First dinner out - January 27th 2011

Most restaurants in Argentina don't seem to open until after we are in bed!! So far, we have seemed to be taking the late lunch as a dinner approach! (or cooking in).  If we ate the regular time as most locals here (10 or 11pm! - at the weekend people even go to eat as late as 1am!!!) I would not stand a chance of getting Charlotte up for any home school before having to head to Spanish lessons.

However, to celebrate a birthday, we decided to venture out, well after Charlotte's bedtime.  We took a recommendation from a neighbour (American couple in same apartment block who have a 2 year old daughter, also named Charlotte).

We arrived at the restaurant after 9pm - a massive place with about 30 tables laid, lots of waiters around, but it was empty (the economy...??).  However, by the time we left, we had trouble getting out with all the people coming in!!  With 4 days of Spanish lessons under my belt, i was able to have some sort of conversation with the waiter - I managed to ask if they had a menu in English!!  They actually did, and it was quite amusing seeing the literal translations "half a small mushroom rabbit" "loin of the mushrooms" etc (not complaining as better than nothing!).  He continued to keep speaking to me, oblivious of the fact I could not understand a word he was saying!!

Despite the 4 days of classes, (and the English translation menu!) I still ended up getting fish when I thought I had ordered steak! (there was no translation of the type of fish, which I thought was a cut of meat....)  Meat is definitely the food of the day, month, year here.  Jimmy's fillet minion (he thought he had ordered sirlion..) looked like the joint of beef we used to have for a family sunday dinner! - he had a big smile on his face by the end.  My fish was enough to feed 2 and the left overs from Charlotte's half portion of pasta will provide many more meals for her!

When the bill came, unlike the tourist restaurants, the tip was not automatically added.  A relatively modest cash tip had the waiter falling at our knees with "Graciases". A further tip from Charlotte (amounting to less than $3) on the way out, had the waiter running over to us showering us with kisses!! - I guess they don't tip like the US Americans here! (remember they are all called americans here.. north and south alike).

We now have enough food in the doggy bags for another couple of days!

Hablas espanol?

Charlotte and I enrolled for individual private Spanish lessons for one and a half hours every afternoon. It was about 14 years since I had done a total immersion spanish course in Mexico, and spent time working in S America . Unfortunately I didn't seem to remember much of it and it soon became obvious that not a lot of people spoke English! (and we understand even less once you get out of Buenos Aires!).

My teacher was "Marrrrrrrrtin" and Charlotte's "German" - with a very gutteral G.

With the help of lessons, a phrase book and a dictionary, some Spanish is starting to come back, although I am learning that there are a lot of differences in Argentinean versus Mexican Spanish (and the Spanish used in other countries). In particular, Argentinians pronounce "ll" and "y" as "sh" (normally in Spanish it is pronounced as "y"). So "llamo" (I am called) is now pronounced "shammo" rather than "yammo" and "ellos" (them) is pronounced "eshos" rather than "eyos"..... The other S Americans called the Argentines "sh sh people". They also use "vos" rather than "tu" with a different verb conjuction....  Buses have a different name, as does the subway....

Within a week I am now able to have some sort of very basic conversation with people in Spanish (and make ourselves sort of understood?? in shops etc). It would be nice if we were mixing more with Spanish speaking people (especially for Charlotte) to try and speed up the process but that is not the case.  So far we have just met an American couple with a 2 year old daughter by the pool.  The days thus far seem to be taken up with homeschooling in the morning and then Spanish lessons in the afternoon.

Exploring Buenos Aires - 22nd-23rd January

We always find a great way to get your bearing in a new city is to take the touristy open top double decker - stopping at all the main attractions in the city, with a running commentary.

In Buenos Aires, this was a 3 hour tour, with 12 stops that you can jump on and off at, including:
The famous Recoleta Cemetery, with many elaborate marble mausoleums, where Eva Peron is buried (along with some of the most important Argentines)

The Boca where the tango originated

San Telmo and the famous sunday market, with all the street performers:

There are some fantastic buildings and architecture and some of the streets are very wide (we counted 9 lanes going one way on one street! the city looks very Eurpoean.

We used the pass over 2 days doing a total of 3 circuits! By Monday afternoon we were tired but felt we had a much better idea of the city.

Arrival in Buenos Aires - Jan 20th 2011

We arrived 9am - tired after a long, but comfortable (thanks to AA Frequent flier miles business class ticket!) overnight journey. Charlotte is getting spoilt! Immigration greeted Jimmy with a charge of US$140 for all US passport holders (to pay them back for charging the Argentineans!). We made sure we used Charlotte's UK passport! Once Jimmy had paid the fee, Charlotte decided to throw up in the immigration line! - the nice toiletry bags that business class provided quickly turned into a sick bag!!

Despite lack of English (and our lack of Spanish), we managed to get some pesos and sort out a taxi, for the 45 minute drive to Palermo, an area of Buenos Aires where we have rented a 2 bedroom apartment for a month, with pool and gym.

We didn't achieve too much the first couple of days, still tired from our journey, and the last 5 days in Miami.

Argentina is the second largest country in South America and the eighth-largest country in the world by land area, and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico, Colombia and Spain are more populous.   Argentina's continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south.

It has a population of 40 million, about 19 million in Buenos Aires.  It covers just over 1 million square miles, being 2,400 miles long from north to south and about 870 miles max from east to west.

Argentina is one of South America's largest economies with a high quality of life.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina for more info