Diego El Cigala comes to Cordoba !

  Those dark drooping bedroom eyes, that nose, the long black wavy hair, the voice, that raspy Gitano voice that can only belong to one person, Diego El Cigala.   "Be still my beating heart!!".
 And so, while reading Cordoba's Arts+Entertainment section, my heart suddenly leaped  out when I read that Diego El Cigala  would be performing for one night only at El Teatro de Libertador here in Cordoba City. I had tried several years earlier to get concert tickets   when he had performed with  Bebo Valdez, the cuban pianist, at Carnegie Hall in New York City . Their Grammy winning CD "Lagrimas Negras" was a huge International hit. Realistically, I knew my chances were pretty slim. After all , we are talking about NYC, where a series of 5 concerts in Madison Square Garden can sell out within 30 minutes.

I asked myself... How difficult could it be  to get concert tickets in Cordoba, Argentina?? I immediately phoned a friend of mine in Cordoba to see if she could get me tickets at the  Theaters box office. She mentioned that she had bought her tickets almost 3 weeks in advanced and that it might be difficult, but all the same she would try. Unfortunately, the bad news came early the next day.... all sold out! NADA!!.... not happening .....

Well, I still have faith that I will see Diego El Cigala perform one day down the road, so in the meantime I leave you with one of his songs to enjoy from the "Lagrimas Negras" CD.

Bebo & Cigala - Vete de mi

EX-PATS

I'm often asked by my guests, what made me move to Alta Gracia? The truth is I never really have a stock answer to give them except to say that I really loved Alta Gracia and wanted to stay. That was 5 years ago when I was the only foreigner walking in the center of town while being eyed by locals. The speculation and mystery of who I was and what I was doing in Alta Gracia seemed to be preoccupying to many. Go figure!
Quite frankly, at times, I felt like some kind of misplaced being.
 Today, I am happy to say that I am joined by several fellow Americans who have also planted their feet in Alta Gracia, and to my surprise, a strong French community of ex-pats.
How did they discover Alta Gracia?
Their reasons are a collection of different stories that have brought them here and just as I did, they found something tying in Alta Gracia and decided to stay.
The fun part is that both American and French Ex-Pats have formed  a lovely group, which recently grew in size with the latest couple joining us from Canada.
 An exciting discovery about our French friends... they sure can cook! Pates, quiches, rillettes de porc, tarte tatin and North African dishes, all this delicious food accompanied by some of Argentina's finest wines. So between our French, American, Argentine and Canadian friends, the International cuisine in Alta Gracia has taken on a deliciously exciting realm.
 We happily welcome Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai, Italian, Greek, Ethiopian, and Syrian friends to our group!

White Laundry

White Laundry. I never really gave white laundry much thought until I moved to Alta Gracia.
Living in New York City, many brownstone buildings and old apartment houses do not have washing machines and dryers on the premises.

 The only other alternative one has, is to walk several blocks to the closest laundromat and do it yourself or drop it off at the dry cleaners and have them wash your laundry. I remember dropping off my weekly laundry at Kim's, my neighborhood Korean dry cleaners. In the morning before work, I would lug my heavy overstuffed laundry bag and place it on Kim's scale and have it weighed. "You make more dirty laundry this week Ms. Lareo", Kim would remarkably notice and comment. "Well Kim, it's the sheets, they weigh a lot", I would reply.
I would later return in the evening to find that my heavy overstuffed laundry bag, was now a compact, nicely folded, freshly scented stack of clothes+sheets.

 5 years later, I have now become a "Laundry Queen". Running a Bed+Breakfast is synonymous with laundry. To be more specific,white sheets...lots of white sheets! I have discovered that hanging sheets  on a laundry line can be very therapeutic. The flapping of crisp white sheets in the air, the clean fresh scent, the cheeriness and elegance of the color white, actually makes me happy. What I once thought might be a tedious chore, has now become a nice routine. Who knew!!