We had a bus/ferry to Buenos Aires leaving at 2pm - bus to Colonia de Sacramento, ferry from there to Buenos Aires. Turned out to be lucky for us - Friday is asado day at our family’s: Hosts are Matthias and Nathalie, wielding the tongs & in the pink shirt, respectively; neighbors in the other bus, Gernan transplants in the process of settling, are Paul & Gabi, in the green shirt & hat & dishing lunch respectively. Others are workers, they’re building another parilla (becaus

The end of our month here is coming into view, we leave on the 6th. We’ve settled into something of a routine (i’m writing this on the 5th). Mornings - exercise & yoga & b’fast of granola, yogurt, oatmeal & toast w/marmalade; over to the cafe in the Kavlin Cultural Center for a coffee & to to work on the taxes (me) and PolarSteps (L); home or out to lunch, grocery shopping (yes - every say), then through what has become our favorite neighborhood: San Rafael, to the beach for

Rented a car & headed up the coast toward Brazil, to Punte del Diablo. First stop, Museo de Autos, inland from El Chorro, just east of La Barra: Next, just across the street to the Fundación Pablo Atchugarry. Remarkable: On to Jose Ignacio. Matthias sez this is where models & football players go. Not sure we saw any…lunch at El Mostrador de Santa Teresita: The beach & point: We coughed up the ~ $3.50 to climb the narrow spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse: Back on t

Around the ‘hood on my spanish lesson walkabout: There’s a big Rolex Southern Atlantic Circuit refatta this week; we rode out to the east beach, toward La Barra, to have a look. No boats; instead we saw mosquitos and a thunderstorm building: Headed home for bug spray, snd as it turned out, to wait it out. Along the way home: rode back out & ended up back at the harbor on the peninsula, where we caught the finish. Pretty spread out, pretty anti-climatic: Next day, out to the

Rode down to the harbor, on the peninsula: A local regatta was happening, several one-design classes. Walked out to the end of the breakwater, turned out to be the start/finish line. Biggest fleet was the Optimist Prams: The start: A look around: Out around the point and back through the peninsula, had an excellent pizza at Atrevida Pizzeria: Facetime with August, pushing buttons to try to add Adrienne, took this shot inadvrtently: Our hosts are extremely social, there’s of

Jan 21 - Went in to the actual peninsula of Punte del Este (it actually comprises only 20% or so of the full town). It’s cool - older buildinfs with character, a pedestrian shopping stretch, a coast promenade with restaurants, a yacht harbor. Had a nice lunch at a low key local spot Rustic: Found current favorite helado shop - Lucciano’s: Jan 22 - long (10 mi) bike ride to Arboretum Lussich. Very nice - longish hike, really good cafe where we had coffee and lunch. Passed a pr

Discovered the next town up the coast: La Barra. Smaller, funkier, surfer vibe. We like it. From across the estuary connecting it to Punte del Este (from which i rode my bike): One of its local claims to fame is an odd bridge over the estuary: The beach: Good coffee at Mahalo, Hawaiian motif: Good lunch at PuraVisa: And to complete the trifecta, helado at the local Freddo’s:

Exploring the neighborhood, its actually quite nice - clean, lots o’ well maintained parks & playgrounds, nice old (and many new!) houses. There’s an art museum close by, the Ralli Museum: An early-20th-century watertower added to and converted into a hotel - Hotel Auberge: Some of the nicer places nearby, give you a sense of the style:

We’re trying something unusual: an old bus, parked and plumbed and converted into a studio apartment. Well a stationary camper with plumbing. It’s in Punte del Este, a beach resort town on the south Atlantic coast of Uruguay, at the mouth of the river Platt, that divides Uruguay and Argentina. Here’s the bus (what3words ///terminal.chanted.vocab): The hosts are a very nice German family who work helping people relocate here. ‘Very’ there is actuslly an understatement; many

Arrived on the bus mid-afternoon, walked the 10 blocks to the apt where we’re staying for 3 nights & checked in. I’d booked this place to be near the bus terminal, and since it’s a short 3 night stay, to be cheap. That strategy worked well in Colonia, ‘cause as a small, touristy place, the area around the ferry & bus terminals is still quite nice. Not so in the much bigger Montevideo. In a word, the area around the bus terminal is a shithole. Took a pretty long walk through

Ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay. It’s a smallish town across the River de la Plata from Buenos Aires. It’s got a well preserved historic section from Spanish colonial days. Sunday 4th: Monday 5th: Had a nice dinner at a beautiful place - Charco Bistro: And more strolling: Tues 6th: Left on the 12:00 bus for Montevideo.

Dec 31 - Walked out to Belgrano, a Barrio on the west side of Buenos Aires, adjacent to Palermo. Pretty nice; a bit more well-kept than most of Palermo. There's a big park, Barrancas del Belgrano: Took the metro back to our neighborhood & had lunch at Rita Specialty Coffee, which we'd passed several times and was always crowded: Jan 1 - Retiro is a nicer barrio essentially at the northeast corner of Buenos Aires: The next barrio to the south from there is San Nicolás: Subwa

Good bread at Co-Pain: A nice doorway on Calle Ecuador in Recoleta: Dinner at La Mar in Palermo with friends Inés and JJ, passing through on their way to Bariloche: Cathedral Metropolitana: Went to a Milonga at Milonga Parakultural. A Milonga is a Tango party. It’s a good way to see a Tango demonstration and a local social event. There are 1/2 dozen or so well known venues around town, each of which seems to host two or three a week. Ours was in the basement of an art deco

If I haven’t made clear yet, I should now - Palermo is huge, the biggest barrio in Buenos Aires. It has four sub-areas: We are in Hollywood. Today we walked into SoHo for a poke: Then continued into Villa Crespo and Parque Centenario. Kind of nice, a bit sprawling: And on, looped back toward Palermo Noche: Made two important food discoveries. Good coffee at Cafe Negro: And maybe the best meal of Buenos Aires, at La Alacena: During lunch, the power went out. They kept crankin

Walked through the Botanical Garden: And the zoo: And had lunch & explored the National Museum of Decorative Arts. The cafe/restaurant is among our favorite spots, an outdoor terrace, and the museum is in a very beautiful 19th century villa. It’s in Palermo Chico. Entry is free! And back to our neighborhood to see if there would be tango at Montecarlo. There wasn’t but we sat outside & had drinks. The plaques depict significant events since it first opened in 1922: _

Dec 21, Sun - In the neighborhood: Barrio Colegiales - Mercado de las Pulgas, Koko Bao Bar, corner of Gorriti & Doctor Emilio Ravignani: Dec 22 - Coffee & croissant at Vive, snack at Latin American art museum, coffee at Dandy on Avenida del Libertador: Dec 23 - Eva Perón Museum: Botanical Garden. The sculpture of many people depicts a Saturnalia, a Roman/Pagan celebration with much merriment at Christmas time, in which gifts were given and masters & servants reversed roles: S

The cover quote says “someone said I left my neighborhood, but when? When I’m always arriving” Dec 14 - Gathering storm from the roof, kinda petered out to another nice day: Spent a while in the Museo de Belles Artes. Through Plaza Francia & Plaza Intendente Alvear on the way: Lots of art: Outside the UK embassy: Dec 15 - Plaza Vicente López y Planes: A Peugeot: Dec 16 - Mid day around about Recoleta - Plaza Intende re Alvear, Plaza San Martin de Tours, August’s La Capricho

Arrived CABA (Ciudad Autónoma Buenos Aires) afternoon 7th. Checked into AirBnB in Palermo Hollywood, Bonpland 2082; left the kids there and went to return the camper. Took 4 hours because of the hyper-extended door. Kids flew away while we were at it. OK so the apartment is great - right in the thick of an active district, everything we need, PLUS a swimming pool on the roof: Dec 8 - explored the immediate neighborhood. Lots of cafes & restaurants, lots of tall trees, murals

Dropped Fiona off in El Calafate and set out for Buenos Aires. Six days, five nights - over to the east coast and up: Day 1 - Dec 2, left mid-afternoon after the Perito Moreno glaciers & goodbyes. Five hours Ripio (gravel) route 288; first night: Commandante Luis Piedrabuena. Dec 3 - Piedrabuena in the morning: Lunch stop at Puerto San Julian: Caught a high school graduation celebration: Route 3 hits the Atlantic at Coleta Olivia: 8:30PM. stopped at a random spot along the

Up early & out to the Perito Moreno glacier, an hour outside El Calafate: Dropped Fiona off back in Calafate & 4 of us hit the road for Buenos Aires.