Some time after being exposed to that genre of entertainment I had the opportunity to live in Peru for a couple of years (mid '70's). While I was there a cartoon character named Mafalda became quite famous. She was a youngish little girl who always seemed to see things as they actually were, not as the media or publicity mongers portrayed them. She, like Asterix, was always the first one to complain about the short comings in the system and I think she was one of the very first pointedly political cartoons ever printed in the Peruvian newspapers.
At one time I had a T-shirt with her picture on the front and the words "A mi no me grite !!" underneath, which means "Don't yell at me!!" I lost it somewhere but wish to this day that I still had it. A collectors item no doubt.
She was very unique for being so honest in her opinions, especially during those times when both Peru and Argentina were under military dictatorships, and Chile had just overthrown their national government and were trying to reinstate a democratic form of governance.
In Buenos Aires there is a Plaza Mafalda dedicated to her and it is known in the city as the place where they hold all sorts of events, monthly, for children. Puppet shows, dog shows, mini circuses, unending fun for the kids.
They also have a food market every Wednesday morning, when the local farmers bring in their goods from the outlying ares and sell them to the locals ... at very good prices.
We thought we might try it out earlier today. Took the bus up to the plaza and was severely disappointed by what was there. 4-5 stalls with farmers groceries, a few dog walkers with their usual pack of hounds .. and that was it.
However, we were walking back toward the street where we could catch the bus to our part of town when we came across something unique. It was a market billed as a "Mercado de las Pulgas" aka "Flea Market". Paris has one .. after the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul the Paris market was probably the original .. but this one is special. I have never seen one like this in South America.
It is a sizeable building and very old type architecture but not an old building ... new but built along old lines I guess you could say.
For one thing, it was clean, neat and tidy, as if they really cared about putting on a good front. The bathrooms in the building were the cleanest I've ever seen down here, and they had deodorizer in them (smelled great). And every shop or stall was laid out beautifully, and neat, and clean, and no dust .. I could go on but here are the pictures.
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| The main hallway |
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| They mainly specialize in furniture |
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| Also light fixtures |
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| Refinishing underway |
This is one of those places that you would want to go back to if you were looking for something really different to put in your apartment or townhouse. I'll probably go back, if for nothing more that to just look around. Oh yes .. and one last thought. They don't get tourists here. We had many an inquiring look as we wandered through the hallways. Very friendly but you knew they were wondering .. what are they doing here ??