After the slow proess of buying out tickets to Colonia and Montevideo in Uruguay, we set off to explore some aspects of Borges' life. There is nothing in the tourist books about a Borges Museum but the Centro Cultural Borges is as close as they get. It is located on the top floor of the Galerias Pacifico, an impressive shopping mall that we have previously visited. There is not a lot to see, a few original pages from the "Aliph", original illustrations and newspaper cuttings of his life and death.
The centre also hosts other current artists and cultural events.
Our next visit was to La Ciudad Bookstore, frequented by Borges and used for meetings. We were initially disappointed that it was closed but the owner left his lunch at a nearby cafe and came over to open the shop and insisted that Robert sit on Borges' old wooden chair at his rather small desk covered with original editions of his work. This shop is on Calle Maipu, just down the street from where Borges lived.
Our final stop was Cafe Tortoni, Buenos Aires' oldest cafe. We lunched on fillet steak and Argentinian wine. We are not sure if Borges sipped absinthe or drank herbal tea! In one corner of the cafe is a life sized statue of Borges and colleagues sitting at a table. This cafe has a wonderful ambience with a queue outside waiting to go inside.
There were other places we could visit - the former National Library where Borges was director, even when he was blind. When people read to him, he would direct him to the exact passage with his incredible memory. We could have visited the Borges International Foundation, run by his widow, Maria Kadoma. It holds many 1st editions but by now it was closed!!
We did what we expect Borges may have done. We returned to our hotel for a siesta.
F
From the Centro Cultural Borges
Robert discussing his work. We think he dozed off!
1 comment:
Sounds like a really interesting day and not a typical tourist day out at all. Fillet steak for lunch, no wonder you needed a siesta!
xoxo
Di and Matt
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