Observations

So here's what I've noticed lately.

On every block (seemingly) there is a cafe, a kiosko (where you can buy candy or soda), possibly a gym, and probably a lingerie store.

And up until recently, beef was the #1 industry. (Now it's tourism.)

So that means that, based purely on the evidence of observing the popularity of their consumer habits, Argentines eat a lot of beef, drink a lot of coffee, eat a lot of candy, work out, and wear a lot of lingerie. Oh - and in my 'hood, there are a lot of shoe stores (for women) and places to get your hair done. So they also wear a lot of shoes and get their hair (and nails) done.

Now the cafes I totally understand. Portenos are very proud of their cultural traditions intertwined with the cafes. Their experience at the cafe is the same analagy to your trip to Starbuck's as the following - cafe in BA:Starbuck's::steak dinner in BA:McDonald's. Wow - that SAT prep course really paid off - I can now do analagy's!!! Anyway, the point is they make going out for a cup of coffee an afternoon event. When I would go to 'Buck's downstairs from US Airways, it was a 15 minute diversion on the way to pick up the TPS Report. (No we didn't have a TPS Report, but to anyone who is a fan of Office Space, I hope you got the reference.) And for the $5 my Grande Chai Tea Latte with Soy (I still hate how hard it is to order a freaking drink at Starbuck's) would buy me a dozen factura (pastries - only sooooo much better) and a cortado (like an espresso, only soooo much better) and have enough for a tip.

But sadly, no Chai Tea.

I'm guessing that they need the gyms to make up for the beef and candy, because as you probably know, women's clothing here is sold only in small sizes. Which kind of sucks for me whenever I try to find a nice dress to wear. Fortunately for all of us, that never happens.

As I write this, the construction workers are busy working on the Vatican embassy. And whistling at the women walking by. I find this strangely ironic - that while they are working on the facade of the Vatican's presence in Buenos Aires, they are whistling at women walking by in their new shoes, with their hair done, and in good shape from spending so much time at the gym, on their way to the cafe - probably wearing some nice lingerie beneath their size 0 clothing. I'm guessing God doesn't mind, because none of them have been struck down for whistling at the passers-by. Maybe he takes it as a compliment. More likely, the plastic surgeons should take it as a compliment, but that's another story.

Come to think of it, everyone seems to have a dog, too. And a dog walker. And every dog walker has like 10 dogs at a time, so that when they walk down the sidewalk, it's inevitable that they leave a trail of doggy "treats" for the rest of us to avoid while walking down the sidewalk. Maybe that's why there are so many shoe stores.

So there you go - I can explain the cafes, the gyms, the shoe stores, and I only have the kioskos left. Well that's easy. Isa gets candy from just about everyone she goes to see: at school from the teacher, when she gets her hair cut, when she buys clothes, when she goes to the doctor - it's like an expectation that she be given candy at every opportunity. Almost as expected as it is for me to kiss other men on the cheek when we say hello. And good-bye. I wonder if they are wearing nice underwear, too?