One of the stark adjustments one must make when changing hemispheres is the sudden change in the length of the day. The mornings are coming much earlier and the evenings much later than they were when we left home. I don’t know if it is that we haven’t adjusted to the four hour time zone change or that we are starting to fit into the rhythm of Buenos Aires, but we are also sleeping later into the day and retiring many hours past our customary bed times. Once again we left the apartment today after noon, and when we got home around sunset it was a lot later than I supposed.
We had a few errands to accomplish today and were able to do them all. We could have probably done some of through the internet but we’ve been finding on line information somewhat unreliable, particularly regarding prices. We watched a quite animated news anchor on a restaurant television talking at length about the economy but with no sound, no subtitles, and limited graphics. I gathered she was reporting the inflation rate so far this year is 16 percent, whereas it was 75% in 2018. I still need to confirm that, but clearly prices are much higher than they were when our 2018 guide book was published.
Our first errand was to take the subway to the Retiro train station and scope out where we are to meet an acquaintance on Sunday. We then found bus station for a list of bus companies so we can research options for a night bus to Mendoza. We are not going there for a couple weeks, but we want to reserve seats before we take a week to go to Uruguay. In a park near the terminals is a monumental tower that we erected in 1906. We could not read the sign describing the tower so all I can say is that it’s old.
We also needed to put eyes on the ferry terminal for current schedule and pricing. We are trying to decide whether to to to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay for a day trip while we are in Buenos Aires or to hold off until we go to Uruguay on the 28th and stop there on the way to Montevideo.
We searched for a post office to get postcard stamps. It was not extremely difficult to find with several stops for directions. We made it through a straightforward process to get the stamps. Unfortunately we did not know the process and, with no signs or information to follow, ended up going through a little convolution to get them. There was good news and bad news when we got the stamps. The bad news is they were 150 ARS a piece (about 4 USD). The good news is we won’t be spending a lot of time writing post cards. Sorry.
We also wanted to check out the Galeria Pacifico, which is in an old classic building in the city center. One of the features we wanted to see is the murals in the central cupola.
One thing we did not expect to see was the Borges Cultural Center that took up three floors in the corner of the Galeria. There was a free exhibit of some striking art that I am having difficulty categorizing. There were also two photographic exhibits, one containing images of North Korea by a Canadian photographer named Nathalie Daoust. It was very moving. The composition and special pigmentation created a landscape of a bleak and lifeless place.
I guess I could add a few photographs of the various meals we had today, but I’ll just refer you to Facebook to see pictures of food.
Until tomorrow…….
Shared Illusions 