Thoroughly Modern Mullet

One of the first things that we noticed after arriving in Argentina is that the mullet is alive and well. We are not alone in this observation, as we have discussed the mullet varietals of Buenos Aires with other American travelers. When we first arrived and we were observing styles and trends, it was obvious that men wear their hair longer in the back. This is generally the case no matter the male's age or social status. The average hair length extends to around the top of a t-shirt collar. These, however, are not your old Billy Ray Cyrus or 1993 Phillies World Series mullets. Buenos Aires has adapted the look to a thoroughly modern mullet.



Not too crazy, this is a good example of a fairly standard mullet in Buenos Aires.


Mullet Mates: Each guy in this group had a mullet and the best one is a little hidden standing in front of them all. It was difficult to get a good shot and it was becoming a little too obvious that I was trying.

The Dreaded Mullet, take that with whatever meaning that you prefer.

Braided Beauty: I don't know if you would call this a mullet or a multi-rat tail.

The Winner: This one is my personal favorite and was snagged by my sister without any prompting. It has some nice volume in the back and then the long and luxurious braids.

Stars, Stripes and Nuggets

Happy Fourth of July!



Today we celebrated the independence of the United States, in Buenos Aires, with an American meal.

University of Buenos Aires

As our time here is winding down, we figured it would be a good time to write about a place we have spent a lot of time over the past few months: our school. For the past four months, Holly and I have been taking classes at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Our particular classes are held downtown in the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, but UBA has campus buildings all over the city. It was pretty easy to sign up for the Spanish classes. Before each semester starts, there are a few days of diagnostic testing. You just show up, fill out a little test, have a chat with a teacher, and she places you in your level (all the language teachers are female). Then you pay for your class and are good to go. The students in our classes really do come from all over the world. I am the only American in my class right now, but we have also had classmates from France, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, South Africa, New Zealand, Korea, China, and Japan. Our classes are held in an old building that I'm sure would have been spectacular when first built. These days it is a bit grimier and a bit dustier, but still provides a charming and elegant atmosphere to study. (We will have to put up some pictures before we leave.)

The campus culture is really nothing like that of US universities. I'm sure the fact that it is an urban school doesn't help, but there really doesn't seem to be much in the way of student activities or campus involvement. They supposedly have a sports complex, but I don't think there is much in the way of intercollegiate athletics. I don't know what UBA's mascot is, but it would probably look something like a fighting mate gourd.

World capital (with a lower-case "c")

I realized that we have some catching up to do on some of the places that we have visited and never blogged about. Montevideo, Uruguay is one of these cities. After we arrived in Colonia a few weekends ago, we realized that a half of a day was sufficient to cover anything that you wanted to do. We could have stayed and continued to drink cheap whiskey (about a dollar a glass) and kick butt in pool, but we thought Montevideo might be worth seeing instead. Especially, considering that the two cities are only about two hours apart.

We were traveling with a couple of friends, and when we got off the bus in Montevideo we realized that none of us knew anything about the city or had any idea where we were going. We pulled out our trusty guidebook and chose one of the recommended hotels. As the cab driver drove through the city on Sasturday morning, we noticed that everything appeared to be closed. I became a little concerned and asked the driver if it was a holiday. He replied that the holiday was on Monday, but that people started to take off of work on Thursday or Friday. I could not believe how empty the streets were around the area. I could only assume we were not in a residential part of the city. This may have been a time where a little research would have come in handy. The girl at the front desk of our hotel re-informed us of the problem, and did her best to recommend some things we could do that day (most of which consisted of walking around and looking at architecture).

The city has some great old European architecture, like that of Buenos Aires, but also has other interesting styles, including art deco. Many of the older buildings were in disrepair and, combined with the deserted streets, it felt like a haunted city. If I had the means, I would have wanted to start buying up properties and restoring the old city area. It has so much potential and could definitely be a much larger tourist draw. On our walk through the city, we also stumbled across the Buddy Bears in the main plaza. (*Editors note: See the "Buddy Bears" post if you don't remember who they are.) We could have been Buddy Bear groupies at this point.

After walking around and seeing all the points of interest on the map, we decided to head indoors because it was freezing . We heard about a mall with a theater and thought that a movie would be the best course of action. It was not. "Un Plan Brillante" with Demi Moore and Michael Caine is quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. I don't even remember the name in English, but it probably did not last long in the U.S. The movie trip did give us the chance to find where all the people were hiding: the mall.

It looked like a mall at Christmastime, except for the fact that everyone had brought their mate along. Uruguay seemed to take the mate obsession to a whole other level. It is one thing to bring mate to the park or to the beach, but it is not exactly a convenient to-go cup. First, one has to carry an open, non-disposable cup or gourd filled with mate leaves with a silver bombilla (straw) sticking out. Then, one has to also have a thermos under one's arm filled with hot water for frequent refills of your tiny mate cup. The hot water is not an issue because places are accomadating to the obsession, but all the extra paraphanalia seems inconvenient to me. I was trying to think of the equivalent in the U.S. and pictured people walking around with their "World's Best (fill in the blank)" coffee mug, and a pot of hot coffee.

The older area of the city where our hotel was located seemed to pick up at night, particularly, on our street. The music was going long after we had turned in for the night.
I think when you are only in a city for a day, it is probably best to do a little research ahead of time and know where you should be when.

This was one we actually timed right and we were eating Saturday lunch with the crowds. In this old terminal were several restaurants and a great atmosphere.

These are some of the buildings that reminded me of haunted houses.

Some more interesting architecture.

Photo Shoot! They were shooting right next to all these guys fishing for river fish. It was very glamorous.

The Little Prince

Living in the city is definitely not a deterrent to having children here. Passersby are generally quick to help out parents with small children. Bus seats are offered up to pregnant women and women with small children. Kids are everywhere in Buenos Aires, and they appear to be running the show.

Children are more than welcome at all restaurants, and it is not uncommon to see kids out at the usual 10PM or 11PM dinner time. On the weekends, there are families with kids walking around just as late as couples on dates. Movie theaters have the late, late show for kids movies because there will be children there to fill the seats.

The attitude toward children here is refreshing. People are very understanding, and it creates a laid-back and calm atmosphere that is contagious. No one complains or gets disgusted when kids are playing a game of tag around their parents' table. Parents may fuss when the shrieks get to the top of their kid's lungs, but otherwise everyone is content to let the kids go. When no one else is even batting an eye, how could you be the one scrooge to complain?
One day, I started getting irritated that a little boy was continuously blowing a whistle inside one of our favorite cafes. Then, I looked up and saw him marching around the restaurant with an umbrella over his shoulder like a gun. It was the day of the former president's funeral procession and he was imitating the soldiers on the TVs above us. I couldn't help but laugh, and the whistle became more of a cute affectation than an annoyance.

My personal favorite parental allowance here is the wearing of the costume outside of the house. We frequently see Batman or Spiderman being pushed around in his stroller or playing in the park. Sometimes the costumes are a little more interesting. One night, we walked past a fancy white tablecloth restaurant that had a family of four seated for dinner. One of the little girls at the table was wearing bunny ears. These ears weren't just the kind on a headband, but the kind with a hood with ears that velcroed under the chin. They were all having a lovely time and acted like it was perfectly normal to have a bunny at the restaurant table. The one that takes the cake (and I'm sorry I missed it) was the little boy strutting around the park wearing a top hat and a cape, and carrying a cane. I can't even imagine who he was pretending to be.

Three Borders

In the town of Iguazu, there is a point called the "three borders" where you can overlook the rivers Parana and Iguazu and see Brazil and Paraguay. The proximity to these countries meant some of the tightest bus security we have encountered. For the first time, we had to have our bags x-rayed by a mobile x-ray van before we boarded the bus. I sat next to a guy from Portugal who told me that this was an effort to prevent drug trafficking because of the proximity to Paraguay. My sister talked to him as well, and he apparently made one too many jokes, leading her to believe that he may have known from personal experience.
The bus made multiple stops at customs check points along the way. Sometimes agents would board the bus and look around, other times the dogs would inspect some of the luggage. I was always surprised after we drove for twenty minutes or thirty minutes when we would come to another check point. Judging from our fellow passenger, however, it may have very well been necessary.
The following pictures are Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay (respectively).

Bait and Switch

Once you get outside of Buenos Aires, a lot of the smaller Argentine towns give off a very different vibe. Buenos Aires has a very European look and feel to it. Some of the smaller towns are little more than muddy roads and cement buildings.

In this photo, the developers of an apartment building are selling the image of a classy highrise building. The poster shows a clean, paved street with luxury sports cars in the cobblestone driveway. Reality yields a slightly different image.

Water, Water Everywhere

Iguazu Falls are on any top ten list of things to do in Argentina. Now, I understand why. The Falls are my favorite thing that we have seen in Argentina. The enormity of this UNESCO World Heritage Sight first hit us during the plane ride into Iguazu. During the plane's descent, we looked out the window and could see the mist from the Falls rising out of the jungle from miles away.

We were trying to catch a bus out of the town that evening, and we wanted to beat the crowds to the Falls, so we woke up early and caught one of the first buses to the National Park. A public bus leaves every half hour from the town center and the ride costs $5 pesos. We took the second bus of the morning out to the park at 7:30AM, and the workers were still opening up the ticket windows and stores when we arrived. There were a few other foreign travelers on the bus, but it was too early for Argentines. As we entered the park, and rushed to find the train to the falls, I felt like we were in Wally World. All the information booths and stores were empty and no one else was around.

The park cost $60 peso for foreigners to enter and, once inside, we were happy to see that those pesos were being put to good use. Everything in the park was very well maintained. From the train, to the extensive walkways leading to the falls, everything was first rate. Because we arrived so early, we had the park practically to ourselves for about an hour or so. This isolation made it easier for James and I to speculate about what it would have been like to stumble upon this sight when the Americas were first being explored. We imagined a European explorer being guided down one of the rivers and hearing the rumbling of the falls getting louder and louder as he approached.

A train takes visitors to the starting point of trails where the waterfalls can be seen from various angles. The falls can be viewed from both Argentina and Brazil. Apparently, Brazil provides a panoramic view of the falls and Argentina's side has more vantage points and close contact views. I do not know this from experience, because the visa to enter Brazil was pricey (for citizens of the U.S.). However, I was more than satisfied with the Argentine angle and did not feel like I was missing out on anything.

Credit should be given the the National Park Service of Argentina. Iguazu is an enormous tourist attraction, but the Park is able to maintain the natural wonder of the area despite the large flow of tourists. Restaurants and cafes are simple and there are few tacky or gimmicky aspects of the experience. I was later told by an overzealous tour guide in the city of Santa Fe (that's a story for another day) that President Reagan had the same observation of the Park. He apparently appreciated the nature surrounding Iguazu Falls and made a comparison with the lack thereof surrounding Niagra Falls.

Now, for some pictures: one of the resident birds, a coati (which roam freely about the Park), and the Falls:

New York's Finest

We just got back from a long trip up to Iguazu in northeastern Argentina. There is a lot to say about the trip, but I wanted to start off with a quick post about the cab ride to the airport. Because the journey is so long, and we didn't have tons of time, we decided to fly up and take buses for the 20 hour journey back. Our cab driver to the airport was a nice guy, probably in his late fifties or early sixties. When we got close to the airport, we started making small-talk about where we were going, where we were from, etc. When I told the guy that we were from the U.S., he looked at me in the rearview mirror and (with a sraight face) told me in Spanish that he was from New York. Not one to question an elder, I simply replied, "cool." He then went on to explain that his family had left the U.S. because of the Vietnam War. I didn't want to get into it, but I was pretty surprised that he had managed to forget all his English considering he had to have been in his teens when he left. Anyways, the incident provided us with a few laughs on the short LAN airlines flight between Buenos Aires and Iguazu.

More To Come

We are currently traveling. Hopefully, we will have some great pictures for when we return. I´ll just say, we went to my favorite place yet.

Flower Power

We went to a free Earth Day concert a few weeks back. I took a few pictures of this giant flower sculpture that was in the park where the concert was held. I thought it looked cool. I wasn't sure at the time, but I could have sworn that the flower had been more open earlier in the day and started to close. I found out later from my Top 10 Buenos Aires book that it is actually quite a famous sculpture. It is called the Floralis Generica and was made by an Argentine sculptor, Eduardo Catalano. The flower actually blooms at 8 AM and closes at dusk. I was relieved to learn that I was not completely insane.

Uruguay

Last weekend we took a trip across the Rio Plata to Uruguay. Many expats who live here make this trip every three months or so to renew their 90-day tourist visas. We didn't need to renew our visas (because of our jaunt into Chile), but we had a couple friends who needed to, so we figured we'd tag along.

We left Friday morning on the 11:30AM Buquebus ferry for Colonia. One of our friends, Flora, took the slow boat (much cheaper) at 9:30, and our other friend, Chris, was on our ferry. Because Holly and I bought our tickets late, we rode 1st Class for the way there. After going through Argentine exit procedures in Puerto Madero, we boarded the ferry along with about fifty Americans wearing nametags and shorts.* Chris had a tourist class ticket so, while we were waiting to board the ferry, we were joking about what he would be subjected to while we were sipping our champagne in 1st class. After we boarded, and showed our tickets to gain access to the 1st class area, we were actually greeted with flutes of champagne and our choice of either an Argentine or Uruguayan newspaper. Other than that, there was very little difference between 1st class and tourist.

Colonia was a quiet, quiet town. Our ferry boat probably doubled the town's population. The entire old town section of Colonia is a UNESCO World heritage site. As you can see in the following photos, there are many well preserved older buildings and cobblestone streets. There was also a small collection of old cars parked in one of the squares. A group of Argentines with old timey cars was doing a tour across South America and happened to be in Colonia the same weekend we were there.

The weather was really nice that weekend. Its just turning autumn down here, so the air had the crisp feeling of fall, the leaves were falling off the trees, and you could smell the woodburning fireplaces. After checking into our hostel and walking around for a bit, we ate lunch outside. The weather was perfect for outdoor dining. The air was cool, but the sun made everything warm and bright. I don't remember the name of what I ate, but it was french fries, scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, onions and peas all mixed together. It was delicious and filling. After popping round to various cafes, we went down to the waterfront to watch the sunset.


Supposedly the sunsets in Colonia are glorious. Its also rare that you are able to watch the sunset over the water on the East coast of South America, but because Colonia is out on a peninsula, you can look back over the water to watch it. The sunset lived up to its billing.

After it got dark, we sought shelter indoors at a resto bar offering "hot Jazz en vivo". We sat near a roaring fire, had some whiskey and wine, ate a couple steaks, and listened to a jazz trio. Afterwards, we went out in search of another bar where we could drink some cheap local whiskey and maybe play some games. A kind hippie with terrible breath informed us of a nice place to go where we "wouldn't get punched in the face," called the Kayman Bar. We saw it had a pool table, so we decided to go inside. Holly and I played a couple of games of pool against some Uruguayans and Brazilians. Although their rules were slightly different, we emerged victorious in both games thanks to Holly's hustling. After the girls went home, Chris and I hit up a late night food cart, where we proceeded to spend all our remaining Uruguayan pesos on hot dogs, empanadas, and milanesa sandwiches.

The next morning we woke up rather groggy and made our way to Montevideo.

*Editor's Note: The photo of the swine flu protections was taken here in Puerto Madero.

A La Moda

I decided to start doing some posts on the fashion of Buenos Aires in honor of one of my favorite blogs, Project Rungay (out of Philly). I am starting with the most pervasive trend that surprised me the most: the drop-crotch pant (harem pants). The crotch on these pants may stop at any point varying from mid-thigh to ankles. I knew this trend had been seen on the runways and on a few actresses in the US, but I had only recently seen it in more mainstream stores there.

I don't want to hear anything about people in New York wearing them. They were not like this. They are everywhere in Buenos Aires. They have been around long enough for my Argentine friend to say that she used to wear them a while back, but doesn't anymore. I have seen every length crotch pant imaginable. I have seen them in almost any material, including leather. It will be only a matter of time before I see them in corduroy as the weather cools off.

It was difficult to snag some photos without being too obvious, but I did my best.

One of the lowest varieties. Not my cup of tea but it doesn't look like a load in your pants like some of the others.

Animal print!

This was taken in Uruguay but it's close enough to B.A. These are half leggings / half harem.

These just look like she is wearing a saggy diaper.

I couldn't resist adding in a little swine flu fashion.

More Buenos Aires fashion to come!

March Madness

Protests are a pastime in Buenos Aires and, at times, a job. I would not be surprised if some houses had a special pan in the house just for marches or blank placards in the closet available for the next grievance. This is not to make light of some of the serious problems that they are protesting. It's just that some of the impact of a protest is lost when they are an everyday occurence.

Walking through the city, it is not uncommon to stumble upon a protest. At first, we were intrigued and we would try to figure out the issue, but now our main concern is whether we can get past the protestors or if we have to take a detour. Although these are generally peaceful marches, I still find the sight of a cop in full riot gear a little disconcerting. I feel it is best to walk in the opposite direction of the police.

Our Spanish classes are at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, near many bank offices. It is prime protesting ground. On our walk to class, we often see that a march has already come and gone, evidenced by thousands of fliers littering the streets. I wonder how this could have already happened and be over, it's as if they spontaneously start and end just as quickly.

Friday, May 1 was a labor day holiday in Argentina. The day before, we had class and transit was a mess. Protests were blocking the streets. My teacher explained that many people protest on Thursday and then relax on the actual holiday. One of the guys in my class asked if there was a day that there wasn't protests in Buenos Aires. My teacher cocked her head to the side, thoughtfully paused and said, "Monday. Usually, they don't march on Monday. "

The other day a larger and more disruptive than usual manifestation was held. They were setting off fireworks, leaflet bombs, and smoke flares. Class continued as loud crackles and bangs came from outside. After class, we saw workers trying to clean spray paint off bank buildings. This was clearly not par for the course as we saw businessmen standing around in the streets surprised by the grafitti.


A march does not necessarily mean those people are passionate about their cause and took to the streets. My teacher also told our class that it is a profession for some. Political parties or businesses can pay picketers to make it appear that an issue or candidate has support.

Special Delivery

For the past month or so, most days have been sunny and in the 70's. Today was the first cold, rainy day of autumn. Holly and I were in a cafe studying when a waiter walked by outside the window carrying a tray. He needed a plastic lid to cover his tray because it was drizzling and windy. Seeing him walk by the window with one small coffee reminded us how ridiculous Buenos Aires' open delivery policy sometimes seems.

For our New York City readers, it probably wouldn't seem strange to see a McDonald's or Burger King delivery guy walking down the street in his uniform. Buenos Aires has plenty of those, along with an army of pizza delivery guys on bikes and mopeds. However, one of the stranger delivery sights is the morning or afternoon coffee delivery. Apparently, it is not uncommon here to call down to your local cafe and order one small, espresso-sized coffee for delivery to your home or office. Maybe there is a dearth of coffeemakers here, but we still can't understand the idea of a waiter taking the time out of his busy day to leave his restaurant and walk all the way to someone's office with one small ceramic cup of coffee on a tray. To me, it would make more sense if they were carrying cardboard trays with styrofoam cups, but these waiters just look out of place walking down the street. We also considered today for the first time the question of whether the waiter then has to return to the house or office to pick up the empty cup he just dropped off.

Other deliveries don't seem to make much sense either. We were thinking of renting a movie the other night, so we asked our roommate if he went to a particular movie store in the neighborhood. He told us which one he goes to, but told us just to call them and they would bring the movie to us. We asked him how we would know what movies they had, and he just said that we could ask them. We are always indecisive when it comes down to picking a movie to rent, so we could only imagine the clerk listing out all the new releases over the phone.

All the supermarkets are also heavy on home delivery. In our neighborhood in particular, there are always kids from the Disco or Coto supermarkets whizzing around with their wheelie bins full of grocery bags. People go to the grocery and buy carts full of food, pay for it, and leave it all there to be delivered. Our roommate routinely has two bottles of beer delivered to the apartment from the deli down the street. Its almost like a modern-day milkman, where you leave your empty bottles of Stella Artois on the doorstep, and the beerman comes around and takes your empty bottles, and leaves you two full ones.

We haven't come up with anything yet, but would would invite reader's suggestions for small, inexpensive items that we could try to get delivered to our apartment before we leave.

Buddy Bears

Here's another cultural experience for everyone.

Buddy Bears is an international peace project and an artist from each country in the United Nations decorated a bear. The bears now travel to cities around the world. Well, the bears don't travel, their shipped around the world. Recently, the bears were in Buenos Aires for a couple of months. We went to Plaza San Martin several times to look at them. Some countries it is easy to identify their bear and others are more difficult. It was fun to try and guess where each one is from. Sorry, I don't have the countries for all of them.

Ireland and Iraq (Guess which one is which.)

El Salvador

Azerbaijan (Burka Bear! I thought it was a funny touch especially with the unibrow.)

Argentina, Algeria

United Kingdom, Qatar

Tanzania(center), Thailand (stamp)Poland, Peru, Paraguay (It's covered in astro-turf), Panama



Nicaragua, Namibia, Myanmar

Indonesia (I like his outfit)

Estados Unidos (I thought it was a good showing from the U.S.)

Cuba (note the cigar)

Democratic Republic of Congo, Columbia, Cyprus