Buenos Aires Shopping and San Telmo Flea Market, Argentina
Buenos Aires has quite a few new shopping areas. The most hip and trendiest are in the Palerno District, Palermo Viejo and Palermo Soho with street after street filled with little boutiques. HINT: The boutiques don't usually open until 11:00 am. And then there is Palermo Hollywood, the happening place for new chic restaurants and filled with small theaters and movie houses.
Palermo Soho had the most boutiques and I immediately made a beeline for Josefina Ferroni, a recommended shoe boutique, definitely on the same par as Jimmy Choo with very sophisticated shoes. HINT: Browsing through other shops in Buenos Aires, look to see where they were made! I picked up several handbags and other items in some boutiques, looked at the tags and..."Hecho in China." (MADE IN CHINA!) There are a limited amounts of shoe and sizes at Josefina Ferroni, all designed and made in Argentina. When a size sells out...that's all she wrote. Done, finito, nada...
I browsed and bought a beautiful pair of "tango-style" heels. Can't wait to wear with a lbd (little black dress). HINT: Contact your credit card issuer before you leave the country or your card may get tagged as a fraud. It was a good thing I bought these shoes because our VISA came back "rejected." Collect call to the issuer and everything got straightened out. Capital One told us all unusual purchases in unique locations immediately go to the Fraud Division and are rejected. Now we know.
ex-Marine's Birthday today and time to celebrate at Cabana Las Lilas, supposedly the best steak restaurant in Buenos Aires (good...not great) and more ice cream at Freddos. What better way to celebrate than a great steak, ice cream, wine, and warm weather!
The next day was Sunday and time for the weekly San Telmo Flea Market (Feria de San Pedro Telmo) held only on Sundays from 10:00 am-5:00 pm in the Plaza Dorrego. A very lively, happening flea market with antiques, souvenirs, everything...jammed with tourists and locals. Today, most of the vendors were dressed in costume and the video below will show exactly what was going on... A major happening!
FACT: San Telmo's women helped defeat British invaders in 1806 by pouring buckets of boiling water on the soldier's from their balconies.
