Monday, November 8

We'd washed clothes in the bathtub last night and hung them out on the rooftop clothesline, knowing that rain was predicted for today, but betting that, at worse, wet clean clothes were little worse than dry dirty ones. With luck, we got them in this morning just before the skies opened up. They're a little wet now after a long day of walking in the cool rain, but still clean enough.
We walked and walked. Does this sound familiar? Our plan today had been to post some videos of the falls in this blog via youtube .... no such luck…
and to window shop, maybe buy some souvenirs. J had read that an area of the city is known to have brand name stuff at bargain prices and, as we approached it, the map indicated we were entering a neighborhood called Palermo SOHO (which is just west of Palermo Hollywood). We know of a part of Manhattan called SOHO, - so named because it's South of Houston St, but the BA map shows no local HO for which its SOHO might be tagged. Much of the architecturally grander old parts of BA closely copy plazas and boulevards and statues in Paris. It's flattering to imagine that some of the young, hip parts of our own country are inspiring as well.
It's a grand and curious city. People on the streets certainly don't generally look Latin American. There are remarkably few with African or native American appearance. Their names and looks suggest French, Italian and German.
We passed through whole city blocks devoted to single items of commerce: a block of fabric stores, one whose stores sold predominantly mannequins, a block of threads and sewing accessories, one of paper items, boxes and containers, blocks of factory outlet stores, and finally blocks of eateries and upscale boutique shopping. Throughout them all, folk suck "yerba" with "bombillas" from their hollow gourd, "matés". Yerba mate (pronounced mahtay) is chopped up leaves and stems of Ilex paraguariensis soaked in hot water like tea and sipped through a metal straw (the bombilla) with a perforated end, throughout the day from a decorated gourd cup called the mate. The mate is typically, socially passed around amongst gathered friends at any time of day. Different brands of yerba, a caffeinated bush of the holly family, fill store shelves. Thermoses of hot water are carried like purses, in book sacks and in cars to rewet the yerba until the taste goes flat. Surprisingly, flat is when it tastes best. That is to say, its bitterness makes yerba mate definitely an acquired taste.
Easy to like is the taste of Dulce de Leche (DDL). Two plastic containers of (DDL) were ready for us in the stocked frig of the B&B. DDL, caramelized milk, is the standard filling of the incredibly popular Argentine national cookie called "alfajor".
To sum up: meat is mostly cow, main veggie is mate, and alfajores rule.

Tomorrow we take a bus trip to an Estancia (gaucho ranch) for the day. We hope to see the gauchos do some cattle herding and feed on Parilla (grilled meats).

Additional pics have been posted of the falls - no luck yet with posting videos!

Larry and Janell

Location:Pasteur,Buenos Aires,Argentina