I Lost, or Parting Thoughts about Politics

I never wanted this blog to be about politics, but I'm breaking my own rule, just this once.

Ever since we returned from Buenos Aires a month ago I have avoided political news and blogs. I deleted all political bookmarks from my browsers, and if something about politics pops up online or in the newspaper I quickly avert my eyes and go to another page. If someone tries to talk to me about politics, I say nothing and try to smile beatifically.

I've voted for U.S. president twice: in 1972 for McGovern and in 2008 for Obama. One lost and the other won, but both elections resulted in a feeling of intense disappointment. Simply put, I lost -- basic principles of truth, fairness, and justice that I hold dear were soundly defeated in the marketplace of ideas.

Finally, after almost 40 years, I realize that the Peace Train will not take me and the country home again, and that we are not all joining hands to board the Love Train. The titanic struggle of Evil versus Incompetence leaves no room for sense or reason, and as a result society will forever be on the Eve of Destruction. There's not a damn thing I can do about it and I don't much care.

After a month of leading a politics-less life, I am a happier man. Unimpeded by my protests and outrage, the world continues its descent into the abyss while I pursue more important things in life. Did I tell you that I sold all my SLR gear and bought a new camera?

I Spoke Too Soon

Since this is our fifth year in Buenos Aires and the third straight year in the same apartment, you'd think we'd know our way around by now. But there's still so much to learn, and I don't mean just the language.

In my last post I wrote about how bored we've become of the heavy, dull food of Buenos Aires. It's time to eat my words, or better yet, eat at some new places we've found in the last few days. Even more surprising is that these places are within a few blocks of our apartment.

First is L'epi, a real boulangerie, or French bakery shop, on Montevideo just past Vicente Lopez. In a few short days we've become steady customers and friends with the staff of this great little shop. Their croissant aux amandes (almond croissants) are divine. We've already said our goodbyes and promised that next year we will come back to buy bread and croissants and anything else that comes out of their ovens.

Then there's a place I mentioned last week, be Frika. The typical meal there is two "tini mini" hamburgers, a cup of thick-cut French fries, and a glass of beer. Their 15 varieties of burgers would be a great find in any city.

On Saturday we had dinner at La Olla de Felix. The rumor is that Felix is an ex-chef of the Ritz Hotel in Paris who came to Buenos Aires 15 years ago to be on his own. The result is a small, elegant French bistro seating around 30 people. The menu, handwritten on a whiteboard leaning against a side wall, is based on whatever fresh ingredients Felix has found that day. Terri and I both had the scalloped slices of tenderloin served in a simple sauce and accompanied by pureed squash. For dessert we split a tarte tatin: to call it simply apple pie with vanilla ice cream seems somewhat demeaning and mundane. We told Felix to look for us in a year or so.

Combined with our old favorites such as Tandoor (Indian food) and Dashi (sushi), these new additions mean that maybe eating in Buenos Aires is not so dull after all.

If you're still not hungry, look at a snap of one of our favorite foods in Buenos Aires, the choripan. ("Choripan" is a combination of "chorizo" and "pan", or sausage and bread.)

Besides all these great new food finds, the weather the last few days has been glorious: highs in the 60s to low 70s with bright sun, blue skies, and gentle breezes. How could we not be sorry to leave and eager to come back?

Tomorrow night we fly back to Fort Worth, where the big excitement is the opening of the big new H.E.B. in Burleson on Friday. (No, I am not being facetious.)

Until then, I'm still adding snaps at Flickr.

A Plus and a Minus

The Plus

My favorite activity (inactivity?) in Buenos Aires is to sit on a park bench and glimpse the world go by. Parks are, after all, the necessary ingredient to make a city a liveable space. It so happens that there are plenty of parks and plazas here, making it easy for me to indulge myself.

Two blocks away is Plaza Vicente Lopez. Four blocks the other way is Plaza Paraguay and the large park next to the Engineering School. There's lots of green space around Recoleta Cemetery and, on the other side of Libertador, the Law School sits between Parque Thays on one side and La Flor on the other. Between Alcorta and Libertador is another series of parks that go all the way to Palermo.

Further away to the northwest, but still in walking distance, are Parque Las Heras and the Thays Botanical Garden, and beyond those is Parque 3 de Febrero with lakes and an immense rose garden. To the east, on the other side of Puerto Madero, is the largest open space of all, the Costanera Sur ecological reserve, whose long walking trails have benches conveniently located every hundred yards or so.

All that is to name just a few. Wherever we go in the city, there are many small, inviting plazas with lots of benches and if we have an extra five minutes or so I try them out.

What is especially nice this year is the obvious care and effort the city of Buenos Aires is putting into their public spaces. On our prior visits, we noticed that many parks were in disrepair, poorly maintained and sometimes downright seedy. Some still are. But the increased attention is immediately obvious: no trash (and plenty of trash cans), trimmed lawns and bushes, clean walkways, and tidy benches.

In contrast, the Sundance Square core of downtown Fort Worth does not have a single bench, much less a plaza.

The Minus

The biggest difficulty we have in Buenos Aires and the main reason we'll probably never stay here for more than a month or two at a time is figuring out what to eat.

Back in Fort Worth, Terri and I eat mostly at home, a lot of meat, vegetables, and cheese as we try to limit our carbs. (We have a Costco membership just so we can buy huge chunks of Jarlsberg and Manchego and Gruyere.) Here, 'meat' means beef; chicken, pork, and seafood are not nearly as popular. Since it's late winter, there aren't many fresh vegetables. Imports here are very expensive or not available at all, so we have to rely on Argentine versions of popular lunch meats and cheeses, and they aren't really that good.

Add to this the fact that we're in a rental apartment with a limited set of cookware and you'll understand that for us "eating in" in Buenos Aires usually means heating up a prepared something or other we bought at a nearby shop. Why bother?

Much less eating in means much more eating out. Visions of grilled steak, french fries, and a glass of malbec may sound awfully appealing, but trust me, after a while it gets old. The cuisine in Buenos Aires is generally dull and bland, since the Argentines abhor spicy foods.

A signature dish here is a plate of empanadas: tasteless white pastries with bland meat or vegetable fillings. The Argentines also love pizza, which can be quite good (our favorites this year have been Güerrin and Romario) but our bodies are not used to the huge ingestion of carbohydrates. The favorite porteño sandwich is two squares of crustless white Wonder-like bread with a slice of ham and cheese inside.

Even so, we've found some tasty food. Just yesterday we tried a new place called be Frika, which offers 15 varieties of 'mini' hamburgers. We were doubtful about the size of these things, but two of them with french fries and a beer turned out to be a perfect meal. I only wish we had tried them earlier in the trip.

Writing "earlier in the trip" reminds me that we leave in five days.

Here's my Flickr snaps so far.

Buses and Money and Snaps

Mapa Interactivo

The city government here has put online an incredibly good interactive map of Buenos Aires. The more I've used it the more impressed I am: thematic maps (libraries, museums, theatres), social services, banks, health care, schools, and much more.

There are three main tabs at the top: addresses, como llegar (how to get from one place to another), and places. It's the second tab that we've used the most: enter a beginning point and a destination and get detailed route maps of every bus and subway line that take you where you want to go.

The Buenos Aires public transportation system is one of our favorites in the world: lots of buses and extensive routes for A$1.20 (30¢) a trip. The one problem we've had in the past is using the little Guia T booklet to figure out which line to take, but now the online interactive route map makes it all very simple.

Money

As I mentioned earlier, Buenos Aires has gotten more expensive, with estimated inflation of 20% to 25% a year or more. Despite the significant increase in prices, the locals seem to be spending more than ever. Inflation, after all, is demand outpacing supply, and the signs of aggressive consumer demand are everywhere.

The big chain supermarkets (Disco, Carrefour, and Coto) are packed every time we get groceries, jammed aisles and long checkout lines of overflowing carts regardless of the time of day. Stores put on week-long sales but run out of stock the first day. The fancy and expensive malls (Patio Bullrich, Galerías Pacifico, Alto Palermo) are full of people in a buying mood. The ATMs are depleted by Saturday evening and not replenished until Monday afternoon; you know which ones have cash by the long lines of people waiting to use them.

In years past, we saw quite a few "se vende" (for sale) signs on apartments as we walked around Recoleta, Barrio Norte, and Palermo, but this year, hardly any. Argentines are notorious for eating dinner very late in the evening, but we've seen many restaurants packed by 9 or even earlier.

It's not always a pretty picture. The anxiety about the future and scars from the recent past can create a sense of desperation, as we read in a recent AP article: Argentines risking all to carry huge wads of cash.

Weather and Snaps

We had a full week of rain and cold and didn't do much of anything except go to Spanish class. On Saturday afternoon the skies finally cleared and since then we've had gorgeous weather, highs in the 60s to low 70s and intensely blue skies. We went to Palermo's Parque Tres de Febrero and Museo Sivori, then on Sunday went to Parque Rivadavia, took the subway downtown to Plaza de Mayo and a tour of the Casa Rosada, and finished with a leisurely stroll through the center to Plaza San Martin. On Monday we sat in the park and did our Spanish homework, then had a long lunch at La Parolaccia on Riobamba.

Here's my Flickr snaps so far.

I've also posted some snaps on Facebook and you don't even need an account there to see them.

Finally, I am proud to announce that Terri is taking her own snapshots! Take a look at Terri's photos. Since she has now taken ownership of my Panasonic FX35, I will have to buy a new camera when we return to the U.S.

Somos ni turistas ni porteños

We've been here eleven days and you have every right to ask, where are the tales of exciting adventure in a foreign land? Of memorable encounters with fascinating locals? Of long nights into early mornings of dining and dancing?

I'm asking the same question. The problem is somos ni turistas ni porteños, we are neither tourists nor natives.

We first visited Buenos Aires in 2006, a few months before we retired, and have come back for a month every year since. This is our third year in this very apartment, so we're on a first-name basis with los porteros, the doormen, of our building. We know the layouts of the nearest Disco and Carrefour supermarkets and can go directly to the correct aisle and shelf to get what we need.

We're taking Spanish lessons, again, from the same teacher as last year, Marco, a young university student. His classroom is in his Palermo apartment, 1.7 miles or 40 minutes away, and we walk there and back. We've tried every possible route and know most of the shops and restaurants along the way.

As familiar as we now are with life in Buenos Aires, we are still very much outsiders. Our Spanish is minimal and halting: our portero Victoriano has to speak very slowly when explaining the day's machinations of Argentine politics. This is a short-term rental apartment; we miss our own appliances and cookware, and don't bother buying oil and spices. We're not sure how to cook the interesting cuts of meat in the market.

I am a tourist -- I still love to walk around, enjoying the street scene and admiring the architecture, camera always in hand. I am a local -- while I walk I grumble about the dog poop and broken sidewalks, and don't take nearly as many snaps because I've seen it so many times before.

So what are we? Refugees with credit cards in no hurry to return home? Visitors too jaded to admire yet another beautiful belle époque building? If I figure it out, I'll let you know. Until then, here's my snaps so far. There's dogs and a penguin, people sitting in parks and crossing the street, and a short movie of a rainy day.

Buenos Aires, mas caro

We started coming to Argentina in 2006, and have come down for a month each year since. There are many reasons why we do this: it's late winter here, the off-season, while Texas swelters. Buenos Aires is a cosmopolitan city with lots of museums and events, easy public transportation, many parks and plazas, and beautiful architecture. We study Spanish, wrestling with the language and the distinctive Argentine accent. Airline tickets are expensive ($1,000 to $1,200 or more), but we've always been able to use our frequent flyer miles to fly for free. The food and wine, while not comparable to Italy or Spain (what food is?), are satisfying.

In the past, Buenos Aires had a further allure: estaba barato, it was cheap. Each year we saw prices creep up a little, but always they were cheap.

No more. Inflation has accelerated to the point that trips to the supermarket show prices similar to those in the U.S.: a pound of decent coffee is $12, a small package of sliced cheese $3, a quart of milk more than $1. A loaf of Fargo bread is about $3.50, more than a loaf of Oroweat at Super Target in Fort Worth. Norton Clasico, a simple but tasty red table wine, used to be $2.25 but is now pushing $4. A big lunch of meat and beer that was $12 in 2008 is almost $25. Empanadas are over $1 each. The smallest ice cream cone at Freddo or Volta is $3. (Just to be clear, those prices are in equivalent U.S. dollars, not pesos. The current exchange rate is about A$3.94 to US$1.)

A year ago, ATMs here started charging a $3 fee. (Before that, they were free, like those in Europe.) Now the fee is $4. (Fortunately, our Schwab and Fidelity debit cards rebate all ATM fees.)

We want to go see a soccer game, preferably Boca Juniors at La Bombonera, but that will set us back US $150 to $200 per person. Less popular games at less famous stadiums are as low as $100 per person.

Argentina has long had an exit tax, around $30. In late 2009 they added a 'visa reciprocity fee' of $140 per person, payable at Ezeiza airport upon arrival. It's good for ten years, but casual U.S. tourists now have to pay almost $200 just to get into and out of the country.

None of this is outrageous, certainly not high enough to discourage us from visiting. The cost of our apartment rental is the same as three years ago, and the colectivos (buses) are still A$1.20 (about 30 cents U.S.).

The plazas and museums are as pleasant as ever, the people just as friendly even if a bit poorer, and the buildings still beautiful. Come and enjoy Buenos Aires, as we do, but be prepared to pay.

The Texas Doldrum

I am 61. Since I was born in January that means I've lived through 62 summers, counting this one, and 60 times I have endured the Texas summer. (The only Texas summers I've missed were in 1968, when I was in flight school in Savannah, and in 1969, when I was in Viet Nam.) Every May, when the last cool front peters out and I first feel the heavy, hot air settle in, I begin my struggle against lethargy and moody listlessness, wondering yet again why I live in this forsaken place.

We don't travel much during the summer: it's called the 'high season' in the Northern Hemisphere because most people have no choice about when they can get away, and why would I want to pay more to wander about amidst sweaty summer crowds of tourists?

So I sit and brood, withdrawn and peevish, dreading any sort of activity and knowing that the first fall cool front is still months away. If it were up to me, I'd never leave our apartment, but fortunately others occasionally force me up and out the door.

Back in May, we drove to Maineville, Ohio (near Cincinnati), to visit Terri's brother Ed, his wife Rhonda, and their boys Alec and Jacob. Our pleasant family outing included a visit to the world's largest basket building.



On the Fourth, we watched the big fireworks show at LaGrave Field from our perch atop a parking garage in downtown Fort Worth. Watch the fireworks!

Then my Aunt Mary invited us to spend a few days with her in Henderson, and while we were there we spent a nice afternoon with my Aunt Esther and Uncle Wiley. We usually just see each other at funerals, but this time, I am relieved to say, no one had died. It was great fun to catch up with relatives, talk about old times, and look through photo albums, but it was in Texas, in July. Here's a snapshot of me and Aunt Mary at the East Texas Oil Museum and one of me and Terri with Esther and Wiley in their backyard in Nacogdoches.

I quite surprised myself by catching World Cup fever and am now a futbol (soccer) fan. The Spanish cable channels carry several games a week, usually from the Mexican premier league, and Terri and I even went to see a game live at the new, ostentatious Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Here's a snapshot of Terri waiting for the game to start and a movie of the excitement in the stands.

So now it's July 26 and I peek through the blinds at the glaring sun, listening to the constant hum of the air conditioning and thinking of escape: in 25 days we go to Buenos Aires, where today's weather forecast is for a high of 61° after a low of 37° last night.