Ferias, mate, cosas argentinas

Hola Todos,

Here are some pictures of what I've been doing (besides taking tests!) over the last week!

 This is the feria (crafts fair/flea market) in my neighborhood — Parque Centenario. It happens every weekend, and people generally sell books (Poetry by Mario Benedetti? 25 cents!), used clothes (I got two pairs of perfectly-fitting pants for $7!), antiques (coins, pictures, chandeliers, gaucho stuff, etc.), and crafts. This woman sold carnivorous plants.

 The tallest plant in the background attracts and eats roaches (cucarachas!).

 This is Parque Centenario, the park that my neighborhood is named after. People go there to exercise, chat, and feed the birds (there are swans, geese, ducks, and pigeons). I saw some tai chi, jogging, and kendo stick classes going on.

 Fede and I went to el Barrio Chino (Chinatown) and had a delicious dinner! The San Telmo tea (in the yellow teapot) was both beautiful and delicious! I had lychee (an Asian fruit I love) for dessert. Yum!

An interesting cultural thing you can see in this picture is where Argentinians put their hands at the table during meals. Apparently it's considered rude to put them in your lap. (But I still haven't broken my habit!)

 This is the feria at San Telmo, one of the oldest regions in Buenos Aires. It's a famous feria and always full of tourists. I love the old buildings around!

 These are some suéteres de lana (wool sweaters) from the fair. There are usually a variety of wools: sheep, llama, alpaca, etc. I love the patterns and the brightly colored sweaters!

 Here is some cool shell art. The Colombian at this booth was really nice. He came to Argentina to study culinary arts. Lots of South Americans from other countries come to Argentina for university because it's cheaper here. The University of Buenos Aires, UBA, is free (!!!) and offers majors in medicine, law, and a huge variety of things. I met one porteño (a guy from Buenos Aires) who is studying pharmacy but wants to become a dancer. That would never happen in the US because of the insanely high cost of studies! Affordable higher education is great!

 On Wednesday I went to Tigre, a touristy city, with some friends. We visited the mate museum (mate is a traditional Argentine tea, pronounced MA-tay). This picture shows a traditional mate cup, made from a mate gourd, and la bombilla, the filtered metal straw. It says: "Between mates, a thought was born / Between mates, a friendship was born / Today it has a place / It's stimulating / Nutritious / Helps you think / This is the recipe / Of mate friendship."

This is the "heaven of mates," with all sorts of different materos (mate cups). Mate is an ancient traditional drink in Argentina and Uruguay (and has since become popular in Syria!). The only place in the world where it grows is the Patagonian region. There are traditions involved in mate preparation and drinking, too. It's an activity you share with good friends!

Argentine helado (ice cream) is delicious! It tastes more like gelato than the ice cream in the US. Many shops sell helado artesanal, homemade ice cream. Fede took me to Freddo, a chain ice cream shop, on our first date. I was really confused about the ice cream system back then, but now I've got it down! lol. You can order two or three flavors (dulce de leche — rich, milky caramel; banana split — which in Argentina apparently means pure dulce de leche with banana ice cream; and fruit flavors like pineapple and melon are my favorites!), and the bowls are sold by weight.

The brown ice cream is dulce de leche. Yummm... Here they call vanilla "crema americana," American cream, lol.

A typical bakery display (bakeries are everywhere and sell sandwiches, medialunas (croissants), bread, cookies, empanadas, etc.).

Malls and chain stores are common, but there are also lots of boutiques: shoe stores, clothing stores, kioskos (which sell candy  and drinks and recharge cell phone minutes), and unique cafés. Many stores and restaurants have Italian names (there was a huge Italian immigration here in the late 1800's and early 1900's). Here you can see a children's clothing store called "Bambino," which means baby in Italian.

This beautiful building is a bank! Wow! I absolutely love the relieves.

Here you can see some little girls enjoying the view at Tigre. Peddling is not strictly forbidden here, and you can buy pirated DVDs or jewelery on almost any big avenue. You can also buy CDs, candy, and random things like markers, flashlights, and scissors from peddlers on the subway or public bus. Unfortunately, it's common for children to peddle, too. I often see children on the subway selling stickers or coloring books. Worse than that, some little girls hand out fliers asking for some coins to buy food and clothes. I suspect that many of these children's parents are exploiting them and taking most or all of the money for themselves. At any rate, it's terrible for children to have to work. I'm interested in doing anthropological research about child labor here.

Today I'm planning to book my trip to Uruguay (we all have to go in order to renew our visas for Argentina), work on my history essay about the Cuban and Nicaraguan revolutions, and film some videos for Spanish. Busy day! I have many more things to blog about even now, but have to get to work!

Thanks for reading! Besos!

Kaeli