Paseaperros

I love the dog walkers, even though a lot of people claim they don't really take care of the dogs. They seem to walk dogs of the same size. This guy had a bunch of poodles and other small dogs.

Gas Prices of the Future?

Is this what our gas prices will be if we don't find alternative fuels?

Morning Bath

I found these pigeons splashing about across the street from the Palacio San Martin on this chilly Thursday morning. Quite a cold day to take a bath outside, but quite a luxurious bathtub and nice view!

Remember these?

There is something nostalgic for me about newspaper stands. These stands sell newspapers of course, but also magazines, and things like telephone cards. Even though it was a Sunday morning and no one was out, there was a little guy in there who sold me my international calling card so that I could wish my father a Happy Father's Day.

Guido

This guy, Guido, must have been very important. His bust is in the National Cathedral, in the little room that has the tomb of General San Martin, liberator of Chile, Peru and Argentina. There is also a street named after Guido. Something about this makes me laugh.
Hey, Guido, what's a matta fu you?

Urinal advertising

It's so much fun being a boy. We get to pee in urinals, which when you think about it are very strange things. But I've seen these little urinal thingies (what are these things called anyway?) in other restrooms and decided I had to take a picture. I am not sure what the advertisement is for, but what a great place to advertise, eh? This is a kind of target and at the center in the Bull's Eye is 100 points. I'm not really sure if you're supposed to aim or what.

Just after I clicked this picture someone came in and caught me with my camera out. Good thing I blend in here, or he would have thought I was a crazy foreigner. Instead he probably just thought I was a crazy Argentine.

9 de Julio

This is only a partial view of 9 de Julio - the widest avenue in the world. It's impossible to get a picture of the whole thing as it spans 22 lanes in some parts. I have to cross it every day. I can never get across in one light. Sometimes I can make it in two lights, and sometimes it takes me three. It is hella big. You can see the obelisk in the distance.

Hernan's Apartment

Here is the living room in Hernan's apartment in Palermo Soho. You can see how big the computer is. The living room is painted green and has a bright orange painting on one wall, a lamp with an orange shade and those two chairs outside. It is a wonderful contrast between the two colors. He has two bedrooms. One is "the disaster" which is a bed covered with clothes, suitcases on the floor with clothes spilling out of them and a closet with clothes hanging out of it. It was always my dream to have one room just to throw clothes on the floor of. His bedroom is painted a beautiful yellow-orange and the tiles in his bathroom, which were there when he moved in, are this amazing periwinkle color that I love (unlike the horrible pink in my bathroom). It's a really cute apartment and between that sofa (which you just sink into) the view, the music and the wine, once you sit down, it's very hard to get up.

Patio

This is the patio of Hernan's apartment in Palermo Soho. It's a nice view and I love the bright orange chairs and the tree. The tree is called Paradiso. It has four distinct seasons, sometimes it is full of leaves and you can't see anything. Other times it has white flowers. Now in winter, it is bare except for the berries which remind me of some Japanese painting or fabric. Even at night, the tree provides a beautiful view.

Esperanza

This is Esperanza whose name means "hope" in English. She used to have another name, I think Piolina or something like that, and she used to dance. But then, one day she stopped dancing and now leans to the side. Her name is Esperanza because she hopes that one day she will dance again.

Memorial to Las Malvinas

I stumbled across this memorial to those who died in the Falklands War against England to try to regain ownership of the islands that lay off the coast of Argentina. How could England possibly claim these islands which are so far away from England. The military junta here was beginning to lose credibility, so they decided to try to regain control of Las Malvinas - it was a slaughter. Two soldiers guard this memorial and an eternal flame burns.

Sunday morning

I had a great time walking around the streets which were almost empty, even though it was 9:30 a.m. The morning sun was peeking through the buildings wherever it could.

Sunday morning

I love the weekends, but especially Sunday morning. Today was sunny and brisk, but not cold. A perfect day to walk around and explore my neighborhood and heading towards downtown, without cars and exhaust fumes. But there were very few people too. Here is a picture of Arroyo Street, in my neighborhood - it is really one of my favorite streets. I love the way the light was hitting this building.

subway

This is an old wooden subway car that runs from the Congress to the Plaza de Mayo. On my first day in Buenos Aires Larry took me to ride this line. But we had to wait for two cars to pass before we got a wooden train.

Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo

The mothers of the disappeared on their regular Thursday protest at the Plaza de Mayo. The mothers are wearing white scarves on their heads and have pictures of their disappeared children around their necks. The sign says "Distribute the wealth!"

What is this?

I found this building when walking home the other day. I saw it again last night and decided to go this morning and take a picture when it was getting some light. I love it. I don't know anything about it. It is on Cordoba and Esmeralda (I think).

Palacio San Martin

At one point, this was someone's home. This is one of the grand "palacios" that dot the northern part of the city after the wealthy residents of Buenos Aires fled San Telmo when yellow fever hit and devastated the city. I don't know what is there now, but it's two blocks from my apartment and they have tours. One of these days, I'm going to get on one of those tours, so I can see inside and find out more about this grand palace.

Those cute Chinese Students

Here I am with Octavio and Yolanda - both from Lanzhou - turns out all of the Chinese students are from Lanzhou. They are here together. I just think it's great that they are learning Spanish, and these two in particular really are trying to communicate and use Spanish with the teachers and the other students. One of the fun things about our field trips is that I get to meet some of the other students.

Fall in Palermo Chico

It's crazy for me to see fall colors in June, but I love it. I don't get to see or experience Fall in San Francisco, and it really is my favorite season when it is warm and sunny like it is here. Palermo Chico was a short-lived dream of those who settled here, built big houses and then lost it all in the crash of 1929 - seems to be a pattern in Argentina, which is maybe why people really seem to enjoy every moment.

When in Rome...

Ok, sometimes it is really hard to do as the Romans do. Here we are in this huge cavernous restaurant. It's between 7:30 and 8 p.m., the place is empty except for us - because we are eating early! When we arrived, we saw some people eating in the back section - it turned out they were the staff eating their dinner before starting their shift. Probably after 10 or 10:30, this restaurant will be packed, but you know what, it is too late for me to eat a heavy meal that will stay in my stomach all night. I prefer to be the odd gringo who eats early and goes to bed with an empty stomach (because that is what Oprah told me I should do).

Dancing Empanadas

After another yummy meal of steak and wine we ran into these dancing empanadas on the corner. They were so cute. Out of them grew urban legends of cults and danger, but in reality they were sweet, soft and friendly and I think I even heard some of them speaking English!

Tomb of General San Martin

Here is the tomb of General San Martin, who was one of the liberators of Chile, Peru and Argentina from the Spaniards - kind of their George Washington. His tomb is in the National Cathedral near the Casa Rosada, and is guarded by two toy soldiers.

La Casa Rosada

This is the Casa Rosada - or Pink House - the Presidential Palace where Evita first made her appearance. If you look closely you will see a pigeon sitting on the very balcony where she waved to her people and sang "Don't Cry for me Argentina" (ok, she didn't really sing that song). Could the pigeon be her spirit reincarnated?

$20 steak dinner

Here we are at a restaurant in fashionable Puerto Madero at 7:30 p.m. The restaurant had just opened, and aside from the staff, we were the only ones there. More people would arrive at a more reasonable hour, like 11 p.m.

The restaurant is Donato, and they lured us in with an offer of a free glass of champagne (we were looking for Las Lilas). The dinner was great - antipasto, steak, and wine, for a grand total of $20 each. Compared to las Lilas, which ran us triple, and was like being at Disneyland. The beef might have been better at Las Lilas, but I preferred Donato.

La Boca

One of the older parts of the city - often seen on the covers of guidebooks and in post cards. La Boca is famous for the brightly painted corrugated tin houses. But is that really La Boca, or are these houses just a preserved way of a life that once was to bring in tourists to an otherwise unattractive and dangerous part of town? I don't know. we weren't there long enough to find out, but in my opinion we were there long enough to see La Boca. A short strip of of street with brightly painted buildings, all housing stores or restaurants. A visit to the museum, and on the bus because it was getting dark and a feeling of danger began to be felt - real or imagined, I don't know, but I don't know that La Boca is a place I'd want to spend a whole lot of time.

Lunch

An ensalada completa at Las Ciencias - Cordoba and Junin. Was my favorite place for lunch until I found Punta Cuore.

My Thumb

Here is a picture of my thumb after returning from the traumatology department at the German Hospital. Quite an adventure.

Foggy Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is experiencing fog like it has not seen in 25 years. It gives the city a very mystical feeling for me, but the airports are closed because the staff is on strike. Fernanda said they went on strike because they thought flights would be delayed due to the fog, and rather than deal with customers complaining, they walked off the job.

This is Plaza San Martin. I think it is interesting how the light from my flash was reflected by the fog.

Arenales Street

This is the street where I live. You can see a guy on the sidewalk pushing some plastic crates. He's delivering groceries. Seems a lot of people have their groceries delivered to their homes (which makes the lines in the supermarket move very slow)

San Telmo

Restaurant in San Telmo where Larry and I had lunch - first time I ever had 'provoleta' - totally yummy!