Monday, August 31, 2009
Good morning, Buenos Aires!
We woke up this morning to cold winds, grey skies, and rain. The Santa Rosa is here.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Hot, Lazy Weekend in Buenos Aires
One of the best reasons for visiting Argentina in August is to escape the Texas heat, but the weather in Buenos Aires has been remarkably warm, even hot, 30°C and more (upper 80s). A cold front is expected tonight, so we're hoping for a high tomorrow around 15° (60°F).
Mostly because of the heat, we're having a lazy weekend of it. We walked home from class in Palermo on Friday, window shopping down Av. Santa Fe along the way. We're looking for a particular household item; more on that when we find it.
Yesterday we walked to the downtown business district, where we rented an apartment two years ago, and had lunch at El Establo, a well-known restaurant at the corner of Paraguay and San Martín. Terri had a grilled sausage and creamed spinach, and I had a matambrito (flank steak) sandwich with a side order of batatas fritas (fried sweet potatoes). Diet Pepsi for her, a half bottle of the house vino tinto for me, and with a generous tip we were out the door for about A$110, less than $30 US.
We spent most of the afternoon sitting on a bench in Plaza Vicente López, a gorgeous little park about two blocks from our apartment. Since everyone here lives in apartments, the parks are full of families getting out in the fresh air.
Today, we walked around Recoleta Cemetery, the arts and crafts fair in the adjacent park, and then back to Plaza Vicente Lopez. How I love to sit in the park and watch the world walk by.
Tonight, we'll do our homework for tomorrow's Spanish class. While we're doing that, you can go to Flickr, where I've posted videographic evidence that Argentina is light years ahead of the U.S. in returnable bottle technology.
WHOOSH!
Mostly because of the heat, we're having a lazy weekend of it. We walked home from class in Palermo on Friday, window shopping down Av. Santa Fe along the way. We're looking for a particular household item; more on that when we find it.
Yesterday we walked to the downtown business district, where we rented an apartment two years ago, and had lunch at El Establo, a well-known restaurant at the corner of Paraguay and San Martín. Terri had a grilled sausage and creamed spinach, and I had a matambrito (flank steak) sandwich with a side order of batatas fritas (fried sweet potatoes). Diet Pepsi for her, a half bottle of the house vino tinto for me, and with a generous tip we were out the door for about A$110, less than $30 US.
We spent most of the afternoon sitting on a bench in Plaza Vicente López, a gorgeous little park about two blocks from our apartment. Since everyone here lives in apartments, the parks are full of families getting out in the fresh air.
Today, we walked around Recoleta Cemetery, the arts and crafts fair in the adjacent park, and then back to Plaza Vicente Lopez. How I love to sit in the park and watch the world walk by.
Tonight, we'll do our homework for tomorrow's Spanish class. While we're doing that, you can go to Flickr, where I've posted videographic evidence that Argentina is light years ahead of the U.S. in returnable bottle technology.
WHOOSH!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
¡Me da monedas! Los Colectivos y Los Kioscos
Buenos Aires' buses (colectivos) are fast, numerous, efficient, and cheap, a great way to get around town. Unfortunately, one must have coins (monedas) and only coins to pay the fare of A$1.10 or A$1.20 (about 30¢ US).
As soon as you get on the bus, you start dropping coins into the machine behind the driver. You don't need exact change, but you must be quick about it, as there's usually a line of people behind you waiting to pay their fares, hanging on for dear life because the bus is already roaring through traffic to the next stop.
Since everyone here rides the bus, everyone needs coins. Where do you get coins?
Every block has one or more kioscos, or kiosks, small shops that sell cigarettes, soft drinks, batteries, phone cards, and about 100 kinds of candy. So, you buy a candy bar with a bill. Or you can stop at a Freddo or Volta to buy a couple of cucuruchos (ice cream cones). Or you can pay cash when you buy some empanadas or pasta or pastries at the small shop around the corner. When you pay, you have to ask, "¿Puede ser monedas?" Is it possible to get coins in change?
They'll hesitate and try to give you bills instead but usually, eventually, will hand over some monedas. After all, they, too, need coins to ride the bus.
Yesterday, we didn't have enough coins to ride the bus home from our Spanish lesson in Palermo. We stopped at a kiosco to buy a chocolate, but the guy wouldn't give us monedas. So we didn't buy the chocolate and walked home. Forty-five minutes later, back in Recoleta, we went shopping and once again felt the happy jangle of loose metal in our pockets.
As soon as you get on the bus, you start dropping coins into the machine behind the driver. You don't need exact change, but you must be quick about it, as there's usually a line of people behind you waiting to pay their fares, hanging on for dear life because the bus is already roaring through traffic to the next stop.
Since everyone here rides the bus, everyone needs coins. Where do you get coins?
Every block has one or more kioscos, or kiosks, small shops that sell cigarettes, soft drinks, batteries, phone cards, and about 100 kinds of candy. So, you buy a candy bar with a bill. Or you can stop at a Freddo or Volta to buy a couple of cucuruchos (ice cream cones). Or you can pay cash when you buy some empanadas or pasta or pastries at the small shop around the corner. When you pay, you have to ask, "¿Puede ser monedas?" Is it possible to get coins in change?
They'll hesitate and try to give you bills instead but usually, eventually, will hand over some monedas. After all, they, too, need coins to ride the bus.
Yesterday, we didn't have enough coins to ride the bus home from our Spanish lesson in Palermo. We stopped at a kiosco to buy a chocolate, but the guy wouldn't give us monedas. So we didn't buy the chocolate and walked home. Forty-five minutes later, back in Recoleta, we went shopping and once again felt the happy jangle of loose metal in our pockets.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Who is this woman?
On our first Monday in Buenos Aires, a beautiful warm day with a blue sky, we walked by the Recoleta Cemetery, through Buenos Aires Design (a shopping mall specializing in home furnishings and decor), and towards the Facultad de Derecho (law school). Next door is the famous Floralis Genérica, a huge modern art sculpture made of aircraft aluminum.
We've often visited and admired this park and sculpture, but were surprised this time to find the grounds covered in hundreds of life-size cut-out posters of a voluptuous Argentine actress. Apparently it had been some sort of public art exhibit, but workers were taking down the cut-outs and stacking them up for removal.
We've googled and asked and still don't know -- do you know who the woman is?
Edited to add: Eva got it right in the comments (thanks!) -- it's "Coca" Sarli. Here's the English Wiki page on her. Be careful if you google for images: you'll get a lot of 1960s style female nudity.
We've often visited and admired this park and sculpture, but were surprised this time to find the grounds covered in hundreds of life-size cut-out posters of a voluptuous Argentine actress. Apparently it had been some sort of public art exhibit, but workers were taking down the cut-outs and stacking them up for removal.
We've googled and asked and still don't know -- do you know who the woman is?
Edited to add: Eva got it right in the comments (thanks!) -- it's "Coca" Sarli. Here's the English Wiki page on her. Be careful if you google for images: you'll get a lot of 1960s style female nudity.
Monday, August 24, 2009
¡Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!
We arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday morning on a beautiful late winter day and had a pleasant ride into town in a new Citroën. We were at our apartment on Av Callao by about 9.30 am and met our landlord, Alfredo. Everything was just as we had left it last September.
We unpacked, had a nap, then made quick trips to the nearby Disco and Carrefour supermarkets for the necessities: bread, butter, wine, beer, milk, coffee, cheese, crackers, toilet paper. After we got that put away we had a very late lunch at La Cholita: Terri had two large brochettes of meat/onion/peppers, I had a lomo sandwich, and we split a liter of Stella Artois and a bottle of mineral water. (Total came to about $18.75 US; prices have gone up since last year.)
We're having a lazy morning of it. Until I think of something clever to write or interesting to photograph, here's the view across Av. Callao from our living room.
We unpacked, had a nap, then made quick trips to the nearby Disco and Carrefour supermarkets for the necessities: bread, butter, wine, beer, milk, coffee, cheese, crackers, toilet paper. After we got that put away we had a very late lunch at La Cholita: Terri had two large brochettes of meat/onion/peppers, I had a lomo sandwich, and we split a liter of Stella Artois and a bottle of mineral water. (Total came to about $18.75 US; prices have gone up since last year.)
We're having a lazy morning of it. Until I think of something clever to write or interesting to photograph, here's the view across Av. Callao from our living room.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Summer in Texas
I really, really hate Texas summers. Day after day after day, the oppressive heat drains my body and mind, giving me a very bad case of the don'ts -- don't wanna do nothing.
If I owned Hell and Texas, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell. -- General Philip Henry Sheridan, 1866
Fortunately, the revolving Earth has a tilted axis. Thus, there is a Southern Hemisphere where the seasons are the reverse of Texas' -- so in exactly two weeks we're flying to Buenos Aires. We'll stay a month, in an apartment on Av. Callao, and hope that the weather has cooled by the time we come back to Fort Worth.
To tease myself, I'm looking at this picture from last year's trip, of me standing near the Puente de la Mujer bridge in Puerto Madero, on a glorious crisp winter day in Argentina.
If I owned Hell and Texas, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell. -- General Philip Henry Sheridan, 1866
Fortunately, the revolving Earth has a tilted axis. Thus, there is a Southern Hemisphere where the seasons are the reverse of Texas' -- so in exactly two weeks we're flying to Buenos Aires. We'll stay a month, in an apartment on Av. Callao, and hope that the weather has cooled by the time we come back to Fort Worth.
To tease myself, I'm looking at this picture from last year's trip, of me standing near the Puente de la Mujer bridge in Puerto Madero, on a glorious crisp winter day in Argentina.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Wonderful Life
I've just finished rereading Stephen Jay Gould's Wonderful Life, which ends with this:
We are the offspring of history, and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes--one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering us maximal freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own chosen way.
Lovely sentence, eh?
We are the offspring of history, and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes--one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering us maximal freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own chosen way.
Lovely sentence, eh?
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
U.S. Health Care Costs, Simplified
Unfortunately, the debate in the U.S. about "controlling costs" of health care really means "controlling costs for consumers." If we only make health care less expensive for consumers without controlling the total costs of the system, we will have made little progress.
The U.S. spends much more per person on health care than any other country, yet our health outcomes (such measures as longevity and infant mortality) are no better.
Where does all that extra spending go? Consumers pay a lot, companies pay a lot, the government pays a lot -- to whom? To insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, drug companies, medical equipment companies, and all the other pieces of the health care sector who are sucking the rest of us dry.
The solution? Drop this charade of "health care reform" and instead focus on antitrust regulation. Break up the financial connections and market manipulation among insurers, doctors, hospitals, clinics, and drug companies.
The U.S. spends much more per person on health care than any other country, yet our health outcomes (such measures as longevity and infant mortality) are no better.
Where does all that extra spending go? Consumers pay a lot, companies pay a lot, the government pays a lot -- to whom? To insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, drug companies, medical equipment companies, and all the other pieces of the health care sector who are sucking the rest of us dry.
The solution? Drop this charade of "health care reform" and instead focus on antitrust regulation. Break up the financial connections and market manipulation among insurers, doctors, hospitals, clinics, and drug companies.
Monday, August 3, 2009
A Photograph
I've just begun this blog and am already at a loss for something to write. So I'll post a recent photo.
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