May 22, 2009
Our Last Three Days in Buenos Aires
Press HERE to view a slide show of
the Mataderos Fair
Mataderos Fair  |
Betty at a Puppet Stand  |
Guille, Joaquina, Fermin and Javie  |
 The Man Who Loved China: Joseph Needham and the Making of a Masterpiece by Simon Winchester My reviewMy rating: 4 of 5 starsAs a man who loves China, I found Winchester's book on Joseph Needham fascinating. Biographies of academics are rarely very interesting to me, but Needham was a very interesting man. The book does Needham justice as the man who discovered more about the history of science and invention in China than anyone before. I highly recommend this book. |
 A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 by Simon Winchester My reviewMy rating: 3 of 5 starsWinchester has a way of making mundane science into a very interesting story. He does it again in this book, which looks at geology on the north American plate. The focus of the book is the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, but there is so much more. I liked this book a lot. View all my reviews. |
Last Sunday we went to our favorite fair in Buenos Aires, Ferie de Mataderos. It is one of the best craft fairs in Buenos Aires. Every kind of thing is available. Some of the goods available are homemade foods - jams, breads, cheese, sausages, honey, etc., knives, leather-goods, clothing, hats, shoes, and lots more. There is comfort food from the rural areas that you can get from food stands or restaurants. I love the locro, a kind of soup, and Argentine tamales, which are not much like the Mexican version, and - of course - I love the grilled meats. We went with Javier, Gille and their kids. We had a wonderful lunch. And we bought a few souvenirs. Another wonderful aspect of the fair is the music and dancing. There is band platform where Argentine folk music can be heard all day. While the music is made, a hundred or more people will dance the Argentine folk dances. Truly, there is nothing else that even comes close to this fair in all of Buenos Aires. It was late afternoon before we got home. I took a lot of photos at the fair. Be sure to take a look at the slide show of these photos.
On Monday, two of our best Argentine friends came by. We talked and talked with Laura and later Pablo. We ate a pizza and a few empanadas. I have really grown to love empanadas. I promise that I will learn how to make them.
Tuesday we packed and bought some wine to bring home. Just before 6:00 our landlord came over to get the keys and return our deposit. Then we took a taxi to Javier's home. We said good-bye to our best friends in Argentina. Later Javier gave us a ride to the airport. We boarded our plane, which departed about 10:00 pm. The flights home were long and very wearisome. We landed about twelve hours later in Houston. Our routing to the mid-west was not the best, because we had one more stop in Newark before flying home. Birgitta picked us up at the airport about 22 hours after we took off from Buenos Aires. We were tired, but oh so glad to be with back in the USA.
On Wednesday, I got to drive again for the first time in four months. Only problem was the brake rotors had a layer rust that made the brakes shutter violently. It took more than two days of driving to wear the rust off. Otherwise everything else is returning to normal.
I will try to write a bit more than usual this summer.
Posted by bill at May 22, 2009 05:34 PMHey Bill and Betty,
WELCOME BACK!! It's fun to travel, but there is something special to arriving home afterwards safe and sound. Summer has arrived, so relax and enjoy.
Would like to see you two this summer....Perhaps a get-together?
Marty Christensen
Posted by: marty christensen at May 25, 2009 10:08 AMDear friends:
It`s good to know that you are happy at home again. We hope to see you again in the future with more time to share with you. This time we had to travel and a lot of work made impossible to meet you more than once.
Enjoy your summer at home with your family.
Best wishes
Marita y Alberto