More Argentine Occupations

The Ice Cream Man

Here is our local ice cream man. No ice cream trucks here - they use a bike. This ice cream man has a cooler on the front of his bicycle to keep his ice cream cold. How do you know that the ice cream man is coming so that you can run to the streets to get one? In the states you would hear music as he rounds the corner, but the Argentine ice cream man has a whistle. The high-pitched whistle alerts all the children that he is coming and can be heard well in advance. In Chile, the ice cream man doesn't use a whistle, but rather his voice. He would just yell at the top of his lungs: "Heeeeeladooooooo!!!"
Unfortunately it doesn't look like anyone is very interested today in buying ice cream.

The Garbage Man

This is our neighborhood garbage man. He pulls his horse and cart up to a house and loads the trash into the buggy. You can't actually see the garbage man in this picture (he is behind the cart) but you can see that he has two helpers. Probably the same age as my 6th grade friends. They help their dad load the cart and drive the cart.

Would you help YOUR dad pick up the trash?

The Waiters
We live on a street that is just a few block from the tourist hotels of Mendoza. Because there are so many visitors in these hotels the street is lined with restaurants. The restaurants set tables outside on the sidewalk to drawn in customers. They also put their waiters on the corner to invite people to eat at their restaurant.
These waiters already know us well.

The Meat Man

I know that you (my 6th grade friends) LOVED my report on the hanging meat in the markets so I thought that you might like to meet the man behind the meat. This is Oscar.
Oscar has chosen a profession which involves being around the raw, hanging meat daily. He cuts the meat for the people and wraps it up for his customers. At the end of the day he removes the meat from his display can and hangs in a large freezer. Notice that Oscar doesn't have any gloves. When you ask for a particular cut of meat he just picks it up with his hands and slaps it on the table. When I first met Oscar he shook my hand and patted me on the back. Ew. I went home and immediately washed my hands. After observations and experiences like this, we are very conscientious about our meat man's manners.
Oscar works at our neighborhood kiosk where we buy all of our fruits, vegetables and meat. This kiosk is about two blocks from our house and everyone here knows us well.

Oscar know some English and with a rough accent with say "hello, How are you?" Sometimes when I come to buy meat he asks me how to say something in English and I help him.
Would YOU want this job?