A visitor comes to stay ....

Sorry for the lack of blog entries .... I'm finally beginning to settle into Buenos Aires and very much enjoying the long awaited, true arrival of springtime which is very rapidly turning into a boiling hot summer ... I have lots of photos to update with, but will start back in early Sept.... Francis arrives after a long voyage on foot and by sea which you can read all about on http://www.positiveworks.blogspot.com/ he has timed it perfectly and seems to skip very nicely from a northern hemisphere summer into the last days of a southern winter. (ps-I think you can click on any photo if you want to see it bigger) ...and that's it... hoorray spring is here and I can put my coat away and begin to flock to the parks and markets to enjoy the beautiful, mild weather and everything that a Buenos Aires spring has to offer. Below are pictures from the arts and crafts market in the famous Recoleta part of town: Maté cups

Live music in the parks for all the city folk to enjoy on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Steak time again, and they keep getting bigger ...

Watching a bit of folk music in a down town buenos aires joint .....

Another walk in the botanic gardens, aka the cat refuge. Although the place is absolutely full of cats, they dont seem to socialise very much!

Francis making friends with the locals.

We walk into the butchers to buy a small piece of meat ... and the extremely friendly butcher ends up emptying out his whole fridge to set the scene for the classic Argentine shot.

Watching the rugby world cup, Argentina vs Ireland, and these boys just dont seem to do it in quite the same manner as the Brits do .... milkshakes all round lads!

Living the real Argentine way!

Ana, in red, is the lady Ilive with. Her parents were Italian and this here is a traditional Italian/ Argentinian meal called Baña Cauda. It is a similar ritual to fondue, but it is made of Anchovies, lots of garlic and cream. The table is filled with all sorts of vegetables to dip into this delicious anchovy sauce. Very healthy if you ignore the cream bit. So she invited me to try this 'once in a while' winter ritual she has with alll her interesting actor, playwrites, architects, musician and tango teacher friends! (I managed to have my first tango lesson from Ana's tango teacher friend who actually did a degree in Tango studies at the university...)

Batu wants some too but cant reach.

And then Alejandro starts playing some lovely Argentinian folk music.

The sisters dance!

And then all the ladies get up for a dance. Afetr a few more classesof wine the men do too and they dance and sing and drink until 5am!

Another day I come downstairs and Batu is having a hair cut.

'How do I look?'

Buenos Aires Botanic garden and a few street scenes

These are a few photos of San Telmo on a quiet day, as the weather wasn't great and it was about to rain any moment. The lonely planet promised me it would be spring in August, which is meant to be nice and hot ... still waiting ...

A bit of Cowley Road style graffiti down in the back streets of San Telmo.

The city's botanic garden, nice for a little, slightly peaceful escape, although it is in the middle of two busy roads!

Bonsai tree exhibition, try and spot the camouflaged cat. The Botanic garden is absolutely full of cats, I'm not sure why, but it might have something to do with all the dogs on the streets.

Trip to Chile- Friday night reunion with great old school friends and new Buenos Aires friends in Santiago de Chile!

I've just got back from a wonderful trip to Chile where I met up with Alison, Kirsty and Ally's boyfriend Dave, who are travelling the world for a year and are currently on their South American leg of the journey. Nice and civilized glass of wine to start off and toast to our reunion ....

Joe and Richard, two friends I met from Buenos Aires who also happened to be in Chile pop in for a glass of wine ... We just couldn't resist when we walked past this crazy slide in the middle of the night. Just like old times. Maybe when we were 13 we didnt crash into eachother so much...

A bit of dancing in a downtown (not a gringo in sight apart from us) Reggae club. Me, and Ally's Kiwi (and Kirsty practising her spanish with the locals)

"Smile, we're dancing reggae in Santiago, woohoo"

Trip to Chile- Nursing a hangover in the city

Beautiful, crisp, sunny winter weather in Santiago. Casa Roja, the hostal where we we stayed. Santiago city scenes: two clowns. Photo exhibition in plaza.