In the slippery sidewalks of Argentina, one must be mindfull to, well, not slip. Your steps much be firm and with purpose. After this seemingly easy but surprinsingly difficult task is accomplished, there is a second equally important thing one must be minfull of, and that is, not to step on dog turd.
Sprinkled throughout Argentine cities like landmines are all kinds of dog turds. Small ones, incredibly big ones, old and crusty ones, fresh and steamy ones, already stepped on ones but that still can cause much harm to your shoes. All kinds of varieties are encountered, so you are sure to find one to your taste.
This is a result of the Argentine love for dogs. In Buenos Aires, walking about, you come across dog walkers with, and i'm not exaggerating, 10 or so dogs. And all very cute on their own right (cats, on the other hand, are scarse, with exception on cemetaries. Gruesome to speculate what they eat).
While one must remain attentive over these things, yet it is surprinsingly easy to get lost on these slippery sidewalks.
But this is not a real problem, for you always tend to come across delightful things. And one way or another to find your way back. Be it through the proper use of a map or through the amiable help of an argentine.
Some of the delightful things that I speak of:
In Buenos Aires, there are too many to count. There is, for example, beautiful architecture throughout the city. That itself makes it worth coming. But there's also beautiful humans, and that is never unwelcomed.
On a weekend, there are countless ferias that one stumbles upon. Not that shopping isn't an attraction. But I find it much more amusing to simply observe the countless characters.
Tucuman (the city which I visited afterwards), I must say, presented the most happy surprise of yet. While walking about this not so pretty town, I randomly choose to eat at this café. The food was nothing special. What made it remarkeable, was that they pretty much played the entire Smiths catelog! How absurdly and magnificantly random!! Mind you this is a relatively small, industrial town not visited by many turists.
In Jujuy, the town after, I barely got to know the town itself, but from what i saw, I didn't miss much. Salta (where I am now) is more pleasant with its colonial architecture. But there is no question that nature is the main attraction of the Argentine north west. The best thing of the cities up here is that they all smell like orange blossom, but alas, that is another natural phenomina rathen than human design.
On another note, food here is amazingly GOOD and cheap!! and that, we all know,
= awesomness.
Music is tricky, there are places where you can find good music. People here, especially in B.A., dress like hipsters, but most of the time, I hear questionable music.
Weather is tricky, sometimes really cold, sometimes hot. A tempermental reflection of the argentine people.... that was way too cliché, I apologize. lol.
On a more 'internal' note, traveling about has made me much less of a consumer. Innicially, it was simply because I dont have space in my backpack for additions. But now it has become more that I just rather not, and I welcome the freedom from not wanting extreneous things. I hope this lasts, but i see that it will be hard, as
urban has added an extensive shoe selection...... (lol, i must be strong and not give in to temptation).
Whats more, i'm in the mindset that things are not what makes life better,
experiences are the only things really worth having.
Also, out of the situation which I am in, I've grown much more accustumed to being by myself. But there are times that I do get lonely. Overall, though, I must say that I am very happy to be alone. And prefer it. Besides, Dostoevsky is proving to be a most excellent companion, when one is needed.
Also, my spanish has gotten better and argentine like, which is funny. But I still cant use the vos and boludo.
All in all, Argentina has won me over. Chile is still to come and I'm excited about crossing the Andes and skiing!
This is all for now,
I miss everyone in DC and two very special felines
(also, i dont want to stay in this computer for long, since the guy using the computer next to me, is acting very questionably to say the least).
xxx
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f'ps: please excuse all spelling mistakes.
