This being my last weekend in Buenos Aires, possibly ever, I would be a fool to turn down the shopping opportunities that a strong US dollar and a very week Argentinean peso produce. Seriously, the exchange rate is roughly 30 cents per peso. No one in their right mind turns down that kind of value. And I’ve heard that Argentinean leather is supposed to be some of the very best. All I need this weekend is my American Express card and the ability to say “How much?” in Spanish. (For those of you who are interested, it’s “Cuanto cuesta?”)
Saturday started late. I met the boss around 11:30 and we walked over to a section of town called La Recoleta. This is where the cemetery I visited last week was located. I had intended to go over there alone and give it a more thorough look, but that wasn’t in the cards. We ate lunch at a little sidewalk café and talked about the large and loud group of Americans that got themselves a table soon after. We also wondered about the young guy alone with a pitcher of sangria. Apparently it’s pretty powerful stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever had it.
After lunch we wandered past a church and through a flea market. There wasn’t much in there that wasn’t available elsewhere, and it’s not like I had any cash on hand to purchase anything. I was mostly just curious about it. Our first stop of the day after lunch was the Hard Rock Café. Our department director is a former drummer in a Christian rock band, and he likes to get drumsticks from the Hard Rock in every place he visits. He didn’t know that there was a HRC in Bs.As. so we didn’t go last weekend when we were over in the area. I told him I’d get him some sticks before I left. So we stopped at the HRC’s gift shop and I got his sticks and a couple of t-shirts for Lisa and I. We wandered back to the hotel to drop off our bags and then proceeded out onto Avenida de Florida. I don’t know if it’s that I’m not a good shopper with other people or if it was just bad luck, but I couldn’t find anything decent at a price that I felt was right in any of the stores I went to with the boss. We started off in a mall looking around, and everything was just too expensive. I did try on this one blazer style leather jacket that I absolutely loved. It was in this smooth black leather and I looked awesome in it. Unfortunately, it was way more than I was prepared to spend and even if the store had been inclined to negotiate I couldn’t have gotten it down to a reasonable level. They wanted 1600 pesos for it, which translates to a little over $500. I can spend that much for a jacket anywhere in America. I’m not doing it here.
The mall was mostly a bust for me. I did eventually find a wallet that I liked at a price I was willing to go with. I think it cost me about $13 US, and it would probably go for about three times that at home. I’m very pleased with it. I also managed to find a nice purse for either Lisa or my mother, don’t know which yet, that I was pretty satisfied with. We left the mall and went across the street to another little store. Again, no luck on a decent jacket. The boss abandoned me after that one, and I persevered. As soon as I left that little store there was one of these guys handing out cards that asked if I was looking for a leather jacket. Normally, I’d just brush him off, but I was actually looking for a leather jacket. So he gave me his card and pointed out his store and I headed over there. I had another guy from the same store ask me to ditch the card and take his instead, but I told him I didn’t think that would be fair to the first guy. The store was nice, if a little bit crowded. I found a jacket I liked at a price that I was willing to go with. Actually, I found two jackets: one for me and one for Lisa. And I found another purse, again for either her or my mother, across the street. All in all, a fairly successful shopping trip. There is still one item I’m considering, but I just can’t convince myself to pull the trigger on it yet. I’ve seen some leather, Indiana Jones style hats while I’ve been shopping. I think I look pretty ridiculous in hats, but these are just cool. I’m really wanting to go buy one, but would I ever wear it? I’d have to take my jacket along too so that I could make sure to get one that goes with it. They’re available in black, so that’s an option. I just can’t decide.
That was really it for the weekend. I didn’t do any more exploring on Sunday and the shopping took all day Saturday. I felt like I had seen everything I wanted to see, except Café Tortoni but I didn’t remember that until late Sunday night, and I wanted to get some actual rest. I slept late and surfed and watched many episodes of Stargate. I love that show, and I needed to relax.
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