Holy crap! We are broke!

We began the day normally; we both ran , took showers, ate lunch, messed around on line. We had a spanish lesson scheduled for 3, so we decided to take a walk and go get some money to pay our tutor. When we got to the ATM, Brent put in his card and nothing. Card invalid. Ok, maybe a faulty machine, maybe his card got zapped somehow. We go back home, get my card and I go to a different machine. Card invalid. Interesting. Flat broke in BA. ba
It turns out that our bank is changing systems and is mailing us new cards. Seems like we should have the new cards before they cancel the old, but what do I know, I'm not a banker.
Our tutor, Carlos, shows up and we explain our situation. He is the nicest guy ever. He drove us accross town to American Express to see if we could get a cash advance, but the office had already closed. Then he drove us all the way back and loaned us $100 pesos to get us through till tomarrow. Needless to say we will be taking lessons from him and recommending him to everyone we meet. I don't know if he can teach, but he sure is nice!
Brent is at Western Union today picking up money wired to us from our bank. They say they will have the problem rectified shortly.
Assuming Brent will return with some cash, I have a riding lesson at 5 that I am really excited about. Brent and I checked out the barn and the horses look great. Brent may play golf this afternoon, and we are supposed to meet friends for a night out at 9. Keep your fingers crossed, otherwise it is looking like scrambled eggs and alot of bad spanish tv all weekend!

The sky is falling! No! A cat is falling! (Could also be called Cats always land on their feet, they just don't always walk away.)

Today Brent and I looked at our final 4 apartments and we found a keeper! It is pooless (sp?) but is in a great neighborhood called Las Canitas on a quiet street that dead ends into the polo club. Brent can walk to golf and I can walk to a stable where I'm going to start riding lessons. It has a great balcony and comes with a bike and a maid once a week. All for $150 under our budget!
There is a legend (leyendo) in BA that if you shop for a new home on the last day of your 30's and a cat leaps off a high balcony into your path, then you get to be 39 for one more year- but only if you move into the next home you see. So that pretty much made our decision and I will be looking at 40 same time next year!
Seriously though, a cat really did jump off a balcony and landed about 20 feet from us. It was horrible. Apparently it was after a bird. The doorman from the building called the owner who came down. It was horrible. Needless to say I was in tears. It really was just horrible.
On a much lighter note we went to dinner last night and met a couple who just arrived 3 days ago and are living here for six months. They were nice and Brent is excited to have someone to potentially watch NFL with. We are going to meet them and a friend from school for drinks and a movie on Friday. Just when you think you are doing something unique, reality smacks you in the face.
We will be moving tomarrow so we will try to get some photos of our new digs this weekend- if I'm not too busy watching a polo match from my new balcony. Don't worry, I won't chase any birds.

Solo Espanol hoy, por favor!

From the moment Fran and I woke up this morning we only spoke spanish to each other and anyone else we ran into. Consequently, as we strolled to look at a few apartments, we spoke quite a bit less to one another. We both agree that it is a fine thing to do and we may increase our mandatory spanish only days to two per week after we get through this first one.

Since we have no car here, we are putting some serious miles on our shoes. I would guess we walked 6 miles today so far round trip. Tomorrow we will see at least four more apartments. At least our first appointment has two apartments to show us and has offered to take us by car to the second one, which is very close to our third one. We would like to have this wrapped up by days end tomorrow. If not, we will have to abandon the search and go directly to the beach! We will rent a car for a few days and just drive down the coast until we find suitable housing for a few days. To be honest, we will probably do that anyway once we throw our bags in the new apartment.

I have also found at least two people that have offered to play golf with me asap. If I can wrap things up early Friday, I have been invited to join a threesome at 2:30. I really want to do that!! But fear not my friends, I expect to complete 18 in Buenos Aires very soon. Done for now, more on the way, perhaps some pics of the new apartment, or maybe the beach, who knows at this point.

So many decisions, So little time.

Well let me begin by saying that although there were no turkey sandwich leftovers, and no pumkin pies, we had a truly wonderful Thanksgiving! The burgers were delish, as were the mashers (prepared by an English girl -I think that's what she called them), the corn (purchased by two very fit swiss brothers from the produce stand all the way down the hill), and the mate (supplied by a native Barilochian who thought she was just stopping by before her date). Before the food festival all our our guests were required to say what they were thankful for- entirley in Espanol! Ten people from all over the world with varying levels of vocabulary and all kinds of accents trying to express themselves after many, many toasts -let's just say it wasn't perfect spanish but it was a perfect evening.
I was surprised to find myself truly sad as we boarded the bus back to Buenas Aires. The peace and beauty in Bariloche is hard to beat.
And now that we are back in the big city the questions begin to pile up. Where are we going to live? Do we want to go to the beach for xmas? Should I go through the school for a spanish tutor? How can I maill all this unnecessary crap that I brought with me home? What are these chips? How can they be so delishious!?! I know that is not really a decision, but Brent just handed me a mediterraneas sabor chip and it blew me away!
Anyhow, we looked at an apartment today. It was very affordable ($700) but no AC. We have three more apartments to see this week. One is in a building with a pool. I have my fingers crossed for that one. They all are in Palermo near the parks and I cannot wait to start running through them!