This entry is mostly for the jugglers

Since our arrival, whenever we told people we were malabaristas, they almost always said we should go to the weekend market at Plaza Franzia. After our all-night adventure with Condor, we slept most of Saturday but made it there before sunset (which doesn´t happen here until about 9:30) and, sure enough found some jugglers. I thought that they would be there to make some money as it is a large artisan market full of shoppers looking to spend some money, though the jugglers we saw were just hanging out in a large open grass area in the middle. Most people were leaving when we got there, though everyone we talked to said that even more are there on Sunday.
We showed up early the next day, and sure enough, the grass filled with jugglers, musicians, and capoera aficionados. It was like being at a juggling festival and apparently it happens every weekend. We heard that most of the jugglers were out of town too, making money in the beach towns where everyone is on vacation right now. There were still a good amount there though. We met jugglers from France, Austria, Venezuela, and, of course, Argentina. The French woman was probably one of the best club swingers and contact club jugglers I´ve ever seen in person. So fluid and with so many tricks. Contact club work seems very popular and I hope to learn a bit before I return. There´s a guy and girl from Venezuela that make 5-club look easy and some of the clubs they juggle are made out of soda bottles on sticks. They´ve travelled here from Venezuela, paying for the whole trip with their juggling. It seems like the most common way to make money here is by stoplighting. At a red light, they go out into the crosswalk, do a quick routine, and collect money from the drivers before the light changes. We haven´t tried it yet but plan to before we head down to the beach in a day or two. I think our Venezuelan friends are going to join us. We´ve been hanging out with them a good deal. Good people.
After our day of juggling a big group of us went to the Observatory where they´re having concerts on the weekends. We went for the music, but also found out there´s a comet in the sky here, though its tough to see in the city. The concert was a local Blues musician and the crowd was easily a couple thousand people. But the jugglers were the only ones dancing. Ah, jugglers.