16 January 2011

I thought someone stole my iPod. The light in my car was on and my iPod was gone. What a bummer. It was under my jacket on the backseat. I blasted The Dodos’ Visiter twice plus two William Shatner albums. I drove until almost 2 am. I finally pulled into a closed gas station and climbed in the backseat to sleep.

I woke at 7:30, filled up the tank, washed my face, and was in Buenos Aires by 10 am. Just before the two lane separates into a four lane autopista I drove past a sexy photo shoot at an old gas station. I followed the signs for Centro. There wasn’t much traffic downtown. I consulted my guide for a good cafe but the one whose review I liked was closed. So was the next one I went looking for. Both hostels the guide recommended were full. The largest hostel in Buenos Aires with 300 beds was full until Thursday. I did not think well of this situation. I took my laptop and when for a stroll down Florida Ave, a pedestrian mall, looking for a cafe with wi-fi.

Lots of vendors and street performers. Tango dancers and musicians. Blankets spread out with all kinds of trinkets. Instead of a cafe I found a cheap hotel for three nights. 60 pesos a night. The receptionist said I should park in a garage. Two American girls checked in before me. The place is a bit rundown and almost seedy. Reminds me of the hotel in downtown Portland. The plaque out front says “Hostel Touristico”. There’s wi-fi.

The internet said the second cafe, Tortoni, was open so I walked on over. It still looked closed: door shut tight, windows covered, no outside seating, but the door was actually slightly ajar so I poked my head in. I was seated right away.

I’ve been ordering cafe con leche because coffee and milk are what I like.  But in this part of the world a cafe con leche is more like a cappuccino. Scouring over the menu I saw they had cafe con creama and something in my brain clicked. I ordered a cafe con creama and apple pie a la mode. The waiter returned with a tiny espresso shot and a large bowl of thick cream. With a dab of cream the coffee was perfect. This is what I’d been searching for and not just in South America but in all my coffee experiences for the past five years. I was instantly transported back to Adrianna’s and playing cards with Jenni. No more cafe con leche for me. But a cafe wasn’t going to be enough for me so I ordered a cafe dobla and mixed in the rest of the cream. Two old couples were seated at the table next to me. One of the men had a baseball cap from Port Lockroy Antarctica. Cafe Tortoni is very old and beautiful but it’s not a place to hang out all day.  It’s a restaurant not a cafe.

On the walk back to the hotel I saw an edition of Borges’ complete works in a bookstore window and the urge to read his poetry suddenly and irrationally overtook me. No bookstore I’ve been to has Borges in English. It started raining.

I used the wi-fi again to plan my route to the embassies of Venezuela and Brazil tomorrow. I also discovered El Ateneo, a bookstore with a cafe. It’s in a refurbished theater and is listed as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. The cafe is on the stage. The first cafe I went to was listed as opening at 5 on Sundays so I walked on down but even at 6 pm it was still closed. El Ateneo however was open.

El Ateneo bookstore

I imagine Buenos Aires will roar to life tomorrow but for the moment everything is closed and traffic is minimal. There’s a large obelisk in the middle of downtown. Either there is no defined skyline or I haven’t seen it from the right angle yet. All the buildings are dingy off white and old. It seems like an exciting place.

This morning a man trying to lure customers into his store asked a passerby, “Would you like to see a leather jacket?”  It was very funny.