"The Postcard Race": Round 10; December in Buenos Aires

Just near our apartment, on Peru Street, is a little place where you can use the internet, make telephone calls, buy stamps, mail packages under 1 KG and probably do other things too. The woman pictured runs the place and she handles multiple inquires , takes money, makes change and happily tackles whatever comes her way. A true inspiration! She has mailed, and as you can see, date stamped everyone of the Round 10 postcards. Though I have paid many visits to her establishment I have yet to ask her name. But she was happy to have her photo taken and liked the idea of "The Postcard Race".

It seems that many contestants have yet to receive Round 9 cards mailed from Sao Paulo; so, for round 10 strict guidelines have been followed. All postcards have been mailed from the same place, those outside major centres dwellers got a head start, former winners were given a handicap. I am very confident that before very long, perhaps even before the new year, we will have a winner for round ten.

So you know the rules, the first person to report receiving a postcard from Buenos Aires, looking something like the ones below, and to let us know the "fact" written on the back will receive, "something mailed to you from another country". This time the prize will be coming from the wilds of Uruguay where we will be spending January, first on an eco-ranch and then on the beach at Punta del Diablo. Who knows what we might find and hopefully a post office will be involved.

Good Luck everyone!

happy holidays!

Where the the hot, heavy, north wind blows and the southwest wind brings cool relief!

It has been over two weeks since our arrival in Buenos Aires. I think we are suffering from traveller's fatigue. Our guide book, "The Buenos Aires Time Out" is super interesting , BUT our motivation for going and seeing exciting, new things is waning. Once I am back in Vancouver I plan to buy the most recent edition of "Time Out Vancouver" (I am certain they will be publishing one especially for the Olympics), then I can check off how many sites, museums and special places I have visited in my many years as a resident and see what I am missing or perhaps what they are missing.

We are staying in San Telmo, a great neighbourhood! You might call it emerging, on the verge of gentrification or soon to be yuppified , since many of the businesses and some of the restaurants seem to be catering to tourist or trendy traffic. We have a small studio apartment on Humberto Primo and Piedras with an interior courtyard. The design is a concrete, rectangle shell with a kitchen and a few other basic fixtures. This building is new, but we are surrounded by old buildings in their faded elegance. Many have been transformed to hostels and hotels. This is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, in 1870s cholera and a yellow fever epidemic moved the city north . North is defined as north of Avenida Rivadavia, even though the city is a perfect grid, at that point all the streets get a name change. Apparently many streets have seen their names change over time, (Humberto Primo used to be Comercio), which might explain the annoying lack of street signs. A number of people have stopped and asked me what street we are on and when I was looking up at the sides of buildings, where street signs might be, a women kindly approached me and explained where we were.

Arriving here is a huge contrast, after the Jardim District in Sao Paulo. The first thing we noticed was that everything was so cheap; OR is it that everything in Sao Paulo was SO expensive? Let's take laundry for instance. There are 3 laundry locations within sight of our front door. We chose the one kitty corner to the left. Not a laundromat of course, a drop off and pick up, where your laundry is done for you. A big bag, with some wash and not dry things, was weighed by the woman who piled it into a basket then picked up the basket and estimated the weight. She was going to charge us 15 pesos, equivalent to $4 canadian Dollars. The same amount of laundry in Sao Paulo cost us - GET THIS - about $85 Canadian dollars or 120 reales...OKAY we were crazy to pay that BUT we needed to get some clean clothes. We are still removing the staples and tiny blue tags the overpriced Sao Paulo launders put on our clothes since not only do they charge a fortune, but irritatingly, blue, tags are the only way they can keep track of clothes. So anyway, here, I am asking for the super-duper treatment; getting things ironed and put on hangers, just to bring my laundry bill to 5 dollars.

Even fast food in Brazil was very expensive, a meal for 2 (no wine) at a mediocre tex-mex place equivalent to McDonalds cost 70 Reales 42 dollars.

We were very happy to arrive at La Esquinita, a restaurant at our corner and have empanadas (any flavor) for 3 pesos/.84 cents each. Down the street there is a tiny wine store, La Bodega del Pintor. There we bought a sparkling white from a grape called Torrontes (unique to Argentina); a floral aroma but very dry with a complex finish. A white Saint Felivier nature; nature meaning drier than extra brut, and two Malbecs; our total came to 189 pesos, $52.91 CND... and these were the mid -priced wines.

At the bakery we often treat ourselves to "media lunas" small crispy croissant (but heavier) delicious with your cafecito in the morning. Practically everything sweet, in Argentina, includes "dulce de leche" milk carmel jam, cakes and cookies "alfajores" and just on the side with any other desert. Dulce de Leche is omnipotent in Argentina and it is available in many forms no matter where you might be. Please see this small excerpt from an email Yvonne sent that I must include to give you a better idea about the superb food here in Argentina.

(food is so cheap):

-El Sanjuanino- fantastic lorco, essentially a pork stew with white beans and many part of the the animal- fantastic and the best empanadas we have had.

-El Cuartito- beautiful pizza

-Cumano- baked pumpkin and cheese and beef in a cazuela dish- fantastic

-La Bridgada- steak (one of many places-always good,always tender)

-Nacional- best flan so far served with dulce leche

-many street carts- choripan- chorizo sausage bbqed and then slathered with chimmiciri sauce and onions---yummy in a bun

-going to try the lomo-essential a steak sandwich with a friend egg, cheese, ham and other toppings

-fresh pasta, beautiful place close to our house, got two kinds and two sauces for the equivalent of $9.00- fresh, fresh, fresh

-lots of pumpkin in everything...I will cook more things with pumpkin when I get back, often combined with cheese and corn..yummy..we will have a savoury pumpkin pie tonite for dinner.

-wine-malbec, cheap and delicious, sparkling wine from patagonia-fantastic..

Sunday's in San Telmo are insane! The little square, Plaza Dorrengo hosts an antique fair. The antique fair is surrounded by an artisan's market that goes on for blocks and blocks; all the way down Calle Defensa, maybe all the way to Plaza de Mayo; we get waylaid and have not walked the whole thing. It seems everyone has a stand with something to sell , as if the financial crisis forced people into their basements, sorting their nicknacks just to make ends meet. There is no shortage of curiosity type shops stocking the souvenirs of the ages. The artisans are of every stripe: many jewelers , a woman who carves the heads of wooden matches, storages boxes made in the shape of bandoneons, and my personal favorite the photographer who makes three dimensional photo collages.

There are so many icons that represent Buenos Aires. I suppose other places we visited also have their iconography, but here it seems more obvious and present . What says Buenos Aires: tango dancers, the bandoneon, mate, Che, Evita, Madres of the Plaza de Mayo, gauchos close at hand and meat.

We paid a visit to the Plaza de Mayo on Thursday and saw the "Madres" with their distinctive white headscarves. They have been marching in protest every Thursday at 3:30 for 30 years. Now, internationally renowned, currently fighting for the return of stolen grandchildren, sometimes protesting can go a long way. Thursday in the square takes on a bit of a carnival atmosphere with all kinds of causes being represented; activists mingle with foreign onlookers; we kept thinking we would see someone we knew.

We have wandered farther afield than our neighbourhood on buses (colectivos), the metro (subte) trains and cabs (also very cheap!).

Almost every time we board Subte blue line, our metro, we see a small boy barefoot maybe 10, who after shaking hands and giving the traditional one kiss to the left greeting, places a small card or toy or whatever he is flogging that day on the lap of his potential client. He travels the length of 2 cars doing this then returns to retrieve his product or receive some pesos. Many mobile sales people of all ages use this method (not the kissing part) but leaving the product on the lap for the potential client to examine at their leisure while riding. No one seems to mind. they take a look and either buy or not and either is fine. A hard sell BUT without the really hard part.

I love the buses; reading the schedule is complicated. Yvonne thinks she could walk to the destination for the time it takes me to study the Guia T, the bible of the buses. First you have to know the city. The guide is a small 4X3 paperback of about 200 pages. The right hand side of the page it has a grid map of a part of the city, the left hand page has the same grid squares with the numbers of the buses that pass through that grid square. Find out where your going and where you are and voila. But wait you have to make sure your going in the right direction, find the bus stop and know where to get off. There are over 180 city bus lines , each one managed by an individual company. Companies compete with each other and there is virtually no public financial support of the colectivos. Buses cover a far wider area than the Subte. Colectivos are painted distinctly and beautifully; every bus number has a different design and colour. With very cheap tickets (1.20 pesos a ride depending where you are going) and extensive routes, the colectivo is the best way to get around the city.

-We have been to the second most beautiful bookstore in the world. (This was in the guidebook which only led us to wonder where the MOST beautiful bookstore in the world is). Ateneo is on Avenida Santa Fe and is housed in a spectacularly restored old theatre, where you can sit in the boxes read and gaze below at the show of book shoppers.

-We have been to San Isidro to one of the two horse tracks where they have beautiful sculptures of racing horses.

-We have been to Palermo Viejo to 28 Sport where Yvonne bought gorgeous handmade leather shoes that look like bowling shoes.

-We have been to Acassuso to have a BBQ with friends who live here.

-We went to La Boca to the Gallery of the Benito Quinquela Martin, a turn of the century painter who does striking huge, canvasses of mostly boats in the harbour (some on fire). He painted with a triangular metal spatula tool.

-We went to the gallery that used to be a skating rink "Palais de Glace".

-We have been to Adrogue and learned to make empanadas with Teresita.

BUT we feel like we have spent an inordinate mount of time planning for our next destination. This week we confirmed, against all odds since it is high season, a stay at an eco-estancia and a cabin on the beach at Punta del Diablo for January. That may have been difficult but not as frustrating as trying to get enough cash out of the bank machines to take it to Western Union and pay for our January stays. The trick with the bank machines here is that they will only give 500 pesos ($140 Canadian) (700 if your lucky) in one go, for each 500 you pay 12 pesos ($3-35) service fee. A little scam, which forces us to stand at the bank machine for a long time with every card we have making many withdrawals. Then going to Western Union with a huge wad of cash.

In preparation for our next destination Uruguay, we have been searching for a road map. Asking at various places I am met with a look that tells me they have never heard of the place I am saying. Coming back with "you know the little country just south of here" allowed us to hear how really to pronounce the name of the country Ooh (rhymes with boo)-roo-GWI. There are no maps or guide books that we can find specifically dedicated to Uruguay. They are just included in the Argentinean books and maps. We have come to the conclusion that it is a quieter, gentler Argentina with similar traditions and all the same cultural things. They are small and modest and don't seem to make anything of themselves. Strangely Canadian? We shall see...

www.flickr.com

"The Postcard Race" Round 9: Winners Announced

On December 10th, Joelene notified us that she had received her postcard from Sao Paulo. Since then, on December 16th we had word from Winnipeg that a postcard had been received and then on December 17th our hosts (who never pick up their mail) on the Greek Island of Amorgos let us know that their Sao Paulo postcard had arrived.

Today former winners of "The Postcard Race" in Vancouver, under a severe handicap, said that their postcard arrived. Where have all the other Sao Paulo postcards gone? Are contestants just TOO busy with preparations for the festive season to even mention the receipt of a postcard OR are all the postcards buried under fancy, seasonal cards with pretty pictures of snow, Santa and decorated trees?

In any case we have a winner. Congratulations Kismet and Joelene and the postal workers of East Vancouver!

Yesterday we made our way to the nearest Correo Argentino (at Avenido Bernardo de Rigoyen and Calle Chile ) we had a packaged filled with treasures for our winners BUT we were turned away for an entirely new reason never encountered before in the history of "The Postcard Race" if you want to send a package from Argentina internationally you have to have your passport with you. So we hope to get back to the post office next week and get the package off to our winners!

Here are the "Spring in Sao Paulo postcard facts". Thought you would like to see them since I guess very few people have received a postcard.

The Postcard Race Round #9

Spring in São Paulo

By some counts, São Paulo is the world’s 3rd largest city after Tokyo and New York City. Other tallies put it after Seoul, Mexico City, Mumbai, Delhi, Karachi and sometimes Istanbul. Wherever it stands; at least 19 million people live here.

São Paulo is one of the greatest graffiti centers in the world, beautiful and vivid pieces abound. In 2008, when renowned graffiti artists Octavio and Gustavo Pandolfo were away decorating, by invitation, the exterior of the Tate Modern in London; city officials in their hometown removed one of their most famous street murals as part of the mayor’s urban renewal plans. Kind of embarrassing!

São Paulo is one of the greatest graffiti centers in the world, beautiful and vivid pieces abound. São Paulo is also home to a unique expression of art on the walls. Brazilians call it pichacao. This simple, single tone graffiti consists of black or blue letters in straight lines or sharp angles. The artist’s merit is determined by the canvas, such as the 14^th floor of a building scaled without ropes at night. This precarious pastime often leads to accidents.

The famous acai berry, from the Amazon has been marketed world-wide as a miracle cure for all that ails you; from weight-loss to anti-wrinkle creams, to detoxification agent to life extension. The acai berry has certainly been a money–maker for some.

Posters of the famous berry can be seen in luncheonettes around São Paulo, since the berries are actually very delicious in your smoothie or on your granola. Perhaps we could do the same with blueberries?

From 1964 to 1985, Brazil was ruled by military dictatorship. During the 1980’s the Catholic Archdiocese in São Paulo created a secret team of lawyers and researchers who worked on the records of 707 political trails against 7,367 defendants. The result was one of the most comprehensive records of dictatorial repression in the 20^th century: “Brazil: Never Again”, contained over 1 million pages detailing how the regime had monitored, investigated, arrested, tortured and prosecuted citizens. Proving that the Catholic Church sometimes does good things.

São Paulo has the world’s largest, private security industry; fueling the fears of violence held by many São Paulo residents “Paulistas”. There are 120 companies in São Paulo alone that bulletproof cars against revolvers and sub machine guns; and that costs $22,000 us per vehicle.

Due to the intense traffic jams combined with fears of kidnappings, São Paulo has become the city with the highest number of helicopters. 462 private helicopters in 2008, and around 70,000 flights per year within the city, turning it into a "real life South-American episode" of The Jetsons. Helicopters enable executives to sharply reduce their commuting time. Some companies own their helicopters, others lease them, and still others use helicopter taxi services. One suburban helicopter shuttle service, located about 15 miles from the center of the city is run and operated totally by women, including its pilots.

Though founded in 1554, São Paulo languished for more than 300 years, until a coffee boom hit in the 1880s. Immigrants from Europe (especially Italy) and, notably, Japan, and their descendants made the city the largest in South America. Today Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer and accounts for a third of the billions of cups drunk around the world.

Due to the difference in climate, São Paulo gets European fashions right after they leave the runway for the season in Paris. That’s when it warms up in Sao Paulo – which means that the same thing you saw in Milan on the catwalk in August has just hit the fashion district in Sao Paulo in January. And it’s still the height of style!

Caetano Veloso, is a composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. He has been called "one of the greatest songwriters of the century" and is sometimes considered to be the Bob Dylan of Brazil. Veloso is most known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s, at the beginning of the Brazilian military dictatorship and was part of the movement that ended the dictatorship. Caetano’s homage to São Paulo “Sampa” is the city’s unofficial anthem.

Walter Salles who directed “The Motorcycles Diaries” a film about the early life of Che Guevera is from one of São Paulo’s famous families and the son of Brazil’s most legendary bankers.

In other film news: São Paulo’s reputation as one of the world’s ugliest urban centres was the reason Brazilian director Fernando Mereilles chose it as a location for his film, “Blindness” based on Jose Saramago’s novel that depicts a bleak vision of a near –future hell on earth.

Shopping malls are to São Paulo what Versailles was to France: all about style and power. The American style malls (simply know as shoppings) as well as their greatest features – the parking lot- were adopted in Brazil after WW2 . There are more than 50 major shoppings in the São Paulo. Violence has contributed to the success of the malls; security guards, high walls …safe zones that recreate “normal” city life.

Our time in Sao Paulo or 19 days with La Familia Rocco

I always knew that my father lived in Brazil; BUT it was only in my twenties that my full sister Johanna called her father to discover we had two sisters from another mother; Jacqueline and Cibele. Though we had both visited Brazil before, this visit marked a historic occasion; all four sister together for the first time.

Not only do we have sisters, but an aunt and uncle, cousins, 2nd cousins, nieces and a nephew too; as well as brothers in laws and well what is the kinship term for the wife of my cousin? It was a pleasure to see all of them, learn more about things we share; genetic connections? This trip was less a discovery of one of the world's biggest cities than getting to know La Familia Rocco.

Most days we leave the Pousada Dona Zilah on Alemeda Franca in Jardim Paulista and head up to Avenida Paulista to catch the 669-10 bus to Santo Amaro, where almost all the Rocco clan has lived for at least a generation. The aroma of garlic pervades the Jardim Paulista neighbourhood as restauranteurs prepare for the lunch crowds. The bus rumbles its way up Avenida Paulista, down Santos, up Brigadeiro, past the push- pull monument (Monumento as Bandeiras), commemorating the pioneers of the Brazilian interior, one of whom is the ancestor of my brother in-law Marcelo. Our bus goes along past Parque Ibirapuera (Sao Paulo's central park) and finally we travel along Santo Amaro Avenue for a long time and three stops after the giant we arrive at my father's house.

Santo Amaro used to be a small town unto itself. I imagine what it much have been like for my mother to live with an extended Italian family in a huge house, not speaking portuguese in 1956? But today Sao Paulo has exploded outside of itself to absorb all the communities around. Our explorations have really only familiarized us with a tiny rectangle of this huge metropolis.

We usually arrive in Santo Amaro just in time for lunch. Frank's house (or uncle Frank as he likes the extended family to refer to him) is filled with paintings by my Brazilian sisters' mother Dalva. Dalva died in 2000 shortly before our first visit here, so we never had the opportunity to meet her. I really like this one...

Cibele confided that her mother had once told her that if she was not around Frank would turn every room of the house into an office and sure enough with 3 or 4 desks covered with papers, atlases, dictionaries, office supplies and clocks one could certainly sit down anywhere and begin work. Frank took great pleasure , while surrounded by his not so silent daughters and grand-daughters, in insisting he was the "boss". He certainly had enough pens to employ an army of scribes.

Communication is easy, every member of my family speaks English fluently. They have gone well beyond the first phrase that all Brazilian English students learn: "The Book is on the Table" less useful as a conversation opener than the first phrase Turkish English students learn : "Welcome to Turkey".

Not only do the Roccos speak English , but Frank, Cibele, Ricardo and their daughters Juliana and Beatriz relish discussions about the past perfect continuous and the passive voice; who knew we had to come to Brazil to learn English grammar. We enjoyed teaching some slang, discussing nuances, turns of phrases, plus exchanging Portuguese and English sayings. My Portuguese consists of "Nao Falo Portugues" an opening to launch into Spanish. This approach did get me by and eventually I could score very well in translate this Portuguese phrase game with Beatriz and Juliana.

Spring in Sao Paulo, on the Tropic of Capricorn , which passes right through Sao Paulo and Ubatuba (the beach town we visited) made for very hot and humid times only relieved by thunder (trovao) and lightening (relampago) storms with remarkably, heavy, steady rain that would flood the streets. (And, in case we forgot that we were in the southern hemisphere water does run down the drains the opposite way.) To escape the heat and the downpours we often visited the shoppings (Brazilian name for mall) to appreciate the climate controlled conditions. Yvonne was in search of Brazilian brand runners, non-existent since Brazilians favor US brands. Sidewalk, an Australian store, was where I found sensible sandals and where Cibele made the observation that my sandals would "take your life away". Though not commenting on the price of the shoes but their durability her saying is one we will continue to use. It expresses much more than "last a lifetime".

Our favorite meal in Sao Paulo had to be at Sujinho (translated as the little dirty bar) where the steaks, coleslaw, farofa , polenta fries, onions were plentiful and perfect. Other notable food was the feijoada and tasty deserts that Jacqueline prepared for us, the pao de queijo (cheese buns) and the pastels from the market, my favorite being the bacalhau (cod) and palmito (palm hearts). Tete, Maria Teresa invited us to her little house that serves as a counseling office, so beautifully decorated with such a lovely garden. There we discovered aqua de coco, which became Johanna's drink of choice. And for the love of hot sauce; we are hoping that Cibele will bottle her amazing red one and even hotter white one. Perhaps for export?

Sujinho was located right next to the Cemiterio da Consolacao, reputed to be filled with works by renowned sculptors, but the family vote favoured a visit to the planetarium to see the sky of the southern hemisphere. Marcelo said that I should save my visit to the cemetery for my "last days".

We were invited to Roberto (my Father's brother) and Magdalena's house for lunch one day where the mystery of our futile search for Rocco's in Sapri was solved. The family tree revealed that it was one of my great ancestors Rosin Tafury who was born in Sapri in 1873. She came to Sao Paulo and in 1892 married Joao Pires Oliveira Dias in Rio Claro, Brazil and from their union springs La Familia Rocco.

Magdalena , the family matriarch who gave us a warm welcome, delicious lunch and showed photos of the whole family going back many years portraying young parents and grandparents and our Brazilian sisters as youths.

You cannot be in Sao Paulo without hearing about, talking about and experiencing the traffic. It is a constant topic and the excuse for every late arrival. Cars rule! Being in the traffic, whether in a car or on the bus allows you to see the incredible graffiti which covers almost every available surface of the city. It is easy to believe that Sao Paulo is the world's graffiti capital. There is the strictly black lines, cave painting style and the colourful street art variety. The city's current mayor Kassab held a high profile Cidade Limpa (clean city) initiative where he mistakenly got rid of some works by famous artists but at the same time he made a law to remove all billboards from the city (including the golden arches). This move revealed Sao Paulo's unique architecture, hidden for years, and also makes the graffiti canvass more visible.

We visited the famous graffiti lane, Batman Alley, in Vila Madalena with Marta, my second cousin, a young lawyer who works with refuges. We had never met Marta before, since the last time we visited she was in California studying and all we really knew abut her was that she was an avid X-files fan. Marta told us about intellectual property while comparing downloading notes with Yvonne and made us all fans of Geena Davies as US president so now before making major decisions we will ask: "What would Geena do?"

Beto's, Marta's father (my cousin) is a jazz drummer who plays with a number of fantastic piano players and we had the opportunity to see him perform with Bossa a Beca twice. The family sing-a-long revealed that Cibele and the girls are also wonderful singers, players and along with Johanna's ukulele songs we could have had a great talent show, but sadly we had no time for that.

We finally got to use the metro when we went to the bus depot and off to Ubatuba to stay with Beto, Regina, Marta and Luciano at a beautiful beach house built by Regina's father at Praia Vermelho (Red Beach). A true tropical experience, so wet and humid that I felt that vegetation would soon start emerging from my skin. We swam , visited with sea turtles, Johanna discovered kayaking and we enjoyed our daily dose of Caipirinhas.

Without even knowing our propensity for going to the racetrack; Jacqueline took us to to the Jockey Club a beautiful vantage point from which to gaze onto the city. Even though you cannot bet to show here, we were all winners.

It had been a long time since I had seen even my Canadian sister and nine years since our last visit. Juliana and Beatriz were very young and Gabriel was not even born! It was a great "getting to know you" time. We will remember the voices of our relations saying "Tudo Bem" the universal greeting of Brazil.

Even though we never made it to Casa das Pedras, with, (yes Marta) the "panoramic view of the favela"; and we did not go to Ilha Bela to see Rosina and Donald; or test the square pizza to see if there is truth in the claim that Sao Paulo's pizza rivals Naples; or eat at any of those beautiful lanchonetes; we did learn many family secrets, yet no one gave us the recipe to the famous Rocco spaghetti sauce. Please someone send at your earliest convenience so we can cook it in Canada.

www.flickr.com

The Postcard Race : Round 9: Spring in Sao Paulo

Thanks to our guest mailers for round 9. Francisco (Frank) Rocco (my father) and Gabriel Rocco my only nephew for dropping the postcards in the mailbox.

We are spending time in Sao Paulo with the Rocco family and delving deep into kinship relations; more on that later...

Round 9 is " Spring in Sao Paulo". The first person to notify us (by telling us on the blog or emailing yvonne or rachel) that you have received the postcard and to relate the "Sao Paulo fact" on the back will win "something mailed to you from another country!"

Is the mail faster from South America then Europe? Will the post still favour those in the east? Please keep an eye on your mailbox; your postcard that will look something like the ones below.

Good Luck everyone!

Departing Barcelona; we will remember

Barcelonas are dawning fall fashions and have dressed the streets with festive decorations making it easier to believe that November is upon us. I have been eyeing warm jackets, fabulous boots, and scarf /hat ensembles with envy. We have sent our warm clothes home, the temperature is dropping and so it is time to trade fall for spring. Tomorrow we head to Sao Paulo.

The last few weeks we have been pretty relaxed. We have discovered the danger of feeling too at home; we think we know where we are going only to find we have walked in a large circle. (No prairie girls this is not a grid). Sometimes taking the metro is way slower than walking. It would take a long time to really understand the underground; knowing what car in the train to board so you get off nearest the correct exit at your stop.

Celebrating the The Day of the Dead in the Mexican tradition, Barcelona's "The Route of the Altars" has 20 different locations where altars are erected to honour particular people. I left an offering at Michael Jackson's alter and we visited a number of others. I think the originators of Michael's altar were less fans and more critics. We attended a concert at a community centre where Mercedes Sosa was honoured with an altar. We have also been taking in the culture by attending a number of films at the "In- Edit" Music Documentary Festival our favorite being "Johnny Cash's America" and most controversial being "The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector". As part of the Jazz Festival we got to see Concha Buika in the fantasy-land modernista venue "Palau de la Musica Catalana", she was doing a homage to

Chavela Vargas and has an amazing soulful voice.

It was so nice to find part of our community living here in Barcelona.

Megan and Abi cooked a delicious dinner. Talking and laughing and discussing

over a few visits with them, so at home but at the same time reminded us that we

miss our friends. We discovered how small Canada really is.

(what with Richard and the Hat Man). We are actually looking forward to visiting

Toronto if it could be timed with a Megan Abi dinner party.

We have been making a big effort, (sometimes holidaying is harder than you think), to have lunch out every day and take advantage of the "menu del dia". It allow us to sample a lot of dishes. locations and a variety of flavours. This fantastic phenomena surprisingly continues from a law decreed in Franco's time (something good that came from fascism?) that every restaurant must offer a reasonably priced lunch for working people.

Today over 62% of Spaniards eat "menu del dia". The price varies from 7.50 to 15 euros but always includes primero, segundo,wine or beer, coffee and desert. Lunch is a long affair, businesses close, people settle in for a 2, 3 or maybe 4 hour break. Restaurant la Catalan, Mason David, Anima, Ra,

Carmelites, Cafe L'Academie are some of the places we have enjoyed.

We found the Chinese (Taiwanese) restaurant: hot and sour soup, mao pao tofu and the like to scare away the cold and flu, as especially Yvonne, has been fighting off some bug. We also searched for the elusive Ginger Ale, a hard to find beverage when away from Canada Dry land. So as the doctor might order we spent some serious time under the covers, resting and reading the Steig Larsson "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy and have been enjoying the super hero gal and her many talents.

Today, I visited he San Antonio market sadly for the last time, but had fun getting all the ingredients for homemade chicken soup; which is sure to cure us of all ills. We had a pleasant surprise yesterday, since Janna came to town, the second stop on her European adventure; so it has been fun to see another face from home and walk around again with someone as amazed to see the beauty as when we first arrived.

Tomorrow we pack our now pretty empty bags and begin take the 14 hour flight which will begin our South American leg.

We will miss this oh so livable city and it's charms: the beautiful banners that turn into bags, the thoughtful creative people, my lovely hairdresser, the stalls at the markets, our washing machine and fantastic drying rack, the food, the wine, the beer to share, the cava and cortados.