Navidad in BA

I woke very early on XMas morning, 02:00 to be exact and not a sign of Santa Claus anywhere. I mooched, fiddled, computed, watched and amused myself till 07:30 when I decided to go for a long walk. I found 2 cafes open at Avenida Santa Fe and had a coffee (that's what they called it) and fired eggs. Fortunately they had wi-fi internet so I could read the New York Times on my IPhone rather than the Hola (Hello in Spanish) magazine they had lying around. Anyway only bad news in the newspapers these days. The cafes could easily have passed for Parisian brasseries.

I continued my walk till around 11:00am and discovered that:

• all items in shop windows have prices which makes window shopping kinda fun
• there are nearly as many beauty salons and mani/pedicurists in Recoleta as Double Bay
• prices seem to be on par with Sydney but we are staying in the most expensive part of town so that is to be expected
• don't order Schnitzel - I think made with beef and not so great
• food doesn't seem great but not too bad
• the architecture in the area is very interesting - clearly modeled on Paris
• I thought the area was very safe until I saw a security guard at McDonalds
• there are many antique, furniture, manchester and similar shops in the area
• I found Burger King which forntunately doesn't sell my favoutite fast food - deep fried chili cheese balls
• Starbucks do serve consistently good coffee

Anyway the weather is sensational hovering around 30 degrees and sunny which is the forecast for the next 5 days.

This morning I woke at 02:00 and decided to take a sleeping pill which did the tricks then sleeping till 09:00. At 10:00 the agent called around for the rent - in cash surprise surprise but was happy with Euros and $US which worked well for me - but I did get a receipt.

I have reports from the 'hood' that the dogs are well going for two big runs in the park and two short walks each day - shit! more than I do. Their diet is going well (poor things) and after barking in the middle of the night even slept on Espen's bed who now reports to being their best friend as they follow him around everywhere.

Well MIsh will be here soon so I better get showered and dressed. Hope everybody has a good day and that those of you who went Saleing today bagged a few bargains.

Love to all
XD