Shared Illusions

Okay, so although this is full day 1, as we arrived at our Air BandB yesterday around 1pm, today was again half a day as we didn’t leave our apartment util about 1 pm. I had a difficult time getting to sleep last night – over tired? – still too cranky to sleep? – too ornery to sleep? Who knows. At any rate, this morning, I slept and slept and slept some more. I finally got out of bed around 10:30. Maybe closer to 11.

Then came the coffee making experiment. Thought for sure that this apartment came with a coffee maker. That’s one thing we always check for on amenities on the air b and b website. However, no coffee maker here. So, I finagled a filter using paper towel. It was working great until the paper fell apart into the cup. Cowboy coffee it is – or a variation thereof. Just let those grounds settle and take diminutive sips so as not to disturb said grounds.

This led to a search for a method of making coffee. We started by asking for a place that sells a French Press. Naturally this called for some creative descriptions via words and drawings. While we were sent to a few places, none had a French Press. We ended up buying a small strainer. So, we’ll continue making cowboy coffee, but at least be able to strain it.

We also bought a knife sharpener. We have discovered that knives are dull in most rental situations. This knife sharpener is primo. It has both fine and coarse sharpener slots. AND it folds in half! Talk about a vagabond’s utensil ideal. We have determined that we will now travel with it. The strainer will also become part of our travel accouterments. After our last trip we’ve taken to traveling with a cork screw. These are important lessons, so take note.

After a very salty, but delicious kale omelette, we headed for points east – the ecological reserve park and the Jumbo store. The park for some nature. The store for the coffee press. You know how that turned out. The park was a bust, too – closed on Monday. We have plenty of time to return though so no worries.

Walking along I happened to see an opening that looked interesting. It was an entry into one of the oldest conventos of Buenos Aires, built in the early 1600s. We walked around a bit. Then an older gentleman came out of an office an offered to tell us a bit of the history – as long as we, or one of us – understood Spanish. He showed us an old map of the original size of BA, with the convent right there on the periphery. Like most large cities now, it was quite small as an original settlement.

He also told us of a place to visit: Galeria Guemes. It has a mirador on the 14th floor from which you not only get to view BA from above, but on a clear day may also see the coast of Uruguay. Tomorrow! Check in for pics and comments.

Note – convents, which I associate with nuns, were home to brothers – frailes. This is the same as in Portugal. I need to do some research on that. There are no brothers there now. There is a restaurant, a theatre (now showing War and Peace), and a bookstore. There is also a very peaceful and quite garden with jacaranda and camphor trees, flowers, and benches for quiet contemplation. I quite liked it there. There were also a few cats lounging about. I love to see cats, lounging about. It speaks to my own inner cat.

We visited a basilica. It was darker than most. I saw a man praying – using his prayer beads. I saw a women with her hands pressed to a glass wall of a cube containing a saint. She was praying. I saw a woman writing down her prayer on paper to leave for the saint to honor. I saw prayers written down on paper and placed within the saint’s glass walled cube. I sat and said my own prayer of thanks and gratitude and healing for close ones in need.

Supplications. I think it was Basilica Nuestra Señora de la Merced.

We sat and had a beer at Temple on the Rio Iguazu. It was a lovely place to relax and people watch as a pedestrian walkway ran just by the outside sitting area. Here are a few photos from that spot.

Okay, yesterday I said this did not seems so much like the Paris of South America. Today, I saw more evidence for that moniker. But it still seems more like Mexico to me.

However, here is a photo that brings Paris to mind.

It was a good day. I leave you with a photo from our window this evening. Moody, isn’t it? It was a moody night. We walked home in the rain from our dinner out at Bar El Federal, dating from 1864. Weather here is delightful.