a souvenir for you.

We are home! I loved Argentina. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, the weather was great, and spending time with my awesome husband was great. I have to say though, I am happy to be home. I think that is part of why we need vacations, to appreciate our homes.

So guess what? I brought you a present! Yes, YOU.

You know those cute shoes that everyone has that cost way too much (which you feel guilty about thinking because they are sort of a charity)? You know the ones, TOMS shoes. They come in cute colors. They look cute with skinny jeans. They appear to be really comfortable, without looking like sneakers. But they are $70, and I'm sure you've seen some people wearing them with their toes poking through, so they don't appear to be long-lasting. But, as I said, cute, and very trendy.

Well, did you know that the design for TOMS shoes is Argentinian? They call them alpargatas, and they are cheap there. I saw them on all kinds of people, and when I asked someone where to get them, they couldn't even tell me, just that they buy them in their neighborhood, and they are only 20-30 pesos ($5-$10). I actually only saw them for sale in a few places, because the day we had set aside to shop was a holiday, and many stores were closed.

Anyway, I found some. I bought black ones (since it is winter here, and I don't like dirty shoes) and plan to buy all the colors of the rainbow. Mine are Paez brand, which has some adorable patterns. I spent $70 pesos (about $20). Online you can buy them for $37.99. I love these striped ones.

If you want Alpargatas brand, you can buy them on ebay for $15 plus $2 shipping. They don't have patterns, but some really cute solid colors. I love these blue ones, especially to go with a really cute skirt I bought at Plaza de Mayo.







So that is my gift to you! The gift of knowledge, that you don't have to spend $70 for these cute shoes.

(PS, when we got home, we found that a giant branch from our neighbor's Chinese Elm tree had fallen, and broken though my closet room window. Cleaning up glass is not how I wanted to spend my first night home! And now it is snowing like crazy.)

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