Sunday in the Park

Could it be that this 60+, chubby, ex-9to5-sit-at-her-desk-for-ten-years finally rode a bike for two hours? Yes, it's true and here are the pictures to prove it! After finding bike lanes that I thought I could navigate and survive (no taxis or buses), I tracked down a couple of bike stores, read adds on the Argentine equivalent of Craig's List (Segundo Mano), but I just wasn't ready to take the plunge and buy one. One, "acquiring" another possession, and one that could not fit into one of my 3 suitcases went against my goal of simplifying; and two, for all I knew, after one ride, I would have to lay in bed with ice packs and pain pills for the whole of the next day. Then Dave spied a big purple garage full of bicycles to rent right near our entrance to the park. So this Sunday,we took off! ...and its a good thing cars arent allowed in the park on Sundays because I immediately forgot how the brakes worked and crossed in front of two pedestrians and ran into a tree. Thankfully, after about half an hour of riding , I seemed to have remembered the skills last used when I was a teenager.





It was truly idyllic to ride through all the park land that I had been seeing from a bus or taxi window for two months now. We made it to the big Palermo Park and followed the sounds of cheering, announcements on loud speakers,...then found the final ceremonies of the Dakar Rally. I am not a big race fan, but this 15 day race across Argentina and Chile had caught my attention, seeing all the different landscape those speed happy guys went through. You can maybe make out the big screen that everyone is looking at...City events have these so that people in the back can see what's going on on the stage...


As we road away from the stage, we followed the temporary white fences and got to see the different driving teams up closer as they drove into the park...










I had been looking forward to riding a bike, but Dave had been looking forward to testing out this barbecue stand he had been noting from our bus route to downtown. The charcoal grilled steak sandwich with chemmychurri sauce was just as rico as he hoped it would be.










There I am in the back middle of this picture, ready to pedal home with sauce all down my white shirt...... A great day and no ice needed!