"Como si fuera Gardel"

Here's a little taste of Argentine culture. The big tango legend in this town is/was a guy named Carlos Gardel (who died in a plane crash in Colombia in 1935)... he's part of the general lexicon now. If someone is asked how they're doing and you hear "it's as if I were Gardel", it's basically like saying that they're the king of the world and couldn't be doing any better.

A few weeks ago, by happenstance, I had the odd experience of being at his grave in Chacarita cemetery on the 72nd anniversary of his death. It's really funny... in Argentina they celebrate the DEATH of someone, instead of their birth. When I tell them that, as a foreigner, celebrating the death of someone ("and good riddance to you!") instead of their birth is really funny to me, they usually don't get the concept. Ah well, chalk it up to cultural differences and what not. Kinda like in the summer, when all the pregnant women walk around here bare-bellied in half shirts... now THAT'S funny.


Anyway, it was humorous watching all the Gardel fans at the tomb. They played/danced a bunch of tangos and there was a guy on top of the statue maintaining "the eternal flame", aka a continuously lit cigarrette in the fingers of the statue. Apparently ol' Carlos was quite the chain smoker and if the plane crash didn't get him, the cigarrettes would have. Somewhere out there, I know an MSG-phobic, health food nut that could learn a lesson here... no matter how often you eat at Whole Foods, the plane crash might take you out instead!

But after leaving this little gathering and walking through the cemetery, I noticed a bunch of little green parrots all over the place (about 3x the size of parakeets). The locals call them "loros", which I always thought was your standard Polly-want-a-cracker macaw parrot. Well, this lady in her mid-70s notices me watching the parrots and launches into a story about her youth in Madrid. The good news is that I understood it. The bad news is that I understood it... it was exceedly long and lacked anything resembling a point.


The gist of it was how she enjoyed all the "gaviotas" (seagulls) in Madrid just like here... although she kept pointing at the LOROS. I became fixated on the fact that maybe I didn't understand which bird was called which name until finally, at the end of her lonnnnggggggggggggg story, I asked her "but aren't these birds called loros"?? She just shrugged her shoulders and responded "who knows? birds are birds." Anyway, it was sorta funny. Pointless but funny.


In conclusion, here's a great little place to crack open the books when it's warm... the Plaza de Mayo. Many a revolution (and tyranical dictatorship) began here. Also, it was here that Madonna besmirched an entire nation, and the cinematic world in general, with that horrible movie "Evita" whilst singing "Don't cry for me Argentina" from the Casa Rosada in this plaza.

Snow in Buenos Aires!!!

I took a few pictures of the first snow day here in Buenos Aires in 89 years and figured that I would post some here. The last time that it snowed in BsAs was on June 22, 1918. "Global warming" wasn't in fashion back then so I don't know what they blamed it on... probably just "winter". Obviously nothing stuck to the streets/sidewalks because the temps were in the 70s earlier in the week. That's my apt bldg behind me in this photo. What a weird weather place this is... kinda like Dallas. But more humid. With less annoying Texans. And more motochorros. I'll have to explain "motochorros" in another entry some day. Basically they're just thieves on motorcycles, but a lot of times they don't think things through very well and things end up badly. VERY badly.

But here's a picture of a bar/restaurant/cafe/AND gymnasium a block away from my apartment, I like the snow-on-the-palm- trees-effect. And talk about being all things to all people! It's sort of funny watching them go play (indoor) soccer or work out, followed by a healthy Quilmes... which is the local beer. Which also happens to be the company that distributes Pepsi in Buenos Aires. Which happens to be a company that is reducing their workforce, which OBVIOUSLY led to a strike by the truck drivers... forcing a rationing of all Quilmes, Pepsi, and Coke products in town. Which subsequently caused ME to stockpile bottles of Pepsi until this strike is over. Hmmm, I've gone "off point" again...

OK, here's a shot of Av. Corrientes -- one of the main drags in town. Further towards downtown it turns into the Buenos Aires version of Broadway. Lots of restaurants, theaters, and so on. All lit up nice-n-bright... except for right now, with the energy crisis and all, it's time to turn off the lights and conserve! Actually, now that I think about it, they're not conserving anything down there... it's lit up like the 4th of July everytime I go down there. So who knows?

This final picture is proof positive that the snow actually stuck to SOMETHING. Cars and open areas (like the grass in the parks and plazas) tended to be where the snow accumulated. As interesting as it was to see it snow in Buenos Aires, I think I was more amused by the reaction of the locals frolicking in one centimeter of snow. Although the kids actually figured out how to make some (very small) snow men out of it. OK, that's enough snow talk for today. It was fascinating to witness some Buenos Aires history (and trust me, a lot of the history around here you wouldn't want to be present to witness!) but I've got a crisis energética to get back to...

Return of the ola de frío

Yet another cold wave has hit Argentina and now I've seen everything... it's actually SNOWING in Buenos Aires today! Not just little itty bitty nothing fleks and flakes, but big swirling large puffy flurries. And all day long, not just for 10 minutes! The newspapers say that the last time this happened was back in June, 1918. How did the USA and capitalism in general (which are normally the root cause of every other ill around here) cause the snow back then? Would it have helped if Lawrence Welk, Duke Ellington, and Mozart had some sort of Live Earth event back then?! Anyway, if you can read Spanish, check out http://www.clarin.com/diario/2007/07/09/um/m-01453873.htm

Fortunately today is also Argentina's independence day (just 5 days after the USA), so it's a long holiday weekend down here. I say "fortunately" because this VERY cold Monday didn't happen on a standard work day here in Buenos Aires... the Argentine energy sources are already maxed out as it is. This is now the era of the "crisis energética". In fact, it's been getting down to the upper 20s at night here in town (or 12 degrees F if you're "lucky" enough to be down in the Patagonian ski resort of Bariloche). Tomorrow will be realllllllllly interesting when the work week starts back up and the energy sources are pummeled. Stay tuned.

Anyhoo, apparently the energy shortage has been anticipated for quite a while but, because it's an election year, the official line has been complete denial of any probem. With this cold weather, the Monty-Python-Holy-Grail sketch is officially over ("just a flesh wound...", "but you've got no arms left!", "I've had worse!") and el gobierno was forced to confess the problem. Least of all because the downtown office towers are turned off at night, there are no functioning escalators after 4pm, 50% of the elevators are turned off, no heating the offices between 4p - midnight, and who knows what all else. But like I said, it's an election year so the LAST thing that the gov't wants to do is start impacting individual/family homes with reduced electricity, reduced natural gas for heating, etc. I, for one, am personally very glad about that... even if I can't vote in October.

In other news, we endured the "Brazilian Invasion of 2007" at the school last week. July is the big vacation month in Brazil so a lot of Brazilians come to BsAs for a month of "language vacation" which appears to mean a 60/40 ratio of school attendance and partying for most of them... according to my very unscientific research. It all depends on how long they stay out at the clubs (and considering that a lot of the clubs don't OPEN until 2am, it can end up being pretty late). Anyway, I'm supplementing my Spanish with a lot of Portuñol at the moment (like Spanglish, but with Portugese instead). At first it sounds like they know what they're talking about... til you analyze it and realize it's mostly el gibberish-o.

OK, let's wrap this up talking about the recent car show here in Buenos Aires. I had a little time to download some photos so I'll tack them on here. Last time I was here they had just started up the car show (this was the 4th annual show). The exhibit ran for 10 days at the downtown convention center, took up three large buildings, and cost $15 pesos for admittance. Peugot probably had the most exciting new models this year... here's one standing by a car. Ha! I kill me.

There were also some classics like this one. Notice the classic Vette in the background. I also saw some Mustangs but no Shelbys in the mix. A lot of old European cars were featured, like Fiat. I could think of absolutely no reason to take a picture of them, though.

The laws in this country are a little different than in the USA and you are not paid/win the lottery/rewarded by a jury for being stupid... if you injure yourself, it's your problem. For instance, we got to see someone trying to do their "Dukes of Hazzard" impression while almost rolling the test truck. Still... it was funny to watch (from a distance), though.

There were also some new American cars that I'd never seen before, like the new Chevy Camaro and some sort of futuristic looking Ford that I'm not sure they'll market / release in the USA. Another really funny thing is that Keifer Sutherland, aka, Jack Bauer, was up in Rio de Janeiro (or "down in Rio", depending on your perspective I guess) or maybe Sao Paolo. I forget which... anyhow he's filming car commercials for the new Citroën C4 with a famous Argentine actress!

Which is funny because the car is definitely nothing to right home about. From my snooty-elitist-American-car-snob opinion, anyway. The French can tell me which wine to pair with the cheese and I'll tell them which of their cars they shouldn't bother manufacturing. Although THIS was a really cool car... it's the new Peugeot 907 V12 concept car. More of this and less of the C4!

OK, enough car show talk... I already know certain people (hola chicas!) that are probably bored with this entire line of discussion. Besides, I need to leave this internet cafe and go find a place to make me some custom / tailor made gloves. It is SERIOUSLY cold in Buenos Aires right now!!! Ojalá que funcione mi estufa esta noche...