I've decided that Buenos Aires is the social capital of the world. They simply just do it right. The day begins with a leisurely desayuno, often simply coffee and tostadas, medialunas ('halfmoons', otherwise known as croissants - I like medialuna better) and a newspaper. The other morning my anfitriona offered me a cup of coffee, and I happily accepted. Little did I know that drinking coffee and continuing to eat cereal is a big no-no, so as she handed me the cup of coffee my cereal bowl disappeared and that was the end of that. It was painful to watch those corn flakes go.
Anyhow, after breakfast, Argentines will then have lunch anywhere between 1 and 3. A typical lunch is a milanesa, which is a breaded meat dish. Now up to this point this is all familiar to us American-types. Where things get a little different is from here on out to the end of the day. Dinner is not until roughly 9:30, and no human in their right mind will put themselves through the hunger pains until that late in the day. The answer? Meriendas, or snacks. From around 5-7pm cafes are absolutely filled to the bream with people having a(nother) coffee or tea, and more medialunas. The beauty in all of this is that one never dines alone. Ever. We have our cellphones and email and text messaging in the US. Here, they simply meet face-to-face over a cup of coffee several days a week. Hmm... which one would I rather have? Don't get me wrong, cellphones are everywhere here, but there isn't the same obsession here as there is up in the Northern Hemisphere.
Also, there is a holiday for just about everything here. Children's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Aunt's Day (Aunt's Day? Really? I'm assuming there is an Uncle's Day), El Día del Amigo (Which I think is the second best holiday of the year anywhere, after Thanksgiving) and many more. Any excuse to party and relax with friends. Today was El Día del Niño, and there was a big barbecue here at the house. Both kids (+girlfriends), the Mom, Dad and Aunt were all here. Conversation was as passionate as always, with them claiming that my family can't be as crazy as them. I don't know about that...
Over the weekend, I was able to get into La Casa Rosada (Argentina's White House) - they apparently let just about anyone walk in on the weekends. I don't think Ms. Kirchner lives there, and it was the weekend, so the doors were open. We hopped on to the compulsory tour (I can't imagine why they wouldn't want us to just wander around) and were led through various parts of the house by guards in their dress-uniforms that looked like they came from the Napoleonic War-era. One stop on the tour was the main balcony overlooking La Plaza de Mayo, the same balcony from which Perón gave his speeches. Coincidentally, there was a group protesting who knows what marching into the square at the moment we walked onto the balcony - it was pretty neat to watch from there. Speaking of protests though, Argentines will have demonstrations about just about anything. You name it, it probably has been done or is in the cards for the near future. Sometimes it is the most obscure topic - so obscure I honestly can't remember many of them. I would say it's the principal mode of political expression for a general public that is very active when it comes to politics.
After the balcony we were showed to the Presidential offices. As in, the Oval Office of Argentina. I thought, you have to be kidding. It was phenomenal (the last picture is her office). All of the furniture is original, and it's all roughly 100 years old. The office doubles up as the cabinet room; I couldn't help but wonder what kind of discussions had taken place in that room. We had 1 minute tops in the room, but I was grateful for that - I definitely did not expect to be able to see the office at all or get anywhere near it.
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