Raining? Go outside all day!

Well, it was rainy and cold in Buenos Aires today, so we decided to do outdoor activities. To cope with the weather, we headed back to the mall to find raincoats. Argentinians must really love North Face, because North Face raincoats are approximately $650 US. That's just absurd. We didn't find any decently priced raincoats, so we purchased two crappy umbrellas. Mission accomplished.

Next we went down to the San Telmo market, a local market known for antiques and various other items that is held only on Sundays. As you can imagine, the crowds and the exhibitors were not as numerous given the weather, but we were still able to check out a beautiful old church:



Then we walked around a bit in the market. It was a beautiful neighborhood, despite the weather, with very old streets, like this:



Jen loved her umbrella, even though it collapsed no less than 20 times:



Then we saw a guy who combined Argentinians' two greatest passions: rain protection and dental hygiene:



We went into a bar to dry off and get something to eat. We were sitting around on the second floor, having a couple of Quilmes and minding our business, when a tango "show" brokeout:



It was okay, but pretty weird. I don't think they were on the A-List of tango dancers. We gave them 7 pesos.

Then we cut back through the market and grabbed a cab to Recoletta Cemetery - a very creepy place to go on a very dreary day.



It's full of above-ground mosques, nearly all of which are gated or have glass facades so as to allow you to look in and see the old, wooden coffins of the various members of a prominent Argentinian family. Many of the mosques are broken down and decrepit, so you can really check those out with full access:



There's also a gang of cats that wildly roam the place, eating on the remains of the dead (the former part is true, but not the latter). Here's a picture of Patrick, the leader of the gang:



Recoletta is also the site of Evita's tomb:



It was a pretty cool experience and also useful, in that I came up with the perfect way to memorialize Jen and Kemble if the unfortunate event of their predeceasing me were ever to occur:



We took a cab back to the hotel to dry off and relax. I did some work and Jen watched some clips from "Cheaters" on youtube. In a bit, we're heading to Cabrera's for dinner.