May 13-14 Buenos Aires

Three and a half days more in Buenos Aires is probably too much.  I have been spending my time walking through neighborhoods and window shopping.... nothing all that interesting to report on.

Yesterday, I walked from my hostel to explore the Palermo Soho barrio.  As the name Soho implies, it is an artsy section of town.  Supposedly it comes alive at night with dance clubs, but I am content with a day time visit and don´t really have it in me to go out at midnight which is when things start happening.  I browsed through myriad boutiques and found a nice, healthy cafe to have lunch in.  The cafe was populated completely by women around my age.  And aside from the prices, the cafe could have easily been in Oregon or CA.  For $12 USD, I got a fresh squeezed essence of grapefruit juice with herbs, chicken, rice, roasted veggies, bread with a veg compote, berry crumble, and coffee.  I hope they are open on Sundays!

I strolled back to Recoleta via Palermo Alto and decided to look at shoes.  There are often times more 5 or 6 shoe stores per block on one side of the street!  I don´t know how they stay in business.  I walked for over a mile down Avenida Santa Fe until the shoe store density dropped to about 3 per block.  There were so many that I felt overwhelmed.  I am still trying to justify a pair of tall black leather boots when I am about to enter summer in the US.  Hmmm.

Today I woke up late and walked briskly to Plaza San Martin where the Tower of Babel by Marta Munjin is under construction.  It is a public art installation made out of books.  After gawking for a while, I wandered up the pedestrian Avenida Florida.  This street is somewhat dichotomous; the majority of the stores are high end designers and leather warehouses, but down the center are vendors peddaling crap.  It is one of the most unsafe streets in BA, yet it is predominantly touristy.  Go figure.

Tower of Babel in books

After deciding that I wasn´t going to buy anything in Avda Florida, I walked over to Recoleta to the Saturday Feria ARtsenal.  Since I cant possibly shop on an empty stomach (I even have trouble shopping on a full stomach), I went to have a light lunch at another healthy restaurant that I ate in in December.  With food in my stomach, I went off to buy gifts at the street market.  I received some encouragement from two women from California and ended buying purses, belts, shoes, and a pair of earrings.  I indulged my leather fetish.

Choices, choices