This is not a city used to the thunderstorms that Kuala Lumpar have every day as we discovered this morning. One of our recommended must does was to visit the Cafe Tortoni, this seemed like a good plan for the start of the day a other things that attracted our interest were also in that area, it was an overcast morning but me, being ever optimistic had spotted lightening skys and vetoed Liza's raincoat suggestion, a decision which could be held against me for some time. By the time we had negotiated the Buenos Aires tube system and arrived at the central Cathedral station the rain had started, but again optimistic we dodged it as we headed Cafe-wards for a late morning coffee. Now the sky darkened to almost night, and one mighty storm erupted. Having to shelter in a shop being used as a small indoor market we discovered that this was not weather common to this city when the ceiling collapsed throwing a torrent of water onto the stalls. A dry escape being impossible we helped the stall holders move their goods away from the worst of the torrent and off the increasingly submerged floor until the lights fused. A quick 10 metre dash to the next door cafe saw us totally drenched but not at our destination, the remaining 50 metres being a stupid idea in the prevailing conditions. We therefore had our coffee and empenadas where we had found ourselves, waiting until it was just a downpour rather than a flood. Further proof of the unlikely weather was on the television news that was covering the event in depth with reports of the tube lines being down, pretty girls standing in the rain telling us it was raining, and long shots of puddles in the streets.
When it was just raining hard we splashed our way to what turned out to be the most eclectic museum of our travels so far, the Museo de la Ciudad, which seemed to be a collection of oddities with no rhyme reason or overall theme whatsoever, A display of ceramic tiles was under a kermit the frog costume. A recreation of a 19th century office next to a collection of 1970's photos of the local market. A selection of toys round the corner from a display of woodworking tools. The annex held a collection of old city doors, while the still working pharmacy had the most beautiful carvings and frescos. All this was overseen by a wonderfully enthusiastic man who was obviously a frontrunner in the Buenos Aires moustache of the year competition. He insisted in showing us everything as we dripped all over his beautiful 1890's floors. Soaked to the skin we headed back to the flat to dry off and have a late lunch.
On a totally different note, while returning from our great meat eating expedition last Sunday we passed this place which got us giggling......
http://www.unimoron.edu.ar/
Not a place high on the list of the great academic centres of the English speaking world one feels!
So typical of the country; if it's not a roof collapsing because of a bit too much rain, it's an articulated lorry spilling it's optimistically packed load of fresh lemons all over the Nueve de Julio (last time I was there). The connection? Both the building owner and the truck driver have both paid the authorities to overlook their flagrant disregard of the rules... they all play Truco you see... cheating the system is in the blood. :)
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