Honestly, I don't like red meat all that much. It's OK every once in a while, but in Argentina it's everywhere: slapped on the bbq, on my spaghetti, minced and stuffed in empanadas. And I'll admit, it's good (this is where Patrick says "I told you so").
There is, however, a happier side-effect of being in a beef-producing country. Where there are cows, there is leather. And where there is leather...there are shoes.
I'm on my second pair since arriving in Bs As. I fell in love with a pair of brown suede boots on the first day, and just yesterday, wandering down Santa Fe where every second store sells shoes or books (heaven!), bought a pair of black flats. A pair of pretty shoes (with leather soles....sigh...) makes my day. But I'm done now. Besides the fact that I don't need them, another pair would neither fit in my budget nor my backpack. I'm even rubbing off on Julia who bought some daring boots yesterday. (Jay, I'm sorry, I did my best to point out all the round-toed boots but there was nothing doing. I take no responsibility for the pointiness of her purchase. But...she does look pretty hot.)
It's not that we necessarily plan shopping days, but Bs As is a city for strolling. The combination of trendy stores and a very favorable exchange rate is what gets us. We've been taking the city a neighbourhood at a time. There was "The Producers" on Bs As's Broadway, Corrientes St (Springtime for Hitler is even more ridiculous in Spanish, if you can imagine). And huge Teatro Colon, more ornate than any of the churches we've seen. In Canitas (culinary haven) there was dinner at Las Cholas -- we showed up at 10 and weren't seated until 11, but the grilled meats and veggies were cheap and delish. In La Boca we saluted the Boca Juniors stadium for Patrick and Maradona, before dropping some cash at la feria artesenal and settling down for cafe cortado (a variation on the expresso + milk formula) and media lunas (croissants). Palermo is our favourite strolling neighbourhood. It's got a few different areas: Palermo viejo, Palermo Hollywood, Palermo SoHo. I'm not the only one feeling the NY connection here. In general it's got a pretty plateau-ish feel for you Montrealers, shops and more restaurants than we could ever stomach on this trip. Then there was San Telmo with its cobblestone streets and antique stores, and Puerto Madero (old yucky port land recycled and turned into posh business and residential area, reminiscent of our neighbourhood in Lisbon).
We also did our Evita tourism in the last few days. On Sunday we visited the aptly named Museo Evita, housed in a beautiful old mansion. The museum sets up the idea of the two myths of Evita (saint or manipulative you-know-what on a power trip). They had some cool stuff, including a lot of her clothes. Unfortunately the contextual information was pretty uneven, and I didn't feel like it quite as fair as it set out to be. Regardless of what you think of her, though, there is no doubt she captured the imagination of millions of people. We paid a visit to her final resting place yesterday (her body was variously buried in Italy and Spain before finally making it back in the 70s) at Recoleta Cemetery. She's in her family's mausoleum (no graves in this cemetery, creepy house type things with coffins on shelves inside), with commemorative plaques and flowers on the outside.
Today we're heading going to check out a photo exhibit and have plans to spend the evening sipping coffee somewhere exciting. Tomorrow is our last day in Bs As. We're getting our legs waxed in the morning in preparation for Rio and then we'll see where the city takes us. We're ending our stay here at the theatre again. We leave Thursday am for Rio. Keep your fingers crossed, we're hoping the weather stays at mid-20 range it's at now.
PS For anyone looking for reading material (or curious about Chile after reading my blog for the past months...) I recommend Mi pais inventado (or My Imagined Country) by Isabel Allende. Just finished it and can't stop talking about it.
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