Hi, today is Thursday, and it is 7.50 in the morning. I should still be asleep, as we went to bed around 11.30pm after eating a wonderful dinner (at 10pm) here in our apartamiento with most of Roberto's immediate family. In case you didn't know Argentinians sleep late (kind of an understatement!). But it seems I have adjusted to the time here and my body clock is working, and so I am up early as normal (what a shame! Sleeping in could get handy here).
We arrived at the airport in Buenos Aires on Monday afternoon and came smoothly through customs and immigration. Australia has an agreement with Argentina that visitors from both countries pay a $US 100 fee when they enter the other, but do not therefore need to have a visa. I had hoped that Roberto might not have to pay on entry into Argentina, having citzenship of both countires now, and actually he didn't, saving us $100 - we'll see if it is the case on our return to Australia.
Found all our bags at the carousel, loaded them onto two trollies, and headed out.
And there they were wating for us, Roberto's Mum & Dad and his nephew of 21 that he had never met. Many hugs and kisses later, they loaded us into two hired cars - better than the local taxis apparently, and we were on our way to home, in the middle of the city.
To be honest, I was a bit unprepared to see the city. I knew that Argentina has suffered a lot with economic problems thanks to many reasons - but it looks poorer than I was expecting. Roberto also said he was shocked to see it and it took him till last night and the family dinner to begin to feel part of it again. He remembers it as bigger and cleaner. Not that I mind - I love to be able to talk to people in their street stalls and having a friendly porter at the door of our building is very nice, ready to help when you need it. It's just that I wasn't expecting it.
Roberto's parents live in a cosy apartment on one of the busy streets near the centre of the city. Av. Pueyrredon travels north - south and crosses Av. Corrientes nearby. The entrance to the apartment is a beautiful gate and the walls inside are mirrored and the floor is marble. The apartment floor is mostly parquetry and the furniture is beautiful. But it is all "old" and looks like it has been there for a long time. Only some of the windows are openable and the washing machine reminds me of one in my grandparents' house. The kitchen has a big gas stove (I love cooking with gas!) and the cupboards are just the right size for me - that means they are smaller than what you are used to in Aus. And that reminds me of Japan. Here are some photos of some of the beausitful old buildings - they are everywhere.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buenos_Aires-Center-P3050007.JPG
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-34.579083333333,-58.405722222222&spn=0.01,0.01&t=k&q=http://toolserver.org/~para/GeoCommons/GeoCommons-simple.kml&hl=en
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UBA-economicas.JPG
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UBA-Facultad-Derecho.jpg
Ok! Will write next about what we have been doing so far and the family. Till then, bye for now,
Kerrie.
