The imposing Palacio de Correos y Telégrafos in Retiro, built in typical French Second Empire style, opened in BA in 1928 after 40 years of construction and much political in-fighting. Fast forward 87 years and again, after much wrangling, controversy, scandal, restoration and rejuvenation, the Centro Cultural Kirchner (CCK) opened to much fanfare in 2015…

It’s an easy 20 min walk from San Telmo, down Defensa and into the historic Plaza de Mayo, known of course for the Casa Rosada, where Evita would address the vast crowds from a small balcony, but also as the site of first European settlement in 1536. There’s some impressive early colonial architecture in BA…

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…

To add insult to injury, in a week of intense summer heat, residential electricity bills here went up by 26-32%, with a further 14% rise in March and further incremental increases thereafter, to hit an annual increase of 55%. Imagine that back home! And then to make it even worse, the city endured rolling power…

Such a glorious summer’s day today. The intense heat and humidity of last week have left us for now, finally allowing for walks into the city without feeling exhausted and bedraggled, though the heat is due to return at the end of the week so we’re making the most of the welcome change. Established in…

We first stayed in Casa San Telmo some eight years ago, meeting the imperious, glamorous and, at times, intimidating Mercedes, owner of the building, and as it turns out, architect, San Telmo property mogul and tango aficionado. According to other people we’ve met here, she’s a local legend and not someone to get on the…

Week two back in Buenos Aires and we’re well and truly settled in our routine, a pleasant balance of morning exercise, cooling pool dips, a good 5 hours of work, lunch by the pool and, if we’re honest, an afternoon siesta with a good book. I’m the one usually mooching around the San Telmo mercado…

We’re slowly settling into our ‘Casa Chorizo’ in San Telmo and adjusting to the intense January heat. It’s around the 35 degree mark most days and rather on the humid side, so it makes mooching around the barrio quite uncomfortable at times. Typically though, after say half an hour running local errands, we’re back at…

A loose translation for this heading would be ‘What lies beneath’. Our enormous gas oven broke down today and a lovely ginger-haired chap came over to fix. I mention this only as ginger hair is an extreme rarity here in Argentina and South America in general. In the process of fixing the oven we finally got to…

We’re back in Buenos Aires and our favourite barrio of San Telmo and in an old 1880’s printing factory converted into a ‘Casa Chorizo’ (sausage house), consisting of 4 apartments, ours being a two-storey affair overlooking the garden courtyard with a pool! This is the perfect oasis for high summer in BA and within walking…