Some things change....others don't...

A morning ritual for us in Buenos Aires has become going to the shops just a half a block away to buy fresh fruits, salad things, wine, and something easy to heat up for a light supper. We have two supermarkets nearby and this morning I was in Carrefour picking up a few items. It has taken several visits to figure out the system of checking out which consists of getting in the appropriate line according to how many items you have. That sounds logical and something I am used to...but in Argentina? I always remember people crowding to the front of the line and the concept of "queuing" seemed inconceivable in this culture. Did I dream that? I found the line for "20 items or less" when a tanned, elegantly dressed woman approached me with an cart and asked if I would hold her place in line while she ran to get some bananas. My immediate reaction was one of pleasure that she had taken me for an Argentine and NOT a tourist and simply treated me as if she would anyone else in my place. By the time I looked up she had disappeared but I noticed her cart was empty. Interesting....This is a way to get out of standing in line. Get someone to watch your empty cart while you run around the store doing your shopping. Clever.

By the time I reached the head of the line a man came along and told me to move forward and to the left and so I did. When it was my turn at the checkout the woman looked at me and told me I had to stand in the middle of the "fila" like everyone else. Evidently she thought I had jumped the line but I patiently explained I had been told to move forward. A lady in front of me vouched that I had not jumped the queue and the checkout lady proceeded to ring up my groceries. As I walked out I found myself puzzling over all this precise "queuing" which I have no recollection of when I was growing up in South America. Nothing was ever orderly and whoever got there first was the lucky one. I wonder what has happened to change all of this...or have I got this all wrong. As I walk all around the city each day I can't help but notice the neat queues at all bus stops and today I even saw a long line of people quietly waiting in a "farmacia" for prescriptions. I am still puzzled by all of this and have vowed to ask my Argentine friend Eva when I see her this weekend what the deal is with all the orderly queueing.

Another big change in Buenos Aires, which has happened in other parts of the world, is the ban on smoking in restaurants, malls, and other public places. I had not noticed this until today when I was aware of cigarette smoke as I walk along the Buenos Aires streets. I realized all those street smokers are people banned from smoking indoors. That's a huge change from a culture that smoked anywhere and everywhere. I have not been in a single restaurant or even cafe where there were ashtrays or smoke wafting across my way. This is a welcome one as I am very "smoke intolerant". Amazing!

One thing that has not changed in Buenos Aires are the plentiful ice cream stores that serve up some of the most delicious ice cream in the world. There is a section of the B.A. guidebook describing the major ice cream chains. Today we stopped for our first "helados" at Cadare, an Italian family owned business since the late 1940's. The brochure I picked up in the shop had the history of this particular business where all the ice cream is handmade from recipes that have been passed down for generations from Italy and of course, are kept secret. Art is still talking about the chocolate cointreau flavor he savored today and I was enamored with the typically Argentine "dulce de leche" but intrigued with such flavors as figs with nuts, marron glace, cherry cream, tiramasu, dark chocolate, and maracuya ( Brazilian passion fruit) and many more. A news item in La Nacion, the Argentine newspaper we read every day, reported today that the "Asociacion Fabricantes Artesanales de Helados y Afines" (an association of ice cream makers) stated that this summer the consumption of ice cream grew by 20% compared to last year. According to the article, the maracuya or passion fruit is one of the most asked for flavors along with dulce de leche, the variety of chocolate flavors, and many fruity flavors especially lemon. Having "broken the ice" so to speak for the first time I have a feeling this could become part of our routine in Buenos Aires - sampling all these unusual flavors. Eating ice cream...something we never do!

As long as I'm onto the topic of food we were happy to learn that the Palacio de las Papas Fritas (the Palace of the French Fries) restaurants are still alive and thriving in Buenos Aires. This became a favorite in the 1970's when Art and I would come to B.A. from Asuncion, where we were living,  for our eating, shopping & culture R & R. We found one today and had a long leisurely lunch and remembered years past. The Palacio restaurants that have been in existence since about 1948 are typically Argentine with the white table cloths, linen napkins, older waiters in white jackets and black bow ties and a menu that is pages and pages long. They are famous for their french fries that are not your typically skinny long fried potatoes. These are potato rounds that are fried in a way that make them puff up. I watched waiters bringing them out out on big platters looking almost like puffed pastries. Of course their specialty is all kinds of beef, pork, lamb and sausage. Art tasted a lamb that he said melted in his mouth and I settled for cannelone. If you aren't a meat eater like me you wonder what you can eat in this country and yet they have some of the best Italian food in the world outside of Italy.

I have not gone back to very many places where I have lived in the past as my life just kept moving me forward. This is a new experience for me which is why my constant analyzing and asking myself "was it always like this" or "do I remember it this way?" It's been thirty five years since I last visited Buenos Aires which is half my lifetime....I like seeing how the city has evolved and yet it's comforting to find some of the familiar things still here. That in itself is a validation that I was really here albeit many years ago.