Football and other Signs of Spring

Today marks the first day of spring in the southern hemisphere.  And unlike on the first day of fall, mother nature did not get the memo this time.  Spring limped in like a lamb with a cool, overcast Monday in Buenos Aires.  Which is too bad.  Luckily, Anne, Mark and HBomb took advantage of the spring-like temps over the weekend.

On Saturday, the embassies of the countries of Southeast Asia put on a cultural festival in a park not far from where Anne, Mark and HBomb live.  The festival promised (and delivered) tasty Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and other cuisine.  The festival also features several dance troupes and at least one group of shirtless martial arts guys doing a demonstration, so we are going to chalk it up as a cultural event rather than a food event.

So that's a strong start to the weekend.  But it gets better from there.  On Sunday, Mark and his buddy found a bar that was showing the NFL games.  It wasn't exactly BW3s, but it was as close as we could find to it.  I mean they had wings, beer and several TVs of different size, resolution and pointing in different directions - so it was kind of like being at BW3s....

...if only we could have come up with that extra detail to make it feel more like home...

Ahhh, there it is.  Bring your own sauce and it is starting to feel like the real thing.

 In case anyone was wondering, the clientele of the bar on this particular day was almost exclusively Americans.  Mark spoke with fans of the Bears (poor guy), the Browns (seriously, they have fans) and the Patriots.  Mark spent a little time talking to a couple sitting at the next table who were trying very hard to understand football but were having trouble understanding the basics - tackling, scoring, and the very concept of "the playoffs."  After a few minutes, the couple felt comfortable enough to admit that they are Lions fans (I guess that explains why they don't understand the concept of "the playoffs.")

Crashing into Boca

Anne and our first visitor in Buenos Aires checking out La Boca a few weeks ago.

What Americans celebrate as Labor Day is simply known as "el lunes" here in Argentina, so Anne and Mark were among the very few in Buenos Aires who were celebrating this occasion by not laboring.  So, they decided to take advantage of the situation by playing tourist and buying tickets to the "Hop on, Hop off" bus for a ride around the city.  Anne had done this tour before with our guest from the U.S. (anyone who was hoping to be Anne, Mark, and HBomb's first guest in Buenos Aires - sorry, that spot has been taken).

Labor day also marked the first time that Anne and Mark were in a car accident in Buenos Aires.  Well, a bus accident anyway.  And the lesson to be learned from this?  If you're going to get hit by a pick up truck with a redneck conversion (pictured below), it's best to do so in a big ole double-decker bus.  Honestly, we didn't feel anything.

So, anyway, what we think happened was that our bus turned right from the middle lane (which is, surprisingly, NOT an illegal maneuver here) and the pick up truck trying to sneak by on the right just kept on keeping on and broad sided the bus.

Then as required by law, the baldest guy at the scene has to write down all of the relevant facts.  After he got that done, he returned to the Hair Club for Men and the bus was back in action.  Anne and Mark, of course, went top level on the tour bus, that's the only way to do it.  

"I hate this so much," -  the lady over Anne's shoulder.

From there we had a pretty good view of the sights of the city.  Plazas, government buildings, art, other car accidents... this tour had it all.

By this point in the tour, Mark had ditched the headphones and commentary, so let's just go ahead and guess that this was .... parliament?

Eventually, the tour wound its way to the neighborhood known as "La Boca."  The origins of the name of this neighborhood are somewhat in dispute.  It was settled by a lot of immigrants and many of them were from a neighborhood in Genoa, Italy called "Boccadasse," so "Boca" could be a shortened homage to that homeland.  Good story, has a nice immigrant legend vibe to it. I like that.

Or, since "Boca" means "mouth," and the neighborhood sits at the mouth of the Riacheulo river, "Boca" could be a reference to the mouth of the river.  Makes sense, seems plausible.

But Mark is a true believer in Occam's razor (which is roughly translated as, "Keep it even simpler, stupid").  Look at a map of the neighborhoods of B.A. - this one looks like a boca (granted, it looks like the boca de una tortuga, but still, a boca).  Obviously, "La Boca" is the abbreviated version of "Turtle's Mouth".

Anywho, regardless of how it got its name, this area is now called La Boca, and it is home to a few pretty big deals.  First, and probably most famous, this is where the Boca Juniors play their soccer.

Anne and Mark drove by the "Bombanera" (literally translates as "chocolate box" but this is what the Boca Juniors' stadium is called).  People were lining up to take the tour and check out the Juniors' museum - and there wasn't even a match today.  The stadium is coming up on 100 years old and is located right in the middle of the neighborhood - think Wrigley Field or Lambeau - so it is a pretty intimate setting for sporting events.

As you may know, soccer is a pretty big deal around here.  The Boca Juniors and River are the two big league squads in Buenos Aires and their matches are quite the events, especially when they play one another.  These matches are called "superclasicos" and they are pretty intense.  In fact, this rivalry is more than a "friendly" one.  At the last superclasico in May, for example, the Boca Juniors had to forfeit because some of their fans busted through a security fence and pepper sprayed the River players at half time.  

So head's up on that.  The second thing to know about La Boca, which maybe you have gathered from the behavior of the soccer fans, is that this is a bit of a rougher neighborhood.  And the third thing to know about La Boca is "El Caminito."

El Caminito is a small street that you can't miss.  All of the buildings are brightly painted in many different colors, with street vendors and tango dancers competing for your attention (and your pesos!).  This street was made famous - well, at least in Argentina - when it inspired a tango song.  Carlos Gardel (aka "Carlitos" or the "King of Tango") sang it, and now it's a standard of the genre.

After a bit of touristing, it was time for some chow.  Anne and Mark found a nice, 130 year old Italian tavern and went inside.  After taking some recommendations from the waiter, Anne and Mark apparently ordered absolutely everything.

3 Countries, 2 Continents, 1 Pro Wrestler: HBomb Second Birthday Party

BIRTHDAY!!!!

Turning 2 years old is one of the seminal events in the life of any young man.  Beginning to understand the concepts of birthday parties - presents, cake, and undivided attention from all your jealous friends and relatives - are wasted on 1 year olds, but not on the older, wiser, two year old crowd.  To mark the momentous occasion of the HBomb's second birthday, obviously a party was in order.  However, Mark and Anne were not sure that a single country could handle all of the festivities.  So it was decided that HBomb's 2nd birthday festivities were to be spread over three countries and two continents.

Round 1 was in the United States.  HBomb and his cousins had a Curious George birthday cake, which was summarily demolished prior to HBomb opening gifts with the help of Grandma and Grandpa.

The birthday boy, a couple of cousins, grandma, grandpa, some neighbor kids and maybe a walk-in or two.

Birthday hot dogs with cousin Stitchy.

Grandma helps with the gifts.

Mark gets the Curious George doll to levitate.  Best Birthday ever!

 In addition to the cake and presents, Grandma and Grandpa also held a pool party at the hotel.  Not too much beats a pool party with the cousins.

Henry showing Grandpa how to splash.

Stitchy and C enjoying the pool

 After the American party, it was time to move on to the second leg of HBombTwoYearFest2015.  Anne, Mark and the HBomb went to Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport - voted place most likely to lose your luggage in 2008 - and waited for their flight.  As often happens, HBomb attracted celebrity attention.  HBomb has already met an American Picker (the tall, skinny one, not the short, ..... stout one), former presidential candidate Dick Gephardt and noted travel author and liar, Rick Steves (yes, Mark is still bitter about those directions to the Catacombs of Priscilla, Rick!!!!).  Today, HBomb ran into "The King."  No, not Elvis, Jerry Lawler.

For those of your unfamiliar with Mr. Lawler's work, he is currently an announcer on pro wrestling and had a fairly long and successful wrestling career.  Mark most associates Mr. Lawler, however, with a famous or infamous episode involving comedian Andy Kaufman.  Although later revealed to be a stunt put on by the two, a "fight" they had on the set of Late Night made David Letterman admit that he had completely lost control of his show.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11T_-k7ckrg

Eventually, HBomb took his birthday flight to Old Mexico and made it in time for birthday party number 2.

Birthday partying with Uncle Eric and Aunt Shannon

I'll show you some "ROAR!!!"

But like all good things, the fiesta en Mexico had to come to an end, but HBomb's birthday rolled on.  Upon his return to Argentina, HBomb had Round 3 and received maybe the best birthday present ever - Vikings pajamas!

One of the 7 Wonders

On the solstices, the shadows fall on the staircase to make a serpent's body appear on the staircase above it's head in El Castillo (roughly "The Castillo")

In early August, Anne, HBomb and Mark had the opportunity to visit one of the 7 wonders of the world, Chichen Itza.  Granted, the original 7 wonders of the world were all in Europe, the Middle East or North Africa, but that is because the guy drafting the original 7 wonders of the world list didn't know that North America existed.  Both the NEW7Wonders Foundation and USA Today put this great site of Mayan ruins on their new lists of the 7 wonders of the world, so that's pretty good.

Nothing more welcoming than a couple of serpent heads and 365 steep stairs.

Chichen Itza is a site that was built by the ancient Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula in what is now called Mexico, but they probably just referred to as "home."  The Mayans were back in the news a few years ago, you may remember, for their calendar reaching it's end in 2012.  Some interpreted the end of their calendar to be a prediction of the end of the world, as if the Mayans had some cosmic insight into the details of that event.  Frankly, after visiting Chicen Itza, I am not sure I really trust the judgment of this ancient civilization.

Now don't get me wrong, this was a fantastic site.  The giant pyramid, the sports/deathmatch court and the ruins of the pillars were all phenomenal and I have a lot of respect for how this ancient civilization harnessed the power of astrology, geology and empire building in ancient America.  BUT - Mayans, come on.  The three most important things in giant pyramid real estate are location, location and location.  And this location was bad.  It is located right in the middle of a jungle.  Wasn't there a nice ready-to-build spot along with beach with some cool Caribbean breezes blowing in where you could have built this thing?  I'm not telling you how to run your ancient civilization, but hey, this is low-hanging fruit.  I mean seriously, it wasn't quite "Africa Hot," but it was definitely "Jungle Hot."  (see scale for further information)

HBomb and Anne going to see what all the fuss is about.

But despite the harsh conditions, our group sojourned on.  Hbomb showed no fear, rushing up to the pyramid and even attempting to run into the serpent's head on one occasion.

Checking out the serpent's head.

And after seeing and hearing some of the history of this place, maybe our group should have been a little more afraid.  One of the cool aspects of the site is the sports court seen below.  Off in the distance on the right, you can see a hoop that is attached to the wall nearly at the top.

Reverend "Moonshine Gerry" gets in for a closer look in the photo below.  The signs and guides say that the prevailing belief is that this court was used for a game, but there is no written record of the rules and we really do not know much about how it was played.  It appears that two teams played with a rubber ball, the game was important to the ancient Mayan rituals, and the hoops may or may not have been part of the game.

It's way up there.  Too high for even Moonshine to dunk on it.

Based on the carvings at the site, it appears that the captain of the winning team offered his head to the losing team, which then decapitated him.  This was a great honor because the now super-dead winning captain would then get a free ticket to heaven and not have to go through all of the intermittent steps that all other Mayans faced after death.  So, he's got that going for him.

Apparently, this is the gallery of past champions in the Ancient Mayan ball game.

College Football in Hot-Lanta

Where's Waldo, er, the Honor G of Grinnell College?

At the end of July, Anne, HBomb and Mark returned to the U.S. for a little visit.  The first stop was Atlanta to see Anne's family there.  While in that part of the country, the men folk took a side trip to the college football hall of fame.  If you ever find yourself in Atlanta with a little time to kill and have any interest in the sport, this hall of fame is well worth the trip.  Mark has been to the pro football hall of fame in Canton, Oh a couple of times and this one is much more interactive.

Upon entry, visitors register in the computer system with their favorite college football team (you can choose from any of them represented in the photo at the top of this post).  Then on each section of the hall, the exhibit will be customized to emphasize that particular team.  Mark, of course chose the mighty Grinnell College Pioneers and when he went to look at the records and conference championship archives, sure enough, the records popped right up (1998 being the last and most impressive conference championship for the school of course).

The older we get, the better we were.

Anne's brother Jim had no trouble choosing a favorite team as he is lifelong Hawkeye.  Mark and Anne's brother-in-law, Stu, chose the Iowa State Cyclones - apparently he did this to save time as he did not want to be held up at each exhibit by reading or hearing about a team that actually had "wins" or "accomplishments" to be discussed.  Eventually, Jim convinced his nephew of the virtues of the helmet with the mighty TigerHawk logo.

Passing the Hawkeye love to the next generation.

Next, the hall had an interactive exhibit.  Our group focused on the interactive "tailgating" experience, playing a little bean bag toss (Mark refuses to refer to this game as "cornhole") and getting a hot dog and some popcorn from the vendors.  There were also field goal kicking and route running areas.

Stitchy pounding a hot dog

I don't see a lot of bean bags actually in the scoring area, fellas.

The hall itself was pretty well done, with a lot of ESPN-sponsored interactive exhibits ("do your own SportsCenter" and "call famous plays on radio") and a lot of information arranged in easily accessible and entertaining formats.  It was not without controversy, however.  Upon leaving the 10 minute introductory film, which was not specific to any team, but rather emphasized the values and pageantry of college football Saturdays, Stu and Mark overheard what can only be described as a ravenously obese Tennessee Volunteers fan commenting on how the video needed to be re-done because of either too much emphasis on Alabama football or not enough emphasis on Tennessee football - his jumbled mutterings made this point unclear.  This seemed odd, but haters gonna hate, so neither of them thought much of it.  About 20 minutes later while reading an exhibit about rivalries in college football, the same old Tennessee fan walked by again still bitter about the video and with mutterings slightly less coherent but more angry.  I guess in the south, it's more than just a game.

Pretty good height for 1st and 3rd graders... also, that Bo Jackson manequin appears to be almost 7 feet with full gear on.  No wonder he smacked down the Bozz.

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.