Jon took this photo.
... And this one! We arrived back in Buenos Aires on Sunday morning – conveniently in time for the antiques fair. It wasn’t a coincidence that I had booked accommodation in San Telmo (in an old, semi-run down mansion), only two streets away from the fair and the antique shop full of colonial paintings we loved on our first visit to this city back in July.
After we had checked in, we asked the man on reception to book us a table at La Cabrera – another compelling reason for our return. We couldn’t get in that night so we had to content ourselves with a 20 hour wait. In the mean time the receptionist marked on the map another steak house he recommended nearby. We were not disappointed. The bife chorizo steaks - butterfly cut, were thick and juicy - cooked to perfection. In fact, they were divine. Eating meat here is close to a religious experience. We are going to be sorely disappointed when we return home but can thank God we don’t live in the UK where the meat is pitiful and enough to turn even the most ardent carnivore into a vegetarian.
Our bellies full and our heads light (too much wine), we set off to scour the rows and rows of antique and art stalls for a bargain or at least a gramophone. Alas, we found nothing that was going to make us rich when the Antique Road Show comes back to Melbourne. Nor did we find a gramophone small enough to carry back home. I did find lots and lots of craft and art pieces I liked. Buenos Aires defiantly has a strong art scene and there are many galleries in San Telmo. One could go crazy here, or at least I could and I kind of have. I am not sure we have enough wall space back home for everything I have purchased. We will have to move.
The next day we walked across town, down the main shopping mall, to have a look at more colonial paintings before making our decision as to which one we wanted to purchase. We didn’t see any we liked more than the one we had come back to Buenos Aires for. However, we were not sure if we should buy it as the dollar had dropped even more, and our painting, being in US dollars, was now a lot more expensive then when we first viewed it. It was quite depressing really. We were so sad that we had to make up for the fact that we were probably not going to buy it by really enjoying ourselves at La Cabrera.
On our last day in the city of dog shit (you spend most of your time here looking at the footpath rather then the buildings around you) we went to another recommended restaurant for one more delicious piece of steak. It was there that we decided since we have spent sooo much money on this holiday why not part with some more. Consequently we boarded the bus to Santiago carrying a carefully bubble wrapped package containing an Ex-voto painting, dedicated to ´Nossa Senhora da Conceicao´.
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