It Takes Two...

You can't be in Argentina very long before you realize the importance of the tango.  Yes, it's a real thing.  Yes, it's a big deal.  No, Mark does not know how to do it.

Legend has it that the tango was invented in Buenos Aires in one of the neighborhoods called La Boca.  The dance form has become almost synonymous with Argentina (like beef and Evita) and has developed into a real cultural phenomena, complete with famous dancers, competitions, multiples types of tango, and recognition as a World Heritage intangible by UNESCO.

In short, when in Buenos Aires, you shouldn't miss it, but don't worry - when in Buenos Aires you really CAN'T miss it.  There are street performers in full tango regalia - which seem to consist of slightly over-sized zoot suits for men and for the women, dresses that their parents would definitely NOT approve - who will perform tangos for donations (varying quality).  The fourth of July party at the US embassy had a brief tango show/demonstration (very impressive quality).  But Anne did not attend the 4th of July event and has not actually seen a real tango show - one time she saw some street performers threatening to do some tango, but they never actually got into gear.

So, finally, after several months, Anne and Mark got a babysitter (shout out to Julie!) and headed out on the town on a Saturday night* for Anne's first Tango show  - Editor's note: this refers to the American version of "Saturday night" as it was dinner at 7, show at 8, home around 11, as opposed to the Argentine version of "Saturday night" which starts with dinner at 11, show at 2, home around sunrise.  Seriously.

The show was put on by the Borges Cultural Center, which is located not far from the Casa Rosada - which is even MORE rosada at night!

The venue was nice, if a bit intimate (probably seating for ~150).  The Cultural Center included art galleries and a couple of theaters and was located in the top floor of a pretty upscale shopping mall.  

The show itself was set up like a musical.  The plot was a little thin, even for a musical.  As far as Mark and Anne could figure, it centered on a girl named Maria who was going to Buenos Aires.  She was followed there by a boyfriend-type character and 4 couples who did a lot of tango dancing and changed clothes a lot.  That was pretty much it.

But no one was there for the plot, it was about the spectacle.  It is hard to describe the dancers without using the term "athlete."  They were all over the stage, rapid, slow, kicking, flailing, but always in sync.  Anne and Mark are certainly no experts on tango and can't say for certain whether this was a proper exhibition of it, but they can say it was a ton of fun and a very impressive show.

Upon leaving, both Anne and Mark noted that there were two things that took away some of the spotlight from the dancers.  First, since this was a cultural center, there were no drinks.  Anne and Mark were a bit dry and could have used a nice, cool glass of .... water for their night out.  Yeah, water, that's it.  

And secondly, the dancers nearly had the show stolen by the accordion player.

Having lived in Madison and traveled to Germany, Mark has seen a few guys play a few accordions.  Usually, they are in some stage of rolling out a barrel and/or having a barrel of fun.  But this guy was rocking out.  Not Weird Al rocking out, either.  He was straight up jamming on the accordion.   And you don't see that everyday, so kudos accordion guy (Gabriel Merlino).

Anyway, after the show, Anne and Mark walked around the neighborhood and then called it a night.

July 4th in B.A.!

Palacio Bosch is dressed up for the occasion.

To celebrate the 4th of July, the US Embassy in Buenos Aires put on a huge party.  (Since the 4th fell on a Saturday, the celebration was held on July 3rd).  The theme this year was "California," the home state of the current U.S. Ambassador to Argentina.  The crew putting this together went all out and put on the diplomatic spectacle of the year.

Cakes building bridges?  Yes.

Wha?  I can't even.....   ?
'Murica.

This party had everything - a red carpet, a showcase of high tech projects from Silicon Valley, a Hollywood themed tent with a live band, tons of food, cameo appearances by Mickey and Minnie, Miller Lite (served alongside several wines from Argentina and champagne) and about 1000 of our closest friends.

Before....

...after

 And since this is Argentina, we can't have a party without having some tango (more about that is another post, I would imagine).  So, after a certain point, all the Ambassadors and dignitaries cleared the dance floor and a couple of tango champs from Argentina showed us how it is done.

A great time was had by all - congrats to the 4th of July committee that put that event together.


On the actual Fourth of July, our trio did what you're supposed to do on the Fourth of July - grill some burgers and hot dogs and party with your friends.  For most of the crew, it was a little unusual celebrating the 4th of July with temps in the 50s.  Mark, however, is from Minnesota.  Although the 4th of July is usually monstrously hot in North star state, it probably has been in the 50s in Minnesota at least once.

Two hand hamburger hold

Gnawing away at that bad boy.

Work that Art

Super "artsy" art.

Anne, Mark and the HBomb have been in B.A. for a little while now, but have not visited the major art installations.  If they were visiting, they would probably have gone on their first day in the city, but since they are here for a little while, the urgency is lessened.  But finally, after a few months, Anne and Mark made it to El Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, affectionately known as "MALBA."

Although Anne disagreed, Mark thought this piece of reminiscent of that thing at the counter at Taco Bell into which you drop the quarter and try to catch it on the platforms.  If you do - free taco.

This museum is one of the best that specializes in art by Latin American artists.  It is housed in a big, beautiful building in one of the busier neighborhoods in B.A.  Compared to a museum like the Louvre, it is much smaller (although pretty much every museum is smaller than the Louvre) and gives each individual work a lot more space.

"Dueling Venus Flytraps"

The museum has a permanent exhibit and some temporary exhibits.  It makes little effort to segregate sculpture from paintings or photographs, exhibiting them all in the same space.  MALBA even has a "science project" artwork, which appears to be a fully functioning farm in a plastic box.

Obligatory Frida selfie

Abaporu - roughly translated, "the man that eats people"

MALBA prides itself on its cultural programs.  The museum puts on multiple programs involving cinema, literature, and conversation among patrons.  MALBA also puts a lot of emphasis on interactive exhibits.  The current temporary exhibit, which opened in June and will run through October, has the art of Rogelio Polesello.  Some of his acrylic stuff is below.

How Mark looks to flies.  Nothing creepy about that.

Perhaps inspired by their artistic experience at MALBA, Anne and Mark decided to school young HBomb on the finer points of a fantastic artistic medium - non-toxic finger paints (pretty sure that is what they used on the Sistine Chapel).

It took a little coaxing, as HBomb is notorious for not liking to get dirt, crime or other assorted shmutz on his fingers, but eventually the HBomber dipped his fingers into the paint and had at it.

Painting some happy little trees. - that leaf looks totally life-like.

He's a Guay, I'm a Guay...Uruguay

Sunset over Colonia

After the boat trip across the Rio Plate, Anne, Mark and the HBomb disembarked in the town of Colonia in Uruguay.  Colonia is a sleepy little town featuring colonial ruins, a series of immobile old cars randomly placed on the streets, fantastic views and nice little restaurants.

For orientation purposes

As far as a colonial town, it has all the key ingredients: cobblestone streets built by the Portuguese, city walls and a drawbridge that were manned by the Spanish and the old church overlooking the town square.

Go ahead, make my day.

Cobblestone craftsmanship.

After the reviews were in, HBomb approved of the city walls and looked surprisingly comfortable preparing the man the cannons.  On the other hand, he did not approve of the cobblestone.  Those 16th century Portuguese didn't put together a very smooth road and HBomb did not appreciate having to walk over the odd stone here and there, especially with his rather abbreviated legs.

Anne shows off the Basilica

Daddy, I can see through the bridge.

Of particular interest, however, was the drawbridge.  HBomb liked being able to see between the slats of the bridge to the moat below (the moat in this case is actually more like a ditch, but just go with it).  The old church in the town square, la Basilica del Santisimo Sacramento, is the modern representation of one of the oldest churches in Uruguay, and the new world, for that matter.  It was originally founded in the 1600s, but the current building was built in the 1800s, with some of the older artifacts maintained.

I do not remember this bible story.  Yikes!

In addition to the ruins, the attraction of Colonia is the atmosphere.  It is a calm, quaint little city away from the noise and crowds of Buenos Aires.  In what appears to have been an organized effort, the city also has several old cars placed through out the town (usually in front of or near restaurants or tourist attractions).  This adds to the unique nature of the town.

HBomb, riding on Mark's shoulders, check out a couple of old cars, one of which actually had a tree growing through it.

Another old car marking a restaurant location over Mark's left shoulder.

The last aspect of Colonia that you really can't miss is the lighthouse.  The newest lighthouse is open for unguided tours for adults (sorry, HBomb) and provided a decent view of the city.

The not-too-tall tower in the distance is actually a restaurant from which the sunset photo at the top of this post was taken.

 So after a couple of days of sight-seeing and history-appreciating, it was time to relax.  The trio selected a restaurant called "El Drugstore" (roughly translated as "The Drugstore").  Like all businesses in Colonia, this place accepted dollars, ARG pesos, and URU pesos.  It probably would have taken Euros if we had asked.  They also had live music and a mascot who lives under the tables set up outside, a black dog named, appropriately enough, "Black."

In their neverending quest to find "local flavor," Mark and Anne noted that Uruguay did have a few local dishes, but they also noted these dishes were pretty similar to the local dishes in Argentina (steak with an egg and ham on top).  It was more difficult to find a drink that really said "Colonia."  But they did have Sangria, which is more associated with Spain and Portugal, but this was a colony of each of them for awhile, so .... close enough -> "local flavor."  Anne and Mark ordered a pitcher, which at first seemed like a lot, but after a little bit, really didn't.  All a matter of perspective I guess.

That looks like a lot of Sangria.

Nevermind, it's not that much....

I'm On a Boat!!!

Do not adjust your screen, that is the actual color of the "water" in the Rio Plate - it gets this color due to the water's high content of..."silt" - yeah, silt, it must just be silt.

This past weekend marked the cumpleanos of Anne as well as Father's Day, so HBomb, Anne and Mark decided to celebrate by taking a little trip out of town.  The destination was just across the Rio Plate, so this was HBomb's first opportunity to ride a ferry boat, which he did with gusto.

HBomb and Mommy show off his new tourist stamps.

And since the other side of the Rio Plate was a different country, this was also Hbomb's first chance to get a stamp in his tourist passport.  Although HBomb has been to three countries (that we know of) prior to setting foot on Uruguayan soil, it was his first tourist stamp (Born in US, visited Canada and lives in Argentina, but somehow this is his first tourist stamp).

There are ferry services running between Buenos Aires and a few cities in Uruguay several times a day.  The crossing took 3 hours on the way there and 1 hour on the way back, not due to currents or tides or winds, but to the speed of the boat.  Anne and Mark decided to take the long, leisurely ride on the way there and the quicker ride on the way back.

The 3 hour trip was not too bad - as they say, getting there is half the fun.  HBomb immersed himself in people watching and cracker eating and we were a good quarter of the way across the Rio Plate before he made any sign that indicated he knew we were (a) on a boat, or (b) moving.

The exact moment that HBomb figures out that this is a boat and it is moving.

At several points during the trip, however, it appeared that "getting there" was considerably more than half the fun.  These ferry boats were set up like cruise ships without the cabins.  They had multiple seating areas, snack bars and a video arcade....

Rumor has it that live bands and tango dancers perform in this space during high tourist season.

But the most popular attraction was the duty free shop on board.  Once we disembarked from port, the crowd swarmed the duty free shop.  After the initial rush, Anne and Mark checked it out.  The prices were not particularly good from an American perspective, but the attraction was that there were several brands available in the duty free shop that are unavailable or available only with a hefty mark up in Argentina.

Eagle eyed viewers might be able to spot a familiar face in this crowd...

But the duty free shop was not the only entertainment available to the passengers.  HBomb was drawn like a moth to a flame to the late 1980s-early 1990s era video arcade.  And when I say "late 1980s-early 1990s era" I do not mean that the games from the 1980s were available among the games of today - I mean this was straight up original versions of Ms. Pac-Man, Gallaga and "Cadillacs and Dinosaurs" (yeah, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs - when is the last time you saw one of those?)

HBomb smacked around on the buttons of these games, stood on what appeared to be a Batman pinball game released in conjunction with the Michael Keaton-Jack Nicholson-Kim Basinger film that brought back comic book movies, and finally saw what would serve as his babysitter for the better part of 2 nautical miles - some random car racing game.

I can't lie, HBomb's driving was... aggressive.  He had no regard for lane integrity or other drivers, he drove overly fast, even when it did not gain him an advantage and he cut people off like it was the goal of the game... but it's hard to blame him for any of this, he learned to drive by watching the drivers in Buenos Aires!!!!

Elections and Strikes

Unrelated gratuitous cuteness picture.

Last Tuesday marked the second transit strike since Anne, Mark and the HBomb arrived in Buenos Aires.  You may remember that the silver lining of the first transit strike was that Mark got to attend the South American premiere of Game of Thrones slightly before it premiered on HBO.  This tells us a couple of things - first, Mark measures time in terms of Game of Thrones related events - this will probably morph into a "True Detective"-based time system following the GoT season finale tonight, and second, that is a lot of transit strikes.  So why does Argentina have so many transit strikes?  Well, it's complex, but the simple story is inflation.  The most recent strike was called by the transit unions because the government proposed a raise of 25%.  For most of the world, that is a pretty good bump in pay.  But in Argentina, the rate of inflation is officially reported to be about 24%, but most independent economists put it closer to 35%.  So if you have the same salary two years in a row, you have less buying power in the second year.  And even if you have a 25% raise, you are less well off than you were the year before.

Henry believes in a predictable rate of inflation between 1-3% annually.

Anyway, there were negotiations but it didn't work out and now they had their second strike in 3 months.  And we're not talking a minor inconvenience.  We are talking all of the transit workers in the city.  That's bus drivers, port workers, airplane workers, and some taxi drivers.  On top of that, some of the striking workers took it to the next level and set up barricades to shut down traffic on some of the major thoroughfares in town.  Ouch.

This past Wednesday was another significant day in Argentina.  The political parties had to announce and register their alliances with the government.  Argentina is having presidential (and a bunch of other) elections this year.  Argentina has a whole host of parties ranging from the extreme left to the extreme right to the extreme middle - actually, I am not sure that last one is a thing.  Anyway, because the parties are legion, many have no reasonable expectation of winning seats or the presidency running alone, but have a shot if they band together.  In past elections these alliances have shifted based a multitude of factors, so now the country actually has a law saying that all political alliances for this election have to be declared and registered with the government.  By last Wednesday.

How many Argentine campaign workers does it take to make a political ad?  This many.

Being as how Mark, Anne and the HBomb are not voters in the Argentine elections, they do not have to decide which candidates to support.  However, that does not mean they are not surrounded by political messaging… and sometimes - candidates.  A few weeks back, HBomb was leading one of his famous tours of Buenos Aires when our intrepid trio encountered a photo shoot.  There were camera men, lighting guys, make up people, a director - the whole deal.  Anne, Mark and HBomb investigated further in hopes that it was a movie or TV show being shot.  Wouldn't that be cool?  To run into a movie on the streets in B.A.?  But, alas, no it was a political ad being shot.  The candidate is running for mayor of Buenos Aires.  He is currently the head of Aerolineas Argentinas, so … well, I am not really sure how to complete that (not really a clear causal relationship there).  But anywho…pretty cool.

I think the guy in the blue shirt is the candidate