Halloween

So it's no lie, but Halloween is my favorite holiday.  I love it.  I also love fall, and autumn in Colorado, with our yellow aspen trees and crisp mountain air is a lovely place to be in October.  However, this year I'm so far down South that for the first time ever I am experiencing spring instead of fall.  Tree buds instead of pumpkins.  Never ending cups of coffee instead of cider. No overpriced haunted houses or terror movies.  No pumpkin pie for me this year.  Halloween is not a big deal here, I've seen a few Cotillon's (mini shops that sell party supplies) advertising rubber masks and candy pails.  My younger students who attend international British or American schools tell me that their classes plan on having parties.  This month I have decided to take it upon myself to teach my students about the Halloween traditions, customs and fun that we experience in the US.  We are watching videos, reading about the Salem Witch Trials and filling out silly Halloween crossword puzzles.  I show the older ones photos of my family and I during the Denver Zombie Crawl.  They stare at me as if I am nuts.  I guess I am, who else dresses up like a zombie nanny, spend hours painting a doll and then walks in the middle of downtown Denver with a chiweenie dressed as a hotdog?  Me.

Wildlife in the City

Today we decided to take a walk to Parque Centenario, a HUGE park about a mile from our apartment.  On Sundays the park turns into a flea market of sorts, and as my husband puts it, people sell “a little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothing.”  It’s true, there is a lot of junk for sale, but it makes for a nice Sunday activity.  On our way to the park however, I was walking under an apartment building when a few feathers fell from the sky and landed on my foot.  A few more floated down and when my husband and I looked up we saw something we didn’t expect to see.  A large hawk like bird was sitting on a ledge on the apartment building and was tearing away at a pigeon, who unfortunately was still alive and flopping around helplessly.  My husband told me that he had seen this type of bird before and was told that it was called a “Carancho” a bird of prey who has somehow managed to survive in this concrete jungle and apparently spends its days feasting on pigeons.  We watched for a few minutes in horrified fascination as the pigeon was devoured bit by bit.  Later, when I looked up information about this bird I discovered the word “Carancho” is also used to describe an “ambulance chaser.”

Randomness

A shot of me admiring a mural inside the Nicetto Club and Palermo and a shot of my "Tat".

Gente II

Today was a chilly, drizzly Sunday but I had to get out of the apartment.  I have been working Saturdays tutoring a friend of mine, which means my weekends can feel rather short.  Today the prospect of spending the day at home felt less than appealing, so we bundled up and took the train downtown to the weekend market in San Telmo.  Even though I really like the neighborhood we live in, it felt good to get out of Caballito.  It wasn't raining very hard so vendors simply set up makeshift tents and market day went on as usual.  We took the Pentax with us and I managed to capture a few nice shots of people enjoying a rainy Sunday afternoon.

"Bottles"

 

 

 I am going to write a separate blog explaining what these colorful bottles are all about...

"Hiding from the Rain"

"Kermits for Sale"

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Character"  

"3D"

 

 

This man was selling "3D" photography.  Photographs that had been mounted inside a wooden box, so the pictures sorta "popped out" at you.

"Baby Steps"

"The Singer"

For a mere five pesos, this man picked up his guitar and serenaded the crowd with a sweet Spanish song.  To the left you can see a photograph of him looking younger but not any less enchanting.

For the Dogs

"Me and Charlotte the Miniature Dachshund" 

There are five things the Argentine absolutely adore: their families, their steak, their soccer, Evita Peron and…their dogs.  Yes, Argentina is the land of pampered pooches.  Even though Buenos Aires is a large city and a good majority of families live in small apartments, a large percentage of people own dogs, even big dogs are popular.  If you come to Buenos Aires in the winter you will notice something rather peculiar and comical, the dogs here wear clothes.  The Argentine are pretty whimpy about cold weather to begin with, hailing from Colorado where temperatures are known to dip very low in the winters, accompanied by snow and ice, I know what cold is.  However, if the temp gets anywhere below 50 degrees people here bundle up with heavy coats, hats, scarves, boots and gloves and then there are the incessant complaints of how cold it is.  So if the people are freezing, that must mean that a forty pound German Sheppard must be as well, therefore, he needs a coat.   All throughout winter, I saw dogs of various shapes and sizes adorned in doggie sweat shirts, fleece jackets and pea coats.  It doesn’t just stop there; dog clothing has become popular and even fashionable.  While walking in my neighborhood of Caballito one Saturday I spotted a young guy strolling with two large Boxers.  I regrettably did not have my camera, but if you can imagine this, these two dogs were wearing stripped dog t-shirts, baseball caps, and one dog was carrying around a Kermit the Frog stuffed animal in his mouth.  It wasn’t just the ridiculous outfits but the fact that these dogs and there owner had a look haughtiness about them.  They looked cool, and they knew it.  One afternoon in Flores, I spotted an old woman walking a toy poodle who was sporting a dress and was wearing miniature Chuck Taylors, she wasn’t just walking, she was prancing.  One day while riding the bus, I saw a man carrying a rather large dog wrapped in a baby blanket.  The pained look on his face made me think something was wrong with the dog; he ran to the street corner and was immediately met by a cab driver ready to take him and his dog to the vet.  The people here love dogs.  You can see in the prideful look on their faces when they walk them, the friendliness they show towards stray dogs and the fact that I have never once seen a street dog being mistreated. I am not sure who brought this cultural characteristic to Argentina or how it developed but I think it’s something the Argentine should be proud of.

"Cartucho" -My friend's pampered pup.

"Just a guy and his dog out for a Sunday  stroll..."

"I don't think there ever was a happier dog."

City Tromping in Denver

While I was back home in Denver last week, I spent an afternoon with my mother strolling around downtown.  I managed, as always, to encounter some very unusual, friendly and interesting people.  Here are a few:

Home and Back

"The Beautiful Bride"

My blog has been neglected, but I was busy busy these past few weeks.  I recently made a trip back to my hometown of Denver, Colorado in order to attend two events: a wedding and a funeral. Since we are in the middle of the school year here in Buenos Aires, I was only home for a week, but it was worth the long flight.  This was my first time home in six months and I experienced very mild culture shock my first day, it was strange to be surrounded by English speakers, it felt good to drive my own car and stare out at beautiful mountains and not miles and miles of sky scrappers.  Colorado really is a beautiful state and I am lucky my parents and family live there.  Best of all, I was happy to be apart of my best friend's wedding.  We met in college and it has been difficult to be far away from her and my family.  I have moments when I miss them like crazy, but that is the bitter sweetness of living abroad, trading one home for another... at least we have the World Wide Web to help keep us connected.  

"Friends"

'The Happy Couple"

"Saying Goodbye"