BUENOS AIRES--BY FRED

Hello again from Fred, filling in for the real blogger queen. BA is huge. I forced Kellyanne to go to the top of the 23 story Intercontinenatal Hotel with me last night to see the city from above where we were immediately stopped as we tryed to casually walk by and pretend we were guests there. They let us go anyway--so much for security. I hope the pictures convey the scope of how big the city is. The road you see lit up is eighteen lanes wide! Which leeds me to cabdrivers and driving in general.


Lanes do not exist here. even though they are all nicely laid out for you to stay in your proper place, every driver and particularly the cabbies are constantly creating two lanes in one. The eighteen lanes mentioned above are really about 53 lanes. I really don't know how they survive-but they do. Also, there is no such thing as a pedestrian (or pedestrian right of way). Kellyanne tells me if you get hit---you pay for the damage to the car (in colombia) . Walker beware. Bikerider be even more aware. Not to many laws regarding mufflers either--it can be very loud. There seem to be alot of Ford Falcons and Ford/chevy pickup trucks, more of a vintage cariety. The subway system is good here and costs about 25 cents to go anywhere and any distance. They have beautiful tile work and murals in the tunnels.

more mundane stuff while I am on the subject: They haven't gotten anywhere near as far as we have regarding ADA laws for the disabled. the last bano (bathroom) I was in was barely big enough for me to get into--let alone a wheelchair. There is alot of beautiful ornamental ironwork on the buildings, particularly the balconies, lots of huge, 12' wooden doors with "big knockers" (brass). Beautiful tile work and murals in the subways:



Prices: (I spent an hour in a supermarket comparing prices while Kellyanne tried to register for classes)
a dozen eggs is about 60cents, a six pack of Bud is $3, a roast chiken $4, ground meat $1.5/pound, bananas 30 cents/lb, wine ranged from $1/bottle to $10 for the good stuff. we ate at a fancy restaurant today called La Brigade, which was recommended to me by travellers from Wyoming. A steak, a big salad, two cokes and two sprites plus a breadbasket cost about $23. By the way, grilled steak is supposed to be Argentina's specialty, but I have had it twice now and i still like US barbecued ribs better. let it be known that if i said that on the street here I would be hung in the public square.




University: We travelled out to where Kellyanne will be going to school. Note: the univerity is in many places all over the city. It depends what you are studying as to where you will be located. Her school is about a forty minute ride from where we are staying (which for those of you who have forgotten, is the posh section of town just a gold coin toss away from the Four Seasons hotel). The building which houses her university is nothing to write home about---but it does have writing all over it. Students are very political here and one method of communicating their message is with graffitti. Anyway, Kellyanne is working out the details, one of which is that university education here, even for foreigners is FREE. So I told her she can spend an extra $25/month on her apartment.

Recoleta Cemetary: they say there is something very similar in Paris. the pictures speak for themselves. The most famous person buried here is of course, Evita Duarte Peron. She is buried in the Duarte family site. throngs of people gather around her grave and she is the only one with fresh flowers every day. The closest thing I have seen to this is the famous cemetary in New Orleans--which is above ground due to the water table (that's if the cemetary still exists there). Anyway--this was an entire city of grave sites honoring the wealthy, the influential, and/or the famous with lavish structures, statues, and yes...streets.








We saw a commotion the first night i got here and went to check it out. the police were there and we thought it was a student protest. Then we realized that it was mostly girls and they all seemed to be in their teens and all were emmitting that high pitched shrill that only adolescent females can muster when they are infatuated with a rock star. Guess who it was? Ricky Martin! Kellyanne and I happenned to be in position to acually seem him (as opposed to the shrieking throngs) ...you can imagine how excited we were :)

I've learned not to refer to Kellyanne as "mi hermosa" (my sister)--that got a little embarrassing back in Costa Rica. She is now correctly labeled "mi hiha". She should be called "mi hiha La Traductora"...my daughter the translator. In conversations with our Doorman, ( who quite generously talks about soccer with me not fulling recognizing that I only understand one tenth of what he is saying) I successfully told him that the Boca Juniors loss the other night 3-0 was not "embarazado" but "verguenza", The first word would have implied his team's loss was pregnant, the second means the loss was embarrassing. So, my spanish has been elevated from that of an infant to possibly pre-school.

To end--let me say that Kellyanne and I got a free ride on the subway the other night. they waved us through. We asked why at the other end realizing that every station appeared to be free and the guard said "they had run out of change".

Note: Debbie got here safely, bright and early this morning. We visited the botanical gardens, the zoo--which was a riot but fodder for another blog, and a whole new section of town I had not been to.