Ken and I have been literally and figuratively eating up Argentina since our arrival October 29th. It took us mere hours to figure out what part of the city of Buenos Aires we wanted to live in and 4 days to secure what Ken describes as the most perfect apartment ever. It's pretty compact by American standards but serves our needs nicely.

Our days consist of sleeping in, eating out, drinking up and looking down: Because Portenos (as the local city folk call themselves here) live their lives on an infinitely foreign time schedule than North Americans we find ourselves dining at 10 or 11 at night and going for a walk or to a music venue afterwards. It is rare for us to go to sleep before 2am (all week long) which, believe it or not, is really rather early for the locals! Ergo the reason for the "sleeping in" component of our daily activities.

"Drinking up" refers to the copious amounts of very inexpensive but good Argentine wine we've imbibed. We do love good wine and have become considerably easy to please after being relegated to the cheap boxed-wine in our Central American cruising grounds over the past few years. Even the US$2.00 bottles here are good.

We tend to dine on more beef than I'd care to admit. But, when in Rome... The city is full of parillas which are basically grilled meat restaurants. Of course beef is their national food and it is extremely tasty and served scores of ways. It is rare to find chicken in the mix although they do love their pastas. Since the city has a substantial Italian heritage it's not hard to see why. They also love their pizza, which is nothing like our American translations. We find our ourselves "eating out" about twice a week and have narrowed our favorite eateries to two local and incredibly affordable parillas

"Looking down" from the terrazza of our second floor modified studio we bear witness to varying events and a flurry of activities on a daily basis. We live in the formally Bohemian but increasingly gentrified neighborhood of San Telmo, only a few blocks south of the downtown area. Monday through Friday it teems with locals tending to their business activities or on their way to or from their favorite eateries. We watched the birth of a new establishment right across the street from us happen in less than 3 weeks time. They opened 2 weeks ago and have been remarkably busy since.

Weekends, however, are when we feel the full gratitude for our location. The entire street below us is closed down every Sunday for 8 blocks to accommodate a street fair. The section exactly beneath us is the designated performance area. Around 11:00am Guiermo, the classical guitarist, begins strumming his blissful tunes almost beneath us. Around 4:00pm the swing/jazz combo comes in at the corner and starts rocking things up. Later in the afternoon the drum groups descend with an energy that lights our souls on fire. Sometimes only one comes...sometimes 3 or 4. One Saturday there were 15!! Added to the mix are other eclectic street performers, puppeteers, and clowns . The blocks above and below us are packed with kiosks and blankets of trinkets and handmade crafts as well as antiques galore. (Did I mention that San Telmo is the antique capital of the city?) Needless to say, Sunday is the day we most look forward to and make certain we hang around for. Room with a view...$650US. Weekend entertainment...priceless.

Those are the ins and outs and ups and downs of our days here in BA. What I haven't mentioned and what can't be overlooked here is the Tango music. Really one of the strongest draws to come here (for ourselves and thousands of tourists) is the genre so specific to this place. We have bought the shoes...we have taken handfuls of classes and we continue to struggle to dance to music that remains unfamiliar to our rock and blues sensibilities. You won't be seeing us on "Dancing With The Stars" any time soon but I do think we are on the verge of getting it...and then, look out.

Dancing to Tango got it's start in the bordellos of the city by fellows waiting patiently for their turn to have a roll in the sack with a girl. The men practiced steps with each other, which may help to explain the macho nature of the beast. Dancing tango has been described many ways but my favorite is a silent conversation between partners. The man doesn't lead as much as open the door to any number of possibilities for a woman to choose...or at least so the theory goes. And, by the way, you don't dance "the" Tango...you dance "to" Tango, which is as soulful, introspective and intense a music as anything I've ever heard.

One recent night we found ourselves at the world's largest milonga. A milonga is a place where like-minded folks gather to dance to Tango. Much simpler and less flamboyant dancers than we see in the movies or on TV grace the dance floor (or the street as it was that night) with a beauty and intensity unique to each pairing. Our goal is to start tripping the light fantastic at as many milongas as possible before we move out of B.A. Tango gives way to other forms of musical expression once we leave the city, so our learning time is short lived as our time here nears an end.

After the first of the year we will move on to other enticing destinations in Argentina, including Mendoza ( the famous wine producing area), the Lakes District (in the Andean foothills to the southwest) and the not to be missed natural wonder if Iguazu Falls (4 times larger than Niagara Falls). Hopefully that will be our border crossing into Brazil later in January. After exploring that country and exhausting ourselves at Carnival in Rio we hope to take advantage of lightened tourism this year and catch a good fare on a cruise from BA around Cape Horn to Valparaiso, Chile in March. At that time we'll get our glimpse of Patagonia and other hard to reach destinations.

We have forgone a cruising season this year in order to highlight the miracle of the longevity of our marriage. Celebrating 25 years together demanded something far removed from the norm. Considering our life together began in a simple ceremony in San Blas, Mexico a quarter century ago it seemed apropo to begin the next segment in yet another exotic locale. If fate placates us on the exact day of our anniversary (February 21) we will be dancing wildly to samba music at the world's largest Carnaval celebration in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

When we recover from the week long party we'll further update our wanderings around South America (which, by the way is a continent made up of countries, contrary to the Alaska Governor's amazing faux pas calling the whole continent the "country of South America"....). The countries of Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador await.