and Madelene arrived from Brazil

Late one Sunday night

Ezeiza International

Airport, Bs As.

Madelene arrives in

Buenos Aires after

three weeks in the

sun in Brazil.

Intent on saving my

pesos i took Colectivo 8

to the airport.

Three hours later, two

bread rolls and a

small bottle of water, i made it. Sure as hell was glad when Madelene shouted us the fast bus back to town.

the Best Book Store

Don't know the 

address of this

kooky cool

bookstore in

Montevideo, cos

Madelene has got

the MAP!

Walked passed this

place on my way

back to the bus

station and had to

hang out and take

photos.

Books entwined with

plants and a glass

ceiling. Lets have one

of these back in

Dunedin.... We will also need coffee and a printing press and some Murga costumes and drums and empanadas and tango and milongas and, and, and.....

Honeydew melon?

Fruit and Vegetable Market

Montevideo

I love how you can walk

around the corner of

a street and stumble

across something like this.

Last run across the border

Casa el Solis?

Montevideo

Uruguay

Main Plaza

Raced, or boated and bused

to Montevideo for a night.

March 11 and 12. Just

two days before the 

90 day visa ran out.

Great city, but really

expensive as i was

plying Argentinian pesos

so the exchange was

not favourable.

Had a fabulous time

wandering around the old city.

Made a bee-line for the Museo de Carnival. Uruguay has a long tradition of....Murgas...quite spectacular. Needless to say i took HEAPS of photos for joy and future inspiration.....

RED

60 or so pot plants,

Estrella Federal they

call them here.

Poinsettia to us

in English.

Every day i would

make designs or

spell out words 

on the pavement...

along with banana

skins. This day was

la plabra rojo.

Red.

aburrida....con piel de banana

Bored with Banana Skin

In front of the

florist stall

one afternoon

of not much

flower selling.

I would get some

regulars come along

a practice their

English, and

Carlos the

paseador de perros

or dog walker

would buy me coffees

and muffins and flirt

outrageously with his

gorgeous eyes and smile.

Ah those Argentine men are terrible flirts!

La Florista

Avenida Federico Lacroze

Tienda de flores

con Alicia

For three weeks i

was 'la florista' 

while 'el florista' was

somewhere in

Uruguay having a

holiday.

Long hours for

not much pay, but

met lots of cool

people and practiced

'mi lamentable hablar

castellano'. They were

very kind and patient with me and it turns out that

 lots could speak English....better than my Spanish.

Once a week i would take colectivo 59(along with all the other sleepy commuters at 6am) to the Mercado de Flores, the flower market on the other side of town. Trundling my suitcase with wheels and prepared to haggle for flowers. Well, in theory. Turns out when they spoke rapidly to me i would go into shell shock and forget all the words i was trying to say. Anyway, i managed to fill up the suitcase with an assortment of blooms that i hoped would sell, and catch bus 59 back again.

what Portenos do on a weekend

Under a tree

just up from the

runway of

Aeroparque

Jorge Newbery.

On fine weekends

you can find masses

of people hanging

out watching local

planes take off and

land. So close you

could almost touch

the underbellies of them.

Not easy trying to capture an image with a small digital camera that has a three second delay on the shutter. Manged to soak up a lot of av gas in the process.

Murga chasers

The last of the Murga 

pictures i promise.

 Hendrik is a Dutch guy

that was living in front of 

the florist stall.

He also became a 

dedicated Murga fan.

This is what you look

like after half a

 can of  'espuma'

Never look up when

someone says

"look here"

Murga costumes

Murga dancer

avenida corrientes

Buenos Aires

Not hard to see

why i like Murgas.

Not only the music

and dancing, but

the costumes are

gorgeous.

Have been given

the directions to

places to buy the

glittery sequined 

patches that

adorn the coat-

tails.

 

Bombos....sleeping

More Murga

pics.

Bombos, the

drums,

at rest

while 

another

group

takes

centre

stage

or, in

this case

the middle

of the

road

Murga

Avenida Corrientes

Buenos Aires

late one Saturday night

This guy, the ringleader

of his Murga band

would have to be one

of my favourites.

They rocked the crowd

with their crazy beats.

Not to forget the

dancers that made you

tired just looking 

at them. I've had three

weekends of Murgas now

and am a dedicated fan.

Went last Saturday night

with a mate, Hendrik, and he bought a can of espuma (foam). Now that really took it up to another level. Had a great foam fight with some kids and  some serious espuma over Hendrik. Wished i hadn't looked up when he said 'look'. We need Murgas in New Zealand. Alas, the season is over and i am at a loss at where to go on a Saturday night that is mad wild, free and full of  music and dancers and people.

masa critica

Avenida 9 de Julio

Buenos Aires

The first Sunday of every

month, thousands of 

locals gather by the

Obelisk with their

bikes and set out on

a mass bike ride

for 4-5 hours.

I tried uploading my

short video clip that

i put sound to...

but i don't know where

it went to. Damn.

A great experience of

people and solidarity where

bikes rule the roads for a brief span of time. Lots of pimped up bicis and guys with some serious wired for sounds strapped to the back carrier, or totally amped up with a stack of speakers on a trailer type thingy attached to the back wheel. i followed the guy with the small peavy amp playing quirky carnival type sounds.