The 5k Debacle

I'm running the McDonalds 5k run in the Bosques de Palermo on Sunday - crazy, I know, for McDonalds to sponsor a run, but hey, I guess they have to do something good to offset all the burgers. Anyway, as usual, they can't just send out t-shirts and race packs in the post so I received an email explaining I must go to Alto Palermo shopping centre between certain hours of the evening to pick up the pack.

I head there straight after work as it's on my way home (sort of) and I go straight to the kiosk on the ground floor that says McDonalds 5k Run in big letters. After I've queued for ten minutes, a lady comes around with a clipboard, I find my name and she tells me I need to go to the first floor to collect my t-shirt. I head up to the first floor and queue for another five minutes before finding my name on the list and being told I need to go back to the ground floor to pick up my t-shirt. I refuse to do so, since I don't want to spend my entire Friday evening on this wild goose chase, so the heavily pierced young lady walkie-talkies down to try and sort it out for me. I wait and I wait and I wait.

Fifteen minutes later, I finally get my bright pink race pack. Nothing's easy in this place...

I spend the next half hour or so wandering around Alto Palermo. This is a hugely upmarket shopping centre - much more so than, say, The Trafford Centre or any UK shopping centre and I wonder where the rich Argentines get their money from. There are shops that are way more expensive than any high-street store in the UK and a leather jacket made in Argentina can easily set you back £500.

I buy a couple of pairs of earrings from a nice little kiosk and head home.