Textures

Big luxurious breakfast this morning of mushroom and cheese baked crepes. While we ate at this cafe, they played nothing but pop hits from the 50's to the 70's. Its so surreal hearing all this old music everywhere here. The other day I was shopping at Disco (a chain supermarket here) and they were playing The Bangles. This whole culture has a facination with 80's Americana.

After breakfast I walked along Santa Fe Avenue, the big shopping street here that extends all across the city. I found this cool huge used bookstore with a section of just english books, and all the books were from the 19 teens onward. Tons of old books. The used bookstore had a cafe in the back too. It staggers me how many bookstores there are here. There are a few huge ones, but for the most part there are at least two or three bookstores on each block. My destination on Santa Fe avenue was the huge bookstore of El Ateno, a Barnes & Noble sized place which was built inside an old baroque style theater. The book stacks were in the main floor, and also up in the balconies, and they turned the stage into a sitting area for the cafe. Really cool.

Took the Subte to the middle of the downtown, a few stops away. Totally jam packed at three PM. It was so packed, I had to lean in and push to avoid being pinched by the doors when they closed. I walked along Florida street, a pedestrian avenue downtown totally lined with boutiques and shops, and I bought a new small canvas backpack for about 8 bucks. It looks very European. I'm going to get an Argentina patch for it, or a River Plate soccer club patch. We'll see what I come across.

Walking across the city, I suddenly found myself in a demonstration of workers picketing and protesting for something. Looked like a lot of indiginous people or immigrants. I got out of there quickly, especially since I passed a busload of idle, but extremely dangerous looking special riot police. Definately not the time to stop and take pictures. Just keep walking.

Spent the rest of the afternoon walking around San Telmo, just taking things in, reading graffiti and making notes on my map. Bought a leather braclet from a street vendor, and had tea and a medialuna at a cafe up in one of the old mansions converted to antique markets.

Last night, I went to Brian's birthday party at a Mexican food restaurant. It was ok, nothing great foodwise, just had fajitas and a corona. Reminded me of home. I passed on the typical round of bar hopping after dinner and instead hit a pool hall near our apartment with Jamie and we played a few rounds.

This morning, got up and ran in the parks and in the city. There's a person who rents rollerblades down there, so I'll definately have to go back. I'm so out of shape, the run was really not very good. Knees hurt, legs hurt, so I didn't push too hard. Today, I'll head back to the site to do more photos and surveying.