The Independent Book Fair

I had wanted to go to the big annual Book Fair at La Rural yesterday, so I was looking for people to go with. In the search, my friend Pablo mentioned that he was going to a different book fair by the University of Buenos Aires. This was an independent book fair with different, maybe less legitimate books. Since the other book fair is going on for a couple of weeks I went with Pablo.

The independent book fair was an interesting mix of hippie-punksters and anarchists selling everything from comics and Communist literature to vegan empanadas. It was a really eclectic group of people, and as usual it was somehow tied into politics. In the background was the annoying sound of two people performing poetry in a skit, yelling into microphones so fast that I didn't catch any of it.

Pablo and I walked around for a bit perusing the various books, which for the most part were really just photocopies of books or self-published paperbacks with the authors there. I bought a $3 peso piece of pie with coconut and dulce de leche while Pablo got a beer, and we kept running into people he knew. The fair was in a parking lot, and all around the spots were stalls with vendors selling books. They were all friendly and insisted we pick up a book and check it out at our leisure.

We made our way over to an artists' stand and were really impressed by the prints we saw. Though I don't usually buy art, mainly because I have no where stable to put it nor the extra money, I saw two prints that I really enjoyed and purchased. Ideally I'll still have them in good condition when I head back to the States someday and will be able to put them on my wall. Better is the fact that it's "authentic" Argentine art, rather than some touristy picture of tango from San Telmo.

There was a concert by Plaza Italia last night and I thought I'd be able to hear it from my apartment, but I couldn't, and thus missed out on it waiting to hear the music. Though the lines are ridiculous and spreading past my building, I think I'll try to check out the fair today. I just need to get out of the house and moving.