When I got up this morning I couldn’t believe it. The same city that had given us nasty weather for two days decided to surprise us with a nice sunny day. I guess I shouldn’t be shocked since a similar thing happened the week before, but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless.

Anyway, I have a list of ten “must see” cafés in the city that I’m trying to get to. On the list are two that are in the Plaza de Mayo area, and I took advantage of the nice weather to check them both out.

Here’s a quick photo I snapped from where I was waiting for the bus. I live in the white building on the corner– the fourth floor (third here, since the base floor is zero), the one with the balcony, is where I call home. It’s the corner of Las Heras (busy avenue with lots of buses) and Azcuenaga (less busy, but gets fair traffic on my corner). I live around on the longer side of the building where the balcony is thinner. There is a lamp and electrics store on the zero floor of the building, so all in all here are only four apartments that each take up one floor of the building.

I took the 61 bus to the Plaza de Mayo where I walked a few blocks on the Avenida de Mayo to Café Tortini. Here are a few shots I took in the plaza. There’s that Cabildo from the tour I took ages ago when it was summer.

Here are a few shots in San Telmo– the two shots on the top are taken from different parts of 9 de Julio, the widest avenue in the world, I believe. It takes ages to get across!

Here’s a nice little mural on the wall of a building on Avenida de Mayo.

So, my mission was to hit up two very different little bar-cafés. Café Tortini is an old old café that mostly caters to tourists, while Café 36 Billares (36 Billiards) is a bit more local, though they do see tourists for tango shows on weekend nights. I got lots of reading done at both places– it was a nice way to spend a Saturday!

The shots are from around the room in Tortini. The café is huge, with lots of tables, a smoking lounge (sealed off) in the back– when you walk in you’re in a totally different place than the street, it’s dimly lit, a bit noisy with the sounds of a restaurant (something I love), and lots of different languages (primarily English and Spanish, but some Portuguese and a few others as well).

There is also a back meeting room (not sure if it’s still in use) and a room for performances of tango. I wandered around and took a few pictures.

Here’s the front of the building. The café is huge from the front also, and takes up a few numbers for its address on Avenida de Mayo

Café 36 Billares is a completely different place– the front is big and fairly empty, featuring a large bar, lots of drink options, and a stage for the shows they have at night– jazz and tango, which start at 20 minutes after midnight on Friday and Saturdays.

The action at 36 Billares is in the back, where there are lots of people playing card games and of course, pool. I believe there is also a smoking lounge though I didn’t wander that far back.

So, I met up with Matt thinking I’d have a café-full day and head to the Starbucks that has recently opened in the Alto Palermo mall. What were we thinking? Here’s a picture of the line that we did not stand in. I’ll have to go back sometime that’s not 6:30 on Saturday night– Argentines aren’t really morning people, I’ll probably head over there at like 9:30 some weekday morning just to say Ive been

There you go– that’s a Saturday of wandering around the city, drinking coffee, drinking cervezas, and in general trying to keep busy and see it all.

Coming soon: Pictures of public transit, the FLACSO building, my home, and hopefully many more.