Hola a todos y todas as our beloved Cristina loves to start her speeches.
Well, it would be hard for me to top the recent events taking place in Egypt, shocking events but if one thinks of the whys, it really isn't! Increasing population, poverty levels rising, high unemployement, massive corruption, most of the youth with no hope in sight for a better future or a future at all!. Sound that unfamiliar? Even in the so called "first world" countries, although not to such an extreme extent, similar scenes have already been experienced. And here in Argentina in my humble opinion, we are not so far away.
But today's article is not about comparative political and socio-economical disasters happening or on the brink of breaking out. Today, I want to just recap a few of the "acontecimientos" or happenings in this, the first month of the year.
Many will remember the article about Rodolfo Stefanon, the government official in charge of transporting cash from the treasury where it is held and to be delivered to the "competent" authorities at the airport prior to the president's departure on official foreign visits. You'll remmeber how he instead of going directly to the airport , he made a detour to his home getting out of the governemt-provided vehicule provided to him, a block away from his residence carrying almost the equivilent of $100,000USD and was supposedly attacked and robbed...for the second time within 1 month. And remember the reason why he often opted to keep the money at his home in a "safe"place? Because he said he didn't trust the official to whom he was to entrust the cash!!! Well, what's happening as far as we know is nothing... NADA! But maybe we'll forget about it as Argentines have a tendency to do until it joggles our brain the next time it occurs
In another article I wrote of the series of bank robberies in this and previous months of January. Well,
on the past Friday, a bank on my street near my home was robbed at 11am with no clues as to the whereabouts or identity of the assailants. 15 minutes prior, another bank was robbed and in yet another instance, a woman having withdrawn $6000 at another bank was kidnapped as she left the bank, put into a secuestered taxi and then freed in a far-distant part of the city. All of this before noon. At least the thieves had lunch money!
The latest wave of women being set on fire is also in the news. The fifth one this month died, fortunately for her, yesterday.It's senseless to talk about the other many murders this week alone including a low rank union leader who was taken out of a members-only club, put into a car and shot in the head being found later that day.I could fill pages! But that's why we have the newspaper Cronica here.
The lack of coins still is omni-present. And although well into nearly its 2nd year of its promise in February, 2009, only 2000 of the city's 17,000 buses (12%) are equipped with a magnetic card reading devise; the latest promise is May, but was the year 2011 mentioned??
And since many of the portenos are now on vacation on the Atlantic coast, the surprises reach there also. Recent tales of little kids driving 4-wheeled vehicles, I believe called dune buggies in English, are hitting the press, the most recent of a 6 year old who ran over a 4 year old in his way. There was also the story of the pre-pubescent boy whose uncle allowed him a to drive his car on a highway as he filmed it. QUE GRANDE, TIO!
Many people are still not able to pay the taxes levied on their properties in the outskirts of BA since they have reached an even higher increase, in some cases, of 950% higher than in 2010.But thank God, groceries increases are only in the double digits this month. A case in point, lettuce went up from $2.99 pesos per kilo to $9.99 as of yesterday. And perhaps the worst for me is that tonic water is often not an any shelves of the supermarkets, no matter at what price! So now when I see it even if not on sale or with a" 2 for the price of 1" although here it is "6 for the price of 4", I buy the 1.5 liter bottles; smaller ones there aren't and forget about cans! The employee at the French-owned super market chain, Carrefour, told me yesterday it just isn't being sent. So maybe I should think about Gin martinis and buy some vermouth while I can still find it.
And do you remember the taxi driver who barely ecsaped his own death due to the suicide attempt of a thirty-something woman who leapt 23 floors out of a downtown 5-star hotel and survived the fall. after landing on his car? I bet she wishes now that she had taken the elevator! Well, the taxi driver's insurance didn't cover his totally- damaged car ( and livelihood from it) due to the fall. But the good news of the week is that the taxi association and fellow drivers pooled the necessary money to have it repaired. So the drivers in the meantime gets a forced vacation and doesn't eat lettuce at 10 "mangos", slang for pesos, a kilo.
But we still have 36 hours of surprises left until February begins. I must now go and flatten out of the bulges in my king-size mattress which gets thinner every day.
But if none of the above have personally affected you, consider yourself lucky and be patient...
your turn will come!
SES
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
"The Kiss" x 43
To tell you the truth, I have to get up early to write these tales due to a series of factors. Sometimes it's due to work, sometimes it's due to the time-consuming errands which eat up my day with the endless lines and incompetent employes with whom we all must deal! But in the summer, it is due mostly to the cooler ( everything is realtive) mornings compared to the suffocating rest of the day. We reached another record on this past Tuesday with a whopping 43.6C; for those of you not that familiar with the Celcius temperature scale, named after the 18th century Swedish astronomer and physicist who is accredited for its invention,
that is 110F. AND THAT IS HOT!! What also doesn't help is being in a cement jungle like Buenos Aires or any other city which has high degrees of humidity of 80-90%.
I, however, am fortunate that I have a cooling factor which doesn't come out of an air conditioner. 3 times per week, I go to a nearby swimming pool for a class of water aerobics. In my opinion, the water is too warm but as I am at least one generation younger than most who do the class with me, I guess they ask for it to be a few degrees above what I'd prefer. Be that as it may, however, it is a relief to know that I'll be spending the next hour in a pool full of H2O.
Yesterday by the time I got to my place in the pool, I had exchanged over 10 kisses. NO, this wasn't an aqua orgy! This was simply greeting my new class companions as one does here in hot Argentina.
In my Portuguese conversation class every Friday evening, the teacher goes from seated student to student giving them a kiss and the students do the same to their fellow classmates; this means amongst the 13 of us, 156 kisses are exchanged!
Yesterday, I made it a point to count how many kisses I gave or received and the number was 43. This was on a day when I stayed in a great deal due to the heat but there still was lots of lip action!.
I went to the optical shop next to my building and exchanged kisses with the 3 employees, 2 women and 1 man. Kisses here know NO border for men and women and amongst men and women. Men in business suits kiss other men in jackets and ties thousands of times per day as they prepare court cases and trials or as they count their tills in banks and supermarkets, sharpen their knives in butcher shops or open their"tienda" doors to customers. It's defintiely not seen as a "gay thing".
I kissed the 30 year old grandson of my friends who dropped by their house to pay them a short visit. I kissed the woman who makes me photocopies and her assistant. I kissed 7 neighbours in my building. I kissed the lady who mends my pants as well as her assistant and another woman, a client, who was also there even though we had never met before. I kissed the waitresses at a local restaurant I frequent as well as the male owner and sometimes even the man grilling the meats.
I find this 95% of the time a very welcoming gesture. I, though, do confess that there are times when I tire just thinking of the endless kisses I must give when I attend a social gathering.
I have lived in many countries which have various levels of "puckering up". In the land of 1000 smiles, aka the Czech Republic, when a kiss is given, it is done with one on each side of the cheek as in most European countries. But these kisses are not given out easily and it is, when done, generally not done often between men unless they are close friends or relatives. In Poland and Russia, the kiss is offered and received 3 times.
And in most English-speaking countries, if given, it is once and not common amongst men. Even Brazilians comment on the male-to-male kissing habits of the macho Argentinos and are initially surprised by it. But as you know, we here love those surprises and to surprise in the" land of 1000 surprises" known as Argentina.
We love the kiss so much that we even commonly send kisses over the phone to our friends, their families and anyone else who'd like one.
So before it melts in your purse our pocket, apply that lip balm because there's going to be a lot of kissing going on.
Besos,
SES
that is 110F. AND THAT IS HOT!! What also doesn't help is being in a cement jungle like Buenos Aires or any other city which has high degrees of humidity of 80-90%.
I, however, am fortunate that I have a cooling factor which doesn't come out of an air conditioner. 3 times per week, I go to a nearby swimming pool for a class of water aerobics. In my opinion, the water is too warm but as I am at least one generation younger than most who do the class with me, I guess they ask for it to be a few degrees above what I'd prefer. Be that as it may, however, it is a relief to know that I'll be spending the next hour in a pool full of H2O.
Yesterday by the time I got to my place in the pool, I had exchanged over 10 kisses. NO, this wasn't an aqua orgy! This was simply greeting my new class companions as one does here in hot Argentina.
In my Portuguese conversation class every Friday evening, the teacher goes from seated student to student giving them a kiss and the students do the same to their fellow classmates; this means amongst the 13 of us, 156 kisses are exchanged!
Yesterday, I made it a point to count how many kisses I gave or received and the number was 43. This was on a day when I stayed in a great deal due to the heat but there still was lots of lip action!.
I went to the optical shop next to my building and exchanged kisses with the 3 employees, 2 women and 1 man. Kisses here know NO border for men and women and amongst men and women. Men in business suits kiss other men in jackets and ties thousands of times per day as they prepare court cases and trials or as they count their tills in banks and supermarkets, sharpen their knives in butcher shops or open their"tienda" doors to customers. It's defintiely not seen as a "gay thing".
I kissed the 30 year old grandson of my friends who dropped by their house to pay them a short visit. I kissed the woman who makes me photocopies and her assistant. I kissed 7 neighbours in my building. I kissed the lady who mends my pants as well as her assistant and another woman, a client, who was also there even though we had never met before. I kissed the waitresses at a local restaurant I frequent as well as the male owner and sometimes even the man grilling the meats.
I find this 95% of the time a very welcoming gesture. I, though, do confess that there are times when I tire just thinking of the endless kisses I must give when I attend a social gathering.
I have lived in many countries which have various levels of "puckering up". In the land of 1000 smiles, aka the Czech Republic, when a kiss is given, it is done with one on each side of the cheek as in most European countries. But these kisses are not given out easily and it is, when done, generally not done often between men unless they are close friends or relatives. In Poland and Russia, the kiss is offered and received 3 times.
And in most English-speaking countries, if given, it is once and not common amongst men. Even Brazilians comment on the male-to-male kissing habits of the macho Argentinos and are initially surprised by it. But as you know, we here love those surprises and to surprise in the" land of 1000 surprises" known as Argentina.
We love the kiss so much that we even commonly send kisses over the phone to our friends, their families and anyone else who'd like one.
So before it melts in your purse our pocket, apply that lip balm because there's going to be a lot of kissing going on.
Besos,
SES
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Always look down...but now look up! and quick!
In a previous article, I wrote about the importance of looking down due to the "soretes" or doggy doo, aka as "crap", a word related to that writing but as always in the "land of 1000 surprises" here's yet another one!
Today is just a short ,YES SHORT, retelling of a tragic story which took place yesterday late morning.
From the 23rd floor terrace of a top hotel located in the very center of Buenos Aires, a young woman in her early 30s went flying through the air and MIRACULOUSLY survived the fall. Yes, a true miracle!
It is still not sure the reasons for her fall: an angry push, lost her footing(very unlikely) or a suicide attempt. After seeing the imagages of the woman having landed on top a of taxi with her torso having gone through the windschield and her legs and head on the hood and roof of the taxi, respectively, one can't help but be in awe that she could have any possible life left in her.
Another miracle is that the taxi driver wasn't invloved physically in the event. He tells the story obviously almost in a state of shock how he got away without a scratch.
He was waiting for his passneger to return to his cab from the hotel when he saw a cop and a few others look in horror up into the sky. He got out of the car and 1 second later.... there she was! In the driver's seat!
It took 4 seconds for her to descend those 23 floors with an impact that crushed the car and parts of her, but as I said, she surivived the fall and after 2 emergency operations, she is still alive today with a fairly positive prognosis.
How many times, I thought, have I brought tourists to the Panamerican Hotel, the place of the occurence, only 2 minutes from the huge obelisk in the 9 de julio broad avenue, a symbol of the city smack in the center of Buenos Aires. Imagine their shock and mine, the guide's, arriving at a 5 star property as someone opted for not taking the elevator!
But now more of the sad reality. The woman is in the hospital but the poor taxi driver is not only without a car to drive and make his living but also must pay for all of the damages suffered by the taxi due to the woman's fall since here in Argentina car insurance doesn't cover such incidentes. There is talk about changing this in the future especially since in the past years the amounts of massive size balls of hail have damaged thousands of cars' windhsields, roofs and hoods on an ever -increasing scale but for the unfortunate owner of the mentioned car, this doesn't help him much for now.
So my friends, always look up, look down, look to your right and to your left and turn around also just to be 100% sure and try not to get too dizzy; let daily life do that to you!
SES
Today is just a short ,YES SHORT, retelling of a tragic story which took place yesterday late morning.
From the 23rd floor terrace of a top hotel located in the very center of Buenos Aires, a young woman in her early 30s went flying through the air and MIRACULOUSLY survived the fall. Yes, a true miracle!
It is still not sure the reasons for her fall: an angry push, lost her footing(very unlikely) or a suicide attempt. After seeing the imagages of the woman having landed on top a of taxi with her torso having gone through the windschield and her legs and head on the hood and roof of the taxi, respectively, one can't help but be in awe that she could have any possible life left in her.
Another miracle is that the taxi driver wasn't invloved physically in the event. He tells the story obviously almost in a state of shock how he got away without a scratch.
He was waiting for his passneger to return to his cab from the hotel when he saw a cop and a few others look in horror up into the sky. He got out of the car and 1 second later.... there she was! In the driver's seat!
It took 4 seconds for her to descend those 23 floors with an impact that crushed the car and parts of her, but as I said, she surivived the fall and after 2 emergency operations, she is still alive today with a fairly positive prognosis.
How many times, I thought, have I brought tourists to the Panamerican Hotel, the place of the occurence, only 2 minutes from the huge obelisk in the 9 de julio broad avenue, a symbol of the city smack in the center of Buenos Aires. Imagine their shock and mine, the guide's, arriving at a 5 star property as someone opted for not taking the elevator!
But now more of the sad reality. The woman is in the hospital but the poor taxi driver is not only without a car to drive and make his living but also must pay for all of the damages suffered by the taxi due to the woman's fall since here in Argentina car insurance doesn't cover such incidentes. There is talk about changing this in the future especially since in the past years the amounts of massive size balls of hail have damaged thousands of cars' windhsields, roofs and hoods on an ever -increasing scale but for the unfortunate owner of the mentioned car, this doesn't help him much for now.
So my friends, always look up, look down, look to your right and to your left and turn around also just to be 100% sure and try not to get too dizzy; let daily life do that to you!
SES
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Who's calling? Hola...Hola!
Dear Readers,
Perhaps to some of you , it seems as though I only complain about certain things when I write about the daily occurences which affect me and us living here in this thrilling, exciting, beautiful and ever- surprising Buenos Aires. While this in part may be true, I also try to interject humor which one so deperately needs in order to not go totally "loco".
A famous and well repspected Argentine journalist and tv reporter, whose opinions I mostly share, said that where in many parts of the world most people have progressively evident improvements in their lives economically, socially and health-wise,where as here in Argentina , most believe that their standard of living has gotten gradually worse every year and long for the decades of yesteryear. And let me remind you that those days gone by were not necessarily easy and pleasant ones yet many people still yearn for them.
This statement the journalist made was pronounced in late 2008 just as the world was entering into the "crisis" and has certainly altered many opinions in other countries but I believe that for many, it still holds "somewhat" true.
The word crisis is one which was not on the tip of everyone's tongue elsewhere (unless you come from Haiti, Bangladesh or sub-Saharan Africa where it's the only existance which these poor souls know and crisis means daily life); however, here in Argentina, in my generation, one is born with "la crisis", lives with "la crisis" and will most likely die with "la crisis". In this instance,on the positive side, people here are much better able to handle and adapt to the turbulant political, social and economic hardships which challenge them daily; this is something which most people from the so called deveolped countries would have major obstacles copingwith day in and day out.
But today's Argentina has taken major leaps and bounds in the world of telephone communication.
I try to only write about subjects which I personally have experienced as we all know how stories passed from mouth to mouth can become inflated, exagerated and end far from the original one first related.
In the 1970s and 1980s, a private telephone line in one's home was a luxury; there were only so many lines and that was it! Impossible to get a new line installed. As I wrote in another article, in the early 80s, I purchased my first apartment here for a massive amount in pesos and a much smaller number in USD (the currency in which 99.99% of ALL, I MEAN ALL properties have been bought and sold in Argentina for decades, even though it is not the currency of the nation.)
Approximately 50% of the selling price of the apartment was due to the fact that it came equipped with a telephone line. If I remember well, less than half of the building's owners had a telephone line and it was a bit like in the early days of televisions when the first family on the block to have a tv suddenly became the best friends of the neighborhood.
Every one at one time or another knocked on Esteban's ...that's me...door.
But just because you have a televison, let's say, does not mean it will work if you have no electric outlet in which to plug it. The same was true for the phone at that time here.
A rain storm.... not a hurricane or tornado... could easily knock out your line. And when one was lucky to have the line in tact, the next challenge was will the line be free? Do you remember the 1959 film "Pillow Talk" about a shared party telephone line with Doris Day of "que sera, sera" fame along with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall? Well, that was how it was here although we didn't have shared party lines, at least I didn't; they just happened and surprised us as one would pick up the receiver and hear a lively conversation between 2 other people taking place in your very own ears. I often had to kindly ask the other parties to hang up so that I could attempt, while praying, to reach the party I wanted. Many times, they continued to talk as there was nothing I could do except to listen in and interject my thoughts and comments until they tired of this so much that the line would eventually, albeit it for a little while, become free.
Then , there was the challenge of making the call to the right party. No, I wasn't drunk and could dial..... dial I said, no touch tones here! The number dialed would often be one which wasn't related to the desired 6 or 7 digits and the whole process had to be done over again and sometimes again and again and again.
It was often easier to leave the house and go to a public phone...with yet another challenge.
As inflation was rampant into the thousands of percent, coins ,when minted, lost their value before they even made it into circulation so in order to make a call from a public telephone using them, thus a token called "cospel" or "ficha" was needed but they were higly coveted and sought after valuable items as one bought them at 5000 pesos on Monday and they were being sold the next week at over 10,000. This was a way to ward off inflation and make 100% on your investment of last week so they were hoarded and often very hard to find. The black market on coins or tokens isn't such a recent phenomenon as it has existed here for decades. In those days, there were no "locutorios" or calling centers which one finds on every block today. There was one telephone company, ENTEL, and they controlled the spoken word , knew it and charged accordingly.
And I remember well that to make an international call, I couldn't do it easily from home and if I did the price and time spoken that ENTEL registered and charged me had no relation with what I really should have paid. It was much higher by great amounts and any challenge contesting the bill involved the possibility of losing your precious phone line. So, I would make the 2 mile walk to ENTEL on Saturday and book the international call for the next Sunday reassuring myself of the price as I would pay directly there on the spot partially before and partially after the made call. Can't trust those callers!
I often complain of the lack of what I call "telephone etiquette" here. In the other part of the world where I also live, also with a very dodgy telephone past, in today's Czech Republic as well as in its neighboring countries such as Germany, Austria or Hungary, one knows immediately who answered the phone because they not only, in the case of a commercial call, mention the name of the firm but also their family name. Many even answer their home phones by saying "Schmidt, Novak or Fekete" leaving no wonder who is on the other end. And let me stress the fact that the former Iron Curtain countries also had a huge lack of private phones and constant eavesdropping by the nation's secret police. Yet their telephone etiquette is of a high and desirable standard.
How many times when I answer the telephone here do I hear ,after saying "Hola", the first words on the other side are "quien habla?" or "who's speaking"? I come back with a "who's speaking with me?" They have invaded into my domain and privacy, not I into theirs. Another major lack of telephone culture is when I answer and the other side either : 1) asks who it is and then I give them my response or if they should ask for a Pablo or Adriana and I say there is no one with that name here, click.. they hang up without saying sorry for dialing the wrong number or 2) simply don't hear the voice they are expecting and rudely cut the call without a word.
And in the "professional" world, another topic for a long article, counted are the times when the employee asks if he or she can take a message and have the desired person with whom I wish to talk call me back; the vast majority of the time one gets a " she or he's not in now..call back later". I am the customer paying for the service, I pay your salary, not you mine! And when I insist upon them calling me back, it just doesn't happen!!!
I wind up having to go through the whole scene once more.
But now, there are no more monopolies like ENTEL, just more conniving and money hungry companies which still try to suck every peso they can out of their users while providing terrible client service and products. Their tactics are quite the same as those from the past whether its a land line or a cell phone, the only difference is that you get to pick the thief.
And by the way, after you've paid the outrageous cell phone bill to the one group of theives, there are many more thieves waiting for you once you leave home and venture out into the street who are only too willing to relieve of your next month's telephone trials and tribulations by snatching your Nokia or Erikson.
So keep your voice down, think if that next call is really necessary and long for the days when people actually spoke face to face and it was more plesant, free of charge and void of year-long contracts.
SES
Perhaps to some of you , it seems as though I only complain about certain things when I write about the daily occurences which affect me and us living here in this thrilling, exciting, beautiful and ever- surprising Buenos Aires. While this in part may be true, I also try to interject humor which one so deperately needs in order to not go totally "loco".
A famous and well repspected Argentine journalist and tv reporter, whose opinions I mostly share, said that where in many parts of the world most people have progressively evident improvements in their lives economically, socially and health-wise,where as here in Argentina , most believe that their standard of living has gotten gradually worse every year and long for the decades of yesteryear. And let me remind you that those days gone by were not necessarily easy and pleasant ones yet many people still yearn for them.
This statement the journalist made was pronounced in late 2008 just as the world was entering into the "crisis" and has certainly altered many opinions in other countries but I believe that for many, it still holds "somewhat" true.
The word crisis is one which was not on the tip of everyone's tongue elsewhere (unless you come from Haiti, Bangladesh or sub-Saharan Africa where it's the only existance which these poor souls know and crisis means daily life); however, here in Argentina, in my generation, one is born with "la crisis", lives with "la crisis" and will most likely die with "la crisis". In this instance,on the positive side, people here are much better able to handle and adapt to the turbulant political, social and economic hardships which challenge them daily; this is something which most people from the so called deveolped countries would have major obstacles copingwith day in and day out.
But today's Argentina has taken major leaps and bounds in the world of telephone communication.
I try to only write about subjects which I personally have experienced as we all know how stories passed from mouth to mouth can become inflated, exagerated and end far from the original one first related.
In the 1970s and 1980s, a private telephone line in one's home was a luxury; there were only so many lines and that was it! Impossible to get a new line installed. As I wrote in another article, in the early 80s, I purchased my first apartment here for a massive amount in pesos and a much smaller number in USD (the currency in which 99.99% of ALL, I MEAN ALL properties have been bought and sold in Argentina for decades, even though it is not the currency of the nation.)
Approximately 50% of the selling price of the apartment was due to the fact that it came equipped with a telephone line. If I remember well, less than half of the building's owners had a telephone line and it was a bit like in the early days of televisions when the first family on the block to have a tv suddenly became the best friends of the neighborhood.
Every one at one time or another knocked on Esteban's ...that's me...door.
But just because you have a televison, let's say, does not mean it will work if you have no electric outlet in which to plug it. The same was true for the phone at that time here.
A rain storm.... not a hurricane or tornado... could easily knock out your line. And when one was lucky to have the line in tact, the next challenge was will the line be free? Do you remember the 1959 film "Pillow Talk" about a shared party telephone line with Doris Day of "que sera, sera" fame along with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall? Well, that was how it was here although we didn't have shared party lines, at least I didn't; they just happened and surprised us as one would pick up the receiver and hear a lively conversation between 2 other people taking place in your very own ears. I often had to kindly ask the other parties to hang up so that I could attempt, while praying, to reach the party I wanted. Many times, they continued to talk as there was nothing I could do except to listen in and interject my thoughts and comments until they tired of this so much that the line would eventually, albeit it for a little while, become free.
Then , there was the challenge of making the call to the right party. No, I wasn't drunk and could dial..... dial I said, no touch tones here! The number dialed would often be one which wasn't related to the desired 6 or 7 digits and the whole process had to be done over again and sometimes again and again and again.
It was often easier to leave the house and go to a public phone...with yet another challenge.
As inflation was rampant into the thousands of percent, coins ,when minted, lost their value before they even made it into circulation so in order to make a call from a public telephone using them, thus a token called "cospel" or "ficha" was needed but they were higly coveted and sought after valuable items as one bought them at 5000 pesos on Monday and they were being sold the next week at over 10,000. This was a way to ward off inflation and make 100% on your investment of last week so they were hoarded and often very hard to find. The black market on coins or tokens isn't such a recent phenomenon as it has existed here for decades. In those days, there were no "locutorios" or calling centers which one finds on every block today. There was one telephone company, ENTEL, and they controlled the spoken word , knew it and charged accordingly.
And I remember well that to make an international call, I couldn't do it easily from home and if I did the price and time spoken that ENTEL registered and charged me had no relation with what I really should have paid. It was much higher by great amounts and any challenge contesting the bill involved the possibility of losing your precious phone line. So, I would make the 2 mile walk to ENTEL on Saturday and book the international call for the next Sunday reassuring myself of the price as I would pay directly there on the spot partially before and partially after the made call. Can't trust those callers!
I often complain of the lack of what I call "telephone etiquette" here. In the other part of the world where I also live, also with a very dodgy telephone past, in today's Czech Republic as well as in its neighboring countries such as Germany, Austria or Hungary, one knows immediately who answered the phone because they not only, in the case of a commercial call, mention the name of the firm but also their family name. Many even answer their home phones by saying "Schmidt, Novak or Fekete" leaving no wonder who is on the other end. And let me stress the fact that the former Iron Curtain countries also had a huge lack of private phones and constant eavesdropping by the nation's secret police. Yet their telephone etiquette is of a high and desirable standard.
How many times when I answer the telephone here do I hear ,after saying "Hola", the first words on the other side are "quien habla?" or "who's speaking"? I come back with a "who's speaking with me?" They have invaded into my domain and privacy, not I into theirs. Another major lack of telephone culture is when I answer and the other side either : 1) asks who it is and then I give them my response or if they should ask for a Pablo or Adriana and I say there is no one with that name here, click.. they hang up without saying sorry for dialing the wrong number or 2) simply don't hear the voice they are expecting and rudely cut the call without a word.
And in the "professional" world, another topic for a long article, counted are the times when the employee asks if he or she can take a message and have the desired person with whom I wish to talk call me back; the vast majority of the time one gets a " she or he's not in now..call back later". I am the customer paying for the service, I pay your salary, not you mine! And when I insist upon them calling me back, it just doesn't happen!!!
I wind up having to go through the whole scene once more.
But now, there are no more monopolies like ENTEL, just more conniving and money hungry companies which still try to suck every peso they can out of their users while providing terrible client service and products. Their tactics are quite the same as those from the past whether its a land line or a cell phone, the only difference is that you get to pick the thief.
And by the way, after you've paid the outrageous cell phone bill to the one group of theives, there are many more thieves waiting for you once you leave home and venture out into the street who are only too willing to relieve of your next month's telephone trials and tribulations by snatching your Nokia or Erikson.
So keep your voice down, think if that next call is really necessary and long for the days when people actually spoke face to face and it was more plesant, free of charge and void of year-long contracts.
SES
Friday, January 21, 2011
Time to buy a bigger mattress
January is the start of the new year. It's the time we begin to realize that we probably won't keep true to our new year's resolutions although this year and already over 3 weeks into 2011, I have religiously kept my 2 vows: the first was to enroll and actually go to a water aerobics class 3x weekly which I do every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So far, so good and I slowly can feel and see the difference which encourages me to continue as well as the fact, which for me is AS important, that the class and pool are 2 minutes from my home on foot just around the corner so no bus, metro or tram needed; the second promise was to start this blog and continue with it. You all are witness to this as I put much effort and thought into every article, whether you agree with me or not!
In the northern hemisphere, January is cold, days are short and nights are long and many count the hours of darkness until the sun will shine again brightly. But here in the southern hemisphere, and especially in Argentina, it's the time for balmy evenings outdoors, lazy afternoons lying in a park to perfect that tan which doesn't require solariums or sprays and a generally more relaxed period of the year. There's also less traffic and people on the streets because it is also the time of year for those long-deisred and well-deserved summer vacations.And many friends, family, neighbors and fellow citizens are somewhere on the Atlantic coast or elsewhere in this large world. For those who really want to see or be seen, there's always Punta del Este in Uruguay. A small, exclusive refuge for the "beautiful" people or those who have the money to convince the others that they are indeed beautiful. In this friendly neighboring country to Argentina whose average annual income( and this average is of course open to many interpretations but on a whole, I'd say not far from the truth) is approximately $4500 USD, a night in one of the good hotels starts at $500 USD ( breakfast included). A bottle of water on beach goes from its normal $1 USD to $4 USD, a Wiener Schntizel sandwich at $ 15USD, etc. I think you get the picture. Rentals for upper- end properties can oscillate from $ 40000 USD (forty thousand) for a 4 bedroom house near the beach to $ 20000 USD (twenty thousand) for a 3 bedroom apartment......for 15 days, not a month, in January.
But January is also the time for bank robberies. Bank robberies, be they violent or not, occur in almost every country in the world at one time or another. North Korea might be an exception to both banks and robberies as there are supposedly now 15 banks in the entire country with a population of 23 million people; most of these banks, I would imagine, have empty coffres and are totally off limits to the North Korean citizen. I never saw a bank in North Korea on my recent 10 day trip there! Nor did I really need one as there is no need to have local currency as there is nothing to buy with it. How one longs for those days of shopping in the Soviet Union or even Cuba today!
But January in Argentina should be declared " mes de los robos bancarios" or "bank robbery month".
In January of 2006, we had the heist of the century for the upteenth time invloving 4 men and 1 woman dressed in everything from hoods over their heads to a normal grey suit, one dressed as a medical doctor on his hospital break and a blond wigged woman called Susana. The 23 hostages in the bank were eventually freed and the thieves got away with over 8 million USD via underground water passage ways leading to the River Plate on rubber, inflatable boats. Another big robbery was in January, 1997 with over $ 15 million dollars stolen and never recovered. And the saga continues.....
This year, rather in December 2010 over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the following Monday morning, they got a head start when 143 safety deposit boxes were broken into thanks to an elaborate and well -planned and executed master mind plan which involved over 6 months of calculations and hard labor as the thieves physically dug underground tunnels over 30 meters long (90 feet) complete with a lighting and ventilation system, probably better than the ones we have in our subways here.
The actual new year started with many more robberies; in fact , on one given day at the begining of the month, there were 4 major heists in one day in the country. And just the other day, on Tuesday , January 18th, another succesful robbery took place in a major downtown bank in late afternoon getting away with over 3 million pesos ( $750,000 USD). The culprits, to draw attention away from the bank they intended to rob, had police running between a car set on fire on an adjacent main street, a bomb they planted which blew up an ATM in another bank, a bomb scare threat called into a shop in the general area as well as by putting up signs on the windows of the bank where the actually robbery was taking place which said the bank's ATMs were out of service, thus, no one came in. and they worked without stress and not keeping too much of an eye out for the cops.
And the month isn't over yet!
So.....................
What is one to do? You can't put money into safety deposit boxes because they are broken into. After the last bank crisis in 2001-2002, you can trust the bank to deposit money because it was frozen and totally unavailable to its holders for lengthy periods. If you had a USD dollar account, a major trend to ward off inflation and devaluation of one's savings, it was converted in local pesos at a less than favorable rate of exchange because they bank did not have the actual greenbacks to replenish the affected accounts although at the same bank a few counters away, USD were being sold at the new rate of exchange. Hard to believe but true! But how many apartments, cars, refrigerators, tvs and other such "hard" goods does one have room for? Sure, an overseas bank account of which there are many with Argentine owners is a possibility but not a solution for the non Punta del Este jet set." So SES, what can I do? " you ask me.
Spend $1000 USD on a break- in -proof safety door which isn't fool proof AT ALL and then all the employees knew where there are valuables or money, leave some cash in various visible places throughout your home or flat so that the burgler will be tempted and possibly satisfied with that and buy the biggest king size mattress your small bedroom will take even though you'll have no room for a night stand, tv or shoe rack. Then find and have a blind seamstress take out some foam and sew in a large soft waterproof bag to store your valaubles and cash in the area where you least sleep so it wont bother you during your dreams of those antiquated days of knowing the bank manager, passbooks and that even if you hid your money, those 100 pesos wouldn't be eaten up by inflation in the next week, month or year.
See, every dark cloud does have its silver lining! And poverty may have its benefits.
SES
In the northern hemisphere, January is cold, days are short and nights are long and many count the hours of darkness until the sun will shine again brightly. But here in the southern hemisphere, and especially in Argentina, it's the time for balmy evenings outdoors, lazy afternoons lying in a park to perfect that tan which doesn't require solariums or sprays and a generally more relaxed period of the year. There's also less traffic and people on the streets because it is also the time of year for those long-deisred and well-deserved summer vacations.And many friends, family, neighbors and fellow citizens are somewhere on the Atlantic coast or elsewhere in this large world. For those who really want to see or be seen, there's always Punta del Este in Uruguay. A small, exclusive refuge for the "beautiful" people or those who have the money to convince the others that they are indeed beautiful. In this friendly neighboring country to Argentina whose average annual income( and this average is of course open to many interpretations but on a whole, I'd say not far from the truth) is approximately $4500 USD, a night in one of the good hotels starts at $500 USD ( breakfast included). A bottle of water on beach goes from its normal $1 USD to $4 USD, a Wiener Schntizel sandwich at $ 15USD, etc. I think you get the picture. Rentals for upper- end properties can oscillate from $ 40000 USD (forty thousand) for a 4 bedroom house near the beach to $ 20000 USD (twenty thousand) for a 3 bedroom apartment......for 15 days, not a month, in January.
But January is also the time for bank robberies. Bank robberies, be they violent or not, occur in almost every country in the world at one time or another. North Korea might be an exception to both banks and robberies as there are supposedly now 15 banks in the entire country with a population of 23 million people; most of these banks, I would imagine, have empty coffres and are totally off limits to the North Korean citizen. I never saw a bank in North Korea on my recent 10 day trip there! Nor did I really need one as there is no need to have local currency as there is nothing to buy with it. How one longs for those days of shopping in the Soviet Union or even Cuba today!
But January in Argentina should be declared " mes de los robos bancarios" or "bank robbery month".
In January of 2006, we had the heist of the century for the upteenth time invloving 4 men and 1 woman dressed in everything from hoods over their heads to a normal grey suit, one dressed as a medical doctor on his hospital break and a blond wigged woman called Susana. The 23 hostages in the bank were eventually freed and the thieves got away with over 8 million USD via underground water passage ways leading to the River Plate on rubber, inflatable boats. Another big robbery was in January, 1997 with over $ 15 million dollars stolen and never recovered. And the saga continues.....
This year, rather in December 2010 over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the following Monday morning, they got a head start when 143 safety deposit boxes were broken into thanks to an elaborate and well -planned and executed master mind plan which involved over 6 months of calculations and hard labor as the thieves physically dug underground tunnels over 30 meters long (90 feet) complete with a lighting and ventilation system, probably better than the ones we have in our subways here.
The actual new year started with many more robberies; in fact , on one given day at the begining of the month, there were 4 major heists in one day in the country. And just the other day, on Tuesday , January 18th, another succesful robbery took place in a major downtown bank in late afternoon getting away with over 3 million pesos ( $750,000 USD). The culprits, to draw attention away from the bank they intended to rob, had police running between a car set on fire on an adjacent main street, a bomb they planted which blew up an ATM in another bank, a bomb scare threat called into a shop in the general area as well as by putting up signs on the windows of the bank where the actually robbery was taking place which said the bank's ATMs were out of service, thus, no one came in. and they worked without stress and not keeping too much of an eye out for the cops.
And the month isn't over yet!
So.....................
What is one to do? You can't put money into safety deposit boxes because they are broken into. After the last bank crisis in 2001-2002, you can trust the bank to deposit money because it was frozen and totally unavailable to its holders for lengthy periods. If you had a USD dollar account, a major trend to ward off inflation and devaluation of one's savings, it was converted in local pesos at a less than favorable rate of exchange because they bank did not have the actual greenbacks to replenish the affected accounts although at the same bank a few counters away, USD were being sold at the new rate of exchange. Hard to believe but true! But how many apartments, cars, refrigerators, tvs and other such "hard" goods does one have room for? Sure, an overseas bank account of which there are many with Argentine owners is a possibility but not a solution for the non Punta del Este jet set." So SES, what can I do? " you ask me.
Spend $1000 USD on a break- in -proof safety door which isn't fool proof AT ALL and then all the employees knew where there are valuables or money, leave some cash in various visible places throughout your home or flat so that the burgler will be tempted and possibly satisfied with that and buy the biggest king size mattress your small bedroom will take even though you'll have no room for a night stand, tv or shoe rack. Then find and have a blind seamstress take out some foam and sew in a large soft waterproof bag to store your valaubles and cash in the area where you least sleep so it wont bother you during your dreams of those antiquated days of knowing the bank manager, passbooks and that even if you hid your money, those 100 pesos wouldn't be eaten up by inflation in the next week, month or year.
See, every dark cloud does have its silver lining! And poverty may have its benefits.
SES
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
WHERE IN THE LUCK IS THAT?
Today I decided to write about something which doesn't have to do with the news of the day here in Buenos Aires and to give all a break. But so much has happened here in the past 24 hours that it is very hard but I'm doing it!
I've been very lucky in my life. And for many reasons. While I do believe in the luck of being in the right place at the right time, I also believe that we must "develop"our luck and turn it into a lucky situation. This is what I think I have always done. While the most pious amongst us might pray to God for a solutions ...and wait, I'm more of the philosophy that "God helps those who help themselves".
Luck in business and investments.. No, you won't find me in Fortune 500 or in a lear jet with Bill Gates or Donald Trump( but who'd really want to be flying next to them, anyway?) but I can't complain! I have 2 beautful residences in Prague and Buenos Aires and can do pretty much what I want to do.
Luck in meeting fascinating people and making phenominal friends, I won the lottery there! Of course, once in a while, I didn't hit the jackpot and have even had to dig deep in the coffres to get out, but those times were few, fortunately .
Luck in love..well, better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all! Of my 4 "great" loves, one has a high diplomatic position,(and is still alive although not in touch); one most likely is dead from alcoholism in Poland, and 2 did tragically die way too young to enjoy later years of life and for me to enjoy it with them, too. I sit alone, but happy, writing these articles and not willing to compromise my happiness just so that I don't have to go to bed or wake up in the morning alone. Is it really worth it I ask you? But that's for each perosn to decide.
But luck in travel, both through work and of a personal and private nature which has allowed me to visit more than 125 countries in the world, I truly have!. And I mean 125 real countires. I'm not counting Alaska, Easter Island, Galapagos Islands, Sicily or Corscica as seperate countries... if I did, then I'd be far above the 150 mark. I don't count Cyprus or Turkey as 2, classify my trips to the Antarctic into 7 or nor do I consider my many trips to Great Britain a 7 country jouney as some organizations do in order to make their members feel even more priviledged and to sign up and pay those annual fees.
As a travel professional, I have traveled all over the world but since the majority of my years were with US based companies, they were very sensative about the destinations. Sure, a few times there were places I lead groups which might not be 100% politically correct such as Burma (aka Myanmar), Libya or the former USSR. But then again, which country does not have stains of blood on its past or current history pages? China, South Africa, Chile, Japan, Switzerland or the land of liberty, the USA??? NO, NOT A ONE!
But there was still an imaginary border line which the travel companies didn't cross for fear of protests, boycotts or personal safety for their travelers. And it's to these places which I am often drawn the most.
This is also why, most of the time, I travel alone because most people want to revisit London, Paris and Rome or even Kenya, Greece or Thailand before venturing to those other places of which no one has heard.
And that's why I go to these places which often time but more often the rest of the world has forgotten about or didn't even know they exist.
In 2010, I went to the three Guyanas: Guyana (Former British), Surinam (Former Dutch and French Guyana(still French). Many people had and still have no idea where they are. I' d say Guyana and they'd imagine me off in West Africa between Cote d'Ivoire (aka Ivory Coast) and Togo. In September of last year, I went to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. Well, many thought I transited through Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, USA between those 2 other strange places . Do you know where Azerbaijan lies? And with the exception of mainly French speakers, not too many could actually put their finger on where I was when in Algeria. Traveling to Moldova left people clueless and until possibly recently with talks of seperating the nation into two, not many could put their finger on a map to point out the Sudan where I was taken on a "free trip" thanks to highjackers who commandered the Ethiopian plane I was on and holding us as hostages in Africa's largest nation. When I mention on my next trip I'll be in Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and Burkina Faso, where does one even begin to serach which continent they are even on!
But sad is when people confuse Austria with Australia and think Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Argentina. In recent studies in the United States, almost 50% of 18-24 year olds could not find on a map of the country the states of Mississippi, Ohio or New York and much less New York City; 75% could not point out Israel or Iran. And Great Britain isn't far behind. I must confess that here in Argentina and in the Czech Repiblic also, people are so much more educated and informed about the world around them. And many are truly interested in getting to know lands beyond their boundries and even speak the foreign language of the country. I don't know many Yanks or Brits are signing up for courses in Chinese with over 1 billion speakers; Arabic with 300 million speakers; Portuguese with 200 million speakers or even Spanish with over 400 million speakers. And while English is the 3rd most widely spoken languages as a First and Second language, many English speakers feel that if "they" want to speak to me, let them speak English! But the country continues to spend the money on wars never to be won in Iraq or Afghanistan and cuts the education budget and geography from the curriculum and so its citizens will continue to live in their bubble world for the remaining time they have left there!
On my first trip to Albania several years ago, I redeemed miles for a free ticket on Swissair although the ticketing had to be done by Delta. When I told the woman in charge of international ticketing in the downtown Chicago office that I wanted to fy from Zurich to Tirana, Albania's capital, she insisted this was illegal and not possible as there could be no tickets on a US carrier in conjunction with a flight to Iran. After finally convincing her that Tirana was not Teheran, she issued the ticket but commented "why would anyone in the world want to go there?" I constantly must revert to the old name of the country where Prague was the capital, Czechoslovakia, because still many people as well as on-line registration sites are convinced that it still exists after 18 years of seperation.
While leading a trip on the Black sea stopping in Odessa, Istanbul, Yalta and the likes of such ports, 2 woman argued with me that we were sailing the Baltic Sea. And yes, they were American. But even in Argentina a few weeks ago, there was a full page article in "the" newspaper, La Nacion, about the trendy places and sights to see in Ljubljana, Slovenia; the picture above the article, however, was of the large castle high above the Slovakian capital of Bratislava on the Danube.
So I guess that I am indeed truly lucky. When I get an a plane back to Prague, I know where I've been, where I am going, over which countries and bodies of water I'll be crossing and in case for some reason I don't, I'm lucky enough to look on the in-flight magazine map and be able to find it.
Bon Voyage!
SES
I've been very lucky in my life. And for many reasons. While I do believe in the luck of being in the right place at the right time, I also believe that we must "develop"our luck and turn it into a lucky situation. This is what I think I have always done. While the most pious amongst us might pray to God for a solutions ...and wait, I'm more of the philosophy that "God helps those who help themselves".
Luck in business and investments.. No, you won't find me in Fortune 500 or in a lear jet with Bill Gates or Donald Trump( but who'd really want to be flying next to them, anyway?) but I can't complain! I have 2 beautful residences in Prague and Buenos Aires and can do pretty much what I want to do.
Luck in meeting fascinating people and making phenominal friends, I won the lottery there! Of course, once in a while, I didn't hit the jackpot and have even had to dig deep in the coffres to get out, but those times were few, fortunately .
Luck in love..well, better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all! Of my 4 "great" loves, one has a high diplomatic position,(and is still alive although not in touch); one most likely is dead from alcoholism in Poland, and 2 did tragically die way too young to enjoy later years of life and for me to enjoy it with them, too. I sit alone, but happy, writing these articles and not willing to compromise my happiness just so that I don't have to go to bed or wake up in the morning alone. Is it really worth it I ask you? But that's for each perosn to decide.
But luck in travel, both through work and of a personal and private nature which has allowed me to visit more than 125 countries in the world, I truly have!. And I mean 125 real countires. I'm not counting Alaska, Easter Island, Galapagos Islands, Sicily or Corscica as seperate countries... if I did, then I'd be far above the 150 mark. I don't count Cyprus or Turkey as 2, classify my trips to the Antarctic into 7 or nor do I consider my many trips to Great Britain a 7 country jouney as some organizations do in order to make their members feel even more priviledged and to sign up and pay those annual fees.
As a travel professional, I have traveled all over the world but since the majority of my years were with US based companies, they were very sensative about the destinations. Sure, a few times there were places I lead groups which might not be 100% politically correct such as Burma (aka Myanmar), Libya or the former USSR. But then again, which country does not have stains of blood on its past or current history pages? China, South Africa, Chile, Japan, Switzerland or the land of liberty, the USA??? NO, NOT A ONE!
But there was still an imaginary border line which the travel companies didn't cross for fear of protests, boycotts or personal safety for their travelers. And it's to these places which I am often drawn the most.
This is also why, most of the time, I travel alone because most people want to revisit London, Paris and Rome or even Kenya, Greece or Thailand before venturing to those other places of which no one has heard.
And that's why I go to these places which often time but more often the rest of the world has forgotten about or didn't even know they exist.
In 2010, I went to the three Guyanas: Guyana (Former British), Surinam (Former Dutch and French Guyana(still French). Many people had and still have no idea where they are. I' d say Guyana and they'd imagine me off in West Africa between Cote d'Ivoire (aka Ivory Coast) and Togo. In September of last year, I went to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. Well, many thought I transited through Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, USA between those 2 other strange places . Do you know where Azerbaijan lies? And with the exception of mainly French speakers, not too many could actually put their finger on where I was when in Algeria. Traveling to Moldova left people clueless and until possibly recently with talks of seperating the nation into two, not many could put their finger on a map to point out the Sudan where I was taken on a "free trip" thanks to highjackers who commandered the Ethiopian plane I was on and holding us as hostages in Africa's largest nation. When I mention on my next trip I'll be in Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and Burkina Faso, where does one even begin to serach which continent they are even on!
But sad is when people confuse Austria with Australia and think Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Argentina. In recent studies in the United States, almost 50% of 18-24 year olds could not find on a map of the country the states of Mississippi, Ohio or New York and much less New York City; 75% could not point out Israel or Iran. And Great Britain isn't far behind. I must confess that here in Argentina and in the Czech Repiblic also, people are so much more educated and informed about the world around them. And many are truly interested in getting to know lands beyond their boundries and even speak the foreign language of the country. I don't know many Yanks or Brits are signing up for courses in Chinese with over 1 billion speakers; Arabic with 300 million speakers; Portuguese with 200 million speakers or even Spanish with over 400 million speakers. And while English is the 3rd most widely spoken languages as a First and Second language, many English speakers feel that if "they" want to speak to me, let them speak English! But the country continues to spend the money on wars never to be won in Iraq or Afghanistan and cuts the education budget and geography from the curriculum and so its citizens will continue to live in their bubble world for the remaining time they have left there!
On my first trip to Albania several years ago, I redeemed miles for a free ticket on Swissair although the ticketing had to be done by Delta. When I told the woman in charge of international ticketing in the downtown Chicago office that I wanted to fy from Zurich to Tirana, Albania's capital, she insisted this was illegal and not possible as there could be no tickets on a US carrier in conjunction with a flight to Iran. After finally convincing her that Tirana was not Teheran, she issued the ticket but commented "why would anyone in the world want to go there?" I constantly must revert to the old name of the country where Prague was the capital, Czechoslovakia, because still many people as well as on-line registration sites are convinced that it still exists after 18 years of seperation.
While leading a trip on the Black sea stopping in Odessa, Istanbul, Yalta and the likes of such ports, 2 woman argued with me that we were sailing the Baltic Sea. And yes, they were American. But even in Argentina a few weeks ago, there was a full page article in "the" newspaper, La Nacion, about the trendy places and sights to see in Ljubljana, Slovenia; the picture above the article, however, was of the large castle high above the Slovakian capital of Bratislava on the Danube.
So I guess that I am indeed truly lucky. When I get an a plane back to Prague, I know where I've been, where I am going, over which countries and bodies of water I'll be crossing and in case for some reason I don't, I'm lucky enough to look on the in-flight magazine map and be able to find it.
Bon Voyage!
SES
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
When 1 plus 1 doesn't equal 2
Thanks to so many of you for your praises on the nearly daily articles! I see a second book coming from this.
I wanted to walk down the lane of yesteryear and relive a recent experience I "survived" while traveling in Transdniestria ( try to find that one in an atlas!) but there are so many
unbelievable stories to tell about daily life here in Buenos Aires that I feel compelled to relate them. For those of you in our nation's capital, well, I guess like us as all,we've become a bit numbed by them so that it's just another day in the "gran manzana" or the " big apple" as it's sometimes lovingly nicknamed. But for those of you reading this outside of the land of 1000 surprises, it is another unbelievable story which is our reality.
Sad to say, even those not very familiar with Argentina will have heard onetime in their life about the various phases of inflation or hyperinflation which the country has suffered and is experiencing to lesser extent now.Although this article isn't necessarily about inflation, I'll threw in a few cold facts. The worst period of hyperinflation which I can remember was in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1975, the highest demonination bill was 1,000 pesos;in 1981 it was 1,000,000. In a period of 9 years from 1983 until 1992 four different currencies were made legal tender, each time trimming the many zeros off the worthless currency. In the begining of 1977, one got for $1 USD 297 pesos; in 1983 for the same greenback one got 98,500pesos. Almost 100,000pesos for one American dollar! And people would scream about the high numbers of pre-euro Italy when the Lira was still in curculation. Imagine trying to use a calculator while decifering how much a higher-priced item might cost. The calcualtor couldn't do it...there were just too many numbers. I bought my very first apartment in 1983 here in Buenos Aires. I paid ONE BILLION, two hundred and fifty MILLION pesos! 1,250,000,000 pesos and it USD it was some $ 9,200 dollars ( half of which was the value of the telephone line which was priceless. I could have bought the same flat without a telephone for about $5,000 USD.)
I could go on with other surprising bits of the history of the many past currencies: peso ley, peso argentino, austral and peso.. as well as the patacon and the lecop, 2 non official currencies issued by the federal or provincial governments in 2002 which nearly nobody wanted and accepted but that is for another day.
What I want to talk more about today is the black market for money here. No, it's not like it was in the Iron Curtain days in the USSR, Poland or Czechoslovakia or even like in today's Cuba. But it's about the black market on which coins are sold here in Argentina.
Just as the previously mentioned countries suffered, and in the case of today's Cuba which still does experience many shortages of daily basics such as soap, toilet paper, cooking oil or razer blades, (not to mention North Korea which is a whole chapter of a book of which some excerpts of my observations in this hermite nation will at some later date be shared with you), in Argentina one can buy most everything but the problem is how to pay for it.
Am I refering to the ever-increasing lower income classes? Is it about people who can't pay off their debts? No to both and the latter is a disease which is more endemic in many "first-world "nations as the USA or Europe although also a cancer which grows ever more daily here .
Most recently in all medias here as well as abroad, the scandal of the lack of physical currency bills and coins is reaching another height. Over the Christmas and New Year period, many people had to do WITHOUT because there were no bills in the ATMs.The banks were closed due to the holidays and the machines couldn't give out money. This was not because so many people had withdrawn from these automatic cashiers but because the treasury did not and still does not have enough bills in circulation. Several reasons: 1 because they say that one of the bill-producing machine is out of order, quite like the country in general; 2 because we now have to have the bills printed in neighboring Brazil and then they must be transported by air to Buenos Aires. I wonder who delivers them? Maybe it is the same man, Rodolfo Stefanon, whose responsability it is to deliver the president's foreign trip money for her official presidential visits abroad and then is robbed on his way to leave it at his home since he doesn't trust the people over to whom he is to deliver such funds at the airport. Ah, if it was only that simple! Then at least we'd know why the money has disappeared .....again.
In a country with high inflation such as Argentina, we need to have higher denomination bills printed. The highest in circulation, which is also the most used by the nation, is that of 100 pesos ($1 USD = 4 pesos) thus the equivilent of $25USD. The treasury refuses to issue higher bills of 200 or 500 pesos as this would show that the inflation is problematic and must be confronted and is in reality threefold the official amount the government tells us of 10.9% annual where as all private consulting agencies agree that its is at 30% . And for many items, it surpasses 100%. A recent private study shows that the bag of groceries purchased this year for 100 pesos would have set the buyer back 36 pesos exactly 1 year ago.
Well, the bills have arrived from their samba to their new home. The Brazilian treasury presses produced very good, high quality bills ,however, they are not exactly like the hard-to-find domestically produced ones. In fact, many people are now complaining that they are very similar to high-quality counterfit ones and your new bill might not be even worth the paper on which it is printed.
Sure , we have counterfit coins , too!; mostly they are the 1 pesos coins whose value is .25US cents of a dollar. But that's not the problem here. The problem is that one just can't get coins, counterfit or not! Everywhere all over the city, there are signs at kiosks,in shops, newspaper stands, telephone call centers...EVERYWHERE.. that there is no change and items will be sold only for exact amounts. And what happens if you don't have the exact amount? Either the vendor will not sell you the goods or if he or she is feeling like doing so, will round out the amount, most of the time in their favor or give you a piece of gum or candy in return for the due change. Now supermarkets have figured out how not to give you change and make you feel good about it by asking if you'd like to contribute that small amount to this or that charity. 3 million people ONCE a week giving up their .10 cents of a pesos(0.025 US cents) equals 300,000 pesos ($75,000USD)x 52 weeks equals 15,600,000 pesos ($ 3,900,000USD) and I have never heard anywhere where any charity here receives almost 4 million USD annually!
Coins are an absolute must to take the city's buses.The metro, subte ,underground or subway ( see how one must be multilingual just to write this article!) can be taken using a magnetic card which is bought with bills but with the exception of a few bus lines which also have installed the card system, the only way to be able to travel is by inserting those coins. The minimum fare in the city is 1.10pesos so by dropping in 2 one peso coins, the machine must give you and everyone else .90 cents of a peso back in change and so forth but there is almost always at least one 1 peso coin involved. At the end of some hours, these traveling piggy banks are emptied and here is where the "viveza criolla" or native cunningness shows its true colors.
For a ten peso bill, in coins one has several options if coins were easily available: 200 .05 cent coins; 100 .10 cent coins; 40 .25 cent coins; 20 .50 cent coins or 10 1 pesos coins.
Which would you rather carry around in your pockets or purses? The one peso coins , of course! But to get those 10 one peso coins, it will cost you a 20% surcharge over the coin's value; 10 1peso coins for 12 pesos. And who sells them? The bus companies! Just ask your local canillita or local newpaper seller or a kiosk and many times they will tell you why they have change and how and from whom they got it. And imagine the amount of coins found in those fare boxes with a population of over 13 million people living and MANY working daily in the various bus lines' transportation realm taking these modes of transports at least 2 times per day( and the poorer the person, the further out of the city he or she must live requiring hours of commuting with 2,3 or 4 buses and trains)
If one has tons of free time, one can queue for coins at a bank or a train station for 1 or 2 hours in order to get 5 one peso coins; my bank now requires all who wish to get change not only to spend the time in line but also must produce a national ID card. NO ID, NO CHANGE!
So, what is one to do? Pay the surchage and get 10 or 20 one peso coins in order to be able to take the bus over the next few days so that you have some free time for life's pleasures such as cleaning, ironing, cooking and the essential evils of eating and sleeping!. And those bus companies selling the coins. Simple math.Let's be on the short side of the calculation. Of the 13,000,000 people in greater Buenos Aires, if 5,000,000 use the buses each twice daily putting in at least one 1 peso coin, that's 10,000,000 pesos and coins ($2,500,000 USD) sold at a 20% mark up equals 12,000,000 pesos ($3,000,000 USD) A PROFIT OF $500,000 USD DAILY!!!!over $2,500,000 USD weekly, over $10,000,000 monthly or $520,000,000 USD annually. And the buses, although I am a great user and give praise to their extensive routing and frequency,they are not air conditioned and on many "poorer" lines are in much more deplorable condition.
So now you see how to do math Argentine style: take 1+1= 2+20%. It's as simple as that!
Happy trails.
SES
I wanted to walk down the lane of yesteryear and relive a recent experience I "survived" while traveling in Transdniestria ( try to find that one in an atlas!) but there are so many
unbelievable stories to tell about daily life here in Buenos Aires that I feel compelled to relate them. For those of you in our nation's capital, well, I guess like us as all,we've become a bit numbed by them so that it's just another day in the "gran manzana" or the " big apple" as it's sometimes lovingly nicknamed. But for those of you reading this outside of the land of 1000 surprises, it is another unbelievable story which is our reality.
Sad to say, even those not very familiar with Argentina will have heard onetime in their life about the various phases of inflation or hyperinflation which the country has suffered and is experiencing to lesser extent now.Although this article isn't necessarily about inflation, I'll threw in a few cold facts. The worst period of hyperinflation which I can remember was in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1975, the highest demonination bill was 1,000 pesos;in 1981 it was 1,000,000. In a period of 9 years from 1983 until 1992 four different currencies were made legal tender, each time trimming the many zeros off the worthless currency. In the begining of 1977, one got for $1 USD 297 pesos; in 1983 for the same greenback one got 98,500pesos. Almost 100,000pesos for one American dollar! And people would scream about the high numbers of pre-euro Italy when the Lira was still in curculation. Imagine trying to use a calculator while decifering how much a higher-priced item might cost. The calcualtor couldn't do it...there were just too many numbers. I bought my very first apartment in 1983 here in Buenos Aires. I paid ONE BILLION, two hundred and fifty MILLION pesos! 1,250,000,000 pesos and it USD it was some $ 9,200 dollars ( half of which was the value of the telephone line which was priceless. I could have bought the same flat without a telephone for about $5,000 USD.)
I could go on with other surprising bits of the history of the many past currencies: peso ley, peso argentino, austral and peso.. as well as the patacon and the lecop, 2 non official currencies issued by the federal or provincial governments in 2002 which nearly nobody wanted and accepted but that is for another day.
What I want to talk more about today is the black market for money here. No, it's not like it was in the Iron Curtain days in the USSR, Poland or Czechoslovakia or even like in today's Cuba. But it's about the black market on which coins are sold here in Argentina.
Just as the previously mentioned countries suffered, and in the case of today's Cuba which still does experience many shortages of daily basics such as soap, toilet paper, cooking oil or razer blades, (not to mention North Korea which is a whole chapter of a book of which some excerpts of my observations in this hermite nation will at some later date be shared with you), in Argentina one can buy most everything but the problem is how to pay for it.
Am I refering to the ever-increasing lower income classes? Is it about people who can't pay off their debts? No to both and the latter is a disease which is more endemic in many "first-world "nations as the USA or Europe although also a cancer which grows ever more daily here .
Most recently in all medias here as well as abroad, the scandal of the lack of physical currency bills and coins is reaching another height. Over the Christmas and New Year period, many people had to do WITHOUT because there were no bills in the ATMs.The banks were closed due to the holidays and the machines couldn't give out money. This was not because so many people had withdrawn from these automatic cashiers but because the treasury did not and still does not have enough bills in circulation. Several reasons: 1 because they say that one of the bill-producing machine is out of order, quite like the country in general; 2 because we now have to have the bills printed in neighboring Brazil and then they must be transported by air to Buenos Aires. I wonder who delivers them? Maybe it is the same man, Rodolfo Stefanon, whose responsability it is to deliver the president's foreign trip money for her official presidential visits abroad and then is robbed on his way to leave it at his home since he doesn't trust the people over to whom he is to deliver such funds at the airport. Ah, if it was only that simple! Then at least we'd know why the money has disappeared .....again.
In a country with high inflation such as Argentina, we need to have higher denomination bills printed. The highest in circulation, which is also the most used by the nation, is that of 100 pesos ($1 USD = 4 pesos) thus the equivilent of $25USD. The treasury refuses to issue higher bills of 200 or 500 pesos as this would show that the inflation is problematic and must be confronted and is in reality threefold the official amount the government tells us of 10.9% annual where as all private consulting agencies agree that its is at 30% . And for many items, it surpasses 100%. A recent private study shows that the bag of groceries purchased this year for 100 pesos would have set the buyer back 36 pesos exactly 1 year ago.
Well, the bills have arrived from their samba to their new home. The Brazilian treasury presses produced very good, high quality bills ,however, they are not exactly like the hard-to-find domestically produced ones. In fact, many people are now complaining that they are very similar to high-quality counterfit ones and your new bill might not be even worth the paper on which it is printed.
Sure , we have counterfit coins , too!; mostly they are the 1 pesos coins whose value is .25US cents of a dollar. But that's not the problem here. The problem is that one just can't get coins, counterfit or not! Everywhere all over the city, there are signs at kiosks,in shops, newspaper stands, telephone call centers...EVERYWHERE.. that there is no change and items will be sold only for exact amounts. And what happens if you don't have the exact amount? Either the vendor will not sell you the goods or if he or she is feeling like doing so, will round out the amount, most of the time in their favor or give you a piece of gum or candy in return for the due change. Now supermarkets have figured out how not to give you change and make you feel good about it by asking if you'd like to contribute that small amount to this or that charity. 3 million people ONCE a week giving up their .10 cents of a pesos(0.025 US cents) equals 300,000 pesos ($75,000USD)x 52 weeks equals 15,600,000 pesos ($ 3,900,000USD) and I have never heard anywhere where any charity here receives almost 4 million USD annually!
Coins are an absolute must to take the city's buses.The metro, subte ,underground or subway ( see how one must be multilingual just to write this article!) can be taken using a magnetic card which is bought with bills but with the exception of a few bus lines which also have installed the card system, the only way to be able to travel is by inserting those coins. The minimum fare in the city is 1.10pesos so by dropping in 2 one peso coins, the machine must give you and everyone else .90 cents of a peso back in change and so forth but there is almost always at least one 1 peso coin involved. At the end of some hours, these traveling piggy banks are emptied and here is where the "viveza criolla" or native cunningness shows its true colors.
For a ten peso bill, in coins one has several options if coins were easily available: 200 .05 cent coins; 100 .10 cent coins; 40 .25 cent coins; 20 .50 cent coins or 10 1 pesos coins.
Which would you rather carry around in your pockets or purses? The one peso coins , of course! But to get those 10 one peso coins, it will cost you a 20% surcharge over the coin's value; 10 1peso coins for 12 pesos. And who sells them? The bus companies! Just ask your local canillita or local newpaper seller or a kiosk and many times they will tell you why they have change and how and from whom they got it. And imagine the amount of coins found in those fare boxes with a population of over 13 million people living and MANY working daily in the various bus lines' transportation realm taking these modes of transports at least 2 times per day( and the poorer the person, the further out of the city he or she must live requiring hours of commuting with 2,3 or 4 buses and trains)
If one has tons of free time, one can queue for coins at a bank or a train station for 1 or 2 hours in order to get 5 one peso coins; my bank now requires all who wish to get change not only to spend the time in line but also must produce a national ID card. NO ID, NO CHANGE!
So, what is one to do? Pay the surchage and get 10 or 20 one peso coins in order to be able to take the bus over the next few days so that you have some free time for life's pleasures such as cleaning, ironing, cooking and the essential evils of eating and sleeping!. And those bus companies selling the coins. Simple math.Let's be on the short side of the calculation. Of the 13,000,000 people in greater Buenos Aires, if 5,000,000 use the buses each twice daily putting in at least one 1 peso coin, that's 10,000,000 pesos and coins ($2,500,000 USD) sold at a 20% mark up equals 12,000,000 pesos ($3,000,000 USD) A PROFIT OF $500,000 USD DAILY!!!!over $2,500,000 USD weekly, over $10,000,000 monthly or $520,000,000 USD annually. And the buses, although I am a great user and give praise to their extensive routing and frequency,they are not air conditioned and on many "poorer" lines are in much more deplorable condition.
So now you see how to do math Argentine style: take 1+1= 2+20%. It's as simple as that!
Happy trails.
SES
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Cut the crap! Better yet, pick it up!
Dear Readers,
Let me start by saying that while I do believe that certain strong 4 letter words, when properly used to emphasize a situation on rare occasions, are appropriate; I do ,however, personally take offense when they occupy every 3rd of 4th position in an oral or written form. And while the word "crap"is not one of those 4 letter words, I felt it appropriate to use in today's observations.
As I have mentioned before, I live half the year in Prague and half the year in Buenos Aires where I am now. Since I got up early today, Sunday, not because of my very inconsiderate neighbor who sets an alarm clock every morning Monday to Friday at 05:50 and turns it off every day sometime between 6 and 630am. All deny it and despite my letters under the doors to some neighbors whom I suspect and public posting in the main hall of the building through which all must pass to get to their respective apartments, it continues to ring. Another plan of action is being prepared as I write this today and if the continued ringing does not cease, I am sure the tale of the mystery alarm clock will find its way into next week's stories.
But I got up early today because I wanted to go shopping before the torrential afternoon rains, which were forcasted, would arrive... AND THEY DID! THEY FINALLY GOT A WEATHER PREDICTION RIGHT!
There are many more differences between Buenos Aires and Prague than there are similarities although one thing which both cities have in common is their architectural beauty. After over 35 years of being aware of architecture in both cities, I am surprised daily(a good surprise in the land of 1000 surprises) as to the gems which abound in the two capitals. It must be told that Prague, due to its age, has a much more complete realm of all variations of major Western architectural trends from Romanesque dating from the 11th century until the most recent variations of Socialistic Realism which saw its end in the late 1980s . Of course, the most impressive styles , in my opinion, fall in the centuries between having made Prague a jewel of Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau architecture.
Buenos Aires, on the other hand, was founded in 1536 and really only saw any signs of important construction of buildings in the 17th century as it was a port of arrival for the Spanish conquistadores as well as for English fortune hunters whose destinations were far north of Buenos Aires , especially in what is today's Bolivia and Peru where great silver mines were found. Buenos Aires was a necessary arrival port through which all had to transit and while in the following centuries Spanish colonial-style buildings were built and replicated as copies of European Baroque, the city is perhaps best known for its magnificent French-inspired "Belle Epoque" Art Nouveau architecture.
Argentina in the late 19th century and early 20th century was quite the place.
And it was the place where everyone wanted to live. In the early 20th century, there were almost as many foreign-born residents( aka immigrants) as there were native-born Argentines. The country was richer than most European nations and its neighbors to the far north, Canada and the "land of Liberty",(aka USA). Art Nouveau got a later start here than it did in Paris, Brussels and Prague but it also got many of the same architects from Europe who arrived with first hand knowledge of this ornate and sensual new style. In today's Buenos Aires, one needs just to look at any the 48 barrios or neighborhoods to see superb examples. The big difference here is though that Prague has a very strict,often too strict and little pragmatic Historic Preservation Committee where as Buenos Aires "more or less" does not which means that many fabulous palaces, mansions, apartment buildings and legendary cafes have given way to office blocks and high rises.
And while both Prague and Buenos Aires are a magnificent feast for the eyes of admirer of these man-made wonders, its really down to the ground where ones eyes should go.
Most of the citizens in both cities live in apartments or flats. While there are some neighborhoods with family houses, they are in the minority so that most Prazane (natives of Prague) or Portenos (natives of Buenos Aires) live amongst many close neighbors. And while apartments don't have the gardens that many family homes would have, that doesn't prevent the apartment dwellers from having pets. Not just birds,guinea pigs, cats or small dogs but huge canines.. the likes of german shepards, labradors or retrievers.
Having any pet, or even a gold fish or a plant, assumes responsaiblity on the behalf of its owner. And of course while not the responsability, efforts and costs of having a child, owning a dog and keeping it happy and healthy is also not for the irresponsable or lazy owner. The animal must be groomed,fed,have medical check- ups and walked so that it can execute its necessary bodily functions just as its owners may do after a morning coffee. The difference is that the owner knows him or herself when it is time to answer the call of nature and heads to the toilet. Although the poor dog may indeed express its dire need, it is the owner who must take it to its proper place for its relief.
Many dog owners are resposable citizens who stroll the streets with the dog on a leash in one hand and a piece of paper,plastic bag,scooper etc in the other but too many do not. And these two cities are notorious for the amounts of dog excrement left on the sidewalk. And not only on the sidewalk. In my upper middle-class French- facaded Art Nouveau apartment building, we have a terrace where one can hang clothes or grab a few rays of sun. But we have a huge sign put up by the administration of the building after many requests from some of its inhabiters prohibiting the access of animals to the terrace. Is this because someone was bitten by a dog? Some children afraid of dogs screamed bloody murder when they saw one approach them? No, it is because certain lazy neighbors couldn't be bothered by taking their pet for a walk and let the dog crap on the terrace upon which clean clothes can fall after being blown off the line by wind or people sit on to get a tan. And they didn't even pick up the dog's crap.
On my walk back to my apartment this morning from the store, I was inspired for today's writing after counting some 42 piles of "crap" in various forms, sizes, colors and consistencies. 42! and more than half in the middle of the sidewalk and this was before mid day.The rains we have just had will have washed many of the lesser consistancies away but it will also have transformed the more solid examples into spread-out thick puddles of merde.
On Friday afternoon while coming back home from seeing my doctor, I went flying into the air with an abrupt landing on my knees and hands on the very street where I live, Santa Fe, due to the haphazardly placed non-fixed stone street pavements which rise when pressure is not placed on their exact center causing such accidents. As I arose after a few seconds of embarassment and then deep pain hightened by blood all over me and my clothes, I thought how lucky I was that on top of this, I didn't land on top of a pile of dog doo to further deepen my honte, infect my open wounds and stain my clothes even more.
Prague in the past years has become a bit better but it still has piles to go. I remember when the city installed in certain locations a special container for the canine's "hovnicko" along with paper bags in which it was to be placed. Well, many a time did I see people, especially older women, go to these conveniences to grab a handful of bags and go back home not because of future walks with Fido or Lassie but rather what I would gather as a way to save on buying bags(which are not free in most stores in the Czech Republic) in which one would store things such as food!
You might be able to say it to a friend or foe but it surely can't be said about the dogs of Prague and Buenos Aires that they are full of crap!
If you want to enjoy the roofs, cupolas and details which lie up above your head, get a seat next to a window on a bus and just make sure you watch where you step when you get off.
SES
Let me start by saying that while I do believe that certain strong 4 letter words, when properly used to emphasize a situation on rare occasions, are appropriate; I do ,however, personally take offense when they occupy every 3rd of 4th position in an oral or written form. And while the word "crap"is not one of those 4 letter words, I felt it appropriate to use in today's observations.
As I have mentioned before, I live half the year in Prague and half the year in Buenos Aires where I am now. Since I got up early today, Sunday, not because of my very inconsiderate neighbor who sets an alarm clock every morning Monday to Friday at 05:50 and turns it off every day sometime between 6 and 630am. All deny it and despite my letters under the doors to some neighbors whom I suspect and public posting in the main hall of the building through which all must pass to get to their respective apartments, it continues to ring. Another plan of action is being prepared as I write this today and if the continued ringing does not cease, I am sure the tale of the mystery alarm clock will find its way into next week's stories.
But I got up early today because I wanted to go shopping before the torrential afternoon rains, which were forcasted, would arrive... AND THEY DID! THEY FINALLY GOT A WEATHER PREDICTION RIGHT!
There are many more differences between Buenos Aires and Prague than there are similarities although one thing which both cities have in common is their architectural beauty. After over 35 years of being aware of architecture in both cities, I am surprised daily(a good surprise in the land of 1000 surprises) as to the gems which abound in the two capitals. It must be told that Prague, due to its age, has a much more complete realm of all variations of major Western architectural trends from Romanesque dating from the 11th century until the most recent variations of Socialistic Realism which saw its end in the late 1980s . Of course, the most impressive styles , in my opinion, fall in the centuries between having made Prague a jewel of Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau architecture.
Buenos Aires, on the other hand, was founded in 1536 and really only saw any signs of important construction of buildings in the 17th century as it was a port of arrival for the Spanish conquistadores as well as for English fortune hunters whose destinations were far north of Buenos Aires , especially in what is today's Bolivia and Peru where great silver mines were found. Buenos Aires was a necessary arrival port through which all had to transit and while in the following centuries Spanish colonial-style buildings were built and replicated as copies of European Baroque, the city is perhaps best known for its magnificent French-inspired "Belle Epoque" Art Nouveau architecture.
Argentina in the late 19th century and early 20th century was quite the place.
And it was the place where everyone wanted to live. In the early 20th century, there were almost as many foreign-born residents( aka immigrants) as there were native-born Argentines. The country was richer than most European nations and its neighbors to the far north, Canada and the "land of Liberty",(aka USA). Art Nouveau got a later start here than it did in Paris, Brussels and Prague but it also got many of the same architects from Europe who arrived with first hand knowledge of this ornate and sensual new style. In today's Buenos Aires, one needs just to look at any the 48 barrios or neighborhoods to see superb examples. The big difference here is though that Prague has a very strict,often too strict and little pragmatic Historic Preservation Committee where as Buenos Aires "more or less" does not which means that many fabulous palaces, mansions, apartment buildings and legendary cafes have given way to office blocks and high rises.
And while both Prague and Buenos Aires are a magnificent feast for the eyes of admirer of these man-made wonders, its really down to the ground where ones eyes should go.
Most of the citizens in both cities live in apartments or flats. While there are some neighborhoods with family houses, they are in the minority so that most Prazane (natives of Prague) or Portenos (natives of Buenos Aires) live amongst many close neighbors. And while apartments don't have the gardens that many family homes would have, that doesn't prevent the apartment dwellers from having pets. Not just birds,guinea pigs, cats or small dogs but huge canines.. the likes of german shepards, labradors or retrievers.
Having any pet, or even a gold fish or a plant, assumes responsaiblity on the behalf of its owner. And of course while not the responsability, efforts and costs of having a child, owning a dog and keeping it happy and healthy is also not for the irresponsable or lazy owner. The animal must be groomed,fed,have medical check- ups and walked so that it can execute its necessary bodily functions just as its owners may do after a morning coffee. The difference is that the owner knows him or herself when it is time to answer the call of nature and heads to the toilet. Although the poor dog may indeed express its dire need, it is the owner who must take it to its proper place for its relief.
Many dog owners are resposable citizens who stroll the streets with the dog on a leash in one hand and a piece of paper,plastic bag,scooper etc in the other but too many do not. And these two cities are notorious for the amounts of dog excrement left on the sidewalk. And not only on the sidewalk. In my upper middle-class French- facaded Art Nouveau apartment building, we have a terrace where one can hang clothes or grab a few rays of sun. But we have a huge sign put up by the administration of the building after many requests from some of its inhabiters prohibiting the access of animals to the terrace. Is this because someone was bitten by a dog? Some children afraid of dogs screamed bloody murder when they saw one approach them? No, it is because certain lazy neighbors couldn't be bothered by taking their pet for a walk and let the dog crap on the terrace upon which clean clothes can fall after being blown off the line by wind or people sit on to get a tan. And they didn't even pick up the dog's crap.
On my walk back to my apartment this morning from the store, I was inspired for today's writing after counting some 42 piles of "crap" in various forms, sizes, colors and consistencies. 42! and more than half in the middle of the sidewalk and this was before mid day.The rains we have just had will have washed many of the lesser consistancies away but it will also have transformed the more solid examples into spread-out thick puddles of merde.
On Friday afternoon while coming back home from seeing my doctor, I went flying into the air with an abrupt landing on my knees and hands on the very street where I live, Santa Fe, due to the haphazardly placed non-fixed stone street pavements which rise when pressure is not placed on their exact center causing such accidents. As I arose after a few seconds of embarassment and then deep pain hightened by blood all over me and my clothes, I thought how lucky I was that on top of this, I didn't land on top of a pile of dog doo to further deepen my honte, infect my open wounds and stain my clothes even more.
Prague in the past years has become a bit better but it still has piles to go. I remember when the city installed in certain locations a special container for the canine's "hovnicko" along with paper bags in which it was to be placed. Well, many a time did I see people, especially older women, go to these conveniences to grab a handful of bags and go back home not because of future walks with Fido or Lassie but rather what I would gather as a way to save on buying bags(which are not free in most stores in the Czech Republic) in which one would store things such as food!
You might be able to say it to a friend or foe but it surely can't be said about the dogs of Prague and Buenos Aires that they are full of crap!
If you want to enjoy the roofs, cupolas and details which lie up above your head, get a seat next to a window on a bus and just make sure you watch where you step when you get off.
SES
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Abracadabra...one..two..three..it disappeared! Not to worry, its just money,again!
Thanks to so many of you who have sworn loyalty to continued reading of my blog at the risk of losing your first born.I hope that every day more and more will follow me in my walks through life in some far corner of this world.
As I am here in Buenos Aires until June, I think it only fair to write about my host country as tempting as it maybe to revert back into time to some wild nights in Maputo or lazy days in Rangoon(or if I am to be poltically correct in the eyes of the "politically correct" Burmese government, Yangon.)
Over the past few days, yet another mystery occured which is to be solved; full of surprises and unaswered questions!We are bombarded via newpapers, television and radio programs with all of the "available" details making it a topic that stirs great emotion amongst it citizens. Argentina is truly missing a Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes to delve into the background of these mysteries and put all the clues together ultimately solving it. For those of you who dont know it already, I have my own little euphamisims about the three countries which played a vital role in my life having split my life amongst the three. In the future, I may refer to the "land of 1000 smiles" aka The Czech Republic. Why 1000 smiles? because of its some 10 million inhabitants, if there are 1000 smiling faces, it's comparable to winning the lottery. The "land of liberty" refers to the USA. Need I explain why?
And most finally, the "land of 1000 surprises" is Argentina. Every day, we have new ones thrown at us somewhat like an Australian boomerang but just as the unique flying object from the land "down under", these surprises always come back to us and most often, like the careless thrower of the boomerang, hit us smack in the head leaving us a bit dizzy and bewildered. If you think I am joking, just walk down any street of this beautful city and you'll see what I mean.
Getting back to the "surprise" of the day, NOT OF THE WEEK AS THERE ARE TOO MANY TO CLASSIFY ONE AS "THE ONE" OF THE WEEK".
An official employee of the Argentine government who is in charge of physically tranferring cash from the treasury section which deals with such matters to the city's in-town airport, Jorge Newberry(aka Aeroparque) where the presidential airplane, Tango 01, is located, was attacked and robbed of 68,000USD and 17,000 Euros en route. The money was intended for expenses for our beloved president's upcoming journey to Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey.And to show the seriousness with which Cristina takes such trips, she made a self-proclaimed, unannounced stop en route to Kuwait in Luxor, Egypt so that her daughter, Florencia, her official companion in the trip, could see some more sights on her first Middle East adventure at the tax payer's expense.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ROBBERY AND THE MONEY?
Oh my God, was the poor official ambushed?or was it an attempted kidnapping?NO!!! The money,placed not an official presidential pouch or in an attache case, but rather merely thrown into a normal backpack, was taken from him as he approached his home's front door. HIS HOME???DOES HE LIVE AT ATHE AIRPORT??? Yes to the first question and no to the second. Accompanied by the official government driver and another official, he asked to be dropped off at his home rather than taking the money to the proper authorities at the airport because, as he was quoted by one newspaper, he didn't "trust" the authorities to whom he was to turn over the monies. He later confessed that he often did this rather than taking the "expense"money directly to the airport. Ah, but here the plot thickens. Not only did he go home with all those colorful bills but he told the driver to let him off at the corner in order to avoid having him go around the block. I'm sure he was concerned about the extra gasoline money it would costs his "fellow"taxpayers. Such a thoughful chap!And low and behold,what happened? Between the corner and his home, he was attacked with the handle of a gun, by 2 unknown thugs and the money stolen from him as they fled away in broad daylight on a motorcycle waiting for them driving down the street against the traffic.
But now it's time for the frosting on the cake! THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME! The same scenario repeated itself only recently prior to the president's trip to Asia under very similar circumstances,however, that incident was not brought to the public's attention for "some" reason.And this most recent story was only leaked some 24 hours after the "facts" occurred.
Well, here in Argentina, in this "Argentina insolita" which means it can only happen here, it not only happens here but repeats itself time and time again.
It's very reasurring to know that certains things never change but sad to say, it also applies to many which should!
So what's the moral of this story? Well, there isn't one, but I'm sending Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner an email immediately to Kuwait telling her that I have a safe place to store her upcoming trip money and that I'll even take the bus to bring it home because I, too, want to save the taxpayers their hard earned contributions and I, like the ever-so-faithful presidential official, don't trust the people to whom it is handed over.
Enjoy your weekend wherever you may be and think about using Western Union.
SES Steve..Esteban..Stefan
As I am here in Buenos Aires until June, I think it only fair to write about my host country as tempting as it maybe to revert back into time to some wild nights in Maputo or lazy days in Rangoon(or if I am to be poltically correct in the eyes of the "politically correct" Burmese government, Yangon.)
Over the past few days, yet another mystery occured which is to be solved; full of surprises and unaswered questions!We are bombarded via newpapers, television and radio programs with all of the "available" details making it a topic that stirs great emotion amongst it citizens. Argentina is truly missing a Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes to delve into the background of these mysteries and put all the clues together ultimately solving it. For those of you who dont know it already, I have my own little euphamisims about the three countries which played a vital role in my life having split my life amongst the three. In the future, I may refer to the "land of 1000 smiles" aka The Czech Republic. Why 1000 smiles? because of its some 10 million inhabitants, if there are 1000 smiling faces, it's comparable to winning the lottery. The "land of liberty" refers to the USA. Need I explain why?
And most finally, the "land of 1000 surprises" is Argentina. Every day, we have new ones thrown at us somewhat like an Australian boomerang but just as the unique flying object from the land "down under", these surprises always come back to us and most often, like the careless thrower of the boomerang, hit us smack in the head leaving us a bit dizzy and bewildered. If you think I am joking, just walk down any street of this beautful city and you'll see what I mean.
Getting back to the "surprise" of the day, NOT OF THE WEEK AS THERE ARE TOO MANY TO CLASSIFY ONE AS "THE ONE" OF THE WEEK".
An official employee of the Argentine government who is in charge of physically tranferring cash from the treasury section which deals with such matters to the city's in-town airport, Jorge Newberry(aka Aeroparque) where the presidential airplane, Tango 01, is located, was attacked and robbed of 68,000USD and 17,000 Euros en route. The money was intended for expenses for our beloved president's upcoming journey to Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey.And to show the seriousness with which Cristina takes such trips, she made a self-proclaimed, unannounced stop en route to Kuwait in Luxor, Egypt so that her daughter, Florencia, her official companion in the trip, could see some more sights on her first Middle East adventure at the tax payer's expense.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ROBBERY AND THE MONEY?
Oh my God, was the poor official ambushed?or was it an attempted kidnapping?NO!!! The money,placed not an official presidential pouch or in an attache case, but rather merely thrown into a normal backpack, was taken from him as he approached his home's front door. HIS HOME???DOES HE LIVE AT ATHE AIRPORT??? Yes to the first question and no to the second. Accompanied by the official government driver and another official, he asked to be dropped off at his home rather than taking the money to the proper authorities at the airport because, as he was quoted by one newspaper, he didn't "trust" the authorities to whom he was to turn over the monies. He later confessed that he often did this rather than taking the "expense"money directly to the airport. Ah, but here the plot thickens. Not only did he go home with all those colorful bills but he told the driver to let him off at the corner in order to avoid having him go around the block. I'm sure he was concerned about the extra gasoline money it would costs his "fellow"taxpayers. Such a thoughful chap!And low and behold,what happened? Between the corner and his home, he was attacked with the handle of a gun, by 2 unknown thugs and the money stolen from him as they fled away in broad daylight on a motorcycle waiting for them driving down the street against the traffic.
But now it's time for the frosting on the cake! THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME! The same scenario repeated itself only recently prior to the president's trip to Asia under very similar circumstances,however, that incident was not brought to the public's attention for "some" reason.And this most recent story was only leaked some 24 hours after the "facts" occurred.
Well, here in Argentina, in this "Argentina insolita" which means it can only happen here, it not only happens here but repeats itself time and time again.
It's very reasurring to know that certains things never change but sad to say, it also applies to many which should!
So what's the moral of this story? Well, there isn't one, but I'm sending Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner an email immediately to Kuwait telling her that I have a safe place to store her upcoming trip money and that I'll even take the bus to bring it home because I, too, want to save the taxpayers their hard earned contributions and I, like the ever-so-faithful presidential official, don't trust the people to whom it is handed over.
Enjoy your weekend wherever you may be and think about using Western Union.
SES Steve..Esteban..Stefan
Friday, January 14, 2011
WELCOME TO MY BLOG
Dear Readers,
Thank you for looking at my blog and reading the many upcoming pages of informative,sometimes sarcastic,happy,sad,witty(so they all tell me!) but most of all, REAL daily events in the life of this humble raconteur.
I hope that you will enjoy each article as much as I enjoy composing them.
In the upcoming months, I'll be mixing stories of today with many of yesterday, in the broad sense of the word!
To give you just some insight about what I will be writing, I only feel it fair to tell you a bit about myself.
My name is Steven,Esteban and Stefan.No I don't come such a wealthy family that I was given 3 first names, but I use them all because I have a life quite equally divided amongst three countries,3cultures and 3 languages which have seen me become the person I am today.It's a life which is equally divided between 3 very diferent countries:Argentina, the Czech Republic and the USA; countries where I have spent decades of my life living,loving,learning and also laboring. I wanted all four to start with L.
(and don't forget for those of us not from families who can afford the 3 names, labor ..aka..work is an essential evil!)
At the present time and for over the past last decade , I have been living 6 months in Buenos Aires and the other 6 months in Prague.Obviously, I'm not stupid so I spend the summer months in Prague and then the other 6 summer months in Buenos Aires...remember hearing about northern and southern hemispheres and reserve seasons?
Although I have had many "careers', the one which I loved the most and still practise is that of being a multi-lingual travel director and tour guide. What does that mean? A tour guide is self explanatory; he or she is the person who walks around cities or sights most of the time with a larger following than the Pied Piper,often holding an umbrella or some other means of protection so that not only the tourists with me actually see where I am but also to protect myself against an angry mob of people who don't want yet to see another church ,synogogue ,mosque or temple or who aren't happy about the lack of toilet paper in public toilets(not to mention lack of toilet seats!) or the fact that the snail's pace at which one is walking seems to be that of a marathon for many of the dears.Normally the job is a full morning or afternoon or both or 2 or 3 days.That's it.Hope that they remenber at least what city they have just visted with their guide Steve or Esteban ,not Tom or Diego, that they have enjoyed it and hopefully will at the end of the tour show their gratitude in the form of a tip; no. not a tip on how where the stock market is going or how to losse those extras pounds you have recently put on and the excellent diet they have for you...I mean a monetary tip.GRATUITY,PROPINA,SPROPITNE,GORJETA,TRINKGELD all currencies accepted!
And at the end of the day as a local guide , one returns home to sleep in one's bed and has a definte cut-off time.
The role of a Travel Director ,aka Tour Manager,is a totally differnt ball game.The Travel Director is with the group from the arrival of the tourist at the airport,train station or seaport until the very end of the tour.And the jobs is a 24/7 one not 8/7 or 10/7; it's from before breakfast until the last guest arrives at the hotel after an exhausting day or touring,dining or some never-ending culture event which I as the tour direcrtor have seen more times than "The Sound of Music",TV shopping and all the episodes of "Friends "combined!
The positive aspect of the job is that one is not limited to one city or sight but travels from place to place,country to country and continent to continent with the group. In my 22 years of experience as a Travel Director, I have lead more than 200 tours to more than 100 countries on all 7 continents.
The Travel Director is, in the eyes of the tourist on the tour,expected to know every details about every place visited(then why the local guide???) every CLEAN public toilet between Vladivostok and Luanda(both of which have NO clean public toilets!)and the small Lithuanian village from which their grandfather fled 100 years ago( and never spoke of so they have no clue either!)
The Travel Director is the guide,organzier,administrator,mother,father,new best friend,analyst,shopping consultant, mind reader,mediator just to name a few of the hats worn.
In the upcoming months , I'll be realting some of the highlights in my over 20 years of this fascinating,rewarding and exhasting career or damnation.
I also am an intrepid traveler on my free time... I get paid to travel and I also pay to travel.But not London,Paris and Rome, all of which I love and return often but off the beaten track destinations where most travel companies do not dare to go, In 2010 I began the travel season falling victim to the 8.9 earthqauke while in Chile; I returned to, as I call it ,Chavezlandia or better known as Disasterlandia or Venezuela en route to Guyana,Surniname and French Guyana. Septmber saw the likes of me backpacking through Azerbaijan,Georgia and Armenia as did October in Algeria. Other memorable trips of non-memorable places included Cuba,North Korea, Trandniester and Sudan just to name a few.Traveling to such places is also facilited by the fact that I speak 7 languages fluently on which I worked dilligently to obtain fluency, and still do. One doesn't just swallow a pill that reads DEUTSCH on it and you sound like Marlene Dietrich.
It is a never -ending challenge which the only way one masters is like a baby begining to walk but falling down on a pile of irregular verbs or trying to spit out a word with no vowels that makes you sound as if you might be a "bit challenged or downright dumb!"
I could go on but this is only the introductory first writing and I don't want to scare anyone away from its length.
I sincerely hope that we will both enjoy the future blogs together and promise to relive the best and worst of my fascinating path down this wonderful thing called travel and my life between heaven and hell.
Thanks for reading.
SES ..... remember Steven ..Esteban...Stefan?
Thank you for looking at my blog and reading the many upcoming pages of informative,sometimes sarcastic,happy,sad,witty(so they all tell me!) but most of all, REAL daily events in the life of this humble raconteur.
I hope that you will enjoy each article as much as I enjoy composing them.
In the upcoming months, I'll be mixing stories of today with many of yesterday, in the broad sense of the word!
To give you just some insight about what I will be writing, I only feel it fair to tell you a bit about myself.
My name is Steven,Esteban and Stefan.No I don't come such a wealthy family that I was given 3 first names, but I use them all because I have a life quite equally divided amongst three countries,3cultures and 3 languages which have seen me become the person I am today.It's a life which is equally divided between 3 very diferent countries:Argentina, the Czech Republic and the USA; countries where I have spent decades of my life living,loving,learning and also laboring. I wanted all four to start with L.
(and don't forget for those of us not from families who can afford the 3 names, labor ..aka..work is an essential evil!)
At the present time and for over the past last decade , I have been living 6 months in Buenos Aires and the other 6 months in Prague.Obviously, I'm not stupid so I spend the summer months in Prague and then the other 6 summer months in Buenos Aires...remember hearing about northern and southern hemispheres and reserve seasons?
Although I have had many "careers', the one which I loved the most and still practise is that of being a multi-lingual travel director and tour guide. What does that mean? A tour guide is self explanatory; he or she is the person who walks around cities or sights most of the time with a larger following than the Pied Piper,often holding an umbrella or some other means of protection so that not only the tourists with me actually see where I am but also to protect myself against an angry mob of people who don't want yet to see another church ,synogogue ,mosque or temple or who aren't happy about the lack of toilet paper in public toilets(not to mention lack of toilet seats!) or the fact that the snail's pace at which one is walking seems to be that of a marathon for many of the dears.Normally the job is a full morning or afternoon or both or 2 or 3 days.That's it.Hope that they remenber at least what city they have just visted with their guide Steve or Esteban ,not Tom or Diego, that they have enjoyed it and hopefully will at the end of the tour show their gratitude in the form of a tip; no. not a tip on how where the stock market is going or how to losse those extras pounds you have recently put on and the excellent diet they have for you...I mean a monetary tip.GRATUITY,PROPINA,SPROPITNE,GORJETA,TRINKGELD all currencies accepted!
And at the end of the day as a local guide , one returns home to sleep in one's bed and has a definte cut-off time.
The role of a Travel Director ,aka Tour Manager,is a totally differnt ball game.The Travel Director is with the group from the arrival of the tourist at the airport,train station or seaport until the very end of the tour.And the jobs is a 24/7 one not 8/7 or 10/7; it's from before breakfast until the last guest arrives at the hotel after an exhausting day or touring,dining or some never-ending culture event which I as the tour direcrtor have seen more times than "The Sound of Music",TV shopping and all the episodes of "Friends "combined!
The positive aspect of the job is that one is not limited to one city or sight but travels from place to place,country to country and continent to continent with the group. In my 22 years of experience as a Travel Director, I have lead more than 200 tours to more than 100 countries on all 7 continents.
The Travel Director is, in the eyes of the tourist on the tour,expected to know every details about every place visited(then why the local guide???) every CLEAN public toilet between Vladivostok and Luanda(both of which have NO clean public toilets!)and the small Lithuanian village from which their grandfather fled 100 years ago( and never spoke of so they have no clue either!)
The Travel Director is the guide,organzier,administrator,mother,father,new best friend,analyst,shopping consultant, mind reader,mediator just to name a few of the hats worn.
In the upcoming months , I'll be realting some of the highlights in my over 20 years of this fascinating,rewarding and exhasting career or damnation.
I also am an intrepid traveler on my free time... I get paid to travel and I also pay to travel.But not London,Paris and Rome, all of which I love and return often but off the beaten track destinations where most travel companies do not dare to go, In 2010 I began the travel season falling victim to the 8.9 earthqauke while in Chile; I returned to, as I call it ,Chavezlandia or better known as Disasterlandia or Venezuela en route to Guyana,Surniname and French Guyana. Septmber saw the likes of me backpacking through Azerbaijan,Georgia and Armenia as did October in Algeria. Other memorable trips of non-memorable places included Cuba,North Korea, Trandniester and Sudan just to name a few.Traveling to such places is also facilited by the fact that I speak 7 languages fluently on which I worked dilligently to obtain fluency, and still do. One doesn't just swallow a pill that reads DEUTSCH on it and you sound like Marlene Dietrich.
It is a never -ending challenge which the only way one masters is like a baby begining to walk but falling down on a pile of irregular verbs or trying to spit out a word with no vowels that makes you sound as if you might be a "bit challenged or downright dumb!"
I could go on but this is only the introductory first writing and I don't want to scare anyone away from its length.
I sincerely hope that we will both enjoy the future blogs together and promise to relive the best and worst of my fascinating path down this wonderful thing called travel and my life between heaven and hell.
Thanks for reading.
SES ..... remember Steven ..Esteban...Stefan?
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