This being my last weekend in Buenos Aires, possibly ever, I would be a fool to turn down the shopping opportunities that a strong US dollar and a very week Argentinean peso produce. Seriously, the exchange rate is roughly 30 cents per peso. No one in their right mind turns down that kind of value. And I’ve heard that Argentinean leather is supposed to be some of the very best. All I need this weekend is my American Express card and the ability to say “How much?” in Spanish. (For those of you who are interested, it’s “Cuanto cuesta?”)
Saturday started late. I met the boss around 11:30 and we walked over to a section of town called La Recoleta. This is where the cemetery I visited last week was located. I had intended to go over there alone and give it a more thorough look, but that wasn’t in the cards. We ate lunch at a little sidewalk café and talked about the large and loud group of Americans that got themselves a table soon after. We also wondered about the young guy alone with a pitcher of sangria. Apparently it’s pretty powerful stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever had it.
After lunch we wandered past a church and through a flea market. There wasn’t much in there that wasn’t available elsewhere, and it’s not like I had any cash on hand to purchase anything. I was mostly just curious about it. Our first stop of the day after lunch was the Hard Rock Café. Our department director is a former drummer in a Christian rock band, and he likes to get drumsticks from the Hard Rock in every place he visits. He didn’t know that there was a HRC in Bs.As. so we didn’t go last weekend when we were over in the area. I told him I’d get him some sticks before I left. So we stopped at the HRC’s gift shop and I got his sticks and a couple of t-shirts for Lisa and I. We wandered back to the hotel to drop off our bags and then proceeded out onto Avenida de Florida. I don’t know if it’s that I’m not a good shopper with other people or if it was just bad luck, but I couldn’t find anything decent at a price that I felt was right in any of the stores I went to with the boss. We started off in a mall looking around, and everything was just too expensive. I did try on this one blazer style leather jacket that I absolutely loved. It was in this smooth black leather and I looked awesome in it. Unfortunately, it was way more than I was prepared to spend and even if the store had been inclined to negotiate I couldn’t have gotten it down to a reasonable level. They wanted 1600 pesos for it, which translates to a little over $500. I can spend that much for a jacket anywhere in America. I’m not doing it here.
The mall was mostly a bust for me. I did eventually find a wallet that I liked at a price I was willing to go with. I think it cost me about $13 US, and it would probably go for about three times that at home. I’m very pleased with it. I also managed to find a nice purse for either Lisa or my mother, don’t know which yet, that I was pretty satisfied with. We left the mall and went across the street to another little store. Again, no luck on a decent jacket. The boss abandoned me after that one, and I persevered. As soon as I left that little store there was one of these guys handing out cards that asked if I was looking for a leather jacket. Normally, I’d just brush him off, but I was actually looking for a leather jacket. So he gave me his card and pointed out his store and I headed over there. I had another guy from the same store ask me to ditch the card and take his instead, but I told him I didn’t think that would be fair to the first guy. The store was nice, if a little bit crowded. I found a jacket I liked at a price that I was willing to go with. Actually, I found two jackets: one for me and one for Lisa. And I found another purse, again for either her or my mother, across the street. All in all, a fairly successful shopping trip. There is still one item I’m considering, but I just can’t convince myself to pull the trigger on it yet. I’ve seen some leather, Indiana Jones style hats while I’ve been shopping. I think I look pretty ridiculous in hats, but these are just cool. I’m really wanting to go buy one, but would I ever wear it? I’d have to take my jacket along too so that I could make sure to get one that goes with it. They’re available in black, so that’s an option. I just can’t decide.
That was really it for the weekend. I didn’t do any more exploring on Sunday and the shopping took all day Saturday. I felt like I had seen everything I wanted to see, except Café Tortoni but I didn’t remember that until late Sunday night, and I wanted to get some actual rest. I slept late and surfed and watched many episodes of Stargate. I love that show, and I needed to relax.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s off to work I go – March 20-24
There is really not a whole lot you can say about the work week. I get up, go to the office, come back, go to dinner, talk to Lisa, and go to sleep. Usually it’s repeat 5 times, but this week it was only repeat 4 times. In a fortuitous turn of events, the week we arrived in Argentina the government declared a national holiday, presumable to celebrate some military coup in the fairly recent past, for Friday 3/24. So, while Monday through Thursday was the seemingly unending cycle described above, Friday was work from the hotel day. I’m sure you can imagine exactly how much work actually got done.
The boss and I agreed the night before to meet at 11:00 so that he could review some of my work. Actually, he said, “What time to you want to get together to talk about your work papers tomorrow?” on Thursday night. My reply was, “ Don’t even think about knocking on my door before 10:30 unless you want to be hurt. And don’t try calling either; I’m taking my phone off the hook.” Fortunately he didn’t press the issue. I slept in late – very late – and had only just finished getting dressed and turned on the computer when he knocked on my door. Good timing. He invaded my space and made a few minor comments on my work. We decided to get together again at 1:30 for lunch, and he went back to his room. I very quickly made the changes he wanted, which took all of about 10 minutes and proceeded to whip out my DVD player and watch some Stargate SG-1. Stargate was a big player on that workday and in my weekend in general. I kept saying “I intend to do this” or “I intend to do that”, but you know what they say about the road to hell…
The boss and I agreed the night before to meet at 11:00 so that he could review some of my work. Actually, he said, “What time to you want to get together to talk about your work papers tomorrow?” on Thursday night. My reply was, “ Don’t even think about knocking on my door before 10:30 unless you want to be hurt. And don’t try calling either; I’m taking my phone off the hook.” Fortunately he didn’t press the issue. I slept in late – very late – and had only just finished getting dressed and turned on the computer when he knocked on my door. Good timing. He invaded my space and made a few minor comments on my work. We decided to get together again at 1:30 for lunch, and he went back to his room. I very quickly made the changes he wanted, which took all of about 10 minutes and proceeded to whip out my DVD player and watch some Stargate SG-1. Stargate was a big player on that workday and in my weekend in general. I kept saying “I intend to do this” or “I intend to do that”, but you know what they say about the road to hell…
Friday, March 24, 2006
Advanced Global Personality Test
Found this while surfing today. Thought it was interesting.
Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com
| Advanced Global Personality Test Results
|
personality tests by similarminds.com
Monday, March 20, 2006
On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada – March 18-19, 2006
My explorations in Buenos Aires are a little different than my explorations in London or York. See, I know nothing of this town other than what I learned from the movie Evita, and I don’t really remember much of that except for Madonna chasing a train and her singing “don’t cry for me Argentina….” So I went into this pretty cold turkey. I had a guidebook, but I hadn’t really read it yet.
I woke up Saturday morning around 10:45. Part of me was very tempted to stay in the hotel all day. See, I had a pretty nasty cold last week, and I didn’t really feel ready for a full day of checking out a new city. I forced myself to get out anyway though, and walked down Avenida de Florida. It’s one of three streets that are pedestrian only. There are a lot of shops and street performers and artists out there. I’ll probably go back and get a few souvenirs from there before I leave. I probably walked down Ave. Florida for about two hours just looking at the different shops. I even went in to a few of them. One thing unexpected were the number of people trying to help me find some “companionship.” And they were pushy too. I made the mistake of talking to one or two of them before I knew what they were peddling and getting away was damn near impossible. After a while you just have to be rude and walk away.
After my two hours of fun on Ave. Florida I decided to go back to the hotel and get a little food. While there I whipped out my trusty travel guide and got to reading. What can I see within walking distance? I quickly narrowed down my sights to the Casa Rosada (Pink House), the Cathedral, and the Cabildo. These are all in a little park down Ave. Florida, so I got my camera and prepared to run the gauntlet of pimps and pushers again. By this time, I had passed a few of them multiple times, so they were starting to recognize me. There was this one young guy, that never told me what he was pushing, and I never asked, but every time I went by him he would stop me and ask me another English word, or phrase, or place on a map. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. I taught him what a gypsy was. I told him the English word “regret”. I tried to show him my birthplace on the map, but it’s such a small town it doesn’t really matter and Austin was sitting where I would have put it anyway.
So I finally made my way to the park and got to have a look around. The Casa Rosada is just that, a pink house. You might be wondering what’s so special about this pink house. First, it’s equivalent to the White House. The Argentine president does his daily work there, although I’m told it’s not where he lives. Second, this very humble looking building is where Evita gave her speech that is so famous. I’m sure I actually saw the balcony she stood on. I made sure to take a look at the whole thing just so I could say I saw it, but I couldn’t tell you which one it was. After that I went to the Cathedral. I like looking at Cathedrals. I’m not religious in any way, but you can’t help feeling like a part of something bigger when you go into one of these amazing places of worship. They have these vaulted ceilings that are just amazing to look at. Tiled floors that are made up of these little squares no more than a half inch per side set in these beautiful flower patterns. Then there are all the monuments inside and the praying areas. This cathedral, like all the other ones I’ve gone to, is not only a tourist attraction; it’s a legitimate church. So there were plenty of people praying at the various altars. Compared to the York Minster, St. Edwards, or Westminster Abbey, it’s very rustic. It’s certainly not as grand when compared to them, but the fact remains that it’s a beautiful building on the inside. I highly recommend it. I never made it to the Cabildo, for two reasons. One, I wasn’t sure which building it was; and two, I didn’t know what the significance is. I have since found out that it is basically the birthplace of Argentinian government.
Sunday, I met up with my two bosses for breakfast and dragged them along on my adventure for the day. I didn’t really drag them, to tell the truth. I more or less said “this is where I’m going, and you can come with me or not.” I’m a very decisive explorer. I know where I want to go and I’m not really willing to change up my plan because someone doesn’t like it. Make your own plan, I’m perfectly happy to go here alone. So the plan for the day was the big cemetery in an area known as the Recoleta. It was a pretty long walk, but it was shaded for the most part. One of the other guys stepped in a little bit of dog doo, which gave me and Glyn a bit of a laugh. I told them before we left, I know exactly where I’m going up until about the half-way point and after that I’m sort of like a stranger in a strange city. No problems though. We found our way to the cemetery easily enough. It’s pretty hard to miss actually. I didn’t really feel like I got enough time to adequately explore it though, so I may go back again next week. I did see the final resting place of Eva Maria Duarte de Peron though. I obviously wasn’t the only one looking for that though. There were quite a few people around her family tomb.
The cemetery itself is possibly the prettiest cemetery I’ve ever seen. There are no headstones sticking out of little humps of grass like what we usually see. These are almost full-on houses for the dead. Some of them have multiple levels, and I’m positive that some of them have a downstairs where the majority of the dead rest. There was one that had a casket partially exposed next to a hole in the wall. I made an uncomfortable joke about the zombie trying to escape. We left soon after. In any case, the cemetery is like a little city within a city and I look forward to going through it again.
I woke up Saturday morning around 10:45. Part of me was very tempted to stay in the hotel all day. See, I had a pretty nasty cold last week, and I didn’t really feel ready for a full day of checking out a new city. I forced myself to get out anyway though, and walked down Avenida de Florida. It’s one of three streets that are pedestrian only. There are a lot of shops and street performers and artists out there. I’ll probably go back and get a few souvenirs from there before I leave. I probably walked down Ave. Florida for about two hours just looking at the different shops. I even went in to a few of them. One thing unexpected were the number of people trying to help me find some “companionship.” And they were pushy too. I made the mistake of talking to one or two of them before I knew what they were peddling and getting away was damn near impossible. After a while you just have to be rude and walk away.
After my two hours of fun on Ave. Florida I decided to go back to the hotel and get a little food. While there I whipped out my trusty travel guide and got to reading. What can I see within walking distance? I quickly narrowed down my sights to the Casa Rosada (Pink House), the Cathedral, and the Cabildo. These are all in a little park down Ave. Florida, so I got my camera and prepared to run the gauntlet of pimps and pushers again. By this time, I had passed a few of them multiple times, so they were starting to recognize me. There was this one young guy, that never told me what he was pushing, and I never asked, but every time I went by him he would stop me and ask me another English word, or phrase, or place on a map. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. I taught him what a gypsy was. I told him the English word “regret”. I tried to show him my birthplace on the map, but it’s such a small town it doesn’t really matter and Austin was sitting where I would have put it anyway.
So I finally made my way to the park and got to have a look around. The Casa Rosada is just that, a pink house. You might be wondering what’s so special about this pink house. First, it’s equivalent to the White House. The Argentine president does his daily work there, although I’m told it’s not where he lives. Second, this very humble looking building is where Evita gave her speech that is so famous. I’m sure I actually saw the balcony she stood on. I made sure to take a look at the whole thing just so I could say I saw it, but I couldn’t tell you which one it was. After that I went to the Cathedral. I like looking at Cathedrals. I’m not religious in any way, but you can’t help feeling like a part of something bigger when you go into one of these amazing places of worship. They have these vaulted ceilings that are just amazing to look at. Tiled floors that are made up of these little squares no more than a half inch per side set in these beautiful flower patterns. Then there are all the monuments inside and the praying areas. This cathedral, like all the other ones I’ve gone to, is not only a tourist attraction; it’s a legitimate church. So there were plenty of people praying at the various altars. Compared to the York Minster, St. Edwards, or Westminster Abbey, it’s very rustic. It’s certainly not as grand when compared to them, but the fact remains that it’s a beautiful building on the inside. I highly recommend it. I never made it to the Cabildo, for two reasons. One, I wasn’t sure which building it was; and two, I didn’t know what the significance is. I have since found out that it is basically the birthplace of Argentinian government.
Sunday, I met up with my two bosses for breakfast and dragged them along on my adventure for the day. I didn’t really drag them, to tell the truth. I more or less said “this is where I’m going, and you can come with me or not.” I’m a very decisive explorer. I know where I want to go and I’m not really willing to change up my plan because someone doesn’t like it. Make your own plan, I’m perfectly happy to go here alone. So the plan for the day was the big cemetery in an area known as the Recoleta. It was a pretty long walk, but it was shaded for the most part. One of the other guys stepped in a little bit of dog doo, which gave me and Glyn a bit of a laugh. I told them before we left, I know exactly where I’m going up until about the half-way point and after that I’m sort of like a stranger in a strange city. No problems though. We found our way to the cemetery easily enough. It’s pretty hard to miss actually. I didn’t really feel like I got enough time to adequately explore it though, so I may go back again next week. I did see the final resting place of Eva Maria Duarte de Peron though. I obviously wasn’t the only one looking for that though. There were quite a few people around her family tomb.
The cemetery itself is possibly the prettiest cemetery I’ve ever seen. There are no headstones sticking out of little humps of grass like what we usually see. These are almost full-on houses for the dead. Some of them have multiple levels, and I’m positive that some of them have a downstairs where the majority of the dead rest. There was one that had a casket partially exposed next to a hole in the wall. I made an uncomfortable joke about the zombie trying to escape. We left soon after. In any case, the cemetery is like a little city within a city and I look forward to going through it again.
Money for Nothing… - March 12-17, 2006
It wouldn’t be international travel if I didn’t have some sort of money problem. This time it was a doozy. Recall that back in August I found myself stuck in the UK with credit cards that were useless. Imagine almost the same situation, except I’m in Buenos Aires and I have no credit cards or cash whatsoever. I’m sure you’re asking yourself “How did Larry manage that?” It’s simple: I left my wallet in the car at the airport in Dallas. Worse, if I had caught it while I was in the airport it would have been an easy fix, but I didn’t catch it until the car that picked me up in BA dropped me off at the hotel. That’s a fun feeling. Being stuck in a foreign country with absolutely no money as opposed to very little.
So this week I have been totally dependent on my boss. And I do mean totally. He buys my lunch, he buys my dinner, he gets the taxis, he’s even offered to give me some cash if I need it. Very nice of him, but I’m always reluctant to take money from anyone. Him buying my meals is a completely different story. Under the company’s travel and entertainment policy when two or more people dine together the higher ranked on is supposed to get the bill. It’s because it would otherwise put the higher ranking person in the position of approving expense reports which benefit them.
The days have all pretty much run together, so there’s not a whole lot in the way of things to report. Buenos Aires is a very nice city in some ways and a very shabby city in others. The economic downturn the country has experienced over the last couple of years has really cost a lot of people. I get asked more times for a handout, which I can barely understand thanks to my limited Spanish, between the hotel and dinner than I do all day in downtown Dallas. Granted, my walk to dinner is a lot longer, but there are still exponentially more people asking for money here than there. And there are a ton of people that dig through the trash for plastic bottles. It’s almost like it’s its own little industry. I was really curious the night the trash people came while the diggers were still going through the bags. Thought it would be interesting to see what happened, but it was late and I wanted to be back in my hotel room.
We start our day at 8:30am with a half-hour ride to the office. The cars range from very nice to very not nice. They also have less stringent emissions laws than we do. Actually, I think if the car can still drive it basically passes whatever they consider to be an inspection. There are a lot of very nice parks on the way, and there’s a huge soccer stadium. Looks bigger than Texas Stadium or the AAC. I imagine they can stuff quite a few people in there.
Lunch is at a mall so eerily American that it could be picked up and put down in any suburban neighborhood and blend in perfectly once the signs were changed to English. Or maybe the signs wouldn’t even have to be changed.
At 6:30 everyone leaves and it’s time for another half-hour ride back home. I have come to the realization on this trip that Americans are the only ones that are anal about lines on the road. For the rest of the world those lines, and lights, are just there for decoration. I have seen some truly hair-raising driving in the last week. The people here do stuff that would cause some serious road rage at home. Like the driver we had on Friday… he pulled up in the far right lane of a three-lane road and turned left in front of everyone. And he did it while we all had a red light!
It’s roughly 7:00 when I get back to the hotel and I have 45 minutes to unwind a little bit and be alone. Then it’s dinner time. The most important national commodity the Argentinians have is beef, and they do have some amazing cows. Whether you want a cow for eating or for wearing you can get it here. They have very good leather, at least that’s what I’m told. I still think pleather doesn’t look all that bad. But the steaks are amazing. My doctor would kill me if she found out what I’d been eating while I was here. I’ve had at least three steaks already, and every one of them seems to melt in your mouth. Beautiful food. The only bad thing about dinner is that it takes two hours to eat it. The waiters are no faster here than they are in London or York or Dublin. The food’s definitely better, but the waiters are still very slow and patient people. Then it’s time to go back to the hotel and spend an hour or so talking to Lisa before bed. We’re using Skype for the chatting, and I have to say that it’s one of the greatest inventions ever.
So this week I have been totally dependent on my boss. And I do mean totally. He buys my lunch, he buys my dinner, he gets the taxis, he’s even offered to give me some cash if I need it. Very nice of him, but I’m always reluctant to take money from anyone. Him buying my meals is a completely different story. Under the company’s travel and entertainment policy when two or more people dine together the higher ranked on is supposed to get the bill. It’s because it would otherwise put the higher ranking person in the position of approving expense reports which benefit them.
The days have all pretty much run together, so there’s not a whole lot in the way of things to report. Buenos Aires is a very nice city in some ways and a very shabby city in others. The economic downturn the country has experienced over the last couple of years has really cost a lot of people. I get asked more times for a handout, which I can barely understand thanks to my limited Spanish, between the hotel and dinner than I do all day in downtown Dallas. Granted, my walk to dinner is a lot longer, but there are still exponentially more people asking for money here than there. And there are a ton of people that dig through the trash for plastic bottles. It’s almost like it’s its own little industry. I was really curious the night the trash people came while the diggers were still going through the bags. Thought it would be interesting to see what happened, but it was late and I wanted to be back in my hotel room.
We start our day at 8:30am with a half-hour ride to the office. The cars range from very nice to very not nice. They also have less stringent emissions laws than we do. Actually, I think if the car can still drive it basically passes whatever they consider to be an inspection. There are a lot of very nice parks on the way, and there’s a huge soccer stadium. Looks bigger than Texas Stadium or the AAC. I imagine they can stuff quite a few people in there.
Lunch is at a mall so eerily American that it could be picked up and put down in any suburban neighborhood and blend in perfectly once the signs were changed to English. Or maybe the signs wouldn’t even have to be changed.
At 6:30 everyone leaves and it’s time for another half-hour ride back home. I have come to the realization on this trip that Americans are the only ones that are anal about lines on the road. For the rest of the world those lines, and lights, are just there for decoration. I have seen some truly hair-raising driving in the last week. The people here do stuff that would cause some serious road rage at home. Like the driver we had on Friday… he pulled up in the far right lane of a three-lane road and turned left in front of everyone. And he did it while we all had a red light!
It’s roughly 7:00 when I get back to the hotel and I have 45 minutes to unwind a little bit and be alone. Then it’s dinner time. The most important national commodity the Argentinians have is beef, and they do have some amazing cows. Whether you want a cow for eating or for wearing you can get it here. They have very good leather, at least that’s what I’m told. I still think pleather doesn’t look all that bad. But the steaks are amazing. My doctor would kill me if she found out what I’d been eating while I was here. I’ve had at least three steaks already, and every one of them seems to melt in your mouth. Beautiful food. The only bad thing about dinner is that it takes two hours to eat it. The waiters are no faster here than they are in London or York or Dublin. The food’s definitely better, but the waiters are still very slow and patient people. Then it’s time to go back to the hotel and spend an hour or so talking to Lisa before bed. We’re using Skype for the chatting, and I have to say that it’s one of the greatest inventions ever.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
