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Brilliant Times in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, I imagined, was a city where the dancing never stopped, even in a crisis (in which Argentina always seemed to find itself). I fantasized about dancing tango in the arms of a sexy Latin lover at the end of the world with nothing to think about but my next tango step.
I chose safer places to visit, and Argentina stayed on my bucket list.
One fine day, I ran out of excuses. I owned a small finca in Alhaur�n el Grande near Malaga, Spain and it needed painting. My good friend Brian said to me, 'You buy the beers amigo, and I will help you paint your casita (house), and we can have some fun doing it.' It was an offer too good to turn down as I knew Brian was a genius with a paintbrush.
We had the best of times painting and bonding, drinking lots of beer and talking nonsense about life. On the second or third day, Brian threw a question at me:
'What do you think about doing that you have never done before?'
'Umm, ' I replied, 'let me think about that one. Pass me another beer.'
It didn't take me long to say that I always had a desire to visit South America and in particular, Argentina. Little did I know that answering Brian's question would change my life forever.
Brian listened to my tales of why I wanted to go to Argentina, and then he knocked me over with a feather! He proceeded to tell me that he had just completed a documentary on the Argentinian footballer, Ossie Ardiles. Brian told me that Ossie had told him that if you want to see what real passion is, you need to see a football match in Argentina. Win or lose, hate it or love it, Ossie said, the passion in Argentinian football is the best and the most loco in the world.
Amazingly, about eight weeks after our painting break, we were on a plane bound for Argentina. The plan was to stay for around 6-7 days in Buenos Aires.
18 years later...I am still in Argentina.
********************************************************
BRILLIANT TIMES IN BUENOS AIRES.
© DAVID CUMMINGS 2021
A LVXAB Publication.
Editor ● Cover Design and Background Painting ● Publisher ● Marketer ● SEO ● Social Media ● Web Design:
Anna Kristina Bernardino ~ Anna B. ~
@englishgaucho ● @LVXAB
I chose safer places to visit, and Argentina stayed on my bucket list.
One fine day, I ran out of excuses. I owned a small finca in Alhaur�n el Grande near Malaga, Spain and it needed painting. My good friend Brian said to me, 'You buy the beers amigo, and I will help you paint your casita (house), and we can have some fun doing it.' It was an offer too good to turn down as I knew Brian was a genius with a paintbrush.
We had the best of times painting and bonding, drinking lots of beer and talking nonsense about life. On the second or third day, Brian threw a question at me:
'What do you think about doing that you have never done before?'
'Umm, ' I replied, 'let me think about that one. Pass me another beer.'
It didn't take me long to say that I always had a desire to visit South America and in particular, Argentina. Little did I know that answering Brian's question would change my life forever.
Brian listened to my tales of why I wanted to go to Argentina, and then he knocked me over with a feather! He proceeded to tell me that he had just completed a documentary on the Argentinian footballer, Ossie Ardiles. Brian told me that Ossie had told him that if you want to see what real passion is, you need to see a football match in Argentina. Win or lose, hate it or love it, Ossie said, the passion in Argentinian football is the best and the most loco in the world.
Amazingly, about eight weeks after our painting break, we were on a plane bound for Argentina. The plan was to stay for around 6-7 days in Buenos Aires.
18 years later...I am still in Argentina.
********************************************************
BRILLIANT TIMES IN BUENOS AIRES.
© DAVID CUMMINGS 2021
A LVXAB Publication.
Editor ● Cover Design and Background Painting ● Publisher ● Marketer ● SEO ● Social Media ● Web Design:
Anna Kristina Bernardino ~ Anna B. ~
@englishgaucho ● @LVXAB
177 pages, Paperback
Published July 5, 2021
About the author
David Cummings
2 books5 followersI am from London but have been here in Argentina for twenty years after living in France for 9 years playing music. I never intended to stay this long and not sure how it really happened. One day I will realize its time to leave so one day I will be gone but not yet I have more to learn as we all do.
● Wordpress ● LinkedIn ● Instagram ● Flickr ● Tumblr ● Twitter ● Quora ●
Publisher: LVXAB ● Anna Bernardino
● Wordpress ● LinkedIn ● Instagram ● Flickr ● Tumblr ● Twitter ● Quora ●
Publisher: LVXAB ● Anna Bernardino
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 18, 2023
Throughly enjoyed reading this book
March 7, 2023
I received a free copy of this book on Kindle as part of a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
I always try to write a detailed review of what I thought when I finish a giveaway, especially when the book has few reviews like this one. I'm struggling, though. I want to explain why I only gave this two stars, but I don't have good reasons. As shown below, the repetitiveness and cliff hanger would not be enough to knock it down this much. I can just say Brilliant Times in Buenos Aires was okay. It didn't pull me in, I didn't feel compelled to keep reading, and I don't think you would be missing out if you don't read this.
I was initially interested in this book because I'm trying to become fluent in Spanish and am always interested in reading about other cultures, but Argentina more than average. I truly enjoyed learning everything about the culture that was included.
Something that I liked but other people might not is the extremely casual style that Cummings writes in (swear words included). Cummings writes like he's telling a story to a friend or at a party. In fact, the description for this book is entirely taken from the book itself, so that'll tell you exactly how he writes. I liked it, but you might not.
However, it became extremely repetitive. I think Cummings writes over ten times about how it's common custom to never be on time. Sometimes he would even say the same things a paragraph or two later. To me, this felt like when a student has to reach a certain word count on a paper but they can't think of what else to say, so they repeat themselves in different ways. Or it could just need more editing.
I also got my interest piqued right at the end. Basically, Cummings bought a house and he keeps putting in these notes to say that it goes wrong somehow. Like if he knew then what he knows now, he wouldn't have bought it. There was a lot of hype but it ends in a cliff hanger! We don't even get his full story of being in Buenos Aires because it's in the next book! That bothered me.
As a side note, there were random words in Spanish put in, but I can't figure out a pattern or what the point was. For example, "The drive to La Margarita was lento (slow)." Why not just say slow?
I always try to write a detailed review of what I thought when I finish a giveaway, especially when the book has few reviews like this one. I'm struggling, though. I want to explain why I only gave this two stars, but I don't have good reasons. As shown below, the repetitiveness and cliff hanger would not be enough to knock it down this much. I can just say Brilliant Times in Buenos Aires was okay. It didn't pull me in, I didn't feel compelled to keep reading, and I don't think you would be missing out if you don't read this.
I was initially interested in this book because I'm trying to become fluent in Spanish and am always interested in reading about other cultures, but Argentina more than average. I truly enjoyed learning everything about the culture that was included.
Something that I liked but other people might not is the extremely casual style that Cummings writes in (swear words included). Cummings writes like he's telling a story to a friend or at a party. In fact, the description for this book is entirely taken from the book itself, so that'll tell you exactly how he writes. I liked it, but you might not.
However, it became extremely repetitive. I think Cummings writes over ten times about how it's common custom to never be on time. Sometimes he would even say the same things a paragraph or two later. To me, this felt like when a student has to reach a certain word count on a paper but they can't think of what else to say, so they repeat themselves in different ways. Or it could just need more editing.
I also got my interest piqued right at the end. Basically, Cummings bought a house and he keeps putting in these notes to say that it goes wrong somehow. Like if he knew then what he knows now, he wouldn't have bought it. There was a lot of hype but it ends in a cliff hanger! We don't even get his full story of being in Buenos Aires because it's in the next book! That bothered me.
As a side note, there were random words in Spanish put in, but I can't figure out a pattern or what the point was. For example, "The drive to La Margarita was lento (slow)." Why not just say slow?
March 19, 2023
After being In Buenos Aires, I can visualize the locations in this book. He writes with manner your mind can paint the area. He’s lived a renegade life style bouncing from one adventure to the next. His story is one of making a goal and then achieving it through chance and dumb luck. The book was an easy read that was interesting.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews