Day 55: The Plaza Revisited

Firstly, I have to expand on last night's blog and explain the dinner I had at Paula's house. I am just going to say it flat out: I had McDonald's. Now for an explanation. I had heard rumors that it was better than in the U.S. (I had sure hoped so, given that it could not really get any worse...) and I was further intruiged by the fact that Mickey D's is really not that cheap here. I ordered a 'Triple Bacon' burger, yes they used that name along with some french fries. The burger patties were nothing special, just as small as in the U.S. but it tasted better, like meaty styrofoam (versus just styrofoam). The fries were essentially identical: fatty and super salty. The biggest difference was the bun, which was surprisingly yummy and looked like it actually was derived from a grain.

Alright, so after a night with a new group of people including two new Argentinean acquaintances, three Argentinean friends, and a guy who is visiting from Australia and knows Paula, I was super tired this morning. I was nonetheless very happy to get to talk to my Grandma this morning, or rather midday. I tried to also contact my Dad, but we had some technical complications so we will have to connect at a later time.

At about 2.15 I headed off to Paula's place before going to Plaza Francia, again. There we met up with two of (my!) friends: one, Emerson, is a friend of mine from high school who is doing a short work experience here, and the other was his host a girl called Andrea who had visited my high school on an exchange program a couple of years ago. It was really great and bizarre to see an Austinite friend so far from Texas, but we had a good time wandering around the stalls. There were a lot more stalls open today than before, probably because of the time of day; there were also a lot more people. I had a great time searching for presents and was successful in what I had been looking for, although I did buy myself two items as well. I bought myself a new wallet, leather with a very Gaucho patterned strip on the front side. I also bought myself some Gaucho-style Argentinean pants that are white with a blue pin-strip, with loose and very light fabric. All I need now is a poncho and a hat to be completely Argentinean. I plan to do some very serious lounging tomorrow in my new pants.

Andrea, Emerson and Me in Plaza Francia

View of a guitarist and some of the stalls

There was some Tango-ing going on too

After saying goodbye to Emerson and Andrea, Paula and I chilled for a little while on the grass before heading back to the apartment. We picked up some food at the supermarket, an event that demands some description. Being close to Easter, there was a lot of chocolate on display, but Paula told me that it is not as big a deal here because of how expensive all of the chocolates are. For a little egg with a toy inside with the volume of about a grapefruit, the price tag was 40 pesos, essentially USD10. Outrageous for Argentinean standards. We picked up some veggies and meat and got to ride (or rather use, but it was a fun enough experience to warrant 'ride') a moving walkway up to the second floor of the supermarket. There were two floors (as always amusingly labelled as 'ground' and 'first' floors) because the price of square footage in the neighborhood was too high to build a sprawling supermarket like those that cover the United States. The moving walkway that heads back downwards is magnetized so that the wheels of the carts stick and do not go rolling down the ramp causing massive damage. Paula said that a friend of her's got stuck on one when he was wearing his soccer shoes in the store one time. Amusing imagery.

We had a very low-key dinner, both being quite tired, and after laughing excessively at a terrible (shamefully) American television show, I came back home when Paula received a call from her cousin who lives in Buenos Aires and was having a really rough night with a parental argument. Paula decided to stop by since both of the girl's parents (angry at each other, not the girl) had stormed out of the house separately leaving her along.

Tomorrow I am hoping to get some more touring in, if the weather holds, and there is a music performance in Parque Centenario which I would really like to see. Today was the perfect temperature, but Paula read the bug's activities and is predicting rain tomorrow. Apparently it is something you pick up on living in the countryside, but I think she just read a paper or is guessing. Either way, I am hoping all sources are wrong so I can see some new parts of Buenos Aires.

Chao.