Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Chive on, you crazy diamond


Sunday, April 29th, 2012

In my first week here, I took a city tour with my program and since that time, we’d always vowed to make it back to Recoleta to pass through the cemetery as well as the feria there. After months and months of “no, next weekend, next weekend!!” we FINALLY made it. The weather was horrendously cold, however, so passing through the cemetery didn’t seem all that pleasing. Alright. Feria. I was on the lookout for a new bombilla because my bamboo one didn’t serve me too well, as the holes in the sieve portion at the bottom were just a little too big…Metal bombillas I’m always hesitant of because you can never tell which ones are going to corrode or otherwise get disgusting and every time you ask if it’s inoxidable, they of course reassure you ¡Sí, sí!

The wares at the Recoleta fair are stunning in some booths. There were beautiful, delicate wool scarves, impressive jewelry, and really just about anything you’d be looking for at an artisan fair. Sometimes prices were a little steep, so I recommend going to San Telmo unless you’re looking for something specific.
As we were looking at something especially knick knacky, a guy in a Chive shirt passed by and Angela almost had a heart attack. As a redditor, I am inclined to believe that first comes 4chan, then reddit and anything else is just the sloppy seconds of these sites that eventually trickles down to the bargain bins of tumblr. The Chive wasn’t anything I’d ever heard of but as a fellow Chiver, Angela of course initiated a conversation. Our random Chiver friend was on a business trip from Michigan as his company has holdings down here. It was his last day in town before heading back, so he was doing some shopping for friends. As often happens when you meet fellow travelers, it somehow becomes easy to chat and spend an afternoon talking over a beer and pizza—which is exactly what we did. Before we made it to a restaurant, however, we ran into two more Chivers wearing the same shirt! I wished I was a member of the club, but sadly, I was just the lone redditor taking everybody else’s picture. After running the gambit of conversations, we parted ways, taking delight in the fact that we just met a total stranger that felt like a friend simply because of a website. Madness…

Passing back through the fair, we walked by a stand with papier maché crafts and I locked my eyes on a paper mache cactus. I don’t know what it is about cacti here, but they’re everywhere and I find myself absolutely in love with them. You can buy them from flower stands off the street even. I want to buy one, but because of that whole customs “you can’t bring back live plants” thing as well as the fact that it would be impossible to transport comfortably…looks like I’m going to have to wait. So instead, I settled for a cactus craft. It is adorable and totally my style because everything is so bold and bright. It’s funky, to be sure, but it’s adorable. Looks like instead of becoming a cat lady, I’ve become a cactus lady…

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