We’ve been in Casa San Telmo for three weeks now, our home away from home, with another month and a half ahead of us before we leave Argentina at the end of March.

We’re easing into a new-found balance of work and play, with Ants plugging back into his creative mojo after our incredible Patagonian adventure… so invigorating and life-affirming! He’s writing away each and every day – helped by two days of incessant rain.

On other days, incredibly hot and sticky, what a godsend is the pool in the courtyard (with Paul as dedicated poolboy – Ant). This morning before dawn a storm rolled over, so a rather dramatic drop in temperature overnight, down to a sensible 22 degrees, though the temperature is heating up again towards a blistering 37 by early next week. Again, thank god for that pool. Actually, the courtyard itself must be a few degrees cooler than the street, probably due to the incredibly high walls of the adjacent buildings, adding to the oasis serenity of Casa San Telmo.

Not much to report really. We’re spending most of our time in the house, bouncing ideas around the dining table, and when not at home, we’re to be found in our favourite local restaurant Caracol watching the world pass by. Packed with strap-hanging commuters, buses hurtle past on a weekday with exotic-sounding far-flung destinations such as Quilmes (home of the local beer) and Wilde. Founded by relations of Oscar?

I’m flitting around, exploring the wonders of the Mercado, sorting out breakfast lunch and dinner and wondering why (oh why?) there are no early morning bakers here. Nope, nothing rises here until well after 9am, and that’s not just the bread – it appears that Porteños like to sleep in, perhaps it’s because they eat so late and carry on until the wee small hours, sliding the working day forward from 10 till 10, quite different from Sydney where it feels like the whole city is up-and-at-‘em from dawn, but then again, who could ever sleep through a Sydney dawn chorus?