HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

When I was here last (five years ago), St. Patrick's Day was only celebrated by a few locals who were eager to embrace a chance to drink all day and wear fun outfits. Suddenly, in the past few years, the day has grown exponentially. The Irish bars around the city are having day-long specials (although they haven't gotten into the habit of opening at 8-when I went to lunch at a bar called Clover at 1, it was empty and the decorations looked out-of-place), and there's a parade tonight downtown. Argentina is apparently home to the 5th largest Irish community in the world, with 500,000 people claiming Irish heritage (including the family of Che Guevara, one of whose ancestors was from Galway). They haven't quite mastered the celebration, yet, though, as the beers on special are Isenbeck (Argentine) and Warsteiner.

I'm not that into celebrating like crazy, anyway, so I'm not too sad to be missing the parade to go to the airport. I'm wearing green; I'm emphasizing my very Irish first name; and I'll have a drink on the plane.