Bill's Blog

Dain and Marleta

Dain and Marleta arrive on Friday, the 23rd of September, and left today, the 3rd of October. They were here in Buenos Aires for ten short days. The last time we had seen them was early last November. It was wonderful to be with them and nice to hear about how their life in Santa Monica was going.

They came mostly to visit with us and not to be the tourists. Despite that we took them to several of the typical tourist locations, like Recoleta and La Boca, and some not so typical but favorites of Betty's and mine, like the fair at Mataderos.

We went to Recoleta to visit the cemetery and walk through the stands of craftsmen that are set up every weekend. It is clear that Dain dislikes browsing and shopping in such a style. But Marleta got into the swing of it.

On Saturday night we went to a birthday party for our friend Esteban Hernandez. He is in the English group and many of them were at the party too. We met at a bar with a bowling alley and pool tables. Ingo, a German friend, was there too. The kids had brought a used iPod for him to buy. They got to know each other pretty well that night and when he and Lise came by the house twice in the next week. I don't think any of them bowls very often. It has been years since I had rolled a ball down the alley. Still I tied for first with 84 in the game that I played. Like I said, Argentineans don't go bowling very often.

On Sunday we went to Mataderos. I think this is the best of the fairs that are in all the parks and squares of the city. True, I like the things that they are selling, but even more, I enjoy the spirit of the place. I like the live music and the street dancing. I like the peasant food that always brings contentment. I think the kids started to see it that way too, despite Dain's dislike of the little craft stands. If you click on the Mataderos photo, a short movie will load and you might get a sense of the spirit of the place.

One night we all went out to a Tango show. There was a dance lesson before the dinner. Marleta gave it a shot, but not Dain. Betty and I did the dance. We are finally Tango-ing together and having fun. The dinner was not great, but it was good. The show was wonderful. The orchestra was good and the dancers were excellent. We had a great time at Complejo Tango. We stopped for a drink at Olsen's, a restaurant in Polermo, on the way home. They really liked the place.

They also made their way around downtown one day. They walked down Florida. They spent a good amount of time in Puerto Madero. They got a good sense of the city and enjoyed themselves. One night we did some fine dining at Restaurante Restó at Montevideo 938 in Barrio Norte. It was a very small but charming place with excellent food and wines. What I liked about it best was the short menu with just four major entrees matched with starter, sides and dessert.

Dain and Marleta planned to do some more tourist things in the following days, but they got sidetracked by a simple game that I had taught them. The name of the game is Sudoku. It is a game of numbers that is a bit too complicated to explain here, but if you click on the link you should be able to find out how to play the game and a good strategy to win. While there are online versions, most are not that great to use. Key to winning is keeping notes, and that is nigh impossible in the online versions. One of the better sites for generating a bunch of puzzles is the Sudoku Generator. It produces the puzzles and answers in a pdf file that we save. Then we copy six puzzles on to a single sheet of paper and go at it.

Finally they got enough of Sudoku, to break out of the house and visit Palermo where we had a great lunch. It was a stunning spring afternoon. By the time we got done eating in the late after noon there was still some time to visit La Boca. They really enjoyed themselves. Some pictures follow.

Sunday was their last day. We had a few friends over for a barbecue. It was no grand party. Big social events are not something that Dain and Marleta are all that keen on, although they have been known to enjoy a really big party. Most folks came about three in the afternoon. I grilled a large tenderloin, known as lomo here, and a half of a salmon. We had several better Argentinean wines. Since our trip to Mendoza we have graduated to from four to eight dollar bottles of wine, which are spectacular here. The thumbnail photos are below. After everyone left we spent a quiet evening with the kids.

On Monday, the third of October we sent the children off and picked up my brother, Steven, all at the same time. Steve landed about 7:00 AM and the kids needed to be to the airport before 11:00. So, we came late to pick up Steve and early to drop off the kids. Dain hadn't seen Steve for a few years, so it was a nice visit at the airport.
We were sad to see them go, but life goes on. The only consolation was knowing that we will see them at Thanksgiving in November.

Posted by bill at October 3, 2005 09:56 PM