either/or

Since I’ve been in Buenos Aires, i’ve had mate a few times. First, by myself just to try the flavor, and the first legitimate time - because you can’t drink mate by yourself and call it ‘legit’ - with a friend who i’m sharing an office with here in Palermo. The mate i had at home was bitter and reminded me of tobacco, but the mate they have at the office is pretty good - much smoother, and I really enjoyed it.

But last weekend we went to the park and I just had to try it again, but i didn’t bring any of the accoutrements necessary to partake. So i bought a ‘mate listo’ (ready mate) - it includes a plastic bombilla, a plastic cup, a styrofoam thermos and the yerba mate itself. One thing that is clear is that the quality of mate really varies depending on the source as with any other tea or herb product. The taste was incredibly bitter, like smoking a cigarette that you found under the passenger seat of your pickup, then making a stew with the used filter and gargling the broth.

Americans are vaguely familar with the Faulkland Islands war, but not as familar with the impact on Argentine history, nor with the fact that the Islas Malvinas, as they’re called in Castellano, have their status as Argentine territory written into the Constitution. Further, that the war, triggered by the occupation of South Georgia by Argentina in March of 1982, was a huge boost to Margaret Thatcher. Of course i learned this mostly from Wikipedia, and from this really nice guy I met on craigslist who came to buy some of our furniture in Seattle. He was a walking encyclopedia on the whole war.

I found this Elvis Costello song today and though I think i’ve heard it before I never realized the subject was the war, and the fact that the BBC calls it the most lyrically deft and intelligent protest songs ever written.

Wednesday marks a vote in the Senate for the tax increases on farmers that have been the subject of intense controversy over the past four months or so. There were two rallies. The first was on Libertador with the supporters of the campo, about 180,000 to 200,000 people according to the news this evening. The second was in plaza de mayo and the AP said 95,000 people were there on the ‘pro-government’ side. AP Article. On a personal note, this is about six blocks from our apartment.

A number of people have asked me why we moved from Seattle, and further, why Argentina. My short answer is ‘adventure’, which incidentally when you tell an Argentine that we moved here because we wanted to and not for work, you generally get a sense of a ’spark’ of interest and something else - they feel honored that you would desire to live in their country. Which is not to say that it is any honor at all for us to be here, i’m just glad they’re letting us stay!

But the longer answer is more complicated. The move is both the byproduct of a series of small choices to live differently, and one of those choices. An experiment in living independently, not beholden to expectations, be it from friends, family, career. A chance to learn about ourselves, etc. Chance for our kids to learn a different language.

But why not Europe? France or Spain? Czechoslovakia - Prague? Why South America, and if South America, why not Santiago, since Chile has the most stable and fastest growing economy? But i think if you look at it from the perspective of:

• The dollar is still (relatively) strong - rules out Western Europe, Australia/NZ
• Real Estate is a good investment - rules out Prague, Romania
• The language and culture are (reasonably) penetrable - nix Turkey, most of Asia
• The country is (relatively) safe - gone are Brazil, Mexico, Peru.
• Require an interesting, cosmopolitan city, which would bump BA ahead of Santiago

Very quickly Argentina is at the top of any short list. Just look at the cost of living for these European cities.

i wish i were this stubborn. From the Seattle PI.

I just flew from ATL-SEA SEA-ATL-EZE today and saw those two on my flight, getting smiles and looks from the passport control officers, and picking up their bags. Considering lost is the only show on TV i regularly watch, it was kindof cool to see them. Though from what i’ve read Lilly thought about quitting Lost as she hates the attention so much. My previous best celeb sighting was sitting next to former secretary of state warren christopher on a flight to LA. He’s not as cute.

UPDATED to show the proper route.

i just spent 30 minutes standing in line paying bills at the bank. As far as i can tell though you can write checks and some people have a checking account, the practice of paying bills via check through the mail is nonexistent for a number of reasons, (and there could be historical precedents of which i’m unaware.)  First, checking accounts are rare and expensive (they charge a monthly fee to keep one open). Second, you must pay an additional fee when you write a check (i can’t tell if that’s a tax or a processing fee). Third, check transactions would be much more visible to AFIP (the tax authority). Fourth, the mail system here is notoriously unreliable. I know that people do the equivalent of bank drafts to pay bills, but everytime i’ve gone to the bank there are 20-30 people in line slowly waiting their turn to hand cash to the caja (cashier).

i think that part of the problem with my spotty internet access is the cable - the physical cable, as far as i can tell, is messed up inside the wall. we got a TV last week and i called Cablevision to get us some cable. Argentina Idol here we come, but when we hooked it up to the wall, we only get about 5 channels, all of them in the 70ish range, one of which is mostly german.

Talking with my spanish teacher, she taught us how to say ‘the cable is bad’, which leads to an interesting spanish word. if you say ‘el cable es malo’, it means ‘the cable is bad’, but interestingly, you can also say ‘hitler es malo’, which would mean ‘hitler is evil’.

i wish i could explain the feeling of powerlessness, having a bad cable inside the walls of our new apartment, not knowing who to call, and even if i did, not knowing how to communicate with them. it’s incredibly humbling.

My family packed up everything we own about into 14 rubbermaid boxes, 10 carry-ons and a 10×10 storage unit. Everything but the storage unit we took with us from Seattle to Buenos Aires. We’ve been here about ten days now. Over the next few days i’ll try to dump out some thoughts from the move.

Customs - we’re getting a permanent residency visa here, but it isn’t done yet, so we have entered as tourists, which is OK. It’s just tricky at customs, because you don’t want to get into a long explanation as to why you’re entering with so much stuff. So we just said we were going to be staying for at least six months but traveling out of the country during that time - i tried to act confident and point to los niños - which undoubtedly helped us breeze through the line.

Taxis - It isn’t like anybody wears seatbelts in this city. Actually, the taxi drivers do, they just don’t provide them for the occupants. We didn’t bring booster seats or carseats at all - when we take a taxi, we just push four of us in the back and one in the front. Even that is technically illegal, but only one cab driver has refused so far. They only refuse in Recoleta near the taxi stand, because there is a police kiosk right there.

Food - We’ve had steak for dinner for probably 7 of the last 10 nights. Haven’t had a bad steak yet.

Weather - It’s starting to feel like fall, but like fall in Orlando or LA - warm days, cool nights. Not that humid.

Parks - There are two significant parks near our apartment in Palermo. The playgrounds are a little sparse but the kids would never think to compare them to any other playground. Of the argentine children we’ve met, only one has thrown a punch, randomly, at our three year old. We’re not sure why. The rest have been pleasant, if unintelligible, because the kids just don’t yet know enough Spanish to really communicate.

In Birmingham for a few days, then driving through the rural studio project in Greensboro, al, before heading to montgomery. See the fascinating NYT article on the project.