[Paisleychick-lj] Buenos Aires

[Beatrice M's blog]

So we're still in Buenos Aires as I want to check my headaches, which are almost gone, with some MRI tests. I had [a consultation with a top neurologist][1] in Buenos Aires last week. He's the uncle of [Martin B][2] who I'm getting to know and who's a friend of Kragen's from the Bay Area here on vacation and a fellow geek. It's been wonderful to be surrounded by friends this past month. First, we stayed with Sarah G, a friend of our's from San Francisco. She put up a [great photo album with captions online][3] of her trip. As her trip came to a close, we met up with [Gina W][4], the woman who we met when we [took the bus from Ecuador to Peru][5] back in September. Then, when she left, we got to spend time with Martin B. Such friendly faces have made this part of the trip really really pleasant. I've been able to go explore with people other than Kragen, which is different and nice. I *love* my husband dearly, but we've been each other's companions since May and it's good to "shake things up". I just wonder what the doormen think at our apartment. =) We're looking to stay here another couple of weeks so that I can get the tests done and not pay so much money. This is a good thing.  
  
I haven't written a solid travel entry in a while for a combination of reasons. First off, I was sick with a cold, then I got these *%&(*& headaches, which lasted for 2 whole weeks, but have finally diminished into a very low background noise which every once in a while decides to play a note *really* loud. Secondly, I've been taking lots of photos and uploading them to [flickr][6] so I don't feel like I've been totally slacking. Then there's the pressure to put out some quality writing. This is just silly. I've had this blog for 3 1/2 years and have just written. Now that I have more of an "audience" which includes family members and long time family friends I feel more pressure to WRITE. My own issues, I know, but I need to just get over it. I think people just like hearing from me and don't really care so much about the quality of the writing. So, without further ado, here are some words for you to read, pictures to look at and lots and lots of links to follow.  
  


[![][7]][8]   
[Angry angel][9]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][10]. 

I went to the [Ricoleta Cemetary][11] with Gina. This was a bit of a surreal experience as no one was buried - the caskets were all in these mausoleums and a lot of the doors & windows were broken open and you could just see the caskets, right there. Of course, the bodies have been decomposing for at least 40 years or so (more like over 100), but they're not in the ground, they're just there. There were a lot of stray cats around and they were pretty well taken care of. You could see the dishes of food and water that were laid out for them to feast on. And they wouldn't run away if you tried to pet them, in fact they craved the pettings. Most of the names on the "graves" were Italian, and it was mainly rich and powerful people laid to rest there. We missed Evita Peron's site - oops. The statues were amazing - the craftsmanship was gorgeous and heavily influenced by the renaissance, as is most Italian work. This city just doesn't feel like it's in Latin America at all. Much more European and "western" than anything I've seen on this continent so far. Before we went to the cemetery, we went to the Recoleta Feria, a fun artisan market held on the weekends. Again, this is something that I would expect from Paris or something like that. On this trip, I haven't gone in for buying things as that means I have to carry them, but, since I had a way of getting things back to the states - thanks Sarah - I was able to buy some trinkets for people. I'm not really doing Christmas shopping this year, as that's a little tricky, but these things called out to me with people's names on them, so I got them. Speaking of Christmas, if you really want to get *me* something, think about donating to the following charities: the [Internet Archive][12], [Creative Commons][13], the [Electronic Frontier Foundation][14], and [Public Knowledge][15] in my and/or Kragen's names. That would be awesome. I'm having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit down here as I said in an earlier post as it's hot and really doesn't feel like Christmas. We're also not going to be celebrating with either of our families, which is a first for me in a long long while. But, I'm not feeling homesick or missing people terribly, but still, it is strange.   
  
  


[![][16]][17]   
[Atados][18]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][10]. 

Another cool thing that is happening here in Buenos Aires is [the Heart Exhibit][19]. It is very much like the one that happened in San Francisco a couple of years back. There are *a lot* of hearts in and around the San Martin Plaza, which is a touristy area of Palermo, a district in in BA. There a street there called "Calle Florida" which is the main shopping place for tourists. You can go and buy overpriced leather jackets and wool sweaters there, but that's not really my style. It was also 35 degrees Celsius today, so the thought of heavy jackets and sweaters is hard to comprehend right now. In San Francisco, this exhibit of hearts was spread out all over the city and I kept on meaning to go and take photos of all of the hearts, but I never got around to it and only got some of them. Here, they make it easy. They are mainly in the San Martin Plaza, but there are some scattered around Calle Florida and the Mall on Florida and elsewhere. The artists were really ingenious and I wanted to take photos of them all, but also thought that would be really boring at the same time and there would be *a lot* of photos of hearts, so I chose some of my favorites and put them on [a set on flickr.][20]  
  
  


[![][21]][22]   
[Branches in the sunset][23]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][10]. 

I have been going out and having fun with people, but I have also been staying pretty close to home base because I've been feeling so crappy. This photo is of a sunset a couple of weeks ago. I took it as we came out of the subte (metro) a block away from our apartment. It was an amazing sunset and I got a couple of decent shots in. As we're going to stay longer in Buenos Aires - at least through the end of the year, we're going to look for a new apartment on Monday to get a feel for more of the city. I hope I get to take the MRI soon. The doctor thinks that everything will come back normal, but just wants to run the tests to make sure. I checked my blood pressure at a local pharmacy to see if these headaches were from high BP. To my shock I have normal blood pressure! I'm very excited about this. It's always run a little high, and this was pretty damn awesome. It also turns out that I've lost another 20 pounds or so since September, so that's cool. I'll take that. ;-) I have a feeling it has to do with three main factors: 1 - I'm eating less and healthier. 2 - I'm not eating any High Fructose Corn Syrup as it doesn't really exist down here because there's no corn subsidies. 3 - I'm getting a lot of walking in as I explore different places and we don't have a car. All these things are good. Getting out of the states is good for me. Same thing happened when I lived in France back in the early 90s.   
  
  
In Latin American political news: Chavez has been reelected as president of Venezuela and Pinochet kicked the bucket at age 91 without ever standing trial for the atrocities he committed as dictator of Chile. These are big items. Hopefully these will improve democracy down here, but only time will answer that big question.  
  
Links that I have enjoyed in the past couple of weeks:  


  * [The Show with Ze Frank][24]
  

  * [Test your geography knowledge][25]
  

  * [Real life Simpsons intro][26]
  

  * [Facebook has a pulse][27]

  
  
Okay "sports racers" I'm off to bed now. Hopefully we have a full day ahead of us looking at various places to call home for the next of weeks.

   [1]: http://www.igotu.com/gallery2/view/bsas12072006/PICT0069.jpg.html
   [2]: http://www.igotu.com/
   [3]: http://fingeronthepulse.net/photos/BuenosAiresNovember2006/album.html
   [4]: http://ginamariewilson.blogspot.com/
   [5]: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/256352.html
   [6]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/
   [7]: http://static.flickr.com/110/307394915_2903e4401f_m.jpg
   [8]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/307394915/in/set-72157594393815741/ (photo sharing)
   [9]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/307394915/
   [10]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/
   [11]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Recoleta_Cemetery
   [12]: http://www.archive.org/donate/
   [13]: http://creativecommons.org/support/
   [14]: http://www.eff.org/support/
   [15]: http://www.publicknowledge.org/donate
   [16]: http://static.flickr.com/113/315870965_8ccc1367b5_m.jpg
   [17]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/315870965/in/set-72157594410987902/ (photo sharing)
   [18]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/315870965/
   [19]: http://www.corazonesffavaloro.com.ar/bocetos_1.htm
   [20]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/sets/72157594410987902/
   [21]: http://static.flickr.com/121/304691719_b2a11edbff_m.jpg
   [22]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/304691719/in/set-72157594389283386/ (photo sharing)
   [23]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/304691719/
   [24]: http://www.zefrank.com/theshow
   [25]: http://www.geosense.net/
   [26]: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8722309248218361078
   [27]: http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2006/11/18/facebook_pokes_....html

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/274679.html