Cafe Culture

The best part about the six months I studied abroad in Santiago was this little cafe about a 5 minute walk from where I lived. I went there nearly every day. About 3-4 times per week I actually sat and stayed for a while, and the other days I'd just pick up some bread, cheese and cookies for lunch and then be on my way. I had two favourite times to go: Sunday afternoons and weekdays between 5-6. I always ordered a variation of the following things: mendocinos or mendocinos chicos (those dulce de leche/manjar filled cookies I mentioned in the post on dulce de leche), cafe helado (an amazing ice coffee in a tall milkshake like glass with 2 big scoops of vanilla ice cream and sometimes whip cream on top, see picture below), some other manjar filled pastry, or occasionally bread and cheese. On Sundays, the cafe was open for a few hours in the morning, then it closed from 12-2 and then reopened from 2-6. I would usually go around 2:15 or 2:30, order a cafe helado and write letters.

The cafe was on the corner (which is always ideal, I love corner rooms/corner cafes/ anything that has windows on two sides is great with me!) and had big windows on both sides. My favourite table was right next to the big side windows where I could watch people walk down the street. I almost always went alone to the cafe on Sundays, but during the week I'd either go alone or with C. or L. Unsurprisingly, the women who worked at the cafe knew me. One late weekday afternoon as I got up to leave, my favourite woman who worked there asked me if I was writing a novel as whenever I went to the cafe alone I would spend my time there writing. To this day that memory makes me happy. I never wrote so much in my diary as I did in Santiago. I was unhappy for the a lot of my time there and working through why that was and what I could do about it in my diary was what got me through. That, and C. and L. and cafe helados and manjar, of course. Sometimes there were French people in the cafe too as the French Embassy was about a 10 minute walk away, and I loved when French people were there because I could pretend I was in Paris. Almost all of the good memories I have of Santiago are of sitting in that cafe. Renovations had begun on the cafe just before I left, and when they finished a few months later, L. who stayed in Santiago until December (I left in early August), told me they only served to make the place feel generic. So in that respect I'm glad I never saw the renovations. I wonder if that cafe is even still there, and what it's like now. Do they still sell cafe helados? Do the same women still work there? It's a bit odd to think that it probably only exists in my memory now.

Surprisingly, (to me, anyway) I didn't really have one regular or favourite cafe in Paris. I had favourite cafes all over the city, which I liked because it meant I was usually never far from a place I wanted to go. Having a kir or a glass of wine or a beer after work was one of the most enjoyable and relaxing things I did there. The best part about cafes in Paris (and really anywhere, but I felt it especially there) was that it really made no difference if you went with another person or if you went alone. I could have a fabulous time and then head home (or wherever I was going) feeling content and satisfied whether I'd just spent a few hours talking, or writing/people watching. When L. visited me in July 2007, she wanted to go to Le Dome which was the favourite cafe of Anais Nin and Henry Miller. We spent a wonderful few hours there getting slightly drunk and taking lots of photos (see the wine glasses below). We were also fascinated with this old white hair very distinguished looking man who came in alone all dressed up in a suit with a bow tie, and immediately made himself at home with his crossword puzzle. A year later I was back in Paris and having an hour to kill before meeting a friend, I went in to Le Dome alone for a quick kir. Much to my surprise and joy, that same man was there, again working on a crossword puzzle. A lot had changed for me since I'd been at Le Dome with L. to when I was there alone, and it made me glad that some things - like that old man and his crosswords - were still the same.

When I visited J. in Buenos Aires, we spent probably half (if not more) of my visit in cafes. On 5 of the 7 days I was there, we went to this one particular cafe called Retro right by the Argentine Congress (if you're ever in Buenos Aires, go there!), for hours on end. Buenos Aires, like Paris, has a wonderful cafe culture and sitting there with J. talking, trying to do work, talking, eating these amazing croissants called medialunas which have this delicious sweet glaze and are everywhere in Buenos Aires, and talking some more was so much fun and so relaxing. It also provided a nice peek at Buenos Aires culture. I could have kept going back there every day for at least another week, if not two.

What my trip to Buenos Aires helped make clear is that I'm best at going to cafes when I am on vacation, or when my life is in a carefree, lots of free time, no pressure, no deadlines, nothing pressing phase. Though I took classes in Santiago, I didn't take that many and they weren't a lot of work, so I really did have plenty of time to wile away afternoons in the cafe. Similarly in Paris, nothing was ever so important that it couldn't wait until after I'd gone for a kir (or two...) But since I've been in Montreal, I haven't once gone to a cafe just to sit and hang out. Most of the reason for why not is that I'm very busy with school and I don't get my best work done in cafes - I find all the people/noise/atmosphere too intriguing, and thus too distracting. But, spending hours every day in cafes in Buenos Aires with J. reminded me how much I do love going to cafes, and how I should really try to make time for it in my life. I've already identified a favourite Montreal cafe called Figaro. It is on a corner, has bright big windows, and tiny little tables, and openly acknowledges that it models itself after Parisian cafes (see picture below). I try to go once or twice a month for a meal (I've been for breakfast, lunch and dinner) and I'm determined to go much more regularly, and maybe even actually try to work there in May. Once a person identifies something she likes to do, she should keep doing it. And since I know I love going to cafes, and since I've already even found my favourite cafe in Montreal, I need to start going there more.