I realize I haven´t commented much on argentine culture, rather what I´ve been doing and where I´ve been. The following are two things I´ve noticed I do not particularly approve of, and one that I´ve come to accept.
1) Mullets: You are simply not cool in buenos aires if you do not have a mullet. He-mullet, she-mullet, the billy ray cyrus power perm in the back, you name it. Rattails are present in the hippest of the hip bars and restaurants. It´s like the world´s turned upside down. I swear people would meet me and think: he´d be cool...if only he had a mullet.
2) Man-Besos: This is true in all over Argentina; dudes kiss each other on the cheek to say hello. You want a surprise, try having a mulletted dude with a beard go in to kiss you hello at breakfast in a cafe before you´ve had your coffee. I don´t recommend it. You can´t really avoid it without being rude, but i found a crocodile dundee-esque handshake combined with a slap on the back would cut it off at the pass sometimes.
3) Man-Capris: All the guys wear their warmup pants 3/4 length when out running. Nike,Adidas, that´s all they sell. Man-capris. I now own a pair, and am happy to report they´re like normal pants, just less hot. I´m ready to bring them back to the states and start a revolution.
Went on a wine tour today after class, but was very commercial and they gave us almost no wine. Was kind of like the Frass Canyon scene in Sideways.
Still haven´t decided my next city, but moving hostels in the morning within Mendoza tomorrow after getting stung by a bee in bed. Apparently they´ve got a nest in the attic.That´s all for now. Overall, Mendoza remains awesome.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
book learnin´
I had my first classroom spanish lessons in mendoza today. my teacher, a guy from buenos aires, is a very good instructor and i got a lot out of the session. The school was accomdating about me starting midweek, and i had 4 hours of class today to make up for not beginning earlier. 4 hours of spanish is excellent for practice, having to stay thinking in spanish for that long continuously. It´s a shame I don´t have a few more weeks or months to just study spanish, I could make a lot of progress in a course like this. Ah well, I´m very fortunate to have the time down here I do have.
I was planning on going to a bodega (winery) today, but it´s too hot to do much of anything, as it´s about 95 in the shade and pretty humid. Had a siesta instead. I had a great meal at the hostel last night, one of the best parts has been meeting other people travelling. Last night the group was a girl from chile who lives in london, a guy who goes to ucsf med school taking some time off from rotations, two dutch law students on holiday, a city planner from eatonville, WA (not making it up) and two argentines on holiday. Conversations tend to alternate between spanish and english, depending on people´s language abilities. Everyone went to the grocery store and put together a dish, and we had a big communal meal. It´s kind of a self-selecting group of people that tends to come to these places and who backpack around south america in the first place, and you end up having all sorts of interesting and unexpected conversations. Too hot to think of much interesting to write at the moment. Nos vemos.
I was planning on going to a bodega (winery) today, but it´s too hot to do much of anything, as it´s about 95 in the shade and pretty humid. Had a siesta instead. I had a great meal at the hostel last night, one of the best parts has been meeting other people travelling. Last night the group was a girl from chile who lives in london, a guy who goes to ucsf med school taking some time off from rotations, two dutch law students on holiday, a city planner from eatonville, WA (not making it up) and two argentines on holiday. Conversations tend to alternate between spanish and english, depending on people´s language abilities. Everyone went to the grocery store and put together a dish, and we had a big communal meal. It´s kind of a self-selecting group of people that tends to come to these places and who backpack around south america in the first place, and you end up having all sorts of interesting and unexpected conversations. Too hot to think of much interesting to write at the moment. Nos vemos.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
El Tango de Mendoza
Viva Mendoza! There are really a lot of things to like about this town: the manageable size, the warm friendly people, the landscape, the great wine, the low prices. Then there are experiences like I had this afternoon.
I found a good spanish school, and signed up for a week´s worth of lessons. My conversational ability has come back the past two weeks, so it´s a good time to get into some formal instruction. The school director showed me their calendar of events, and this afternoon was free tango lessons. I only had an hour to go back to the hostel and clean up and get back, but I decided it was too good to pass up.
I arrived, and learned I was the only student enrolled for the class. The door opened, and the two instructors walked in. Both students at the local university, they are quite possibly the two most beautiful women I have seen in Argentina. Absolutely stunning, both of them. They asked me if I still wanted to take the class, I´d get more personal attention this way. Yes, I decided. I can stick around.
After getting my powers of speech back, the lesson went really well. They both spoke crystal clear spanish, so I got two hours of really good practice speaking and listening. They were very professional and capable teachers too. They told me the whole history of the tango, including the pope outlawing it at one point, from what I gathered were dancers not making enough room between them for the holy ghost, as they say at catholic school dances in the states. After a few early jitters, by the end of the session I was breaking out the moves I´d learned years ago from the argentine teachers back home, to the delight of the profesoras. It was awesome. Such a cool experience. I´m taking another lesson saturday. Can you blame me?
Again I say, Viva Mendoza!
I found a good spanish school, and signed up for a week´s worth of lessons. My conversational ability has come back the past two weeks, so it´s a good time to get into some formal instruction. The school director showed me their calendar of events, and this afternoon was free tango lessons. I only had an hour to go back to the hostel and clean up and get back, but I decided it was too good to pass up.
I arrived, and learned I was the only student enrolled for the class. The door opened, and the two instructors walked in. Both students at the local university, they are quite possibly the two most beautiful women I have seen in Argentina. Absolutely stunning, both of them. They asked me if I still wanted to take the class, I´d get more personal attention this way. Yes, I decided. I can stick around.
After getting my powers of speech back, the lesson went really well. They both spoke crystal clear spanish, so I got two hours of really good practice speaking and listening. They were very professional and capable teachers too. They told me the whole history of the tango, including the pope outlawing it at one point, from what I gathered were dancers not making enough room between them for the holy ghost, as they say at catholic school dances in the states. After a few early jitters, by the end of the session I was breaking out the moves I´d learned years ago from the argentine teachers back home, to the delight of the profesoras. It was awesome. Such a cool experience. I´m taking another lesson saturday. Can you blame me?
Again I say, Viva Mendoza!
Monday, November 26, 2007
back in the andes
I made it to Mendoza, and am happy to report it´s a lovely city. It is also really, really hot. You´d think the coast would be hotter than the mountains, but that´s not the case. I took an overnight bus across the pampas to get here. It gives you a good sense of how big the Argentine pampas is to do it that way, it´s like looking at the horizon driving across Nebraska. The prarie just goes on and on and on. Besides the sandwich guy giving me change with a counterfeit five peso bill and listening to Shakira´s collected works being played over the intercom, the ride was uneventful.
My last day in Buenos Aires was unforgettable, as I had the singular privilege of visiting Tierra Santa. Wedged between a driving range and a waterpark, it is several acres of christian themepark amazingness. The english language park guide is full of wonderful quotations like: ¨visitors will delight in the 18 meter high jesus, and with especially his 36 mechanical movements.¨ or ¨experience the magic of the Creation through laser lights and state of the art robotic patriarchs.¨ I´m forgetting some, but you get the idea. It was really hard to keep a straight face, which is a problem as about 90 percent of the parkgoers are really serious about it, not a trace of irony. One woman was weeping at the wailing wall, and I started smirking at a funny translation and one of the roman soldiers working there gave me a really dirty look. That would have been a hard black eye to explain, getting thwacked with a plastic sword by an argentine roman soldier at the fake wailing wall. Also, there was a somewhat inexplicable exhibit on Gandhi wedged between a synagogue and the crown of thorns diorama. Maybe they´re trying to be pluralistic. I have some great photos, I will attempt to upload them.
Am off to buy shorts in an attempt to stay cool. Viva Mendoza.
My last day in Buenos Aires was unforgettable, as I had the singular privilege of visiting Tierra Santa. Wedged between a driving range and a waterpark, it is several acres of christian themepark amazingness. The english language park guide is full of wonderful quotations like: ¨visitors will delight in the 18 meter high jesus, and with especially his 36 mechanical movements.¨ or ¨experience the magic of the Creation through laser lights and state of the art robotic patriarchs.¨ I´m forgetting some, but you get the idea. It was really hard to keep a straight face, which is a problem as about 90 percent of the parkgoers are really serious about it, not a trace of irony. One woman was weeping at the wailing wall, and I started smirking at a funny translation and one of the roman soldiers working there gave me a really dirty look. That would have been a hard black eye to explain, getting thwacked with a plastic sword by an argentine roman soldier at the fake wailing wall. Also, there was a somewhat inexplicable exhibit on Gandhi wedged between a synagogue and the crown of thorns diorama. Maybe they´re trying to be pluralistic. I have some great photos, I will attempt to upload them.
Am off to buy shorts in an attempt to stay cool. Viva Mendoza.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
off to mendoza
i got back to buenos aires this morning, after a lovely boat ride on a beautiful spring morning over the river from colonia del sacramento, uruguay. i loved uruguay, i wish i´d had more time there. sandy beaches, beautiful old colonial architecture, friendly people, laid back atmosphere...what´s not to like? anyhow, in buenos aires a few more hours, then up into the andes to mendoza!
Friday, November 23, 2007
off to uruguay
I just got into Colonia, Uruguay, where I´ll be until Sunday morning. The town is really nice, it´s a little colonial getaway town with cobblestone streets and open plazas, and is really clean and well maintained. Reminds me a bit of Newport, or maybe Victoria. Anyhow, nice to get out of the big city for a bit.
Last night was Buenos Aires thanksgiving. It was a bit of a 'quilombo' preparing it, which is the omnipresent word in buenos aires for mess/snafu/less nice words, however you want to call it. My sweet potatoes were an unmitigated disaster, but the rest of the food was excellent and there was tons of good wine. I took it upon myself to buy a few bottles of champagne and give a thanksgiving toast. It caught most by surprise (19 people total, 4 americans), but despite the sentimentality, it's the whole point of the feast to take a moment and reflect on everything we have to be thankful for. That's the simple purity of thanksgiving, there's none of the commercialism or religious complexity of holidays like easter and christmas. Just a feast, and an opportunity to reflect on how much we have to be grateful for, especially the people around us. Anyway, the dinner (which started at 11:30 pm) was a fantastic time in a great old converted 19th century villa in San Telmo.
My favorite quote of the evening was a local guy explaining to me that when he was travelling in europe and was trying to meet girls, one told him: "you don't have to lie here, you're not in argentina." sums up the social interactions between men and women here pretty nicely.
I may move this journal to another site so it's easier to post photos, but will be sure to let any of you reading it know.
Last night was Buenos Aires thanksgiving. It was a bit of a 'quilombo' preparing it, which is the omnipresent word in buenos aires for mess/snafu/less nice words, however you want to call it. My sweet potatoes were an unmitigated disaster, but the rest of the food was excellent and there was tons of good wine. I took it upon myself to buy a few bottles of champagne and give a thanksgiving toast. It caught most by surprise (19 people total, 4 americans), but despite the sentimentality, it's the whole point of the feast to take a moment and reflect on everything we have to be thankful for. That's the simple purity of thanksgiving, there's none of the commercialism or religious complexity of holidays like easter and christmas. Just a feast, and an opportunity to reflect on how much we have to be grateful for, especially the people around us. Anyway, the dinner (which started at 11:30 pm) was a fantastic time in a great old converted 19th century villa in San Telmo.
My favorite quote of the evening was a local guy explaining to me that when he was travelling in europe and was trying to meet girls, one told him: "you don't have to lie here, you're not in argentina." sums up the social interactions between men and women here pretty nicely.
I may move this journal to another site so it's easier to post photos, but will be sure to let any of you reading it know.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
el dia de gratitud
it's a bit odd to be in latin america for the quintessential american holiday, and it's a shame not to be with family today. however, there is a good thanksgiving feast planned for tonight that i'm looking forward to. one of kristie's staff members is hosting tonight, and we're having roast chickens (turkeys are unavailable in b.a.) and all sorts of other thanksgiving treats. i'm going to try and make sweet potatoes happen, we'll see how that works out.
I'm headed out of town for a two day trip tomorrow. i was going to go to iguazu falls, but it's 17 hours up there, and just too much hassle. instead, i think i'll jump on a ferry across the river to Uruguay, seeing Colonia and Montevideo, then come back Sunday morning to go to Tierra Santa with Kristie and her brother, who gets into town this weekend.
La Tierra Santa (http://www.tierrasanta-bsas.com.ar/) is Argentina's religious theme park, and it's meant to score a 10 out of 10 on the unintentional comedy scale. I'm looking forward to seeing the Resurrection, which takes place every half hour!
Then Sunday night I'll jump on the overnight bus to Mendoza, where I plan to spend another week or so. Everyone I've talked to loved the place, from natives of b.a. to the judge I used to work for in Seattle. I've been practicing my spanish here, but I think Mendoza will be a relaxed (and cheap) place to enroll in some classes and finally get my verbs in decent shape. Buenos Aires is amazing, but I'm ready for a less massive city for a while. Happy Thanksgiving.
I'm headed out of town for a two day trip tomorrow. i was going to go to iguazu falls, but it's 17 hours up there, and just too much hassle. instead, i think i'll jump on a ferry across the river to Uruguay, seeing Colonia and Montevideo, then come back Sunday morning to go to Tierra Santa with Kristie and her brother, who gets into town this weekend.
La Tierra Santa (http://www.tierrasanta-bsas.com.ar/) is Argentina's religious theme park, and it's meant to score a 10 out of 10 on the unintentional comedy scale. I'm looking forward to seeing the Resurrection, which takes place every half hour!
Then Sunday night I'll jump on the overnight bus to Mendoza, where I plan to spend another week or so. Everyone I've talked to loved the place, from natives of b.a. to the judge I used to work for in Seattle. I've been practicing my spanish here, but I think Mendoza will be a relaxed (and cheap) place to enroll in some classes and finally get my verbs in decent shape. Buenos Aires is amazing, but I'm ready for a less massive city for a while. Happy Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
las islas malvinas
this is how one is meant to refer to the falkland islands in argentina. you see, they rightfully belong to argetina, as the exhibit in the military museum so earnestly argues. the museum leaves out that the military dictatorship in the 80´s launched an invasion of an island populated by not much more than a few british people shopping at tesco´s and enjoying episodes of upstairs downstairs. the invaders then got roundly booted out by the british military in about two months. there still is a bit of resentment about it here, as there is with madonna playing eva peron in the musical. i spent yesterday afternoon walking the city and visiting the museums.
the eva peron museum is interesting, a cult around her personality has developed here over the years, some people even want her beatified at the vatican. she was only 33 when she died, and some whisper she refused treatment for her ovarian cancer so she could become a martyr. maybe the most striking part of the museum is seeing photos of her growing up as a country girl in the provinces, and then seeing photos from only about 12 years later of her funeral in buenos aires. the funeral photos look like the kinds of thing you see from the kennedy assassination or v-e day; black and white photos of an entire city´s population pressed into every open space, ranks upon ranks of soliders lining the procession, tanks leading the hearse, and so on. the fact that through sheer force of will and personality she was able to have that kind of rise from peasant to dictatress (my word) is incredible.
last night we made our first visit to a milonga, la catedral. milongas are the traditional tango venues, and it was amazing to watch the local couples here in b.a. on the dance floor. the venue itself was a great old dimly lit 19th century space converted into a dance hall with candles and crazy artwork and gas lamps suspended from 50 foot ceilings. the dancers themselves were amazing, it´s hypnotic to watch them move. i´ve taken a few lessons years ago, but would need a hell of a lot more to be able to hold my own at a good buenos aires milonga. still, watching the spectacle with a great (and absurdly cheap) bottle of red wine made for a great night.
the eva peron museum is interesting, a cult around her personality has developed here over the years, some people even want her beatified at the vatican. she was only 33 when she died, and some whisper she refused treatment for her ovarian cancer so she could become a martyr. maybe the most striking part of the museum is seeing photos of her growing up as a country girl in the provinces, and then seeing photos from only about 12 years later of her funeral in buenos aires. the funeral photos look like the kinds of thing you see from the kennedy assassination or v-e day; black and white photos of an entire city´s population pressed into every open space, ranks upon ranks of soliders lining the procession, tanks leading the hearse, and so on. the fact that through sheer force of will and personality she was able to have that kind of rise from peasant to dictatress (my word) is incredible.
last night we made our first visit to a milonga, la catedral. milongas are the traditional tango venues, and it was amazing to watch the local couples here in b.a. on the dance floor. the venue itself was a great old dimly lit 19th century space converted into a dance hall with candles and crazy artwork and gas lamps suspended from 50 foot ceilings. the dancers themselves were amazing, it´s hypnotic to watch them move. i´ve taken a few lessons years ago, but would need a hell of a lot more to be able to hold my own at a good buenos aires milonga. still, watching the spectacle with a great (and absurdly cheap) bottle of red wine made for a great night.
Monday, November 19, 2007
codigos rojos
this is how you say ´code red´ in spanish. after describing my job to some argentine guys who asked me what i did, one of them replied ¨ah, es como la pelicula con tom cruise y...los codigos rojos, no?´ it appears there´s no escaping a few good men.
last night was my first asado experience. the argentinian version of a barbecue, we had an endless supply of steak and wine and grilled vegetables. we were hosted by kristie´s friend werner along with several argentinian friends, on werner´s rooftop terrace of his downtown apartment building. the view was as amazing as the food. it was a great chance to practice spanish, but reaffirmed how much more i want to work on it.
the night before that was extraordinary. kristie´s spanish teacher, nacho, threw a party saturday night called ¨fiesta senor drummond.¨ that´s right, a different strokes themed party named after the inimitable mr. drummond. apparently the show was huge in argentina in the 80´s. there were photos of willis and arnold all over the walls, girls in leg warmers, 80´s dance music blaring, and the 80´s video game ´bad dudes´set up in the corner. it was surreal, and augmented by singing a spirited duet of the different strokes theme song with nacho. the world truly does not move to the beat of just one drum.
in any event, an excellent weekend, and buenos aires is living up to its reputation as one of the best cities anywhere.
last night was my first asado experience. the argentinian version of a barbecue, we had an endless supply of steak and wine and grilled vegetables. we were hosted by kristie´s friend werner along with several argentinian friends, on werner´s rooftop terrace of his downtown apartment building. the view was as amazing as the food. it was a great chance to practice spanish, but reaffirmed how much more i want to work on it.
the night before that was extraordinary. kristie´s spanish teacher, nacho, threw a party saturday night called ¨fiesta senor drummond.¨ that´s right, a different strokes themed party named after the inimitable mr. drummond. apparently the show was huge in argentina in the 80´s. there were photos of willis and arnold all over the walls, girls in leg warmers, 80´s dance music blaring, and the 80´s video game ´bad dudes´set up in the corner. it was surreal, and augmented by singing a spirited duet of the different strokes theme song with nacho. the world truly does not move to the beat of just one drum.
in any event, an excellent weekend, and buenos aires is living up to its reputation as one of the best cities anywhere.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
buenos aires
we're cooking dinner at casa argentimes, so i won't make this much of a post. just a quick note that i made it here safely, and am absolutely stunned by this city. kristie's house, which she shares with some other expats, doubles as the offices of the argentimes, and we're right in the middle of the san telmo district. i may be here about a week, i've been invited to a thanksgiving dinner on thursday that sounds too good to pass up. i'm having a great time with the people i've met, and catching up with kristie was worth the trip alone. this paper she's started is amazing. there are great options for learning spanish here too, so i think i'll begin classes on monday. more to come, but it's a good thing i've got a job in the states, because it would be very easy for a week in buenos aires to turn into months, or even years. hasta luego....k
Friday, November 16, 2007
don´t cry for me argentina
the truth is... i´ll be there this evening.
i know that song is terribly cliched, but i kind of couldn´t stop myself from typing it.
had a great day in santiago yesterday. a nice long run in the park de los reyes along the banks of the river, lunch in a cafe beside the plaza brazil, then checked out some of the museums and santa lucia hill which is a steep little hill rising right out of the heart of the city that they turned into an ornate beaux-arts park early in the last century. it´s really nice, and offers a great view of the city and the valley. then went out for dinner and drinks with two austrian guys and a girl who went to monash uni. in melbourne, which brought back memories of the vis competition (competition was in austria, met lots of people from monash). was a fun evening, though it´s safe to say austrians can drink more beer than americans. they can also do better impressions of arnold schwarzenegger, which is instant hilarity.
i have a few hours to explore the city some more before my flight, then off over the andes. i´m currently planning to come back overland through cordoba and mendoza and cross back into chile from mendoza. will update this page as i deteremine where i´m going.
i know that song is terribly cliched, but i kind of couldn´t stop myself from typing it.
had a great day in santiago yesterday. a nice long run in the park de los reyes along the banks of the river, lunch in a cafe beside the plaza brazil, then checked out some of the museums and santa lucia hill which is a steep little hill rising right out of the heart of the city that they turned into an ornate beaux-arts park early in the last century. it´s really nice, and offers a great view of the city and the valley. then went out for dinner and drinks with two austrian guys and a girl who went to monash uni. in melbourne, which brought back memories of the vis competition (competition was in austria, met lots of people from monash). was a fun evening, though it´s safe to say austrians can drink more beer than americans. they can also do better impressions of arnold schwarzenegger, which is instant hilarity.
i have a few hours to explore the city some more before my flight, then off over the andes. i´m currently planning to come back overland through cordoba and mendoza and cross back into chile from mendoza. will update this page as i deteremine where i´m going.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
earthquake
thanks for the concern of those of you who wrote. the earthquake was 400 miles away, so no problem here in santiago. this computer is slow, will post later.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
made it
So here i am, in sunny Santiago de Chile! The weather is perfect, the city is beautiful, and my spanish is rusty. The place I´m staying is very cool, full of climbers and backpackers making their way around south america. I´ve changed plans a bit, and i´m going to fly to Buenos Aires on Friday and spend some time with my friend and fellow veteran of voluntarios de occidente, kristie robinson. She is founder and editor of the argentimes (www.argentimes.com), and it will be great to see the city with an expert of all things porteño. I´ll be making my way back from B.A. overland to chile, likely stopping in Bariloche after crossing the pampas. Off to dinner, hope everyone´s well. As always, my gmail address is the best way to reach me.
abrazos fuertes, kirt(lando)
abrazos fuertes, kirt(lando)
Thursday, November 1, 2007
starting up
This is my first venture into the world of web logs. I will be traveling to South America from November 14 to December 18, 2007. Please check in and say hi, I'll try to include some good photos and anecdotes from my trip.
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