It's been a year

My wanderlust is screaming to travel again... maybe someday.

Que Te Pareces

Argentina v. Germany

So... I'm desperately outlining a paper (the first of four I need done by Sunday). I mean desperately sitting in here reading economic treatises, writing thoughtful outline entries, procrastinating whereever possible. When, all of a sudden there is this tremendous outburst, screaming yelling, taxicabs honking in the streets, gunfire! I'm taken back to 1997, Bolivia v. Chile, after the game I remember hearing the same reaction all through Las Condes the night Chile won.

Well the game is going on right now, Argentina scored a goal a few minutes ago which started me on this blog entry. I turned on the TV, mainly to procrastinate, but also so I won't be caught off guard when Argentina scores and everyone around me yells again. Maybe I should avoid going out for lunch until I find out if Argentina wins, I can't imagine anyone here getting my order right until then.

More pictures tonight, if I complete this damn paper.

Buenos Aires - Second Day (Housekeeping)

I've caught up on housekeeping and even finally got around to posting the first half of Antofagasta. Today was the last day of classes which means that I start my exam period now. Everyone is stressing exams, me, I am merely procrastinating.

We walked back from class today but my camera was full and since the LCD is broken I couldn't see the menu to erase the already downloaded pictures. After a long lunch with students, I came back to the hotel slept for a bit then picked up laundry and groceries.

I have cleared off the camera, and found something to quell my snoring we will see how well it works. 3 am, time for bed.

Buenos Aires - First Day

My first full day in Buenos Aires started with another roommate (Steve) missing from the bedroom when I awaken. Apparently my snoring is a real problem, which would explain the fact that I never feel rested and keep falling asleep even in exciting lectures. As I got ready, I noticed a few ants in the bathroom.

The law school we attend in Buenos Aires is huge. You know Super Mario Brothers? You know that world where everything is giant for no reason? It is that huge. Here see...



I couldn't even get it all in one shot, and it is right next to this huge sculpture. I think it is an alien satellite transponder, apparently it closes at night.



After scaling several flights of steps to reach the top of the enormous building we finally reached a classroom with desks from a junior high school. We all crowded into the classroom. The morning sun shines into this tight little lecture hall through windows strategically placed above the blackboard by sadistic peronista architects. As we bathed in warm light and listened to the hypnotic sing-songy latin voice rise and fall...*snores*

At least I only dropped my papers once, but I came close several times. Less embarrassing than falling out of my chair at the US Embassy in Santiago, but not by much.

Anyway, class ended and then we had a long lunch at Modena Design, an italian place across the street from the law school with lots of Ferraris and such. Some people found better things to do than eat...



We then went to the Casa Rosada. The Casa Rosada is where the president works (not where he lives). We were so late for our tour that it was truncated to ten minutes and hence we only got to see the Patio de Las Palmas, the Bust Gallery and the White Room (where they hold swearing in ceremonies and receive dignitaries.) The security well imagine a rabid Hector Elizondo with a bad toupee and slightly shorter, following us, especially me the straggler (fat people walk slow) around the building like we were going to take something. He violently and rudely wagged his finger and glared at us. He insisted on no pictures except in the Patio (I really wish I got a picture of him, but I suspect that would have got me arrested). So here are my pictures. It's ashame, I really liked the White Room and would love a picture of the bust of Peron.


Casa Rosada with Rioters


Casa Rosada without Rioters


Spy Cameras, I would have put them in the statutes.



I would put them in the birdnests too.


Nice Patio.


Hi!.
My favorite part of the day had to be the Director of the program acting as our tour guide to the Boca neighborhood and Calle Caminito.

Of course, I ran out of space on my camera. But I found a real neat flickr folder with pictures of Boca in summer. Imagine it like that without the Tango dancers and colder. I will see if anyone else who came there with me took pictures they will lend for the cause.

After that, I did housekeeping, money changing, laundry, dinner, fighting off beggars and barkers, a trip to the pharmacy and this blog, now I'm tired and need bed. But wait, I have to go slay a thousand ants or so.

Lan Chile Redux

If I have one piece of advice for you it is to order your plane tickets well in advance. A month ago I had the chance to purchase tickets from Santiago to Buenos Aires on Air Canada for $170 round trip. But I was in too much of a hurry to buy them right then, I kept promising myself I would get around to buying them but alas no. I didn't. Desperately I searched the internet last week for cheap fares and the cheapest was Lan Chile.

You'll recall my mentioning Lan Chile on my trip to Antofagasta. My cousin flew them, and said the service was absolutely barbaric. She complained about the food, the flight attendants, the delays. I could believe the delays, but now I got to experience the rest for myself first hand.

My experience was different. There was no delay despite the fact we had a very full flight. Mostly full of seventh graders from Saint Martin Colegio in Buenos Aires. I had Geronimo and Herman sitting next to me. I had the window, as the cordillera past by beneath, the plane occasionally broke into song, imitations of Homer Simpson, or other seventh grade shennaigans. It made me miss my kids.

While the flight attendants were slightly friendlier, the cold sandwich dinner (salami, so if you are Muslim better order ahead) and dulce de leche, really didn't cut it. The insane duty free cart was more of an annoyance than anything else, but it might explain why the flight attendant were nicer (annoyed passengers do not buy duty free on planes).

The bumpy landing in Buenos Aires reminded me of a strange habit that I've only seen Argentinean do. They applaud wildly when the planes lands, now is that just Argentine, or do other countries do that? I know that in Chile when I applaud on landing I get very strange looks.

Treasure Hunt

Imagine that it is the late 1960s or early 1970s. You are a late forty-something dwarf orthodontist in a third world country and your rich father died. You know if communists aren't going to redistribute the family silver then probate will practically confiscate them. You are already short, greek and paranoid, so you do what any sensible short greek paranoid orthodontist would do.

We bought the metal detector because my grand-aunts hid silver and jewelery from the communists and other government officials in the backyard. "Even pirates leave maps!" I said as I took the metal detector and swept the garden. My Great-GrandUncle Manuel worked a glorious garden in his time, but the desert has taken back all but the hardiest of plants. With the grass gone and bric-a-brac from the late 60s to present strewn across the most of the backyard is a litterbox/junkyard.

I found an iron spike. Sweeping over some catpoo another beep. I shovel it up. Another iron spike. No coins, no hairpins, no rings, certainly no silve. Just iron spikes and bric-a-brac. After two and a half hours I gave up on the sweep. I found this milk box from the communist era in the workshop though. When Allende redistributed the milk farms the new owners didn't produce milk. So the Allende government created the Programa Nacional De Leche. The program bought powdered milk from other countries, this one from Belgium in November of 1971.

I found better treasures without the metal detector. Butterflies in the yard, A 1928 love letter from my great-grandfather to my great-grandmother, Chilean Escudos, Peruvian Reals, fantastic old tins from Tio Manuel's drawers with gears and switches. The pictures were the best, I wish I could scan them. I didn't move anything, it felt strange enough to me looking through dead relatives things, but at the same time I found out more about them than I ever knew before. Tio Manuel was a boxer! Alquinoi had a whole group of friends in college, and she attended despite her father's disapproval.