Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Adventures in Argentina – Part One

This week I’m in Buenos Aires, Argentina – even farther south than Florida or Texas, but I think more people here speak English.  Getting here took a lot of airplane time and here are a few things I’ve learned or that happened during my adventure so far:

  • My ability to sleep on 10 hour plan rides is less than my ability to do pretty much anything else.
  • I’ve now seen Invictus twice – and I’ve learned that I’ll probably never be a world-class rugby player (a shock to all of you, I know), but I can quote most of the movie.
  • On the flight from Seattle to Atlanta they had free movies since the credit card thing wasn’t working.  This was very exciting except for the older lady next to me who got so frustrated with the control for the movie thing that she gave up.  I offered to help, but she said it just wasn’t worth it.  I gave her Orbitz Maui Melon gum instead and this seemed to make her incrementally happier.
  • The lady on the other side of me watched The Blind Side on her iPod, but could’ve watched it for free on the “big-ish” screen in front of her for free.  Maybe I’m just being a guy but big screen is ALWAYS better than small screen.
  • If you work in Customs you have to look a little mean and indifferent.
  • My Spanish is still semi-ok, at least I could carry on an hour and half conversation with the driver who took me to the hotel.  He gave me a huge talking-tour of the city and an in-depth, non-bias (I’m sure!) explanation of how screwed up politics are in his country – he seems to think we have it all figured out in the US since we have Obama.  The other point he kept emphasizing  was how 3-4 months after things become popular in the US they arrive in Argentina – stuff like technology, fashion, etc.  This clearly means that Justin Bieber is only days away from taking over down here.  As a parting comment I told him to let me know the next time he was in Seattle – he laughed hard at that one.
  • The power plugs here are different – forgot about that.
  • The first shower I took here was actually kinda scary.  There were SIX nozzles all in front of me along with the shower head above me.  Upon turning on the shower I was pummeled with ice-cold water from all of these different sources.  Then it warmed up a bit and I was fine, but wow – I think people here are somehow cleaner because that’s a lot of water power.
  • Driving here is more like walking through the Walmart on the day after Thanksgiving.  You’ll survive it, but there will be bumps/bruises and you have to be really self-centered brave to go more than 10 feet or so.

The thing I’m most impressed with are the people – they are “fall all over yourself” nice.  Yesterday I was standing in a LONG line at a fast-food place for lunch.  The co-worker I was with in the line is due to have a baby in a few weeks.  One of the crazy-busy fast food workers spotted my pregnant friend, ran up to us, and dragged us to the front of the line to order in front of like 50 other people.  AND THIS IS NORMAL.  So classy.  The moral of the story – the next time you’re in Argentina – bring your pregnant friends.

4 comments:

the chortlin' chimichurri! said...

Great post! My not-so-insightful comments:

-I'm also a bad plane sleeper - can only sleep on long plane rides if I'm heavily medicated.

-I have not seen Invictus even once, but I did see The Informant! on a plane ride a few months ago. It was not my favorite Matt Damon movie. If anyone is wondering what my favorite Matt Damon movie is, it would be a very difficult choice from among: The Departed, Saving Private Ryan, Courage Under Fire, or The Talented Mr. Ripley. Huge Yawn for Syriana. Movies that try to make me think end up making me tired. hahahah Oh yeah, & I experienced motion sickness when watching one of those Bourne movies in the movie theater. I got so dizzy that I had to start staring at the floor.

-Free movies are VERY exciting!! I love that little trivia game they sometimes have on those plane flights where you compete against other people on the plane. Unfortunately, usually I'm just playing against myself.

-I LOVE watching movies and tv shows on my Ipod. I am such a girl. hahhah

-There is NO WAY The Frog could ever work in customs.

-I considered it a huge accomplishment in my life when I was able to follow (but not even come close to participating in) a conversation that my French friends were having about the Kyoto Accord. It's always fascinating to see what people outside of the US think of us in the US. hahahha I don't know why, but those USs made me laugh.

-Ahhh - sorry about the plugs! When I lived in NOLA, I used to regularly trip the circuit breaker by using my heater and my hair dryer at the same time.

-Your shower sounds like some sort of treatment that they would offer at your Russian spa. hahah

-I bet you get some amazing people watching in when out for a walk.

-Fall All Over Yourself Nice people are The Best. I LOVE hearing that.

r.l.secor said...

Nice use of
- the word incrementally
- the Maui melon gum
- the cliche "fall all over yourself"
- the words sabbatical and hiatus (love those especially since we just finished night number 7 million of our BONES marathon)

Hope there are more good stories and expert tourist advice from Argentina - I mean that's why you're there right - to blog for us.

r.l.secor said...

Whoa - I just realized - I wrote a short comment and someone else wrote a LONNNGGG comment. WIERD. That never happens.

millerjk said...

Try getting some sleep on those long flights with 3 kids...want to fly to Malta and take the adventure with me next week??

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