John:
We've just come back from our Sunday desayuño (breakfast). The way they do things here in the cafes is really quite nice. We had the standard breakfast: coffee and toast, and a glass of orange juice. We were at Cafe Plaza de Libertad, where the waiters are all in waistcoats and white aprons (mind you, that's the same at so many cafes). Here they bring you the cafe con leche (or sin leche if, like me, you think that milk in coffee is an abomination) and everything else on big silver trays. As always, coffee is served with a little shot glass of agua con gas. The toast comes with a mound of cream cheese (which is more creamy than cheesy) and some strawberry jam. The thing to do is to spread the jam on the toast first and then slather on the cheese... it's really good. We spent an hour reading the paper (and doing lesson planning) without anyone rushing us or looking at us like we were taking up valuable real estate: and it seemed that everyone else was doing the same. Liz reckons that it's to do with living in small apartments, everyone needs to get out and spend a little time. Very different to the italian 'stand up for coffee' thing and a million miles away from Starbucks- the coffee is vastly better for one thing.

Oh and today is the commemoration of the invasion of the Malvinas. There are a number of events going on, most of them seem to be related to the whole coup thing. A couple of people I've spoken to have told me that most people are resentful of the junta that sent the troops there. 700 Argentines died in the war, many more have committed suicide in the last 24 years. They came home to a government that didn't want to know. The veterans are marching today for scholarships for their children and for pensions for ex servicemen, and for the revokation of the pension givent to the Malvinas military governor... There's still the whole sovereignty thing (and I have to say, HMG seems a long way away, 1833 was a long time ago, and the Brits who occupied the island then were pirates)... One thing I believe very strongly is that the islands are not worth the pain of even one of the limbless beggars I can see every day.
  ¶ 8:14 PM