved a little. The opened the tomb and her body was scratched and they realized that she was burried alive. Patricia took us out of the cemetary she was saying that the police came and picked up all the stray people.