Pizza, Pasta and Parilla

J:  Food in BA.  The three "P"s.  Pizza, pasta and parilla (grilled meats).  And that really covers it.  We have found some great Thai and Indian restaurants, but 90 percent of the local eateries offer the three "P"s.  And Argentines generally do not enjoy spicy/picante tastes.  Last week we had ate at a Mexican place, and asked it the dishes could be "poco picante".  The waiter proceeded to explain that spicy food bothers his stomach, but promised to see what he could do.  My enchiladas arrived seasoned with probably half a bottle of hot sauce. And the waiter brought us another bottle of hot sauce, just in case.

And the next P: parks.  New York City's Central Park could take a lesson from the extensive park system in BA.  We went to a free outdoor concert last Sunday at the Rose Garden.  Beautiful surroundings for some very traditional tango music.  The concert became a sing-a-long for most of the audience (gringos excepted).  And the park was filled with bikers, rowers on the lake, in-line skaters (including an in-line hockey match), kick boxing tournament, and even an aerobics class with lycra leaders on a stage and hundreds following along.  I think, like NYC, the confined living in apartments makes the Portenos (the nickname for residents of BA) flood to the open green spaces.  And the massive trees are unlike anything we've seen in the world.

And the last P:  knowing your place.  The people here were taught well in kindergarten about forming lines.  At bus stops, the waiting people look like they are in the army, single file along the curb.  And the strange thing is that the bus stops serve multiple bus lines, so that when a bus arrives, your place in line is irrelevant, since a random group will want to board the particular bus.  Then there are the lines at the supermarkets.  For some reason, grocery stores provide about 25 percent of the cashiers you would find in a US store.  So everyone waits patiently -- always.  And the "express line" (less than 20 items) will extend back down an aisle to the center of the store (even when only one or two full carts are waiting in the regular checkout stands).