Saturday night we went to a tango show in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. While this is not the neighborhood known for high quality tango, we were pretty sure we wouldn´t notice. The locale, Cafe Homero, resembled an old classy jazz show place with a small stage downstairs and a balcony spanning three sides of the small room. The show started an hour late just to remind everyone of the Hispano-Italian roots of the country and the dance. But just to remind everyone that we live in a new globalized world, the female tango dancer was Asian.
The music and the dancing went just as you might expect, except the dance looks really difficult in person. Since I certainly do not understand (or practice) artful dance, I will only venture to say that all the moves in the tango involve crossing your partner´s steps, a feat which seems much more challenging than moving in unison. This might be why the dancers appeared to have a level of concentration more suited for, say, landing an airplane, than recreational dance. Then again, the tango probably isn´t recreational, which brings me to my next observation: the tango is extremely overtly sexual. Every dance was meant to look like a seduction and always finished perfectly with the Asian-tinian woman "surrendering" to the handsome suitor. If only it were that easy.
Phil´s tango conclusions: Like porn, it is sexual, looks difficult, and is best left to professionals.
Off to Rio! Happy 4th of July!
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Madres de la plaza de mayo
The Madres de la plaza de mayo still march every Thursday at 3PM. Watching it was kind of a trip. It was impressive to watch the same women (or at least some of them) who marched in defiance of the military government in the 70's, march around the same plaza, continuing to express their grief and indignation. As much as it was like looking into the past, it was impossible to ignore reality. The madres arrived in vans plastered with their web address ( http://www.madres.org/) and sold t-shirts, postcards and lapel pins from a long table on the side of the plaza which tourists lined up to buy. When they marched, it was like watching Bono try to push his way through a crowd, assistants had to walk in front of the madres to push inquisitive cameras out of the way. On this particular day, they shared the plaza with an indigenous rights protest, complete with a rock band, that made for a bizarre background to the somber scene of the mothers and grandmothers marching...
It seemed to me watching them, that the Madres had grown (and rightfully so) into local celebrities beyond critcism. It was interesting later when speaking with our drafted Argentine tour guides, to hear them casually mention that the Madres were often critcized. It's something I am still having difficulty understanding, but I suppose their are at least two sides to every story and while I doubt a majority of the country look back fondly on the not-so-distant past, some in Argentina still look back and see a military regime that had more benefits than drawbacks for the country.
It seemed to me watching them, that the Madres had grown (and rightfully so) into local celebrities beyond critcism. It was interesting later when speaking with our drafted Argentine tour guides, to hear them casually mention that the Madres were often critcized. It's something I am still having difficulty understanding, but I suppose their are at least two sides to every story and while I doubt a majority of the country look back fondly on the not-so-distant past, some in Argentina still look back and see a military regime that had more benefits than drawbacks for the country.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Phil´s Observations from BA:
-Everyone in Buenos Aires is white. Everyone. I haven´t seen a single person of African or Asian descent who wasn´t clearly a gringo tourist in our 3 days in town. The only time I´ve seen people who appear indigenous was during a protest in the Plaza de Mayo for the rights of workers in interior states, the participants of which I presume are from said interior states. Anyways, it´s very bizarre and noticeable not to have a visible immigrant population. I´ve never seen any place like it.
-BA is extremely similar to Madrid. Two noticeable differences (besides the lack of African and Arab immigrants): People from BA (Porteños) are friendly, unlike Madrileños, who are rude; and BA is dirty, unlike Madrid, which has a huge continuous public cleaning program. I believe the friendliness of the place outweighs the dirtiness. I like BA.
-The museums in BA are terrible. For example, we went to the Museo de la Ciudad hoping to learn about the history or culture of the city. Instead we found a museum with a small and unimpressive permanent exhibit and a temporary exhibit called "Esas cosas cariñosas que algunos se llaman `kitsch´" (Translation: Cute things that some people call "kitsch."). That´s right. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to put a bunch of random tacky crap in a museum and call it an exhibit. I have a hope that there was something else going on, like maybe their next exhibit is going to be "Fotos de gringos confundidos en un museo." (Photos of confused gringos in a museum). In that case, kudos to the Argentines for pulling a fast one on us. Unfortunately, I think the only fast one was the fact that we paid 30 cents to look at trinkets.
-My Spanish has gone to mierda over the last 3 years. It´s very sad.
-Cow kidneys are slimy yet tasty.
-Everyone in Buenos Aires is white. Everyone. I haven´t seen a single person of African or Asian descent who wasn´t clearly a gringo tourist in our 3 days in town. The only time I´ve seen people who appear indigenous was during a protest in the Plaza de Mayo for the rights of workers in interior states, the participants of which I presume are from said interior states. Anyways, it´s very bizarre and noticeable not to have a visible immigrant population. I´ve never seen any place like it.
-BA is extremely similar to Madrid. Two noticeable differences (besides the lack of African and Arab immigrants): People from BA (Porteños) are friendly, unlike Madrileños, who are rude; and BA is dirty, unlike Madrid, which has a huge continuous public cleaning program. I believe the friendliness of the place outweighs the dirtiness. I like BA.
-The museums in BA are terrible. For example, we went to the Museo de la Ciudad hoping to learn about the history or culture of the city. Instead we found a museum with a small and unimpressive permanent exhibit and a temporary exhibit called "Esas cosas cariñosas que algunos se llaman `kitsch´" (Translation: Cute things that some people call "kitsch."). That´s right. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to put a bunch of random tacky crap in a museum and call it an exhibit. I have a hope that there was something else going on, like maybe their next exhibit is going to be "Fotos de gringos confundidos en un museo." (Photos of confused gringos in a museum). In that case, kudos to the Argentines for pulling a fast one on us. Unfortunately, I think the only fast one was the fact that we paid 30 cents to look at trinkets.
-My Spanish has gone to mierda over the last 3 years. It´s very sad.
-Cow kidneys are slimy yet tasty.
The Good Air
Hola, Frijole Here.
Two full days in Buenos Aires, but Tuesday morning feels like weeks ago. We have already lived in two hostels, the ultra-clean Millhouse hostel and the less-than-spotless Chillhouse, run by two young hippies, a Frenchman and an Argentine, and wreaking of marijuana. The staff is very nice, but lacking the domestic skill set of the cleaning crew at the Millhouse. We have seen most parts of the city already, aided by insanely cheap cab fairs (about U.S. $2 for a medium-length ride) and a cheaper metro system (30 cents U.S. per trip). Buenos Aires strikes both of us as extremely European, more so than any place we have seen outside of Europe - and very similar to Madrid where we both lived for a semester in College.
Our first night in Buenos Aires we met two British girls passing through Buenos Aires and staying in our hostel, as they taught us a mildly interesting card game named ¨shit head¨we talked about our respective trips. They were on the tail-end of a 4 month trip through Asia and South America and were astounded that we had only one month to spend in South America. I can see exactly where they were coming from after a few days in Buenos Aires - a month barely seems sufficient to explore and enjoy the city let alone a continent...
After hearing endless praise of Argentine steak, we set off for our first dinner at 10:30PM that night to a restaurant described as "a bit touristy, but reliable" by our guidebook. We were enticed by the menu "especial" offering empanadas, salad, beef, desert, coffee and wine for US 10$ per person. Our spanish being a bit rusty, we were having some trouble understanding the waiter - he pointed to his stomach and said something about "todos los enteros" (all of the insides). We assumed he was referring to how full we would be after eating all of the food, which suited us fine. When the main course arrived, though, it became immediately clear what he had been trying to communicate to his gringo customers. We had ordered all of the insides (organs) of the cow. So, a sizzling plate of cow and chicken parts was placed on the table before us and we diligently went to work (and most of it was actually quite good), only Phil being brave enough to try the round squishy piece we can only assume was a kidney... We were so full and sleepy at the meal´s end that I decided to skip the free coffee and desert included in the price... Yes, I declined free coffee.
Two full days in Buenos Aires, but Tuesday morning feels like weeks ago. We have already lived in two hostels, the ultra-clean Millhouse hostel and the less-than-spotless Chillhouse, run by two young hippies, a Frenchman and an Argentine, and wreaking of marijuana. The staff is very nice, but lacking the domestic skill set of the cleaning crew at the Millhouse. We have seen most parts of the city already, aided by insanely cheap cab fairs (about U.S. $2 for a medium-length ride) and a cheaper metro system (30 cents U.S. per trip). Buenos Aires strikes both of us as extremely European, more so than any place we have seen outside of Europe - and very similar to Madrid where we both lived for a semester in College.
Our first night in Buenos Aires we met two British girls passing through Buenos Aires and staying in our hostel, as they taught us a mildly interesting card game named ¨shit head¨we talked about our respective trips. They were on the tail-end of a 4 month trip through Asia and South America and were astounded that we had only one month to spend in South America. I can see exactly where they were coming from after a few days in Buenos Aires - a month barely seems sufficient to explore and enjoy the city let alone a continent...
After hearing endless praise of Argentine steak, we set off for our first dinner at 10:30PM that night to a restaurant described as "a bit touristy, but reliable" by our guidebook. We were enticed by the menu "especial" offering empanadas, salad, beef, desert, coffee and wine for US 10$ per person. Our spanish being a bit rusty, we were having some trouble understanding the waiter - he pointed to his stomach and said something about "todos los enteros" (all of the insides). We assumed he was referring to how full we would be after eating all of the food, which suited us fine. When the main course arrived, though, it became immediately clear what he had been trying to communicate to his gringo customers. We had ordered all of the insides (organs) of the cow. So, a sizzling plate of cow and chicken parts was placed on the table before us and we diligently went to work (and most of it was actually quite good), only Phil being brave enough to try the round squishy piece we can only assume was a kidney... We were so full and sleepy at the meal´s end that I decided to skip the free coffee and desert included in the price... Yes, I declined free coffee.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Día - -1
Bienvenidos! Felipe here. Tomorrow I take off from Houston to meet my friend Alex Bean (aka Bean, Frijole, and Gato) in Miami from where we head to the bottom side of the earth for 31 days of learning, hijinks, finding ourselves, making bad decisions, and generally unforgettable experiences.
I created this blog in the vain attempt to replicate the blog that my sister Meg and her boyfriend Rahul (collectively known as Meghul) kept while they travelled the world for a year. Our trip will occur within just one continent over just one month and Bean and I aren't exactly as compelling of a pair as the lovebirds Meg and Rahul, but I still think it's enough for a blog. One thing I'm sure of: reading this will be more fun than working.
Stay tuned for completely erratically scheduled updates. Here's our itinerary:
June 27-July 4 Buenos Aires
July 4-July 8 Rio de Janeiro
July 8-July 11 Buenos Aires? Somewhere else in Argentina? Uruguay? Maybe. Probably just questioning, though.
July 11-July 15 Chile
July 15-July 22 Cuzco, Peru
July 22-July 26 Quito*
*featuring Johnny Pearson.
I created this blog in the vain attempt to replicate the blog that my sister Meg and her boyfriend Rahul (collectively known as Meghul) kept while they travelled the world for a year. Our trip will occur within just one continent over just one month and Bean and I aren't exactly as compelling of a pair as the lovebirds Meg and Rahul, but I still think it's enough for a blog. One thing I'm sure of: reading this will be more fun than working.
Stay tuned for completely erratically scheduled updates. Here's our itinerary:
June 27-July 4 Buenos Aires
July 4-July 8 Rio de Janeiro
July 8-July 11 Buenos Aires? Somewhere else in Argentina? Uruguay? Maybe. Probably just questioning, though.
July 11-July 15 Chile
July 15-July 22 Cuzco, Peru
July 22-July 26 Quito*
*featuring Johnny Pearson.
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