San Telmo

We spent today in San Telmo. I rode the Subte for the first time—much more simple to understand than the buses, and very pretty and old-fashioned—and we got off and ate at an absolutely delicious restaurant called Café San Juan.

I understand that I need to find some new superlatives for the food here…we really are spoiled by last year’s restaurant recommendations, but it just goes to show how much better your experience is if you use any sort of guide. Casey Blue and I both had pumpkin-stuffed gnocchi, which is big here, cooked in shrimp sauce. It was divine and I felt like Violet Beauregard from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I was so full afterward. Instead of turning into a giant blueberry I would turn into a giant gnocchi. Somehow, the table managed to finish off both of our dishes:


Luckily we did lots of walking afterward, up a street called La Defensa that was filled with booths for the Sunday antiques market, stores, and street musicians.

store that made me think of Mom

store that made me think of Dad

Nico and I share a love for antique stores. This made me appreciate how slowly Granddad and I went in the Paris flea market.

I’m hesitant to buy things yet, and it was much easier just to be looking. It took us about two hours to make it all the way to the Plaza de Mayo, the city’s center, where we took the subway back home.

Casa Rosada! Evita’s balcony. There’s an Eva Peron museum and I’m going to go.

Elena, Nico and I had a tiny space in our stomachs by that point so we had ice cream for dinner because we’d been wanting to try some for a while. The place we went to was specifically for gelato, but I've heard that ice cream in Buenos Aires is similar to gelato because it’s lighter and fluffier. Or that is porteños making an "everything is better here" judgement—apparently the soccer players faster, the streets wider, the women prettier, etc. The ice cream we had was excellent, anyway, and it was on nearby Corrientes Street so we walked by the marquees for several shows. Corrientes is the Broadway of Buenos Aires—theaters here are actually designated “Corrientes” and “Off-Corrientes”—and Elena and I really want to see a show sometime this summer. August: Osage County, which won this year's Tony for best play, is showing, but en castellano, of course.

Note: Castellano actually refers to a dialect of Spanish, the most common spoken in the world, but porteños use the term instead of “español” to describe their language. With their accent (ella = “ey sha”) it is pronounced “casteshano.”

some typical porteños out and about today

Today was just nice because we had time to wander around a really interesting and historic part of the city and soak it in. Plus, it’s neat how people we know from different parts of our lives in the US join the group sometimes.

Casey Blue

Today we were also with another 2012 Yalie named Katharine who is doing the same program and a family friend of Paloma’s high school volleyball teammate who is visiting friends in the city. It was great meeting both of them.

me, Christine, Paloma, Elena, Katharine, Nico, and Dan

I felt like we were a big family trying to stay together in Disneyland at some points—the streets were packed. But I’m definitely looking forward to doing similar exploring this week now that I have the Malba routine a little more down. Besos.