hanging out on a lazy Saturday

Life returns happily to

normal. Normalish.

This is one of my

work mates and fellow

teacher Diana, with her

son Nico. We had

a lovely lazy day

at her place

yesterday, eating yummy

vegetarian pies, watching

her 55 year old tortoise

harass the dog, and

 quietly watching a

 regular little hummingbird visitor sipping nectar from purple,

 red and yellow flowers from its long slender beak.

si, mi gusta Carlos el perro-nista....

Back in Capital Federal.

Buenos Aires.

A day or two later,

lots of sleep and

some regular meals

can improve a

woman's outlook

no end.

And i keep running

into Carlos,el

guapo hombre who 

walks dogs for a living.

'Oh no,' you say.

'Not again.'

check your equipment lesson #101

Somewhere south of

 La Plata

on the side of the road.

The first of two

bucked wheels and

more that a dozen 

punctures.

While i was packing

a new spare tube

and a repair kit,

Senor Quixote had

an inner tube that

looked as old

as Adam.

 Complete with a patchwork quilt of repairs already.

 He assured me the tube was only a month old.

lucky i bought my VEGEMITE

You can just about survive

 anything so long as you 

pack your faithfull

 jar of VEGEMITE.

It's amazing how it 

can turn a crappy

 day around.

This was one of the

 two days that was ok.

Camped by the 

Rio de la Plata,

60kms away from the

 city of La Plata.

This was as far

 south as we made it.

I woke on the Sunday morning to the sound of people kicking

a ball around, close to the tent.

Imagine my surprise when i opened the tent flap and discovered around 100 people had arrived with their kids and eskys and chairs and BBQ's and set up for the balmy day. Too funny.

Bleary eyed and busting for a pee, i had to pretend i was casually going for a morning swim. Even though the tide was out and deep water was miles away.

a nice sleep beside a busy roundabout...

This was where i slept the first night

of the 30 day bicicleta aventura 

that lasted a total of 6 days and

achieved only 60 kilometres.

After biking for 6 hours the

first day and into the night, i

discovered we had gone in

a large circle and ended

up 4kms from where we

started from....

At 2am i called it quits and

after a few choice

expletives settled for this

spot to sleep.

i woke, at 7am, one eye swollen

half shut from a mosquito bite,

to the sound of el florista calling

my name and rush hour traffic hurtling through the roundabout behind me.

no me gusta el florista...

It was a bit like Don Quixote and 

Sancho Panza. While i did name my

bike Rocinante, Don's horse,

it turned out i was more like

Sancho, while el florista

was definately tilting at

windmills.

Ironically, this mural on

a brick wall was just

around the corner from

his place, and i took this

picture on the morning

of the great bicycle

adventure that went

Horribly Wrong.

stay tuned for the 

short story.

Mercardo del flores.

The Flower Market.

Barracas

Buenos Aires.

Take bus number 59 from

Belgrano....really early in

the morning, and doze for

about an hour, and at the end

of the route, you will find

yourself at the flower

market where all the 

street vendors come to

haggle over the cost of...

roses, lilies, sunflowers,

gerbras, chrysanthemums, you

name it, it's there. Glorious.

I'm off to Mar de Plata tomorrow, Thursday our time. By bike....

With el florista, Julio, a tent, sunblock and all the camping accoutrements. This will be an adventure. My blog maybe slightly variable, and a little tardy. Perhaps. 

I'll keep you posted. Besos y abrazos mi amigos. xoxox

flaming birthday cakes......

A feliz cumpleanos cake

24th December

at Ingrid's home.

This is the second flaming birthday cake

i've experienced. They don't muck around

with candles, you just set the

fireworks in the middle alight

and gape in amazement.

Totally impressed!

And all this in 48 degree heat.

The Cartoneros of Buenos Aires

This is a picture of one of hundred of carts, or trollies that the Cartoneros use to collect the cardboard and recyclables

 from the streets of Buenos Aires.

Not to be confused with the Eloise Cartoneras, the publishing group. They buy the cardboard for the covers from the 

cartoneros and a good price per kilo.

It's hard, still, to come to grips with this sight.

At all hours of the day and night, men and women and some

with kids are hauling these carts earning their living the hard way.

One day, when i was in the bus, it cut in front of a guy pulling a massive load. It was a hot day,and he had just gained momentum when the bus halted his progress. The frustration on his face as he yelled at the driver was real .Heartbreaking. And unforgettable.

painting book covers in the street

Painting book covers in

Diagonal Norte

Buenos Aires

December 8th

A big day in Captial Federal, where

everyone took to the streets

to celebrate 30 years of

democracy with miles of

stalls featuring Argentinain

made products and services.

Lots of groups thronged into Plaza de Mayo, the

main square in the city centre, and where the pink house, Casa Rosada is.

 The Argentine version of the white house. Masses, and i mean masses of people thronged the city centre, groups with their flags and banners and of course the drummers all marched in to celebrate. A massive stage was erected to play host to a number of late night bands. 

It was a hot day and kids were playing in the fountains, men wandering around with eskys selling helados (ice-cream) and as wave upon wave of individual groups marched noisily past, i wondered where everyone would fit. The Eloise Cartoneras were there with their stall. We were there to sell books and asist with people painting the covers of their free book; an anthology of poetry and politics, kindly sponsored by the government. It was a fabulous day, hot and chaotic, just the way i like it.