Tom and Heather's photostream

Need a quick bite in Buenos Aires? Forget McDonald's (although they do exist). Instead, grab an empanada, tarta, milanesa, sandwich, pasta, baked or fried fish, or other freshly made quiche-like item at a market like our Congreso market. Then -- don't eat it too fast. Sit down, relax, and take your time eating. Time to shed those American habits!

The block around the corner from our apartment building is a prime example of the dominance of small business in Buenos Aires. Forget the corporate giants. On one block, we have a small bakery, light bulb store (yup, just light bulbs), laundry service, nuts and grains store, cheese and wine store, and the above, a cleaning products store and a fruit and vegetable stand. These businesses are each no larger in size than our bedroom.

Need to bring something to a party? Hit a Fiambrería for some wine, cheese, olives, crackers. or other snacks.

In spanish, bread is called "pan". So a store that sells bread, cakes and other baked goods is called a panadería. We buy our daily bread at this place around the corner called "La Primavera". Bakeries like this one are also the source of the typical Argentine breakfast food, called "medialunas" -- media = half, luna = moon, so they are half-moon shaped croissants that are best enjoyed with a cup of coffee.

"Y un día, llegó el semaforo; alegría en la esquina de los mil accidentes" -- translation -- "and one day, the traffic light arrived; happiness at the corner of the thousand accidents."

It is truly mind boggling with the amount of traffic and pedestrians on these dense city streets, to see such an incredible number of street intersections with no stop or yield signs, nor any traffic lights. The law gives the right-of-way to the vehicle on the right, although such intersections are generally a free-for-all and cars just figure it out at the intersection. And pedestrians? Forget about it! Pedestrians are the low man on the totem pole and always must give way to the honking, light-flashing vehicles. As one would expect, thousands of accidents involving vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians occur from this failure of the government.