As exciting and successful my move into the new apartment has been, it doesn't mean I haven't faced losses. My poor, hardworking, "relic of the past" running shoes are no more. Alas I made the mistake of leaving them outside the door to the apartment after going for a run one day and the housekeeper came by, noticed them in the hall, and threw them into the trash.
I didn't know how much I depended on running and exercise until my means to go running were taken away. For days I was devastated. I guess you'd call it my mourning period. I questioned why my shoes had to be punished so severely, they even had the socks in them! Why, I would ask myself repeatedly, would someone take my shoes from outside the door to the apartment, especially when the logical conclusion would be that they belong to the tenant inside? It should have been obvious, I kept thinking, that the shoes naturally belonged to the person residing within, and that maybe that person didn't know about the 'no shoes in the hallway rule', as I certainly didn't until my poor shoes were taken from me.
Well, I suppose life must go on, and with devastation in my heart I resolved to say my last farewell to the pair of shoes I loved so dear. It's sad things needed to end this way, and I must confess buying shoes in Argie was not what I had in mind. It may come as a surprise to many of you that buying shoes in Argie is not an activity to be taken lightly. Shoes seem to exist on a golden pedestal of their own, especially for women. The number of women's shoe stores is phenomenal. I actually went into a few thinking they had both men's and women's shoes, only to find that I was getting inquisitive stares from many of the other customers, at which point I realized I was the only male in the entire store.
Where was I? Ah yes, the golden pedestal. Shoes here are worth their weight in gold. The cheapest pair of running shoes will likely cost you almost $100 US. My old pair cost me about $30 US and they served me well. Furthermore the only real quality shoes you can get, or would want to get, are the Adidas, Reebok, or Nike brands. There is one brand called Topper which was a little cheaper but I was skeptical. New Balance, Asics, and all the other standards are nowhere to be found. I decided it was worth spending my Tuesday afternoon scoping out the different shoe stores on Avenue Santa Fe, looking for the golden shoe, to fit my golden foot, for the perfect golden price. My Goal? To pay less than $500 pesos ($100 US) for a new pair of quality running shoes. That's a whopper of a price but sometimes you really do have to pay for a little happiness and peace of mind. After all, I can't imagine myself free-running barefoot on the Argentine streets, dodging the doggy doo and bird carcasses and trying my best to avoid the trash heaps. That's not my style.
It turns out the first store I went into is the one I finally settled on to purchase my shoes. All the other stores were brand-specific and overpriced, or they sold cheap knock-offs. I actually went into the Puma store to see what they had but my internal sirens immediately went off when I noticed no prices next to anything. For me no price spells expensive! I ducked out. I purchased my new pair of 'golden' running shoes for about $440 pesos, just less than $100 US. I think that is the most I've spent on a pair of shoes in my life. At least they fit well.
The people in the store also gave me a daily schedule for keeping the shoes maintained and happy. Apparently in the mornings they need to be taken out for their daily exercise, then scrubbed clean of any street dirt that might tarnish them, and finally in the evening they need to be taken out for a final exercise, usually just a walk around the block, before putting them in their cubby for the evening. Actually I just made the whole schedule thing up. But I couldn't help making the connection between my expensive, "pedigree" shoes, and maintaining a purebred cat or dog, or horse or whatever.
I have enclosed some pics of my purebred shoes for your perusal. I still feel pangs of loss and longing for my old pair. This is most likely just nostalgia will surely pass of course but I do pine for the old $30 dollar pair that served me so well.
As for this new pair, I think I will enter them into a purebred shoe show and see how they fair.
Cheers,
Kyle
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