Ola,
Today was spent in the barrio of Palermo. The reason for the visit was to try to secure an apartment for the rest of the month. Mission accomplished. The place is a funky two story loft in a place called Palermo Soho, not to be confused with Soho Hollywood, or Palermo Chico(it's good to know real estate is out of control everywhere on the planet.) It's two stories with a spiral staircase, half the roof is sky light and the layout is very open. One of my favorite features though is a fire pole from which you can slide down from the second floor to the foyer space between the dining area and kitchen. This foyer area is mostly stone with a rectangular wood inlay in the middle. After inquiring about this wooden inlay the owner procedeed to lift up one of the many panels comprising the inlay which revealed a tiled stand up pool. Basically its a chest deep basin for cooling off. I have never seen anything like it. Hilarious indeed. I will post some pictures of the space on Thursday - the move in day.
After squaring away the living situation it was an afternoon spent shopping in Palermo. The ulterior motive for shopping was to find a new Fall coat. While I was diligently searching for "Thee Coat" it was more or less of an excuse to practice Spanish via consumerism. So today's lessons came from retailers. While I didn't actually succeed in finding a good garment I did manage to learn how to ask all sorts of questions in Spanish about size, color and style by asking "how do you say ..."
"Como sedice _______?" The vocabulary builds at an astonishing rate when people are trying to sell you something.
The jacket/coat thing has become a bit of a joke as it has been declared the coldest winter in Buenos Aries in 42 years yet I have not needed any more protection than an old rag tag sweater at any time. Requesting a table outside at a cafe is met with looks that seem to say "crazy gringo."
Back to the retail thing. Upon entering one particular storeI was greeted by two sales people. Sales person number 1 began showing me a rack of leather jackets. After a few minutes I inquired about the nature of his injury as he was wearing a burly splint on his left foot. It turns out that he plays for Boca Junior the preminent football club here in BA. Discussion soon turns from jackets to football. At this point sales person number 2 comes over and pulls out his season pass for Racing the rival footbal club. A war of words between the two ensues leaving me caught in the cross fire. They finally resolve their issue by agreeing to disagree but moments later sales person number 1 is shoving a flip book in my face. The flip book replayed the 1986 World Cup Quarter Final where Maradona scored the miraculous goal known as "the hand of god." Not to be outdone by the flip book showcase, sales person number 2 produces his cell phone and proceeds to show me the same highlight in full motion video of the same event. This whole ordeal seemed to diffuse the hard sell they should have been giving me on a leather jacket. It appeared that this sports event has that "Do you remember where you were when Kennedy was shot?" type of importance. These folks love their football.
On the way back to Ricoletta I was amused to see a street performer whom at a red light invaded the intersection and began to perform fire juggling in front of the stopped traffic. After many cycles of catching burning sticks he approached the stopped cars with flaming sticks in hand to ask for money. I don't know about you but if a man with torches approaches the driver side window of my car I double check that the door is in fact locked. I guess it was somewhat surprising to see two cars award him financialy for his efforts.
OK it's dinner time. I will talk more later.
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