Monday, May 25, 2009

The porteños bundle up

Porteños (that's the name for people who live in Buenos Aires) are a funny lot. You know how excited we get when the temperature first gets up to 10ºC in the spring? How we go around in short sleeves and sometimes shorts? Well, let me tell you something: the temperature here was 10ºC this morning, and everybody dug out their winter clothes. You'd think that the ice age had arrived! People in the streets had their coats buttoned up, hats pulled down over their ears, and scarves wrapped around their faces to protect their noses and mouths. All they talked about was July, 2007, when it snowed for the first time in almost 100 years. It wasn't very much snow, either; but I guess snow's really exciting if you've never seen it. It must be like Canadians getting all excited over palm trees.
I wonder what they'd think of Mallorytown in January?


Fernanda found me a bicycle that was almost my size, so she took me out to explore a little more of Buenos Aires. This wide street with the trees down the middle is the Avenida 9 de Julio. (July 9th is Argentina's Independence Day.) Look at these webcam views - it's twelve lanes wide in some places.



There are some really funny-looking trees here. This one with the swollen trunk is called a palo borracho, which means a drunken stick. I guess here we'd call it a beerbelly tree. The ombú tree has the most wonderful roots; it reminded me of the Forbidden Forest in the Harry Potter movies.


Here's a view of some shrubs in their fall colours, and here's a picture of the Madagascar periwinkles blooming in Fernanda's garden. I have to tell you, it does not feel or look like winter here!



Fernanda and her friend had a game of tennis, while I rode my bicycle round and round the court. After they tripped over me a couple of times, they asked me to be the umpire instead. On the way home, we met a couple of men in uniforms. The man in the white hat is a naval cadet. That means he's going to navy school. Look at his sword! I can't decide now whether I want to be a gaucho or join the navy when I grow up.
The other man was helping me to get onto that rainbow horse. (There are fancy horses like this one all over the city. Somebody said that Toronto had a bunch of moose statues just like them.)
Because this is Buenos Aires, we stopped at a patio restaurant for a little smackerel of something.

On the way home, Fernanda said that she had a surprise for me. We took a detour, and found ourselves in a little park. At first I couldn't understand what was so special about it, and then she pointed to the name on the sign.

How cool is that?
besos,
Sally

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