Dear friends,
Another day has gone by in this beautiful and charming city, where I feel more and more part of it.
I found a way to strengthen my bond with this place – to have my morning “caffelatte”, while I read the top news on the local newspaper online.
I feel more prepared just in case anyone complaints about any recent news on the tube.
Can you believe that they have a section with the top 10 things to know before you leave your home, clever hey?
On the way to the tube station, another local newspaper is handed out to the passengers for free and later it gets collected at the exit of the station, in order to circulate it more or to recycle it. Both options are quite clever again.
I have never seen as many pharmacies in my life as here. I swear it, almost at every 2 “cuadras” (local word for a block of houses) and full of customers.
I fear these Porteños (that is how the citizens of Buenos Aires are called) are a little bit too hypochondriac, without them knowing it, obviously. I really hope they also sell milk.
In my process of observation of people and life, which is one of the main reasons why I am here, I dedicated time to see how shop assistants operate in general and I have been surprised by certain attitudes.
I have noticed a lot of them eating or drinking while they try to sell.
In Italy they put the sign (TORNO SUBITO – I will be back soon) and off they go to have an espresso or a “tramezzino” at the bar in the area.
Here, I saw a lady in a clothing shop, drinking “her mate” (the typical Argentinean tea not “her friend” hahaha) from the “mate tea cup” which looks like a “poitje * pot to me with a kind of pipe in it.
It didn’t look very sophisticated to me at all but surely it is a cultural thing and I need to get used to it.
Another one was confident enough to have a full-on brunch while she was trying to get me to buy some very expensive leather bags…one bite with oily lips and one pitch with bad taste.
To get me spend that kind of money, I would have wanted to share at least the crunchy croissant she was having and get offered a cappuccino too!
Another thing that caught my attention was the fact that in some shops, especially the ones selling leather items, the owners choose to place 1 or 2 “caballeros” i.e. gentlemen, in their 50´s or 60´s, all dressed up in linen suits, outside the shop to attract you in, of course, neglecting to invest in an English crash course.
These guys cannot speak English man!
When one of them asked me how I was and I said “great”, he just replied:
“PERFECT”
What is that? It is such an unusual answer from a man who is trying to get you to spend money. I only wanted to hug him actually.
Once I arrived at the end of the Avenida (thank God it eventually ended) I got to a park at Plaza San Martin where I had to meet those 2 policemen.
I have a love –hate relationship towards uniforms and officers. I am scared of them fundamentally but I am enormously intrigued by the fact I am so petrified.
Crazy, isn’t it?
These ones were too lovely and good looking to be left unattended and I really wanted to find a way to get a photo on that quad of theirs.
By the way, have you ever seen police driving those bulky quads up and down a park?
It was insanely hysterical. Last time I was on one of these quads was in the dunes out of Cape Town and I was certainly not chasing criminals.
I totally love these machines, they are absolutely cool! Pity they didn’t allow me to sit on them but I did take my picture and once again the officer shared his informative knowledge about the city with me, the most curious tourist in town at the moment.
My plan for the day was to go window shopping in the main shopping streets in town ( Avenida Florida and Avenida Santa Fe´) , which are the Argentinean versions of Oxford Street in London, it looks like.
Considering my disturbing attraction towards bargains, I knew I would have approached the till more than the window but something extremely unusual happened to me:
I felt uninterested and I didn’t have fever.
I have never rejected shopping in my life. I have always found a few items to harmoniously match something I already have in my cupboard.
And now I am disappointed. I was expecting a crowd of items screaming at me:
” Take me home with you Fede, irrationally”.
Just to make sure my credit card worked I did take home one or 2 sad, lonely items from the shelf but generally speaking I think most of the things I saw, got here via China and if they stopped in South Africa before, it would have been easier and cheaper for me to access them.
Anyway, the moral of the story is:
I could have spent more money if things were of better quality and of a better price.
The red dress and the Spanish high heels shoes I bought, are ready for some wild nights to come!
Talking about it, on Saturday it is DIA DEL TANGO i.e. Tango Day and I have the strong feeling that I will somehow be involved in some passionate mementos with this exact new outfit.
So after all, it was worth going shopping today!
And now its time for me to say “buenas noches y hasta pronto” to all of you but I will leave you with this beautiful word on the door of my bedroom cupboard, written by hand by Veronica, the bohemian photographer who gave me her room while she is on holiday.
The word, in its striking turquoise says:
PERSEVERANCIA
Fede
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