Claudio from ByT Argentina was waiting for us when we arrived at Pasaje Santamarino where our apartment was located. Pasaje Santamarino is a 10 foot wide, right angled, tiled passageway between two streets, Chacabuco and Mexico. It’s a strange, formal hallway lined by apartments and businesses, some of which are open to the sky and some of which span the passageway. It was built in the early portion of the last century and is about 300 feet long. It is closed on either end by huge iron gates that are locked at all times and make a loud tropical bird chirping noise when left open for more than 15 seconds.
Pasaje Santamarino is in the barrio of Montserrat, the oldest neighborhood in the city. The streets are very narrow but set in a regular crosshatch pattern. The streetscape is fairly trashy with soot stained buildings fronted by huge carved doors that open up to either abject poverty or opulence – no way to tell from the outside.
Anyway - back to Claudio. We waited for about 10 minutes until Marisa, the owner’s agent arrived to let us in. Claudio spoke some English and Marisa none. With starts and stops we went through the contract, exchange of money, kisses all around - everyone kisses here; big, burley policemen kiss when they meet on the street . Then Claudio and Marisa were on their way and we were on our own.
By this time we were starving. Marisa told us about a place down the street called “Tu Casa” which she said would feed us well - actually she said “Mi Casa” and I thought that she was inviting us to her house to eat.
We went to Tu Casa and had – a superb grilled fish with boiled potatoes, a ham and cheese sandwich, a plate of great, rich lasagna, 2 hamburgers, french fries, and two pitchers of very good wine for about $15 total with tip
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