Un domingo, día de las ferías

This photo (which I grabbed from flickr and cannot take the credit for) is from the San Telmo Sunday market, or fería. Every Sunday throngs of tourists and Porteños alike stroll the streets of San Telmo looking for various crafts, clothes, gourds out of which to drink Mate tea, antiques etc. Musicians and street performers of all types, including the mandatory tango dancers, set up to busk every few blocks. I went yesterday with an ex-pat friend of mine and wandered for a few hours. I ended up buying a pair of homemade shoes that would put any Echo Park hipster to shame. They are glorious. And, again, photos will follow once I solve that little card reader/language problem. (By the end of the week, comrades, I vow to make that purchase.)

The streets are packed with slow-moving shoppers who stop over stalls and finger the goods. There are also plenty of folks walking around with coolers of beer and soda or baskets of pan relleno (stuffed bread) and a surprising number of people with stands to sell orange juice, squeezed from the fruit on the spot and delicious.

The drawback of the market is not only the ubiquity of tourists, but the ease with which vendors seem to peg them. Its unclear to me how they know (but they always do) who is a local and who isn’t. Spanish won’t save you here. Even when I was silent I’d have folks start the bartering in English.

Another vow: not to leave Buenos Aires without one of those seltzer bottles.