Easter 2008

It was an unusual cycle into work this morning. In some ways spring has started. It was bright daylight when I got up at 6.45, and it even looked a little sunny. I saw the storks up on their nest in the park, and heard a lot of other birds along the way. But when I got up there also was snow on the square in front of my house. And I had to cycle carefully and slowly because the roads were white. It wasn't all that cold, but it did all look as unusual as beautiful.

And it's been a mixed day, really. Periods of bright sunshine, and grey periods with a lot of snow falling. As unpredictable as the end of March should be, really.

Support

Sometimes you suddenly find yourself in a new world, a different world, the kind you sort of knew existed but were never involved with. I hurt my leg in December and the wound hasn't healed yet, so when I got back after my trip I went to see the doctor. He told me how to treat the wound, and one thing he told me to do was to get a support stocking for my left leg. So I went to a shop that sells all these aids, walking frames and all that. I'd cycled past it regularly before, not thinking I'd be a customer there anytime soon.

Well, it was different. The lady serving there has probably seen it all and done it all and she is used to dealing with the elderly and all the others who need a little help. She was very decisive and knew exactly how it all worked. I was ushered into a small room, asked to take my sock and shoe off and then to sit down. I was measured from toe to knee, by someone who had obviously done this many times before. She said the stocking had to be made especially for me, so it would have the perfect fit, because my wound really needed to heal quickly. Then she told me to call back in about ten days to make an appointment.

In the end she called me after a week to tell me my stocking was ready. I could come over so I could be shown just how to put it on. I walked over to the shop, had to sit down again and take my sock and shoe off, and then she showed me the stocking and how to put it on. She had a greenish thing that looked like a sock, but only
reaching halfway up my foot. It is supposed to help me put my stocking on. The lady told me to fold it "like a gnome's hat", and that remark knocked me out completely. She proceeded to show me how to put the stocking on in about 30 seconds, and after that I couldn't see what the difficulty was. Then again, I'm not sure I understood
what she was saying. I just put it on every morning and hope I'm doing it the right way. I am sure that I fold my little gnome's hat properly, anyway.

Costanera del Sur

One of the best things about Buenos Aires is a small nature reserve on the bank of the Rio de la Plata, called Costanera del Sur. It's one of those sites that were meant for development, but it didn't quite work out, and the natural world took over while the developers weren't looking. Now it is officially a Ramsar site and it is protected. They say there are some 200 species of birds there, plus the local guinea pigs, amphibians, insects. It is only a walk of a few kilometres, walking all the way round the reserve is 7 kilometres, but you can see a lot on your way so you can easily spend a day there.


The good thing is that you can see a lot of birds throughout the day. Even before you are actually in the reserve you see the first birds, and it may take you some time to get past the information centre. Right next to the small centre is a tree that attracts hummingbirds, or picaflores. You can stand at a couple of metres from the tree and observe the birds without disturbing them, they are just too busy feeding. Then, as you walk further into the reserve, it feels like you have to stop every 20 metres or so, to work out what it is you are hearing or seeing. The local woodpeckers show themselves, a tortoise by the side of the path, Monarch butterflies, lizards quickly crossing from one side of the road to the other. Sometimes we were the ones being observed, for example when a Red-crested Cardinal decided to come up and have a good look at us from among the leaves up in a tree. I was lying in the grass just then, so we had a chance to take a good look at each other. He was very pretty.


We took a walk through the reserve on our first day in the city, in the blazing sunshine, but on the second it was closed in the morning because of the rain. The rain... There was the slightest drizzle, not enough to get anyone wet, but the men at the gate were afraid the paths might get muddy and slippery. We walked along the main road next to the reserve to the other entrance, watching quite a few interesting birds along the way. The Guira Cuckoo was sitting on the wall enclosing the reserve, a Snowy Egret and Wattled Jacana were foraging side by side in a shallow pool just a little further on.


When we got to the other side the guards had probably decided that it wasn't going to rain any harder than it was and we were allowed into the reserve. The paths were perfectly alright, and it turned out to be another good walk. We saw the Pampas Cavy again, always a favourite for any Guinea Pig lover, and the Golden-breasted Flicker. Once again there was the same mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar. The Flicker is obviously a woodpecker, but it doesn't look like our woodpeckers. You can more or less classify the birds you see everywhere, work out what family they belong to, but many are just a little different. The Egrets look like our Egrets though... And then there are the more tropical birds like the Parakeets, the Cardinals, the Hummingbirds and the Kiskadee that make it all very different. Then again, we recognise the sounds the Parakeets make because of the introduced Ring-necked Parakeets we have here in the park. It's all familiar yet confusing.

Buenos Aires

After a long time spent in the cold and wet surroundings of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, it was quite a change to be in Buenos Aires for a few days. A big city, about 30 degrees during the day, sunshine, a lot of people and a lot of cars and buses. A busy and lively city. I liked it. I liked seeing the Casa Rosada, and
thought about Evita there, the way most people do, I guess. I also thought about the mothers who used to stage their protest against all the disappearances there. The square still is the site for peope to protest against the things they don't agree with.



The city consists of wide avenues and narrow streets, with lots of small shops and cafés. The cafés are simply furnished, but the service is good and you can get good food there. The people look elegant, and the place has the southern feel to it, partly because you see children in the streets until quite late. Tango is everywhere, the shows and the tango cafés, the music shops.



Buenos Aires is definitely not a European city, but at the same time in many respects it is. It has a strong southern European feel to it, because of the many European influences that helped shape the city and the nation in the past. And some parts reminded me of the modern European cities. The area around the docks, Puerto Madero, has been redeveloped, it now looks modern and expensive. All the warehouses have been converted into offices, lofts and hotels. It looks very much like the former docks of Amsterdam, London and Liverpool. And it boasts a bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Puente de la Mujer. And then there is a lovely museum ship, which reminds me of some other ship.