Well, if one flees northern winters to enjoy southern summers, one has
to put up with the odd hot day. Yesterday is rained - heavily - for a few minutes, and the permanently plugged up drainage pipes of Buenos
Aires caused the city to be flooded again, floating garbage and all.
Today, different day, different problem: with every air conditioner on
full blast, power outages hit Buenos Aires, Internet and television
fade to black, and ice cream sales are brisk.
40 degrees at noon today, a furnace.
The Good News: La Presidenta is back, and the country is back to normal, which is - for anyone else - the same as 'incomprehensible'.
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| Here she is, on one of her last photo ops in Asia. Efforts are underway by the party in power, to change the constitution, to allow her to run for a third (presently illegal) term of office. |
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| In the meantime, La Santissima Trinidad, a warship that participated in the Falkland War, sank - tied to the dock. The government calls it sabotage, some others call is a hole in the hull due to lack of maintenance. Once she hits bottom, the hull is said to be sealed. Local daily papers mentioned, that the United Kingdom has asked France for help, in case the Falkland Islands (under British protection) would be attacked by Argentina in the continuing drama of the Malvinas and the Falklands. Some on line commentators questioned, whether Argentina would inspire these nations to rise to battle, considering that between the sunken Santissima Trinidad, and the frigate Libertador, there is really not much else calling itself Naval Forces. |
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| If it would be allowed, the whole city would be dressed like this today - a furnace again. One would love to join the lotus flowers emerging from this lovely pond. |
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| No tango today - need a certain 'dedication' to dance, bear the heat and keep breathing at the same time...the HEAT! So one heads for the zoo, lots of shade there. Price for a single ticket to enter rose five fold from last year, 60 pesos for a single visit now. But - now it includes a visit to the aquarium, the 'reptilium', the tropical forest. Not that many of the families, who used to fill the picnic areas during cheaper times, will be taking advantage of the new bonus. They headed here on weekends, via crowded subway 'destination zoo', with a small army of family members of all ages, and enjoyed feeding the animals and sitting under the tree canopies and unpacking and digging into their home cooked food. The Zoo may be pretty empty on weekends now. |
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| Without the crowds, the unusual architecture of the zoo buildings is more noticeable. |
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| One of the African Elephants...a little older now, and still playing with small sticks. |
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| Even the statues adorning the many animal houses seem to flake out from the HEAT. |
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| Un 'felino', a beautiful huge leopard, enjoys the quiet afternoon. |
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| And the 'whatever-it-is called' observes the visitors from his brownish pond. |
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| And Llamas as big as horses beg for food. Forecast for tomorrow calls for a few 'tormencitos', in other words 'little thunderstorms', which is a nice way of saying that we may be flooded out again. But, the temperatures are supposed to drop down a few soothing degrees. |
