There's almost no one left in the city....

First order of business was to go to the American Express office to cash travelers cheques and pay for my apartment.  I've rented a tiny 400 square foot place in Las Canitas.  The owners are a married couple living in the US.  Rich is American and Veronica is Argentine.  Vero's mom, Graciela, is the caretaker and only lives a few blocks away.

So Graciela picks me up this morning and we walk down towards a major street to look for a taxi.  We don't find any and so Graciela tells me apologetically, "There's almost no one left in the city because everyone is gone for summer vacation."  I guess I'd like to see what the city is like when everyone is here!!

Graciela is an incredible hostess-- we had breakfast on the Florida mall which is a huge pedestrian shopping street.  It was PACKED.  For those of you who know how much I hate crowds, you can only imagine my trepidation.  But these lovely people of the southern hemisphere have turned out to be mostly polite and curteous.  I survived it... and enjoyed myself.

That's me in Galerias Pacifico standing in front of a Christmas tree encrusted with Swarovski crystals and beneath a neat "nuevo realismo" mural which was painted in the 50s.

I spent the rest of the day wandering around the city.  Well, in all fairness, I was lost.  I have no sense of direction and thankfully, today, no place in particular to go.  I love the minutae of a new place:  everyone here waits in line for hours for everything-- to buy lotery tickets, to pay cellphone bills, to use an ATM-- and men kiss each other when they greet!  How friendly!

I rode the subway (called El Subte) for the first time.  It's has not been updated since it opened in 1913.  And once you're inside the train, there are no maps to see where you're going or how many stops you have to go!! 

And finally, but most importantly, food.  Graciela introduced me to medialunas which are a traditional breakfast food and are like a combination croissant/sweet roll.  I think if I keep eating them, I will have to buy two airplane seats to go home.

This is a picture of my surprisingly delicious pumpkin and cheese torta which I ordered for lunch.  And no, I had no idea that 'calabaza' meant pumpkin.