Man bites dog.

Imagine all the garage sales in your town happening on one day on one street.  Granted, Avenida Argentina is a mile long but every Sunday it turns into the biggest flea market you can think of.  I think we realised just how big the range is when Talluah asked me if I wanted to buy an air rifle with a telescopic site.

There are cages of rabbits, birds, hamsters and penny turtles.  Even a few people selling puppies.  Indiana is desperate for a rabbit and we’ve tried to explain that it would cost thousands to get it back to Australia.  She then asked what would a hamster cost as it is small and could travel in her pocket on the plane.  I don’t know if our apartment could handle a rodent.

Electronics, cameras and computers are available.  Books, garden ornaments and tools, ovens and clothes.  Ovens?  Yes, if only I had brought my other backpack.  We went specifically for warm clothes.  I bought a pair of new gloves for CH$1.000 and the girls picked up three polar track pants for a total CH$5.000.  Talluah is very happy with her track pants. You know the saying, a warm bum is a happy mum.

Many of the empanada vendors use shopping trolleys to move their ovens and gas bottles around.  I don’t think they have to have a food vendor’s licence but for CH$500 you can’t complain about the method of transport.  Here is one vendor selling jelly-cups.  He’s working up to a shopping trolley.

This is Crazy-Dog.  So named because that’s what he is.  A few weeks ago he took a bite out of Talluah’s pants but luckily they were loose and he didn’t get her.   Today I thought it’d be a good idea to take a photo of Crazy-Dog and blog about him.  We have to walk past him to get to the shops.  He’s like a grouchy neighbour.  You can’t just pretend he’s not there but if you say hello he growls at you.  He has this permanent snarl on his face showing his teeth.  We always make sure there is an adult between C.D. and the girls when we walk past. 

I stopped and pulled out the camera and made the mistake of making eye contact with him.  He and his blonde mate came charging at me, a full three metres away and bit me on the back of the leg.  I was taken by surprise.  He didn’t tear my jeans but left a nasty bruise.  We cleaned the bite and thought about renaming him Neurotic-Dog,  it’s more accurate but it doesn’t have the same ring to it.

We’re feeling a bit tired from last night’s party.  Not our party, nor a party we were invited to.  Our neighbours on the other side of the alley behind our house started their music at 7:30 last night.  The volume control was stuck at a floor-shaking 10.  Talluah and I went to bed close to 11:30 and they were still happily singing away.  At various stages through the night we were woken up by their outdoor karaoke and constant need to change songs half way through playing. 

At 7:30 this morning they turned off the stereo.  Well, it’s only good manners, seeing as it was Sunday morning.  We were tempted to ring their door bell at midday but decided against it.