Perros and Kioscos. Argentinos love their dogs and cats and birds. They are all over the place, in the street with their owners, in the street without their owners, in windows of shops and cafes, sleeping in the doorway of shops and cafes. And they have a lot of personality, as you can see from this photo. This guy was perched in a hole on the second floor terrace of this house just watching people and cars and dogs go by in the street.

This is a photo of a 'Kiosco' in the barrio of Flores near where I have my Spanish lessons. Here, you've got, going from big to small, chain 'supermercados' (supermarkets), neighborhood 'supermercados' (sometimes called 'chinos' because many of them are owned and run by chinese or korean families), 'almacenes', which are corner mini-markets that sell a little bit of everything and 'kioscos' which are tiny shops that typically sell candy, cookies, soda and cigarettes. There are also 'diarios', the equivalent of news and magazine stands. In the very center of the city along the Florida Peatonal and surrounding streets, you can walk right into a kiosco like you would any store. However, outside of the commercial center of the city many of the kioscos have metal bars over the doors and windows, like this one, for security. You have to buy and pay thru a small opening in the bars. This is common in nice barrios as well as not so nice ones. It just depends on the street, the comfort level of the shop owner and the hours he or she keeps. Many kioscos, like this one, are run out of the front room of someone's home. If you show up during ciesta hours the owner might not be at the window, but if you clap your hands a few times (the equivalent of 'hello is anyone there?'), he or she might show up ... depending. This is the only kiosco I've seen that had a small step ladder for little kids to climb up to the window and place their order.