Daily life in Buenos Aires

Running errands is the worst.  Sometimes I think I organized this entire family sabbatical just to get away from those pesky errands.  As it turns out, after 5 months on the road, it was a relief to land in Buenos Aires for two weeks and return to the more mundane things in life.

At the top of our list was getting Ruby to a dentist.  We needed a pediatric dentist with experience treating TMJ, so our NYC-based dentist recommended a specialist who happens to live and work in a suburb far from the center.  Going to see her was like traveling from Staten Island to White Plains. The dentist, however, was lovely, so we didn't resent the horrible commute too much.

Fun visit to the dentist

Next on the list was haircuts.  Going to a proper salon in upscale Recoleta was a real treat.  I might even consider a pedicure, although I'm still a bit traumatized by my pedicure disaster in Ecuador.  

Well-coiffed for once!

My least favorite errand was applying for Brazilian visas.  Making an appointment at the embassy was easy.  The only wrinkle was that we needed the kids' birth certificates.  After scrambling to find them, we had to go to a Brazilian bank and pay for our visas on the same day.  It wasn't bad, especially after we figured out how and where to exchange dollars for pesos at the unofficial blue rate. 

We are so happy in this kitchen

Finally, we love having a proper kitchen for cooking.  I don't mind at all doing all the food-related errands for preparing our own meals.  Our neighborhood is filled with gourmet food markets, butchers, cheese shops, bakeries, etc.  We're trying to alternate restaurant steak feeds (so well documented by Neil) with simple meals at home.  

Homemade dessert

Tonight, as a special treat, Ruby and I baked dessert.  After much thought and debate, we decided to make fudgy chocolate chip cookies.  Knowing that we'd be using an oven without specific temperature controls, we needed  a recipe with some leeway.  To complicate matters further, we didn't really have the proper ingredients because the local Carrefour has no baking section.  We couldn't find powdered sugar or unsweetened cocoa powder.  The "cookies" were delicious, looks notwithstanding.  

Dessert and poker (I think Neil was winning)