THURSDAY 02/11/10
Started the day by looking at a house just a little north of where I am – in Belgrano (the ritzy neighborhood), but still convenient. It really would have been ideal – quiet cobblestone street, patio, deck, asado…but it’s owned by an older woman who rents it out to students. She was really humorous and I’m sure a great person to live with, but already, she and the older gentleman who was helping to show the house were criticizing the past tenants’ accents and commenting on who learned quicker…I just don’t need to live with another one of those again (after having lived with Norka in Spain). Also, she mentioned that things get quiet around 10:00 pm (…which is when I start to get ready to go for dinner).
I did take some time to walk around the neighborhood – there’s a nice park where people were walking their dogs and resting in the grass – definitely a cute part of town. There are a lot of ambassadors that live around there and embassies that are located in the large old houses. As I was wandering, I stopped in a little neighborhood café that was playing some Cuban music – had a licuado (fruit smoothie) of oranges and kiwi with a croissant while reading the paper. The barista first guessed that I was from Europe – it always brings me joy that I’m not immediately pegged as an American by my accent!
After stopping home for a bit, I headed back out to look at another house. The bus kept going…and going…and I finally found my stop almost at the end of the city limits, and I immediately knew that I didn’t want to live that far out, but thought I may as well see the place. Again, it was a musician’s house – a bit more upkept that the previous I had seen, but still not quite to my living standards. We went up to the terraza where his roommate, Calu, was, and the 3 of us started chatting…then Mauricio pulled out some chairs…and eventually the mate (an herbal tea that you drink out of a “gourd,” which is called the mate - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_%28beverage%29)…and turned on some good reggae and Brazilian music…it was just a perfect evening – warm, but with a breeze, birds chirping, great company and conversation…it was so good that I lost track of time – I was supposed to meet up with Vanessa’s roommate, Agustin, to go for a walk, and had to cancel. Life’s about living in the moment and there wasn’t any rushing the evening. After a few hours of chatting, I finally headed home…quite content in finding some great guys to share the time with!
I did take some time to walk around the neighborhood – there’s a nice park where people were walking their dogs and resting in the grass – definitely a cute part of town. There are a lot of ambassadors that live around there and embassies that are located in the large old houses. As I was wandering, I stopped in a little neighborhood café that was playing some Cuban music – had a licuado (fruit smoothie) of oranges and kiwi with a croissant while reading the paper. The barista first guessed that I was from Europe – it always brings me joy that I’m not immediately pegged as an American by my accent!
After stopping home for a bit, I headed back out to look at another house. The bus kept going…and going…and I finally found my stop almost at the end of the city limits, and I immediately knew that I didn’t want to live that far out, but thought I may as well see the place. Again, it was a musician’s house – a bit more upkept that the previous I had seen, but still not quite to my living standards. We went up to the terraza where his roommate, Calu, was, and the 3 of us started chatting…then Mauricio pulled out some chairs…and eventually the mate (an herbal tea that you drink out of a “gourd,” which is called the mate - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_%28beverage%29)…and turned on some good reggae and Brazilian music…it was just a perfect evening – warm, but with a breeze, birds chirping, great company and conversation…it was so good that I lost track of time – I was supposed to meet up with Vanessa’s roommate, Agustin, to go for a walk, and had to cancel. Life’s about living in the moment and there wasn’t any rushing the evening. After a few hours of chatting, I finally headed home…quite content in finding some great guys to share the time with!
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