six months

Dan: So, I guess we’ve been away for six months or so now, longer than either of us has ever been away from the amber waves of grain. I think we were finally experiencing a culture shock, or homesickness a few weeks ago. It seemed like nothing was going right. Getting things fixed was a hassle, classes kept being cancelled, money was coming in slowly, our friends were moving away. But now things are better, or at least we’ve become more able to accept the way things are. But things are ok. To quote my old friend Gringo George, “(Life) ain’t too shabby, when ya think about it.”

I did expect that my Spanish would be a lot better by this point. But, as I think I’ve mentioned before, I spend most of my day speaking English, at home, at work and with some friends. I need to figure out a way to get back in classes or something.

My classes are ok. I have maybe 18 or 20 classes per week. About the same as before, but with some different students. I still have the class of engineers of Obras Sanitarias, the public water works. Last weekend they invited me to an asado at a water purification plant outside of town, where they change river water into what comes from our faucet. They also had a nice little grilling facility. We took a little tour and ate a ton of food. I have one ‘coaching class’ with a 14-year old, in which I just go over what he does at school, and make up other related activities. He has a class of 30 kids at school and the teacher never asks them to speak or read aloud, so I try to make him talk as much as possible. I have a class of ladies who’ve been practicing English together for years. Me and 6 or 7 ladies. It’s like a staff meeting at home, but we are discussing British short stories instead of attendance policies. I’m not sure which I prefer more. I have a couple of 1-on-1 students who are agronomists, so they have to travel quite a bit. I’ll have them 4 days one week, then not again for a month. Nice people, but it makes for an unpredictable schedule and an unreliable paycheck.

Speaking of paychecks, it is a new experience for me to live in a world in which inflation is really noticeable. We’ve seen prices for fruits and veggies increase since we’ve been here. Of course it is winter, so things have to be trucked in, and my agronomist friends tell that there was also a frost up north in Salta and Jujuy, where we get our winter veggies. But everything is going up. I read in the paper that in July, prices in Mendoza increased by 3%. In one month! Food apparently rose by 5%. My pay didn’t increase. But at least I’m getting out of here in a few months, and I have savings in US dollars. The poor Mendocinos and Argentinos are helpless to the rise in prices. Now they will all have to ask their bosses for raises. One of the Institutes I work at annouced today that they will raise their prices for classes. I always understood the concept of inflation, but never was unfortunate enough to see it in action at such a rapid pace. I bought a liter of beer on Saturday for 3 pesos. On Thursday, at the same place, it was 3.25. Now that’s where it really hits home.

Sweet!

Lou: Food: My favorite sweet here (after ice cream) is dulce de leche (especially with some chocolate!) Dulce de leche like a caramel made from sweetened milk--not just sugar. I’ve discovered that some brands are better than others. One brand that I bought was more like regular caramel; it crystalized into a crust on top & just didn’t taste as good. A good brand stays creamy and is awesome just by itself! Since the main use of dulce de leche is as a cookie filling, I really didn’t think about buying any—that was until we had a house guest that had some & just ate it out of the container! I tried it by itself & was hooked. I’ve thought about putting it on icecream, but so far, I’ve bought ½ chocolate & ½ dulce de leche flavored icecream (its not swirls like you would get from kemps—the icecream itself is flavored & so good!) or “fruits of the forest” with raspberry & blackberry swirls. So, I haven’t gotten around to trying it as a topping.

Ice cream in the supermarket has pretty close to normal flavors. Neopolitan (thought they don’t call it that—that’s a kind of pizza), chocolate, strawberry, cookies & cream. But they also have lemon. In the artesenal ice cream shops they probably have 20-30 flavors including some sorbets, ice creams with any kind of fruit, some with raisins, and usually 5-10 different versions of chocolate. We’ve gotten cones from time to time & they give a tiny little plastic sampling spoon with which to eat it. I think eating the cone is optional. There are a few different cone options, differences in sizes of course, but there is also a pointed tip cone that has two little cone cups on each side of the center. Better support for three flavors! You can buy containers of it, but I haven’t checked to see how expensive that is—I think I’ll do that soon.

My favorite cheap cookies (one is raspberry-lemon) and some mandarinas from the tree of a nice fellow we know named Pepe. These mandarines had a million seeds, but were so sweet & sour they tasted like a sweet tart!

A Wednesday

Sorry, I think we neglect to just write about everyday things, what’s on our minds at any given time, our philosophies, complaints about the world. You know, the stuff of blogs.

The following, and I warn you that it may be boring, is what I did today. I probably got to sleep around 1 AM last night, slept poorly due to the beginnings of a cold, and woke up around 7:30. I ate my fibritas and yogurt, then took my new bicycle to work. But I didn’t ride it. I walked it to work. It has a flat back tire that seems to resist all repairs. I stopped at a gas station on the way, but they didn’t have the right kind of pump for my valves. But that’s ok because it probably wouldn’t have held the air anyway. So I got to work only a little late for my 9:00 class. My student Tuiti is a really sweet guy, who took my bike away with him in his truck, to bring to his childhood friend, who is a bicicletero (this is the word for a guy who fixes bikes). He fixed the brakes and gears and patched the tire for me last week too, but I guess I need a new tube. So then I walked home but texted Lou to come meet me at the Municipal building for some tourism. We went to the top floor where there is a terrace open to the public, if accompanied by a guide. We enjoyed the view on a beautiful day, and witnessed yet another protest of something or other at the government building, featuring fireworks explosions and drums. Due to the haze we couldn’t see the mountains too well. The haze was produced by the famous Zonda wind that comes a throughout the Winter. So what we hear is that this big warm wind comes from Chile, and in crossing the Andes loses its moisture. Somehow this results in a very warm day or two, followed by crappy, cold weather for a few days after. The air pressure always does funky stuff too, so people get sick. I get headaches. But then again, I always get headaches.

When we got home I took a 30-minute siesta. Lou awoke me with food and tea. Then I headed back off to work, sans bike. I soon realized that I had worn too many sweaters today. I’m so used to wearing half my wardrobe at once, that I was unprepared for sun. I had a student for an hour-long class, then got a lift to my other class of four engineers and a recent medical graduate, then walked back to the first institute for another hour-long class, in which I subjected my private student to a romantic Bryan Adams song, much to her delight. She said, “THIS is how I want to learn!” (side note: last week I used one of the greatest songs of all time, “A Boy Named Sue,” in another class, to mixed reactions). After that, I returned to the other institute for my conversation class, which sometimes has two people but usually, like tonight, has one. Carlos and I read an article about globalization. 8 PM I was done with work for the day. I walked home. The hallway on our floor is quite pungent, meaning that Louann has been cooking something very un-Argentine. Although the cuisine of this country is strongly influenced by that of Italy, I don’t imagine that anyone else in my building will be having butternut squash and sage risotto.

Places

I just got an email accusing us us appearing to only be "partying and traveling." It certainly doesn't feel like that. I wish that were so. I suppose we only take pictures when there is something fun happening. So finally we´ve put together a bunch of pictures of our everyday neighborhood places.

Google Earth pic of our house. (courtesy of Paul) Our neighborhood is full of boutiques, cybers and travel agencies, as well as some normal minimarkets.








We went to a fancy restaurant for lunch on a very hazy fall day. On other days you'd be able to see more of a mountain range. Decimo is located on the tenth floor of just about the tallest building in town (12 floors?). View was nice. The lunch was a little pricier than what we normally would spend, but tasty.






Here is that very building taken from Avenida Sarmiento, also known as La Peatonal, or pedestrian street. About a block and a half from our place is this 3 block walking mall, filled with shops, coffee and ice cream places and restaurants with outdoor seating. Most times of the day there are people drinking espressos and chatting. Tourists can also be found dining here, as it is pretty much the center of Mendoza. If you turn on the news during the day, there is usually someone broadcasting live from here.





Go the other direction a half block from our apartment and you will find Plaza Espana, one of the five plazas, varying in degree of cuteness, around the center of Mendoza city. This one currently is the champion in cuteness, featuring painted ceramic tiles, a fountain pool, a big monument and craft fair every Thursday through Sunday. You can find people shopping and just hanging out, drinking mate and chatting.




Before we moved to our current place, we used to spend time studying Spanish on benches at forgotten Plaza Italia. Sundays are the best time at any of these plazas because most people are with their families at home. Look closely and you can see Louann conjugating irregular verb tenses and getting a tan. This picture is from Autumn. Plaza Italia is currently undergoing renovations.




After living in this neighborhood a few months, we're figuring out the best places to buy certain items. No one-stop shopping for us. This shop has good pan casero (home-style bread) and I sometimes buy milanesas or a steak to cook at home.





This is the place where Lou gets most of our fruits and veggies. She is a regular there for sure. She and Alejandro have been throwing around the idea of English lessons in exchange for produce.






This is Mendoza´s Mercado Central. It is similar to the central market of any Latin American city but much, much cleaner. It seems pretty new or recently to cater to tourism. It doesn´t have the funky smells typical of other markets we've been to. We go to this place for special purchases that are harder to find at local shops, like mushrooms, cilantro, bean sprouts or chile peppers




This is the soccer stadium I walk by traveling between jobs. Last year its team was promoted to the highest league and so played in the 1978 World Cup stadium, the biggest stadium in town. It seems to be regularly used for youth soccer practices when i walk by. Sometimes I stop and watch for awhile from the stands. The team (Godoy Cruz) was demoted to the second league so I guess they'll be returning to this field.




Espacio Modigliani is an art gallery that is open one night a week for shows and live music. We've somehow become semi-regulars there. Louann is practicing her art-snob look.










This is the view from the back of a bus on my commute back home.

Pop culture

Dan: Teo asked about popular culture and music here. His exact words were “How retarded is Argentina?” I can’t claim to be an expert, but I can judge from the t-shirts the kids are wearing. Chile seemed to be an Iron Maiden type of country. I saw more black, creepy skeleton shirts than at the Minnesota State Fair in 1988. But as soon as we crossed the border, the Ramones rule. I don’t know if they were always popular or if it took some time. I have a theory that the simple lyrics are easier to understand and translate. My Chilean friend here was in a Ramones cover band in high school that did spanish versions of their songs like ,”Yo no quiero estar enterrado, en un pet cementerio.”

The normal big pop stars are big here as well; Metallica, U2. The folks here are well aware of past superstars like Nirvana and Guns and Roses, for example. Some friends here are also way more hip than either of us in the area of new music, in English, of the variety we used to hear on Radio K, the college radio station back home. But often when people get to talking about what kind of music they like, someone my age or younger says, “I really like the Rolling Stones. Do you like the Rolling Stones?” I’m a little confused. Did he use the present tense with The Stones? Do I like the Rolling Stones? It’s like asking, “Do you like sand?” I’ve never really thought about it. Sure, of course I do, but I wouldn’t think of it as something that defines my tastes. At times it would be impossible to avoid anyway. It’s just a part of life.

Rock Nacional (domestic rock) is very popular, but I can’t name any bands. We don’t have a radio of our own, and now that I stopped going to the gym (you know, that place where a guy named Raul tells you to lift that thing over there 30 times) all the Argentine rock I hear is from the boludo in the apartment next door.

Yes, Teo. Shakira is also here. As are Green Day and Avril Lavigne, at least judging from their images on school kids’ backpacks. Great role models for Argentine youngsters. Speaking to the Shakira Effect, a couple of weekends ago we were walking in a park and passed a pre-teen or maybe teen birthday picnic. To our surprise, the girls were listening to eastern tabla music, showing off their bellydance moves. So, the growth of “baile arabe” instruction must be a direct result of the Shakiraization of Latin America. On the bright side, maybe in a few years these kids will produce some wicked latino-arabic-pop punk.

English?

http://www.huellasandinas.com/primer1.html

Dan: I offered my translation services to this hostel a few months ago. It appears that they haven't changed their website yet. Maybe I'll bring them my business card again. These are the pitfalls of using only a translation program and not a human native speaker. Check out some of the interesting things on the menu if you go on one of their excursions. The scariest part is what's for breakfast if you go "Trekking in Villavicencio"

La inseguridad

Lou: What is the big political issue of politicians running for election this October in this province? Health care? No, luckily we don’t have info first hand, but affordable or free health care is the rule here. Immigration issues? No, We’ve heard that the penalty for overstaying your visa is only a US$16 fine. It seems the biggest political issue is “la inseguridad”—the insecurity. They’re not talking about the insecurity of not being able to have gas delivered in a simple and timely manner or of getting something as important as a water heater fixed immediately—those are just common annoyances (for which we haven’t received much sympathy here—people think we’re too uptight!). It’s the insecurity of the recent spike in crime. I’ve always felt safer here than in the Twin Cities. I figured petty crime is a worry since we look and act like foreigners much of the time, but random gang crime or other violent crime just doesn’t seem typical. And historically, it seems it is atypical.

The crimes involving guns that we hear of in the news involve robberies—for money or for cars. If someone is killed in a robbery the people hold protests and the community bands together. It still seems to me that violent crime is a worse problem in the states. It seems we hear of someone being shot almost every week in the Cities, but there have been less than a handful of shootings in Mendoza and greater Mendoza since we’ve been here. Maybe all of the crime doesn’t make the news, though. They have declared some sort of state of emergency and have brought in a some National Guards to help patrol. But it may just be a show for election season

The criminals, I’ve been told, are often young people that come from poorer communities further out of town. I guess living in the center of the city we are a little isolated from all of the crime that takes place farther out of the city. We often see cops on street corners and in squares, but I guess people are really frustrated with the lack of cop visibility outside of the touristy center.

Guns are very hard to get legally in Argentina, but I guess there are illegal ones to be found. I think more than often the perpetrators are without weapons and are just in a group able to overtake just one person on the street. Every few weeks Dan hears stories of someone that knows someone else that got robbed for money and jewelry, usually in less well lit, quieter suburbs. Our policy is to only carry valuables and money that we need and, if need be, to hand it over & get out! The laptop only gets out about once a week and is disguised in a backpack.

I hope we’ve had our experience with the “insecurity” and we can be done with it now. One Saturday evening I was in a large internet joint that has rows and rows of computers. I was there for quite awhile and had come in with my phone. While I was there, my phone seemed to have disappeared from coat pocket (my coat was on the back of my chair). There was a man that bent down to pick up something and asked the lady next to me if she had dropped it; I think this is the point that my phone grew legs. When I talked to the security guard there (who was nice, but not all that helpful) he said it was a bad day and a woman had lost her purse that morning. So, petty, opportunistic theft seems to be pretty prevalent. Even so, there are plenty of people that leave their phone or purse sitting right next to the keyboard in plain view. Maybe, plain view is better where everyone including yourself can see it! We are slowly learning.

Sign from men's room in Jujuy

Don't throw coca leaves on the floor. Let that be a lesson to ya.

Coca leaves (yes, the ones used to make cocaine) are chewed by folks in the north of Argentina and countries north of here. It curbs hunger pains and gives energy. It is also the medicine of choice for altitude sickness.

trying times addendum

Our loandlord's brother just send us a text message saying " I crashed my car so I couldn't get your new hot water heater. I'll fix things tomorrow."

trying times

We are having an annoying week. Our gas cannister ran out. We rely upon this for our space heater. No big deal, right? Just go get another right? Well a 10kg can of gas is pretty heavy, but there are companies that bring it to your home. How convenient, right? Well, every time we´ve ordered one, we´ve had to wait until the next evening, which means at least a day of cold. We can´t order before we run out, because we must also return the empty can. This week the delivery people came, and even though we left instructions to get the empty can and the payment form the caretakers while we were out, they left anyway. The next day we ordered again, but they called later to tell us their supplies for the day had run out. I called another company which promised morning delivery, but then they also ran out, but promised an evening drop. Right now, I hope that Louann is at home, enjoying the recently delivered source of heat. After four days of cold, we need it.

Adding to our lack of comfort, is the recent drop in water temperature in our house. We thought it was related to the drop in air temp outside, but turns out to be something more. So for the past week or so we´ve been taking cold, and brief showers. In the summer this wouldn´t be so terrible. But now it is maybe in the 40s and i´'ll be colder tonight. The landlord´s bro came the other night to check it out on the weekend, and today he is slated to come and try repairing it.

Also adding to our annoyance, and not helping with our communication with various heat-oriented services, was the recent theft of Lulu´s celular phone. She was sitting at a computer at a Cyber place and someone lifted it out of her jacket pocket. Now we are waiting to get a chip in the mail (to keep her old number) so we can shop for a new phone, get it activated, and get our lives back on track.

First five months video montage

Here is our first experiment with video. We are pretty unsophisticated at video editing, but it's a first try.

Prepare yourself for a pretty boring, 5-minute video. The video includes the following:

La Via Blanca ( Parade of Vendimia princesses – March )

Puente del Inca

Abandoned roundhouse and train station at Las Cuevas

Mountains at Cristo Redentor (border of Chile and Argentina)

Exciting footage of busride from Cordoba

Exciting footage of busride in Cordoba, with nervous pedestrian

Ischigualasto/ Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon)

Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat)– Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls

Hummingbirds at orchid garden – Puerto Iguazu

Eating humitas at Rincon del la Empanada – Salta

Pre-Inca ruins at Santa Rosa de Tastil

a blustery august day

It´s August 2nd and we have snow. Sure it is winter here, but apparently there hasn´t been snow in the city for 20 years. It has snowed 3 or 4 times since we´ve been here.