sometime after 11pm, Wednesday May 13 ....a long day over

Today was a difficult day. My deadline to be back at W´s office at 3.45 ensured I couldn´t relax on my journey to San Telmo; despite peeing at the empanada restaurant I had to pee again a half hour later so was anxious about where I was going to find a loo; I confirmed that the $20 peso phone card I was sold at the airport communications centre does not work in public phones and I couldn´t call the other couch surfer I was hoping to catch up with; not knowing how to figure out which bus to take or having the change (caja) for it even if I did (the bus fare machines only take coins and W warned me before I arrived to save 1 peso coins because everyone needs them and no one has them) meant my journey there and back would be long.

It was already 2.30 when I arrived in San Telmo, a very old part of town. It is quaint, with crumbly pastel buildings and many antique shops and old pubs. I stumbled upon an indoor market with atmospheric stalls of antiques, jewelry, fruit and vegetables, lighting fixtures, dolls, etc. It also had bathrooms (yay!). I bought a small avocado and a handful of yellow cherry tomatoes from a fruit seller. I was sold a lovely piece of chocolate by two young (twenty-somethings, I think) gypsy-like Chileanos. I think it was homemade and it was rich and surprisingly good.

I only had time for this small wander and then had to head back to the office, but I didn´t make it back in time for W and I to go to the 4.30 planetarium show. I walked as fast as I could in this city full of people and works to dodge but it was too far a walk and, of course, I took a few wrong turns, lengthening my journey. After walking in the wrong direction for a little while, I asked a woman which direction Once station was in, she pointed to a bus and gave me a bus number. I watched this bus pass as I left her, so walked farther to another bus stop. I missed about 3 buses because I wasn´t in the exact right place and quick enough to get on the buses that sometimes don´t stop at all. I finally did get on a bus after a long wait (10 or 15 mins?) but then got off too early. The whole day was stressful and walking in the grey drizzle didn´t help my mood. Sometimes I felt sorry for myself, despairing as a frightened traveller. Other moments were good.

The day ended well at the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA). W and I wandered around exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, including works by Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera and Botero. I saw Kahlo´s famous self-portrait with monkey and bird. I preferred Rivera's earlier work, which I presume is pre-Communist. It is more abstract. I didn't find the paintings of large worker scenes to be very unique or genius. To me, the worker's faces are amateurish.

It was nice wandering the gallery with W. Sometimes we loved the same paintings, other times our tastes diverged, but as a photographer and generally arty person, she had interesting things to say about why she did or did not like a work, matters of form and content. There was one painting in shades of brown, a fairy forest scene with monster-headed people and a dragon-slaying that was dated to the 1950s, much ahead of the time I think of as popular for such fantasy scenes, which are quite current. Even more surprising was that it was painted by a woman.