Bonitaseventus: January 2007

The Night of Little Sleep

Last night...well, actually, yesterday...Paul and I opted to leave a rather peaceful place, in search of something a little further outside of town; and cheaper. What we quickly realised was that the idea was futile. Most places have been reserved well in advance, and the nearer you are to true tranquility, the less possibility there is of actually finding an available place. Quickly deviating from our original plan, we found another place; not as nice but CHEAPER (!!!) -5 pesos less. (Yep, we were living the high life when we found this place... That 5 pesos afforded us the ability of purchasing a couple sandwiches from the local bakery.)

The place proved nice, and the woman who tended our requests, even nicer. We were shown two places, one with a beautiful view of the lake, the other, in the back of the building with a view of construction. I told her that we´d prefer the ¨vista con lago¨. She was very amenable to this, but warned that it get´s quite noisy at night. Noisy, at night... come on. It can´t be that noisy. I´ve dealt with noisy before, and sometimes, even enjoy the noise!

Paul and I finished eating around 10:30 -for an Argentinian, they´d just be receiving their appetizers. Walked the streets a bit, and then headed to bed. For air quality sake, I left the windows open and quickly drifted into a pleasant slumber, it was about 12:00.
¨Beep!¨, ¨zoom, zoom¨, ¨Si...blah, blah, blah, Aiye!¨, ¨Digame, Chica¨, ¨Hola amigo, vaminos!¨, ¨Arriba, Arriba!!¨ These were some of the many sounds I heard when awakened from sleeping. Turning over, I noticed the time, 2:00am. Thinking that the sounds would soon stop, I opted to leave the window open. Seconds, then minutes, then hours went by. The sound, instead of receding, started to intensify. And intensify, and intensify. It was 5:00am by the time I finally shut the window; and though proving to be almost completely ineffective, I at least did all I could to shelter myself from the noise... I think I´ll now be more sensitive when an Argentinian warns me of noise...

We´re off to El Bolson in a couple hours. Two hours by bus, and 15 pesos. Not sure if we´ll find a place to stay... but, we´ll figure it out when we get there. Worse case, we´ll look around for a few minutes, hope another bus and go somewhere else.

Bariloche...part 2

OK, so I managed to describe the city center pretty well. As I wrote in my last blog... Disneyland. The city center definitely feels like a Disneyland. Though, as you separate yourself from the center and travel further from town, you are introduced to a world quite incredible.

Yesterday, Paul and I took a boat (63 Pesos and 12 Pesos for park entry) to two beautiful islands. The boat trip, the surrounding area, and the overall company of the 25o passengers was all quite nice.

Prior to the boat trip, Paul and I hiked a hill to see a very famous hotel called Llao Llao. They are a member of the ¨Leading Hotels of the World¨ club... Can you say ´Exclusive´??? I wearing my finest attire (sweat shirt and jeans) and Paul sporting his ever most sporty cloths (hat, white sneakers, polo shirt -a bit worn polo shirt, I might add- and so-so jeans) approached the entrance in only the most intelligent of ways. The front doorman greeted us, said a couple words, and then in a very articulate fashion, I said ¨solo aver¨. Ever so quickly, a response of ¨lo siento...I´m sorry¨emanated from his astute demeanor. And, sooner then it took us to climb the hill, we were already returning from the grandiose walk.

Pictures of everything to follow of everything when I retunr to Buenos Aires... Though, here is the website of the hotel. http://www.llaollao.com.ar/

Bariloche

We arrived -by bus- in Bariloche, yesterday. The trip took 20 hours, about 6 hours of it, I was able to sleep trough. As we drove the the mostly smooth and clean roads, I was constantly reminded of how similar their landscape is to New Mexico's. If I were to blind fold a local New Mexican, fly him to Argentina, and then remove his blind fold, they´d probably still think they were in New Mexico (I´ve taken some photos of the surroundings, but they will have to wait until Buenos Aires before I post them to the blog).

Bariloche... not really sure how to best describe the place. If I were a local Argentinean, or from the surrounding South American countries, and was looking for a nice vacation town, this would be it. But, to me the place brings reminiscent memories of Disneyland, if it were to have built a downtown area in the middle of a ski resort (Think Old Town, or whatever they call the shopping area at Disneyland). This description is not meant to be derogatory. It´s just that it´s not what some -like me- are currently looking for. The plan for the day is to escape the city center and explore some of the surrounding area which, is quite beautiful.

Such Contrasts

Three days ago, I was lying in one of my friends guest beds, finding myself uninterested in leaving from the soft, welcoming comfort.

Two days ago, I was on a flight to Buenos Aires. The flight, because I was able to get first, proved quite pleasant. And again, I found myself in a situation of great comfort- the seat reclined to make into a 6' bed.

Last night... well, just look at the picture.

Bye, Bye Boston, hello Argentina!

How would I summarize my trip to Boston… too short, too frenzied, and too missed. Was I able to see everyone I wanted to see, no. Was I able to spend as much time as I would have liked with friends, no. Would it have been nice to have spent another week, yes. Well, for those I missed seeing, I’m sorry. Please know that my inability to communicate or visit all was not for lack of want, but lack of time. There are several who I know are reading this that I feel particularly disappointed about not being able to see… one name starts with an S, the other, an A… Sorry, though I’ll be returning in several months.

I currently write this at the JFK airport- Unable to connect to the internet, the writing will have to wait until Argentina to be posted. A digitized bell just gonged, informing all who’s listening that the time is currently 5:30. My flight leaves at 10:10pm… So, if one does the simple math, you’ll know that I have another 4 hours and 30 minutes until we leave. On the screen is CNN. Wolf Blitzer is interviewing Cheney. Cheney is acting in his patented cold chilling demeanor, and just told Wolf that he’s "out of line" for asking a question about his daughter and the expecting grand child.

Currently in Boston

I'm currently in Boston, where I was about to write about a mosquito I killed yesterday evening (a mosquito(!), in the middle of winter), when all of a sudden, another mosquito just swooped down and tried to preserve it's life by extracting some vital fluid from mine.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't mosquito's supposed to be a summer insect...And not come out during winter. More and more people seem to be blaming the current weather conditions to person made Global Warming. I'm not fully convinced that what were currently experiencing is actually our fault. Don't get me wrong, I fully believe that we've become a virus upon the globe, and unless (well, it might be to late for this) we immediately reverse our course, the worlds weather pattern will greatly alter. But, what's difficult for me to grasp, or to put it another way 'comprehend', is if this current pattern was contributed solely by humans, why is the temperature so high??? And, why is it fluctuating in such a weird way? It's currently 46 degrees, but two days ago, it was as high as 69 degrees. My other question, and this one is purely more selfish, where was this weather while I was living her. My last two winters in Boston were the coldest and snowiest in over 100 years!

I guess the next few years will give us a good index of whether we -people- have been the cause of all this, or, if it's just another naturally occurring alteration of weather patterns. Personally, I hope for the latter, as I really don't feel a desire to kill anymore mosquito's.

Happy New Year

Hi all and Happy New Year.

May this year bring extraordinary prosper and joy! To those in Boston- I am currently here. Please e-mail. So, if you haven't yet heard from me, then e-mail!

A little poem I wrote while riding the Bus from New York to Boston:

Shall I allow the wind to blow another day-
Before I rake the leaves away?
Though, if I do take the lazy way,
My pardon may only last until that day;
When looking out unto the vast array,
I may regret that I had made delay.

I might be able to muster the energy,
But then again, it doesn’t seem to be an emergency.
And where to then would I be,
But outside, in a cold dark dreary-dreary sea.

So I guess, I’ll live with what might be regret,
And turn my attention to something better yet.

I really have no idea why her eyes are closed. New Years Eve -NY