Las ferias

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After hitting the sack at 11:30 last night, due to exhaustion from the day, I was happy to have a slow, quiet day on Sunday. I woke up relatively early for a weekend - about 8:30 - and spent some time posting blogs for the last few days, watching a couple movies, and just hanging out. Round about noon, I went out for a run. It's funny running here, for two reasons.

First, it's not really a thing that people do except for in parks. I'm pretty sure they either live near parks or take the subte there, because I've seen about 5 runners, including myself and running buddies, on the street. Ever. The sidewalks aren't wide for a major city, and Argentines, as nice as they are as people, are beyond inept at making adequate use of the space given. This is something I notice even just walking, never mind running. In a lot of places, construction and repairs cut what little 6-10 feet of width you're given down to 3-4 feet. So between using people as an obstacle course, and the simple fact that you're running, you get a lot of weird looks. No one's rude, just confused.

Second, I'm from Vermont and/or Boston. Both are cold. To me, 50 is warm. At 65, I'll be in a t-shirt and shorts. It was just around 60 when I went for my run, and especially seeing as one gets quite warm on a run, I of course went in said t-shirt and shorts. And walked out of my door into a sea of parkas and pea coats. Interestingly, though, I don't get as many weird looks, even when I'm dressed lightly, for my clothing. I have a theory why. As many of you have said, I have a somewhat European style. However, on arriving here, I discovered the truth: I have a fairly Argentine style. My day-to-day clothing at home is quite similar to here, even more than Europe.

Anyway, after running, I met up with a group to go to a craft fair in the southern part of the city. We never actually made it there, because the road we took to get there turned out to be a huge, at-least-10-block-long street fair. We took hours meandering and shopping and eating there. Argentine pancakes (think the size crepes, with a thickness between crepes and pancakes), smothered in dulce de leche (for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of trying dulce, think caramel on steroids, with a bit of magic thrown in), or churros (not Mexican, but Argentine. Couldn't tell you the difference, except that they're filled with dulce de leche) will happily satisfy any sweet tooth. Or, for dessert, a fresh banana with a heaping of, you guessed it, dulce de leche. They use it like Americans use Nutella or peanut butter: if it sounds like it will go well with a dish, it goes with the dish. If it doesn't sound like it will go well, it goes with the dish anyway.

After that fair, we went back to the one we go to most weekends in Recoleta, which unfortunately was closing up. So we took our cue and headed home for dinner and another early night so we're ready for our last week of classes!



I made a map of Buenos Aires for you, so you can see the places I talk about and understand the city a bit better. I'll update it as needed, so save the link. By clicking on either the key on the left, or the pins on the map itself, you'll see some info pop up on each place. Feel free to ask me if you're interested, or want to know more about anything, too! Take a look!

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Comments

[Dad]

Thanks for the map!
Great idea, nice way to get a sense of where and how you're spending your time. Sounds like you're having a great trip. Thanks for keeping up the blog, we're all enjoying it.