City Sidewalks...

One of the things I found most fascinating on my first trip to Argentina was that a block could have as many different sidewalks as it had houses. That's because each home owner is responsible for their own sidewalk. And apparently they use that opportunity for creative expression.

I'm kinda sad to notice that more and more are going the route of plain old cement walkways. BORING!

But some still do their own thing. Like this home owner who may be a bit regimented, and definitely has a thing for really big tile -- these must have been at least 18" square. (This photo is pretty washed out -- the sun was VERY bright!) But their neighbor is more of a free spirit I think. I myself prefer flagstone without cement mortar connections. But each to his own. The transition is quite abrupt at the property line. Here are a few close-ups. The hubby and I really liked these 10" terracotta tiles. He said when he was growing up formed cement blocks were common. These are painted but we saw some plain ones, too. And finally these square cement tiles. Hubby said the sidewalk had recently been re-done and whoever did it had not taken time to clean the joints well. Sloppy work irks him!
One more thing before I close up shop for the night. We're going to need a car eventually so we're sorta keeping our eyes open and came across this one today during our walk. There was no information anywhere on the car to indicate price or how to contact the owner. So we left a note on his windshield under the wiper and the owner called later. It's a 1996 Renault 9. Anyone know anything about this model?

P.S. Sorry if I planted that Christmas song in your head, too. It popped into mine as we walked and it won't go away. Now you can hum it with me! "City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style..."