Finally, Argentina!!!

After boarding the plane in Guad at 2 pm and trying to read(a euphemism for sleep sitting up)most of the way to Panama, I finally gave in and laid my tired body across three seats between Panama and Buenos Aires. My lumpy, midget bed was OK for drifting but not for real sleep.

My first impression of Argentina was flat, flat and more flat. Probably all the way to the Andes, or Kansas. Beautiful squares of agricultural land, criss-crossed with roads and treelines emerging from river banks.

I didn´t see any cows, but maybe they were all at the slaughterhouse preparing for my dinner.

My taxi driver said that there are many folks from Italy that arrived here over the last 100 years and have left a mark on the country. His grandparents were from Italy; his Spanish had a lovely Italian sing-song lilt that was very easy on the ears.

It´s hot (over 90) and humid here. Most of the streets are very clean although my neighborhood could do with more folks actually hitting the readily available basura cans. My B&B is very nice with a fruit, yogurt and sweet bread breakfast which I ate with gusto at 9AM. The place also comes with it´s own mamacita, Maria. Where would I be wihtout a mamacita to replace my Juanita at home?? Then off to bed where I drifted until around 11 when I finally broke down an took a half dose of sleeping pills. The overhead fan kept me quite comfortable while I slept until about 5 pm. Took a much needed shower (in my separate but private bathroom across the hall) and headed out for dinner.

Sidewalks in BA are different from Mexico and radically so from the US. This is a typical BA sidewalk with repairs--it looks as if the concrete was dumped and never really smoothed out. Then before it was set the neighborhood walked by.

Typically latin countries eat dinner quite late, like 9 or 10 PM, but I couldn't wait. I found a COTO, which is a supermarket with a deli, the likes of which I´ve never seen. Maybe somewhere in the States, but certinly nowhere I´ve seen in Mexico, does a deli like this exist. It was more like a cafeteria with everything you could possibly want, but it was all take-out. And cheap! Then upstairs was a cafeteria-type restaurant with the same food but one could eat in the HUGE dining area of the food court.

I got a lovely hunk of roast beef, some roasted potatoes, Waldorf salad and a huge bottle of water for less than $5US. This place is a non-cooker´s dream and I wanna move here!!!

The native people here are much like cosomopolitian Mexicans in that most are light-skinned but with all variation of pigmentation. Like Guadalajara, it would be difficult to tell if someone where from Europe or Mexico or Argentina without hearing them speak their native language. All the other guests in this B&B are from Europe; Germany, the Netherlands and England. And they all speak English AND Spanish.

So far, I´m loving Argentina. Tomorrow I will take Tango lessons here at the B&B for free. Boy, are the Argentines serious about Tango. Even though the women partner has a more physical part, with all the deep knee bends, it´s the men who have the most difficult job in the Tango. They must lead their partner without pushing her around the floor. He must be very sensitive to her body and lead with his chest but remain quite erect.