Saturday 9th of October, 2004
Brown shoes. Sigh
Rise at... actually get up... OK, fall out of bed at half-past nine. Sitting, shower, out of the door by five past ten. I eventually find coffee and a replacement Espa?ol-Ingles dictionary. Sitting at a roadside table of the cafe, a protest march goes past (agrupacion vendedores ambulantes); drummers at the fore, one of whom is the mendicant boy of yesterday. It takes them a long time to cross the intersection in front of me, partly because I suspect they don't really know where they're going, although I may be wrong.
My project for the day is to buy presentable clothes. I totally fail when it comes to getting shoes, as shoes here only seem to go up to 45 (my feet are 47); but after a lot of browsing, I get the lot from a gentleman's outfitters (Martin Rafael Olivar y Carlos Antonio Vilari?o) - dark suit, blue shirt and tie. When I think how little it's cost (compared to in London, second most expensive city on the face of the Earth, apparantly); I'm slightly embarrassed, though only slightly. I'll have to wear the shoes I was using as indoor shoes at Lunlunta, though. Brown shoes. Sigh
The weather can't make up its mind whether it wants to be sunny or cloudy. I wish it would make up its mind and come down on the side of sunny.
I return to the hotel, unpack the clothes, then set off out again, firstly to scout out the local laundrette, then to sit in a cafe, eating a cheese and ham empanada and drinking coffee and writing the diary for yesterday. By the time I'm done with this, everything's shut. Return to the hotel and write this, then call Martin to find out what time to be there tonight.
I leave the shirt with reception to be ironed (they're obviously going out of their way, which is sweet) and go out to get a couple of toiletry-type things. On the way back I walk through Plaza Independencia, where there's a stage (no band as yet, but tapes are pumping through the PA); stalls, the smell of incense sticks and lots and lots of people. The general vibe is very political, hippy-ish, izquierda, in contrast to San Martin, the main shopping street where I've just been walking.
I keep walking past the Hotel and have an ice cream, which is a bit of an adventure in itself. The Deliverer of Helados needs to explain to me that I have to queue for a ticket and then deliver the ticket to the Deliverer of Helados, and have my helado delivered. Actually he doesn't have to explain anything after he asks whether I have a ticket,as I immediately see the queue. I do the right thing and get a cone with a scoop of Caf? and a scoop of Dulce de Leche. Yum. And yum.
Back to the hotel. My shirt is waiting in my room. I could get used to this, you know. I actually wanted to iron the shirt myself, but what the hell.
Shower, dress and meet Leo in the lobby at 8:45. Today a cab has been called for us, and we get to Martin's early again. Fabulous meal. Actually, I'm, still here, using Martin's broadband connection. I'll probably go back to the hotel later on, I imagine. It's very likely.
