San Telmo

We visited the neighbourhood of San Telmo at the weekend. It's most famous for its 'touristy' market set in a plaza surrounded by cobblestone streets with restaurants, cafes and bars. As with most tourist destinations there plenty of old gypsy women and young kids trying to coerce you into giving them money. Some of them are very determined and a bit hard nosed and pester you even if you respond with a firm 'No'. One enterprising young lad claimed he needed just 20 pesos for his school and his target donation dropped in 5 peso decrements till just a 'moneda' (coin) was required as he reeled off his oft practiced speech. I'm not belittling the fact that some of these folks really need the money, but the approach is a little too much in your face and the philosophy is to drive you to the point of handing over somehthing just to get rid of them.

The market itself is interesting and has plenty to offer in the way of jewelry, trinkets and souveniers albeit overpriced. There were three cruise ships in town and there were people handing over dollars and pesos for trinkets like it was monopoly money, which considering the exchange rate it, I suppose pesos are like monopoly money.