Uh...Halloween

This is a post on the phenomenon of Hallowe'en, or rather, the lack thereof, in Buenos Aires. (Really, though, it's just an excuse to post this picture of my brother Mark dressed up as Bill Cosby for Hallowe'en. )

Hallowe'en doesn't really exist here. The only places I've seen with orange and black decorations are American chain restaurants. The only people that have Hallowe'en parties are ex-pats. And it's Spring here, so all the Hallowe'en related stuff is just so out of context.

Speaking of American chain restaurants, yesteday I was walking around Puerto Madero, the chic, new, slick, upscale neighbourhood that has recently been developed in what used to be the industrial port. It's pretty nice; there's all these fancy restaurants along the water in what used to be old warehouses. But, thrown in amongst all these fancy places are some random American chains, like TGI Fridays and frigging HOOTERS, pretending to be all fancy and stuff. And since no one here knows that these places aren't indeed fancy in their American incarnations, and get dressed up to go there, they effectively become fancy. Strange.

But, HOOTERS? I explained to the Argentinian friend I was with what the concept is and what the name refers to, and he was like, "So the waitresses just wear tight shirts and stuff? Like, what's the big deal? So does everyone in the street. Is the food good?"