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Sir Rodney Smithers wrote:
Chuck,
Glad you had a nice trip. Was this a business trip or a vacation, or the
best kind a business trip where the company paid for expenses and you
spent
all your time on vacation. ; )


The Mrs. and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary in Buenos Aires.
Pleasure trip.
Great place to go in the winter. The weather down there right now is
about like Los Angeles in late May. Everything is in bloom, shirtsleeve
weather every day.
It's ridiculously cheap. Most things are priced (in pesos) at a number
that would make sense espressed in dollars, or less! Example: Dinner in
a very nice restarurant with appetizers, 4 glasses of wine, duck a
l'orange, 3-inch thick filet mignon, and two deserts. 100 (pesos)
including a generous tip. Cost in dollars? Just over 30 bucks.

Took the Tren de la Costa up to Tigre' one day and enjoyed a nice
boatride on what just might be the most polluted river in the western
hemisphere. A non-stop parade of garbage floating by. Wow. Not prepared
for that. Smelled awful, as well. There's a mjor amusement park built
on the shore of the river- and while we didn't bother venturing in it
seemed like an odd place to go for recreation.

Since this is a short summary to rec.boats, I can't avoid mentioning
politics. :-)
Argentina has had a lot of political turmoil over the years. The last
time somebody attempted a coup, they apparently decided to use the
subway to attack the Casa Rosada
(Argentine "pink house", head of the executive branch of govt. This is
the building where Evita Peron used to stand on a balcony and address
the crowds in the Plaza de Mayo). Across the street from Cassa Rosada
is the Minstry of Economics, with a marble facade just behind the exit
from the subway. It's riddled with pockmarks from machine gun fire. I
guess the govt decided not to repair the marble as a "reminder" to the
next batch of rebels that sneaking up on the Casa Rosada through the
subway ain't exactly a bright idea.

It's a place where abject poverty and incredible privilege are elbow to
elbow at all times.
We befriended the owner of a business who moved to Argentina from Los
Angeles a few years ago. One of his associates (who spends several
months a year in Miami- where he owns an art gallery), has a penthouse
with, supposedly, over $5mm US in furnishings and art. Down on the
street below, and on every street in Buenos Aires, the major source of
income for a lot of people is sorting garbage. The shops and apartments
pile all of their garbage along the curb every night for an early
morning pickup. The people descend on the garbage like an army of ants,
sorting out glass, cardboard, aluminum, or anything else that can be
recylced. They pile bicycles, carts, wheelbarrows, and enything else
that will roll to incredible heights with bundled up recyclables. Young
kids 5, 6, and 7 years old are scrounging through the garbage along
with their older sibliings and parents.
I know that more than a few are actullay hoping to find something to
eat, as one little kid came across a sack of half-eaten rolls from a
restaurant and you would have thought he'd found a rond trip ticket to
Disneyland.

On one of our cross town train trips, (cost under a peso for a
40-minute ride), we noted a group of "huts" in a depression next to the
track. Cardboard, sheet metal, scrap wood, canvas, you name it- any
sort of junk material imaginable had been employed in creating these
rude shelters. These weren't temporary "homeless" camps, there was
laundry hanging on lines, little kids playing in the dirt, etc. After a
few hundred yards of "huts", we came to a fence running perpendicular
to the track. On the opposite side of the fence were some tennis
courts, and what appeared to be a very exclusive tennis club. Waiters
standing around serving drinks, etc, to tennis players in crisp, white
shorts and tennis shirts. The whole place underscores the importance of
sustaining a viable middle class and illustrates what can happen when
any group is allowed to prosper at the complete expense and without
regard to its fellow citizens.

Argentina is rich in natural resources and if it ever gets past all of
its political and economic problems it could become a very powerful
country in the future.

Tax deductible?

I do hope to write the entire thing off as journalistic research. I
needed to confirm which direction the water circles around a bathtub
drain in the southern hemisphere. (Clockwise, at least at the Kempinski
Park Chateau in Buenos Aires). :-)


Welcome back. Glad to hear you had a great time with your wife.

Congratulations also on 35 years. Quite and accomplishment Chuck.