Buenos Aires - Week 2

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Let me start by apologising for not updating this more frequently, although we have been busy learning Spanish .... and eating a lot of steak, and drinking red wine, it is no excuse for not giving the blog the attention it deserves. Consequently, I will now try and backdate the last few weeks from my written diary and pictures.

We realise at the start of this week that we have been spending money at a similar rate that we would when at home, some basic calculations tell us that we won't last very long if we keep this up. We set a budget of 100 pesos a day (20 quid) for this week and we'll see how we do.

We also decide that after class, rather than eating a massive lunch and then going home for a nap, we will try and explore the city and cook a meal at our apartment in the evening. On Monday we walk to the Recoleta area of the city to see the famous cemetary where Evita is buried. It is very impressive, there are avenues between the tombs which create a kind of 'death city' ! We call in at an upmarket supermarket on the way home, a friendly and well dressed Argentine lady recommends some pasta to us, it turns out to be some of the most tasteless mush I have ever eaten. She also delayed us enough to make me have to run back to the apartment to make it back in time for Monday night poker ...... I think I ended up winning though !

On Tuesday we go to the botanical gardens in Palermo where there are loads of cats and dead fish in a pond. We lounge about on a bench in the sun and do some homework.

Wednesday night, our Spanish teacher Sofia takes us to 'La Catedral', a tango place in an area of town we have never been to before. We actually walk past it initially as it is so non descript, inside however is another matter. Shabby chic eat your heart out, this is the real deal. The furniture and decorations are old, cheap and look really cool, we pay 1 pound for a tango lesson which I am absolutely terrible at, my dancing partner starts off sniggering and ends up laughing in my face. I sit down and drink some red wine to console myself, I can't be good at everything can I ?

We have some new class mates in school this week which is good for improving the standard. On Friday night I have a bit of a break through and order dinner entirely in Spanish, we even get what we asked for ! Incidentally the steak, mustard sauce and fried potatoes is to die for.

On Saturday we walk to the Boca neighbourhood to see the football stadium and the famous painted houses. We take a tour of the stadium which is conducted in Spanish for everybody else and then in English just for us. The stadium has loads of character, the seats rising up very steeply right from the edge of the pitch. The guide tells us that the away team have to enter the pitch from some stairs right in front of the Boca hooligans, their dressing room vibrates from the stands above ! I wouldn't fancy this, it bothers me if there are scallys hanging around at Fog Lane ! After this we go to the tourist area of Boca with the painted houses and Tango, it isn't a lot of fun so we walk back and have a milanesa sandwich for a 'snack' which turns out to be more than can fit on the plate ! We then go and watch an Argentine film (with English subtitles) that was advertised at the school, we thought it would be a little cinema house, but it turns out just to be the 2 of us in somebodies from room. Fun but weird.

On Sunday we don't do much except go for a walk in the park with our landlords Flor and Martin and their dogs (Vamos Pampa !) Martin and I have much in common, including our choice of tracksuits.

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