Cheefless : sad, and a well-fed stableboy declares me ready for marriage...

Post Iguazu...
there are more pics I'd like to add but blogger is being testy about it...

Tuesday morning (9:30) I started a four day intensive cooking class: Empanadas, pizzas and tarts. One of my instructors, Ariel Rios, is a bread man through and through. A 3rd generation baker, he grew up in a baking household and even worked for a company that made leavening agents (yeast, baking soda etc) and was already teaching at this school by the age of 30. Love him, he's a great instructor. His teaching partner, Mariela was a cool lady. She actually studied management, and then turned around and got into baking.


That night I went out with the kids because it was Cheef's penultimate night in Buenos Aires - so sad :( Started out at a bar called La Cigale, then headed to a club but no one was really into it b/c it was just crazy techno. Got some interesting shots though. Ended up at a restaurant and then got home at 4:30 AM. Woke up at 7:45 to head to cooking class again.

That same day I had my 4th horseback riding lesson at 3pm and this time I brought a camera. Here's a shot of Tambopolo, the horse I've been using. In the background there you see Mara, my instructor. Her cell is constantly blowing up. She's got quite a bit going on it seems. Very cool girl, she is great at constantly pointing out my errors - oy vey! Its a barrage of correction "Karen! Back straight, heels down, tighten your reigns!" I think I mentioned this before. She throws in encouragement though - so there's a balance there. I handed her my camera and here's her favorite shot.

Giving her the camera kind of backfired though because she started taking shots of me then using them to point out what I was doing wrong :/ Doh!

Needless to say I was exhausted, but it was now Cheef's last night in Bs.As - so I made reservations for 10 of us at Janio - a restaurant 6 blocks from my place with a great upstairs balcony. Lovely dinner, we said our farewells to our favorite Chinese Englishman and headed home. Everyone was exhausted.

Thursday was another cooking class, and that evening I saw Brokeback Mountain (aka "Secreto en la Montaña") with Flurina and Melissa.

Friday I had a stableboy tell me that I was "ready for marriage". You see, I had the final cooking class and I brought the food I made to my 5th horseback riding lesson. I gave all of it to the fellows that work there. Luckily they enjoyed it and one said "ahora te puedes casar!". I gave him the wipe-the-forehead "oh, I'm so relieved!" look. Just trying to give us Gringos a good rep there. I also finished the Siddhartha book (wonderful by the way - simple, yet profound. Strange though how you can read something, say "yes, this makes complete sense" and then close the book and go about with business as usual. Why is it so difficult for us to use our logic and apply it? Then again, I have problems just making sure I dont lose everything I touch. Anyhow - to cap it all off, I planned a trip to Mendoza with Tammie Presser - I'm basically dragging that poor girl onto a 13 hour bus ride only 7 hours after her arrival in Bs.As. Should be worth it though, its for a wine festival out there - and Mendoza is the Napa Valley of Argentina. Woohoo!!!!!!



Thats all for now. I hate being so listy about my week, but thats how it turned out. Listy McListalot.