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Published: January 24th 2012
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Good morning bloggers, it is another sunny day here in BA as expected this time of the year.The weekend was very hot again with humidity and temps in the 30's.It gets hottest in the afternoon around 4 when the sun just neams down on the streets and people.There is always something going on on the streets, even though it is much quieter on the weekends, people are out and about. As I am walking alot I can tell you about some of the things I have noticed.
Argentina is still rebounding from the meltdown of its economy in 2002 and most recently with the economic shudder that went around the world. People are getting by anyway they can but some clearly are struggling. Whole families live on the streets,set up in doorways with mattresses blankets and in some cases bits of furniture. It is not uncommon to see people sleeping in the heat of the sun under a blanket or simply laying on the sidewalk next to a building.Women,children in tents of plastic in the parks.Garbage pickers looking for food.What I do not see, and it surprises me is beggars, no little kids selling chicklets or other little things,no shoe
shine boys or mothers holding wide eyed babies on street corners.
In the afternoon and evenings the 'cartoneros' come out.Men and women who pick through the garbage bags on the streets looking for cardboard.They pile it high on carts and wheel it off somewhere.This seems to be Buenos Aires only recycling program. No one collects plastic,glass or paper so that goes out in the trucks somewhere.
Another interesting job I have seen is the Dog Walker, men and women walking a half dozen dogs around the city. The dogs seem to love it,all smiling and wagging. There are dog parks here and from what I have seen it looks like people leave their dogs on leashes or ropes tied to the fences in some of them. Not sure for how long but it makes for a noisy park with barking dogs next to the sleeping and the just, ignoring the world dogs.
Saturday I walked from Recoleta down to Plaza San Martin which is near the bus station.I was quite a surprise to get down there and see the buildings in the area. It looked like a typical business district with huge buildings of steel and glass,
much different from the buildings I have been used to for the last few weeks. Buenos Aires is a flat place so when you are in the street you never get to see anything around you or on a horizon so this area of tall buildings was invisible until now.I was heading to an area known as Puerto Madero which is the old docks revitalized. Warehouses are now restaurants and bars and tall apartment buildings that reminded me of Toronto's lakeshore are stretched along the river bank. I took some pictures and then settled in for some people watching at a small restaurant situated beside an Argentimian Navy training frigate,The Sarmiento,now a museum.
After rehydrating I made my way back past the Pink House to Plaze de Mayo and then back to my apartment.Hot and tired.
It has started to rain here,thunderstorm actually.Good for the farmers bad for me because I have no flashlight or candles should the power go out. Bye for now
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