Bici parte dos (Ken)

I fixed my bicycle and headed out in a new direction today (Saturday). I went to Palermo and to the park next to the river across from Newberry Airport.



It is March now, and I find the weather this week to be similar to the beginning of September back home in Maryland. There was a strong breeze at my back on the way out that I had to contend with on my return, but it was a beautiful day to explore a different part of the city.



All along the Rio de la Plata, there were dozens of people fishing. I didn't see any actual fish, but I guess that is why it is called "fishing" and not "catching." (I heard that from a patient at the VA psych hospital where Helen worked. He was fishing at the time.) The fish in the river are not very attractive, I am told. The portero in my building told me upon my return, "Los pescos son feos." And the river is not really a river, but an estuary like the Chesapeake Bay back home. Wikipedia says The Rio de la Plata "is the estuary formed by the combination of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River. It is a funnel-shaped indentation on the southeastern coastline of South America, extending 290 km (180 miles) from the rivers' confluence to the Atlantic Ocean.

Where the rivers join, it is 48 km (30 miles) wide, and it runs to the southeast growing to 220 km (136 miles) wide where it opens on the Atlantic Ocean, making it the widest estuary in the world. It forms part of the border between Argentina and Uruguay, with the major ports and capital cities of Buenos Aires in the southwest and Montevideo in the northeast.
The basin drained by the main tributaries of the Río de la Plata (the Uruguay and Paraná, and the important Paraná tributary, the Paraguay) covers approximately one fifth of South America, including area in southeastern Bolivia, southern and central Brazil, the entire nation of Paraguay, most of Uruguay and northern Argentina. An estimated 57 million cubic metres (2 billion cubic feet) of silt is carried into the estuary each year, where the muddy waters are stirred up by winds and the tides."



The path along the river was a happy scene with Papa, Abuela, and the hijos together at the river. There are many food vendors and bait and tackle vendors. I stopped by a food stand in a pretty where families had set up for a day near on the river. I had a hamburger that was pretty close to the USA hamburger experience. Here, a haburgesa completa is a hamburger with a slice of ham and a fried egg on a bun with lettuce and tomato. I opted for la hamburgesa con lechuga y tomates.



I headed back through the Palermo parks where more families were out for the day near the pond beside the planetarium. They had it all set up for people to view this evening's Lunar Eclipse that was, unfortunately, upstaged by rain.



At one intersection there were three chicos juggling for cars stopped at the red light. They weren't having much success and saw me watching them. The light turned green and they ran over to me. I got out my camera and asked them if I could take their picture. They were all smiles because they knew that meant I was going to give them some money. The little one quickly took the money from me. As I rode away, he was figuring out how much each chico's cut was going to be.