The same, and not the same, Part Dos

It rained almost all day today. Just like it often does in Seattle. Who knew (this could happen)?*

After a satisfying eight hours of sleep (which we did not get Sunday night on our red-eye flight), we took our time getting out of the apartment, relying on our Jumbo purchases for breakfast:

• Yogurt (which comes in smaller single-serving sizes than in the U.S., and for love or money cannot be purchased in "plain" format).
  
• Ruby red grapefruit (smaller than in the U.S, but sweet and juicy).
  
• Eggs (shelf-stable, in cute little clear six-pack containers)
  
• French press coffee (after deliberating extensively over the completely strange to us pre-ground coffee options, J made an excellent choice with Cabrales) with 1.5 percent fat milk (all milk was shelf-stable, and it felt really strange to pull it off a shelf instead of out of a refrigerated case, but it tasted just fine).

We decided to go all touristy today and head downtown, aka Microcentro. We located the nearby subway station and clumsily (thanks to our pathetic lack of Spanish) bought two 10-trip passes. A train came almost immediately, and while a bit hot and crowded, it got us to our destination quickly. Emerging from the station 9 de Julio was a total trip in itself. I chose the station because we wanted to see the famous Obelisco first. Well, el Obelisco is located in the [center of the Plaza de la Republica, which is surrounded by a sort of enormous] roundabout thoroughfare [formed by the intersections of 9 de Julio and Corrientes avenues] that in a million years I would never want to attempt to drive in. Death defying doesn't even cover it. [El Obelisco itself is 220 feet tall, with a footprint bigger than some Seattle studio apartments (530 square feet), and was constructed in a four week period in May 1936 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Buenos Aires' first founding.]

We took a few pix, then, spotting a tourist info center, went to by a Guia T for 10 pesos (around $3 US). Tourists and non-tourists alike use it all the time to look up which bus routes service their current location. But if a tourist uses the maps in the Guia T instead of whipping out a guidebook (or, heaven forbid, an actual foldout map) they don't get immediately ID'd as a tourist. Brilliant!

Using the Guia T to orient ourselves in relation to the multi-lane traffic death trap, we ambled down Ave. Roque Saenz Pena to the Plaza de Mayo (home of frequent protests, including those of the Mothers of the Disappeared [or Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo], whose sons and daughters [disappeared during the Dirty War, 1976-1983]), the Casa Rosada (aka the Pink House), the Argentine parallel to the White House, and a few other massive statues paying tribute to notable figures in Buenos Aires history. We were able to stand roughly 20 feet from Casa Rosada, and while there were many police officers around it, with serious gear like bulletproof shields, they were not carrying major riflepower, contrary to what we were expecting. [Unlike the White House, the Argentine president no longer lives at Casa Rosada, she merely works there.]

For a more flavorful bite of history, we walked along Ave. de Mayo to the very-old-and-oh-so-Italian Cafe Tortoni [for real...founded in 1858, it's the oldest coffee shop in Argentina]. I saw more than one mention that this cafe had become very touristy, yet was still worth going to. Indeed, I think most of the patrons were tourists, and most of them were taking photos of the restaurant, themselves in the restaurant, their food, etc. Even worse, two clearly North American women paid their bill in U.S dollars. I'm sorry, but can you imagine someone from Argentina trying to pay with pesos in a U.S restaurant? I think not! (OK, the semi-hypocritical non-Spanish speaker is stepping off her soapbox now... .) J thought it was a waste of time to go there, but I personally enjoyed the authentic decor, and the light, delicious, inexpensive lunch of an espresso (cafe), sparking mineral water and cured ham and cheese on a baguette. And the air conditioning...I really enjoyed the AC.

Refreshed, we backtracked to Ave. Florida, aka tourist shopping central. The plan was to pop into the Galerias Pacifico, and upscale mall in a beautiful old building, then continue on for a few more blocks to enjoy the best of what the avenue has to offer (mainly leather shops). Well, the first raindrops started falling about two blocks before we reached the Galerias, so we spent way more time in there than we planned to, simply waiting out the rain. And waiting. And waiting. We weren't the only ones...quite the crowd had congregated inside the mall doors. Finally, we threw caution to the rain and leapfrogged from leather store to leather store, where we had no trouble finding English-speaking salespeople. They were very friendly, but the service was more overbearing than I like, especially since I had no intention of parting with much money on the second day of a two-week trip. I was merely pre-shopping, to get an idea of what is available, and for what prices.

We made it to Plaza San Martin, which looked lovely through the millions of huge fat raindrops, but we soggily chose to not explore it, instead walking one more block to the nearest subway station, with the rest of the sodden masses. One line tranfer and several stops later, we arrived at our home station. Fingers crossed, we ascended the stairs to the outside world...only to find that it was raining harder. Aaarrrgggghh! We arrived back at our apartment looking like drowned rats. Fortunately, we try to be mellow about weather issues, since we can't control the weather, and getting mad about it doesn't change a thing. I will say this..as we sat on the couch making a loose itinerary for the next few days, it was quite lovely to have the big windows open, hearing the rain, feeling the breeze (the temp was about 70 at that point) and watching the trees swaying right outside. Lemonade out of lemons, I suppose. Even better, the chance of rain (listed at 95 percent today) is 5 percent until Monday. Whew!

* I've learned that it snowed in Seattle today. That made me feel much better about the rain here!