Buenos Aires is a huge bustling city which reminds one of Paris and New York. Tall apartments line the streets above small shops containing kiosks (the local equivalent of 7-11), pastry shops, meat markets, clothing stores, etc. Everywhere are people walking quickly to and from places. They walk much more quickly here than in San Francisco, for example.
The air smells of cigarettes and vehicle exhaust. Even in the hotel and while eating, people are smoking, but it isn´t as bad as a Las Vegas casino.
Traveling with Michaela has turned out very well so far. We feel guilty about keeping her in the stroller so long, but she seems to be dealing quite well with it. Yesterday, we found a nice grassy area outside of the Recoleta Cemetery and she crawled around and tried to chase some dogs around - with no success. The people were friendly - and one woman even cleaned up after her dog (a rarity here, it seems).
Speaking of the cemetery, what an ostentatious display of wealth and vanity. We have visited cemeteries in France and other countries and nothing compares to Recoleta. It´s like a contest among rich people as to who can have the largest, tallest, most ornate, and most expensive sepulcher/mausoleum. It seemed like there were a lot of former presidents, military personnel and other notables buried there. Certainly, anybody buried there must have had money at one time. Eva Peron is there as well, in the Duarte family sepulcher. As expected, there were other people checking out her site, complete with a tour guide. One of the most entertaining graves included one with a statue of the interred in a robe and slippers. There were others with statues of the residents in military garb or of Roman grandeur, nuns bowing (including one defaced with lipstick), or a recling venus-like woman.
The only time we seem to encounter trouble with Michaela is when we are trying to eat at a restaurant. She is fine for a few minutes and then starts getting fussy because she wants to get down and move around. We try to distract her and play with her, but eventually nothing else will satisfy her except being able to crawl around. It´s even worse if she sees stairs. Then she wants to go and climb on them. She´s been sleeping well. Finding milk for her has been pretty easy, if somewhat expensive. They have the same diapers here, which is nice, but less size variation, so the ones we bought here are much bigger on her. Baby food is very very expensive. We´ll soon have to buy some when we´re down south.
So for now, off we go to Bariloche to begin our trip to the south of Argentina.
ĄCiao!
Posted by mike at May 7, 2003 06:13 AMI'm enjoying your blog, and you're both making me wish I were down there again, but please, Mike, spell it "chau" (i.e., in Spanish) when you sign off!
In Bariloche, take the cable car up to the top of Cerro Catedral for a spectacular view. If I remember correctly, there's a little restaurant up there, too, where you can get a sandwich and coffee.
Posted by: John Cisarik at May 7, 2003 08:52 AM