Another Day of Walking....and Walking

  Buenos Aires, Argentina
Monday, November 6, 2006

After yesterday´s rain day I wasn´t sure what I was going to do today but since I was interested in seeing the gardens and some of the parks out near the zoo I I figured what the heck. I walked back to Plaza San Martin and happened upon some sort of military ceremony about the take place. I´m not sure if it was Italians thanking Argentina or Argentina thanking Italy but there were lots of both all around. They played the national anthems, speaches were made, a wreath was laid and photos were taken by the dozens of touristas all around.

The Guard Sing Their National Anthem

After that I made my way up the Av Del Libertador to a couple of the parks, the Japanese Gardens and Parque 3 Febrero. The Japanese Gardens was excellent but the mood and desire for some sort of solitude or silence is lost on the designers I think. It´s flanked by two fairly busy and wide streets with lots of honking and smoke belching vehicles. Still nice though.

The Japanese Gardens

After that I moved to the other park and wandered about taking photos of the site, the flowers, and assorted giant heads. I moved back down the street from there, past the US embassy and a colossal dog park (you could hear them barking their heads off). I was going to take a snap of a guy walking about twenty of the beasts but despite my best "Marc Nagainis" as soon as the lens wandered over towards the guy he started waving and shouting....I should have just clicked the shutter and be done with it.

Did I Mention the Giant Heads?

After that I walked past the zoo, was tempted to stop in and see what it looked like sans rain, walked past a guy wearing a brand new TML hat...sorry Jason, by the time I thought to ask for a photo he was gone and was panhandled by five or six Sid Vicious/Pancho Villa types then wandered into the Jardin Botanica Carlos Thays. Very cool. This is where the cats hang out when they´re not at Recoleta. Seriously, there are more than a hundred feral cats hanging out amongst the botanicals. I´m pretty sure one of them was named Will. Get it? Will Feral! :) Two guys from Toronto spied my tat and asked what part of Canada I was from. Chatted with them for a bit about their stay...gay travel is alive and well in BsAs.

The Giant Metal Flower

After that I wandered back downtown stopping in internet places trying to find a)a place that doesn´t filter gmail b)a place with working usb ports on their pcs c)a place with both. As you can see by a lack of photos I have not found c.

Ian Wright Was Having a Good Time Too!

I am really burnt. Looking in the mirror in front of me I can see the red hot glowing that is my forehead. Oh, and Homero Simpson is popular here as is Bob Esponga. :)

Observations: Women´s support "equipment" here is designed for maximum capacity and minimum materials, 99% of the women here are beautiful but 98% appear to smoke (i´m guessing they didn´t get the cancer/smoking memo?), if the cigarette smoke doesn´t kill you the diesel fumes from the busses will, the number of people sleeping in the streets is sad, very sad.