Hola Buenos Aires!
November 2, 2006

Me sitting at the computer writing this blog post

One of many spectacular views of our apartment


view from our balcony

Well, it’s for real now. I’m sitting in my beautiful apartment in Buenos Aires, sipping a delicious glass of Argentinean wine, reflecting on the events of the last 48 hours. It’s hard to believe that I was just in Toronto having a final supper with my family, handing out Halloween candy on a chilly fall day and now I’m walking the streets of an unknown city in a t-shirt and flip flops with my future yet to be determined.

Today was just gorgeous! (twenty-two degrees, sunny) Sterling and I started off the day with a café con leche and a media-luna (cappuccino and croissant) at a quaint corner spot. From there we toured around our neighbourhood, just window shopping, taking photos and generally getting the lay of the land. We live in a district known as Recoletta, perhaps the hottest district in the city. Very high end stuff, comprable to Yorkville but the architecture is far more beautiful and the people far more delightful. Despite our minimal Spanish, we have been treated with utmost respect and patience. And let me tell you, there is absolutely no English anywhere! So much for any ideas I may have had to coast for a while on my comprehension of Latin languages. I can’t even understand the menu items, let alone the people. Time to crack the books!

Our street - Uruguay

Neighbourhood restaurants

Buenos Aires is an interesting mixture of New York, Paris, Rome and Havana in my opinion. Very cosmopolitan, a little grungy, but very rich in history and culture. Sterling and I are looking forward to the Spanish cinema, music and dancing. We were given some great tips by a local photographer with a real passion for the arts. Although we plan on being modest, we are certainly excited by the exchange rate here. It’s like we jumped a couple of “snack brackets” overnight. Almost everything costs a third of the price in North America! Today, we decided to treat ourselves somewhat and bought some CDs, artwork (photograph from the artist mentioned above) and a gorgeous dress and earrings for me to wear out on the town.





Tomorrow we are going to explore an area called Boca, known for its traditional Spanish architecture and tango street performers. Hope to pick up some tips so I can hit the dance floor soon in my new dress.

By the way, for those I failed to give my personal email before I left, here you go... sam_flatman@hotmail.com Please write me from time to time to let me know how you're doing. Until then...