Vacation Photos

Helen moved very quickly to organize her excellent pictures from our trip to Argentina.   A sample is below, of the multi-colored houses in the Boca neighborhood.   And you can go here  for access to all of the photos, including our snappy commentary.

Of course I expected to have a good time, but it was more fun than I could have hoped for.  This was our first immersion in a Spanish-speaking environment; sometimes our language skills sufficed, sometimes they did not.  Whenever they failed, people were always able to use hand gestures and other non-verbal cues to explain themselves.   That in itself was an interesting lesson in how eveyone communicates.

The big news that week was the election of Pope Benedict XVI.   The announcement was broadcast live the first day we were there, and it was fascinating to observe how intensely people watched the proceedings.  Argentina is a Catholic country, so maybe this should have been no surprise.  But I was struck by it nevertheless.

Buenos Aires felt in many ways like New York, complete with its own Broadway (Avenida Corrientes). We saw two shows there, at prices much reduced from even the half-price ticket booth in Times Square.  Although the dollar continues to lose ground, it still goes a long way in Argentina.

I'd be remiss not to acknowledge the stark poverty within the city.  At many restaurants children walked up to tables to beg for change.  One time I watched half a dozen people in a row say no, and most times we said no ourselves.  At first my cynical side wondered what adults were behind the begging, which is a legitimate question to ask.  But eventually my conscience kicked in and we became more generous.

All in all, a wonderful trip with some sober doses of reality thrown in.  If you haven't done so already, I highly recommend venturing down to the other half of our Western hemisphere.

Comments

[Uri]

love the photos...especially the fruit towers in the colorful neighborhood.

[Eric]

My first posting...horray! And it answers some questions I would be having for you guys. Glad you got to take a big trip south of the Equator--it sounds like you were in Argentina about the same time as I was in South Africa. Were you there for the announcement of Pope Benedict? Could you get any clue as to the essence of the reaction from Argentinians? It seems South Africa was echoing the Brits in referring to him as "The Panzer Pope"... Hmmm. Anyway, I hope to get to your blog more often and hear from both of you soon. Cheers!