Something to love.

I'm vibrating at an elevated level today, and I thought I should write something, anything, while I'm feeling positive.

I am ashamed that most of what we have had to say and write is fairly bummer-like and even angry at times. Argentina can be a dirty trick, but here's the thing: we are well. We are blessed. We are living the type of life we want to live, the type that most people are afraid of living. even though it hasn't come around to the point we are aiming for it to come around to. We understand that this is all part of a greater design, and even though it might be uncomfortable at times, we know it's preparing us for whatever lies ahead.

In the spirit of my truer self, here's a list of things I adore about Argentina:

Spanish. I love that I can walk around and listen to it and it's normal now. Not that I understand that much of it. Still.

Dulce de leche. Caramel sauce for EVERYTHING! These people put it on toast and call it a breakfast! I think it's weird on bread, but I love it on apples, bananas, and spoons.

Alfajores. Just dulce de leche surrounded by cookies and covered in chocolate. Heck yeah.

Protests. Okay, this is kind of a half-and-half, because the protests are a huge pain in the ass, and often kind of silly. But look: they care enough about what's going wrong to organize themselves and create a fuss, and I can appreciate that.

Open-mindedness. People are receptive to yoga, chiropractic, and network marketing. They don't spout off about what they "know" about these wonderful things. They listen. They learn. They participate.

Asado. A traditional summer Sunday in Argentina takes place in a backyard, surrounded by family and friends and way too much grilled meat. Even though most restaurants here revolve around steak, pasta, and pizza, and we long for Thai, Mexican, and Chinese, I do love the chorizo and the cheese they put right on the grill.

Puerta Cerrada.  I mentioned this restaurant trend in the post about my friend Adam's visit. It's a seriuosly cool experience, and I can't wait to do it again.

Hidden gems. In a seriously run-down building you can find an awesome modern apartment. Around an unassuming corner will be hiding a delightful little bar or restaurant.

Rapipago. Although they aren't always very rápido, the idea is there: you go here and pay any and all of your bills, from gas and electric to cell phones. If you make it through the line, it takes about eight seconds and you know it's taken care of.

The parks. Green space is a rarity in Buenos Aires, so the parks are crowded on beautiful weekends. It's lovely to see the tai chi pracitioners, the soccer games, the fitness classes, the inline skating competitions, the dogs, and so much more.

Big development: dumpsters.

Garbage in Buenos Aires is an ongoing problem that you eventually kind of get used to. It gets piled up on the streets in anticipation of the garbage trucks, and it usually gets scattered all to hell between the pile-up and the truck's arrival during the night. BA streets are pretty dirty.

Recently, the garbage workers went on strike. (Argentines love a good strike.)  I didn't pay much attention to this, other than to notice the garbage piles were higher, smellier, and more scattered than usual, so I didn't know why they were striking.

However, as I was walking home last night, I first noticed that the biggest of the piles were gone.  Oh, good, I thought, they must be back to work. Then I came across something that made me double-take: a dumpster.

I have never seen a dumpster in Buenos Aires. We have marveled at this before, at how simple it would be to curb the garbage problem simply by providing a place to put the garbage! But there it was, shiny and new. And a few blocks later, I saw another one.

I don't know if they were brought about by the strike, but it´s possible. If so, I'm impressed to see that this national passtime made a change.

The next milestone will be if people actually use them. Brent and I once saw a man step out of his store and toss a handful of torn up paper onto the sidewalk. So we'll see.

That's one well-dressed puppy.

Obviously, the business we should have gotten involved in when we came here was the dog clothing business.  There are entire stores devoted to the miniature sweaters, and it doesn't seem to matter how hot it is outside or how much fur a particular dog has, there's a good chance he's going to be wearing a stylish overcoat.

Most of the dog clothes are of the same basic design, like a blanket with sleeves for the front legs, and they come in a shocking variety of colors and patterns.  A few days ago, however, I saw a small white dog in a knitted sweater and a tiny pair of jeans.  That's a new level.  I couldn't stop giggling for four blocks.