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Published: June 21st 2006
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Avoid the Silent Ripoffs At Nicole´s suggestion, we went to visit the botanic and japenese gardens in our neighborhood. We´d stayed up until late last night, although we didn´t go out, we ended up not leaving the internet cafe until after midnight. After my whole ice cream ordeal, we decided to just make it a quiet easy night, so we watched a cheesy soft-core porn movie and criticized/analyzed the "actors", lighting, and cinematography as only two women can.
The next morning (or after 1pm) we head off for breakfast and we return to the same cafe where Danny is a waiter. He´s off today, and the plate of eggs are now half the size, but I think nothing of it..that is until I get my bill, and it´s twice the price. The menu says 2 pesos for eggs, and he charged me 4! So I ask the waiter why and he says because he put ana extra egg in there....huh? I didn´t ask for an extra egg, why did you put one in there. He shrugs and points to the manager who is hovering over the cash register. I explain in spanish that I ordered what was
on the menu, and if they chose to add more food, they should consult with the customer first. He insists he gave me 3 eggs (impossible, it was barely 2), and that´s why he double the price. I said, "But I didn´t ask for three eggs!" He responds with an arched eyebrow and a sly "but did you eat it?" I didn´t respond but the look on my face must have been worth a thousand words because next thing I knew, 2 pesos were being slid across the counter in my direction. "Gracias, por todo", I say, and we exit.
Japanese Gardens We head towards Sante Fe, towards the Japanese gardens. There are several green areas and many run right into the next, but I knew we had to pay at the entrance for the Japanese gardens, and that it was after the zoo, so we had a bit of a trek. There is a street, Avenida Sarmiento, that takes us pass the zoo. Once or twice, we stood on the fence to peek at a giraffe or flamingo and laughed at the people with picnic coolers full of drinks, who were outside like us, but
'Japanese' bell
oooohh, how authentic. selling to people in the zoo, through the same fence! I guess the prices are high in the zoo, but this 'hustle' is classic!
We wind up at a big avenue with a huge momument in white stone, with fountains spouting water. The street is wide, and we don´t know how to cross, so it´s a matter of waiting until you see no cars, and yelling RUN, hightailing it to the monument in the middle, and after catching our breath and gathering our courage, making a dash to the other side. Whew! We made it, and I think I left a few of last nights calories in the dust.
There is a park with green areas, a childrens' sandbottomed playground surrounded by grass, and near a pond, which was full of snails, some fairly large. There was dog swimming which I thought was cute, and I didn´t even put 2 and 2 together that this was the only park that allows dogs, and the significance of that is yet to be revealed...
We took a few shots of the pond, and then we were given a shortcut by Guillermo, a helpful man who runs
Lake Feces
Washed my 'fudge smudged' foot here. the carosel and it involved a shortcut around the pond, and through the grass. This was cool, and we schlepped through until I felt some wet mushy puddle I stepped in...I look down and my entire sandal is covered in green , mushy, dog poo speckeled with leaf bits! GROSS!!!!! I am thoroughly disgusted as stepping in dog poo is my one pet peeve, as it makes me feel dirty and like I need a shower. Well, here I am with a full pate' stuck to my shoe, even coming up the sides and smudged to my heel. I let out an animal-like keen and Nicole looks over alarmed. I´m too disgusted to speak, but the longer I sit here, the dirtier I feel. So, I kick ed the shoe off pick it up by the cleanest part and run through teh grass and stick both my foot and the sandal in the muddy pond. I shook the shoe really hard and kept wiping it across the grass, but of course Murphy´s law has it that my tread is very ridged and it´s caked in. Ahhh...it just keeps getting better. I finally get as much as I can off my
Anti-Semitic
Am told there are Nazis in Patagonia but how did the idiots find their way to BA? shoe...but my mood has gone from genial to sour...I seriously want to go straight home and shower, but the gardens close in less than an hours and is just 1 block away, while home is 7 blocks away, and I´d promised Nicole I would go with her. So, I take one for the team, and head to the gardens. I did tell her, that I wanted to keep it short, so i have tiome to go home and clean up before I head off to the rally.
Note to self: Japanese gardens anywhere other than Japan are just a crock. This one was pretty bootleg, as some of the fountains have visible sprinkler faucets and what not, totally killikng it for me. Nicole thinks they are under construction, but she was as unimpressed as I was. The most memeorable part is the pond full of koi. These guys are huge, and greedy..like a petting zoo, you can buy little pellets for them, which a little girl did, and they went crazy. It had to be like 40 of them, all in different colors, and splashing and practically jumping out of the water. That must have been an expensive
setup because koi in NY goes for around $3000-$7000 each. But I guess since they live to like 30 and can recognize humans on sight, they are more of a superfish. I know one of you is reading this and thinking "yea, but how do they taste?"
We left the gardens and was on our home when I realized something: the rally began at 5 pm yesterday and went for 24 hours so that would mean it was over at 5pm today! It was almost 6!! I missed it! I was so angry/devastated because this is such a huge part of history, and I coulnd´t believe I missed experiencing/photographing it for a f"cking trite ass Japanese garden in Latin-freaking-America!! So, I pouted and huffed and puffed until I found a group of young guys and sked them if they think the rally may still be going on...they assured us that things usually run a bit later (they begin later also) so we may still be able to make it. Cool! I temporarity forgot that I was dragging sh*t-streaked jeans and shoes and ran to the nearest subway telling Nicole to hurry, before I dashed down into the tunnel.
(You look like you need a break...detail in the next entry)
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