Stinkville

The trash collectors have been on strike for the past two days. Since there aren't official dumpsters or "real" places where people put their trash (in apartment buildings, the super collects the trash bags from every floor and puts it all out in front or on the corner for collection), it's been piling up and it's getting pretty gross. Stupidly, I wore flip-flops today (it's so warm and perfect outside!) and had to traverse a narrow sidewalk overflowing with what seemed to be a lot more than just two days' worth of rubbish. I kind of felt like I was at a creepy salad bar that also sold carpet samples and cardboard boxes.

I just made a delicious batch of my homemade salsa and some guac to boot ... Making some tacos for Josey tonight. For the salsa I just chop up tomatoes and add salt, pepper, lemon/lime, some chopped onion, tons of chopped jalapeños, cilantro (if I can find it) and let it sit and marinade into fabulosity. It's super simple but it's a great snack - I love adding the leftover juice to my guacamole for an extra little kick. Clearly I'm a culinary genius.

Speaking of culinary - big, big, BIG road block made my day not so nice this morning. We went back to L'Interdit, the store that carries Christofle & Le Creuset here in Buenos Aires. I was apparently smoking tons of crack when I checked the prices, because they definitely aren't the same as in the US. The big Dutch oven costs AR$ 1,600. That's US$ 400. NO THANKS. That's $130 more than at Williams-Sonoma! I literally went insane and started mumbling to myself like a bitter old lady. Le sigh. We'll see how to remedy that. Luckily you can declare up to US$ 300 in goods when you come into Argentina, so maybe I'll just shove cookware into my suitcase every time I go back and forth. Yeah, that sounds like a problem-free solution. Sike.

This is when I start praying that someone with a customs connection comes out of the woodwork to save me and make all of our wedding present dreams come true. Le sigh.

Back to my usual ... Sitting on the couch with a bag of frozen peas on my knee, watching the news of the wackiest city ever unfold.