Sunday, January 24, 2016

Twenty Four Hours in Uruguay January 2016

Mid way point of my stay in Argentina is marked - as it is most of my winters in "the South" - with a short visit to Uruguay, namely Colonia del Sacramento, a little town founded by Portuguese during Colonial times.
It has retained much of its old world charm inside the Casco Historico, or the 'old part' of the town. Streets are still cobbled with the same irregular rocks, which used to be ballast in sailing ships plying the waters between Europe and South America taking trade goods from the New World back to the Old.
Streets are lined with old shade trees, buildings slowly peel their veneer of stucco, traditional street lamps now shine with electricity (if they have a functioning bulb) instead of gas, old mansions now house a multitude of various restaurants - all spilling over onto streets and plazas. Motor cars dating back to Ford's Model T decorate various street corners, ruins of town walls, convents and residential mansions are lovingly maintained, time goes slowly...
Slowly was the name of the game of getting to Colonia from Buenos Aires via slow Buquebus Ferry, which chugs along at a couple of knots cruising speed, and reaches the Uruguayan side of Rio de La Plata after a three hour crossing. Even casting off the docks in Buenos Aires was slow, as the ferry had to carefully navigate through a thick dense layer of rafts of water hyacinths, reinforced with tons of garbage and tree branches - the result of heavy flooding in the upper regions of Rio de La Plata and Parana. Waterfowl comfortably walked across these floating beds, and who knows how many water snakes, frogs, and 'nutria' are hiding underneath these travelling rafts.

The only thing fast on this journey is the reaction of Latin Americans, who - as soon as loudspeakers announce imminent arrival at Colonia, with a request to keep seated until docked - all immediately jump up and line up at the exit doors. Hand luggage et al is screened on arrival with the 'screener' on duty dreamily looking into the middle distance, not casting a single glance at his screening machine.

One checks in - Boutique Hotel de Vrero - a block from the harbour. Small, cosy, friendly, safe...and a ten minute walk to the centre of activity - Casco Historico. At midday the Casco enjoys a little siesta to better tolerate today's heat of 30 plus degrees.

Instead of describing more of this delightful little place in writing....here is the video.



Return to Buenos Aires the speedy way. Buquebus Atlantic III looks a little like a spaceship with a large open fish mouth. One flies across the water at nearly 10 knots, and arrives in Buenos Aires one hour later. Docking remains slow, it took a few attempts by the ferry to reach the docking ramps, as the 'camalotes' (vegetative rafts), are still covering the inner harbour.

Never mind a full 24 hours.....one finishes off the day with a little tango at Obelisco Tango. Buenos Aires is baking in 36 degrees (feels like 40)....

 

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Quilmes.....cerveza y viboras???


Quilmes...locals and tourists to this lovely city of Buenos Aires may recognize the name of one of the many excellent local beers (which by the way comes in many different tastes). A great brew, which tastes even better when the temperatures here reach 35+ degrees Celsius.

Quilmes is also the name of a satellite city to Buenos Aires. The city is at the edge of the great Rio de la Plata, whose tributaries such as the Parana River up north have been flooding the country side lately, making thousands of people homeless.

As a result of the flooding, several meters above normal river levels, unusual things start to float downhill...

Quilmes, being one of the downhill locations, has a new claim to fame now: large 'camalotes' (rafts/beds of aquatic vegetation) arrive bobbing on the river waves and covering their surface with thick acres and acres of carpets of lush greenery.

As one may imagine, these things are a microcosm by themselves, housing frogs, snails, snakes, water rats and mosquito nurseries. In addition, they provides the only 'terra sort of firma' for other stranded small mammals trying to safe themselves from drowning.

Here we are, Quilmes Plata River beaches have disappeared under water (polluted heavily in its own right) and camalotes have reached the height of the downtown malecon (river walk way). Apart from the usual debris of every imaginable kind of 'basura' we now have an invasion of viboras y culebras (snakes and vipers) who wiggle their way into the streets and sidewalks of Quilmes. Unfortunately the bites of some of the creatures (who are not native to these southern latitudes, but normally live in Amazon type jungle habitat) are poisonous. TV programs warn, illustrated with detailed descriptions of the poisonous invaders, and beg the population - stay away.

The beaches are closed, municipal workers started to clean up with buckets, coke bottles, snake 'pinchers', plastic bins, broom sticks..(.all work overtime) the undesirables of the wild life kind.

However, families taking their kids swarm down to the 'beaches' to participate in the entertainment, totally ignoring warnings about poisonous, potentially fatal bites. In the words of one unconcerned mother, whose young boy was dangling a 'vibora' in front of her: nothing will happen. Admirable fatalism....dogs start chasing the new toys, and terrified 'nutria' try to escape to the further reaches of their temporary floating homes.

Less visible, but just as dangerous, mosquitos carrying dengue fever travel first class in these plant rafts.Quilmes now reports more than 15 confirmed infections. It's a jungle out there....


Super sized snail....(the one on the right)
 
 
 
A small snake which travelled a couple of thousand kilometers in its 'camalote'

Squirrels trying to keep their little feet dry....

The Argentinian Navy (part of it) in a bed of vegetation...

And tomorrow.....I am off to Uruguay with the local Buquebus (ferry). Their docks are surrounded by 'camalotes' as well. I just hope the snakes don't see the ferries as a pleasant alternative to their watery homes.
Photos: compliments of Internet.....

Saturday, January 16, 2016

2016 Summer Images of Buenos Aires

Summer in Buenos Aires...movies, festivals, soccer, tango, heat waves and power outages....situation normal and as vibrant as ever.

I finally did see Un Tango Mas...a film definitely worth attending. I still have not managed to witness one of the many soccer games here....I may go once tango is incorporated into the game....

 
Un Tango Mas
Our Last Tango
Love Story of Maria Nieves and Juan Carlos Copes
 
Balon d'Oro of Tango Soccer
By the way, Messi the Argentinian Soccer Super Hero just won his 5th Golden Soccer Ball. The Man who changed the definition of Great Soccer, here doing his best at scoring a great voleo.
 
The other 'pelicula' has finished as well, a bizarre escape and hunt for three criminals incarcerated for life in one of Buenos Aires Penitentiaries - high security no less.
The Script: did they or did they not escape with help 'from above' i.e. prison guards, police, secret service, owing favours to other powers that were in charge previous to the present government...how did they manage to evade re-capture for 15 days, during which they committed a few robberies, some shootouts, injuries to various police without help 'from above'...massive turn out of gendarmerie, federales, provincials, locales managed to let them escape from under their noses for 15 days...
One fugitive, Martin Lanatta, was finally captured (with the help of a borrowed horse, as the landscape is somewhat inhospitable to vehicles, as the photo shows) after he turtled a stolen half ton truck, repainted as a police vehicle...
Stolen Half Ton truck...Martin Lanatta crawled out of this one a little 'worse for wear'

The remaining two escapees were 'captured' - but not really - as they appeared at loose again as soon as the 'capture' was announced on TV...but two days later they were finally corralled in the change room of a rice mill in the Pampas of Santa Fe....
The 'Before'  Pictures....


The Three Stooges after recapture....

They were so hungry and thirsty after a few days without access to water and food, that they asked the kidnapped attendant of the mill to let them eat the doggie bone which of course by right belonged to the mill dog...first words of Christian Lanatta (his prison mate Victor Schilacci was not quoted) were: kill me or take me in, but give me a glass of water....but, the plot thickens...narco trafico and ex-cabinet minister connections, corruption of police forces, the Mexican and Chinese connection....the saga goes on.

In the meantime....




 
Avon Calling.....
the dog days of summer are definitely here. Dog-walkers pick up their charges at theowners' doors. The Labrador, who refuses to walk on a leash together with the pack (I know that dog since years) is now 'running off leash' but still joins the pack. A show of a certain canine independence: I will go for a walk with the dog walker, but ONLY if I am allowed to do so off leash....humanity consents.
 
 
Congreso...at the opposite end of Avenida de Mayo (at the other end is Casa Rosada, Government House)
The park in front of the Congreso, provides a shady location for tent cities, Buenos Aires style

Laundry at the tent city

Marble platform for make shift housing

Tent City neighbourhood

Beside the Parliament Building, the old Molinos Building, long neglected and now under reconstruction. It used to house one of the most famous 'confiterias' of Buenos Aires (the old furniture is allegedly still inside). Who knows,  one may dance a milonga here again sometime....all a question of time, Buenos Aires time, which may be somewhat lengthy and slow....
 
Bank Notes for larger nominations are in the making for 2017. Instead of political heroes and anti-heroes the new peso bills will feature heroes of the animal kingdom - a whale for 200 pesos

....and a leopard for 500 pesos

20, 100 and 50 peso notes will be replaced as well with new images. Un venado por Evita (100 Pesos), y un Condor por las Malvinas (50 Pesos), translating 'A Deer instead of Evita, and a Condor instead of the Falkland Islands'

Cats having a nap on a downtown balcony in Calle Salta, a block from Avenida de Mayo....some refurbishing needed as well. Canadian Building inspectors would have a fit!

Plaza Vaticano, beside Teatro Colon....someone tossed out a number of garbage bags filled with old headphones. A bone must have hidden among them....duly found by a perro callejero, who dug into the best smelling bag to get to the essence of things....an absolutely divine left over of someone's asado.
 
The cultural scene of Buenos Aires continues a lively as ever.
Verano en La Ciudad (Summer in the City) has started, albeit with programs attuned to reduced budgets. Huge outside life performances by top artists seem to be a thing of the past, but open air movie and music performances have taken their place. However, sitting on a balmy evening on Plaza Vaticano under a waning moon (the stars are invisible here - light pollution and air pollution are too heavy), with traffic unabated around the plaza, beside  the illuminated façade of the Teatro Colon, listening to a screened performance of Tchaikovsky and Beethoven is a good finale to an afternoon of tango.

 
 
Today in the City....35 to 36 degree heat....

 

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Club Gricel, Midnight 31 December 2015 to 1 January 2016, Buenos Aires Argentina


Midnight strikes, the toast is done, the music starts again. First with a little Conga, and then with a wild little Quarteto dance.....

Sunday, January 3, 2016

The Last of 2015 and the First of 2016

New Year's Eve at Sueno Porteno at Club Gricel in Buenos Aires...one dresses in white (at least most of us), brings a little something to eat, and awaits 2016 with food, champagne and tango. Not a bad combination. Julia (Pugliese) Doynel organizes the celebration, and yours truly sat at one of her 'reserved' tables. It is not the normal kind of 'milonga' where dancing is the 'raison d'etre' and agua con o sin gas the drink of choice. New Year's Eve, men and women mingle, friends sit with friends, and the order of the night is: food first, line up at the bar to get champagne (serving staff has the night off to celebrate with family) and then dance tango.
 
 
Gracias...the Leitmotif for all of Julia's milongas. Julia's philosophy is to give thanks to life for everything it brings.

Club Gricel...festive tables and a line up for purchases from the bar

The 'usual suspects' enjoying a sociable evening and night

Cutting La Torta

Ladies and Gentlemen, papusas y guapos, raise your glasses, the countdown has begun....
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0 - Happy New Year!
No tango, but a bit of crazy conga after the 'brindis' to bring in the New Year.

Eduardo, the remisero designate (designated taxi driver) who transported me back home by 1 a.m. - I was too tired to stick it out until 6 a.m. when the milonga officially would come to an end - with hot croissants compliments of the house.

White upon White

Unos de Los Angelitos en blanco

First Classes of Tango in 2016, why not head for the Galeria Pacifico, the famous shopping centre of th Calle Florida in Buenos Aires. It houses the Escuela Argentina de Tango (NEAT) on the second floor, under glass topped light filled 'galleries'.
NEAT acts like a mini 'university' for tango, teaching all disciplines and varieties of this art form. Many of the best known and respected teachers give regular classes (drop in as well as intensive workshops) according to a monthly fixed schedule.
Not only it the tango school situated here, but the four 'branches' of the upper story of this beautiful building house the 'Centro Cultural Borges' which dedicates the space to various ever changing exhibitions of local (or foreign) artists. One of the exhibitions presently shows work by Korda, the man made famous by his portrait of Che.
Who does not know this photo....
Very few people probably know anything about the rest of his work....
Of course, on Korda's visit to Buenos Aires in 1997, he did what most of us do at least once when we are here...dance tango in the street.
Another arm of the building exhibited works by a local artist - Pablo Kontos, who seemed to be taken by images of various pets and domestic animals.
cats
and dogs
...and horses
An example of a third exhibition of photographs....
Shopping at the Galeria Pacifico

Galeria Pacifico...interior second floor windows...
Elina Roldan, during her milonga con traspie class.
I actually attended two classes, one teaching Canyengue (with Manolo Gallego, still teaching at 83 years young) and one with Elina....3 hours intensive total
 I headed for Cine Lorca, a distance of a few blocks of walking in the heat on Avenida Corrientes.
Once I reached the entrance....I found the cinema closed due to 'corte de luz' - no lights, no cameras, no action. One of so many heat wave related electrical outages that plague the city with annoying frequency. Not so much a problem for cinemas, except the loss of audience, but for the regular citizens who try and deal with no elevators, no air conditioning, no fridges, no open stores in the vicinity...and all that in over 30 degree heat.
 
 Un Tango Mas, my movie of choice, telling the story of tango icons Copes and Nieves, has to wait for another day.
 
Happy New Year....all 365 Days of it!