things i love about argentina

1. they absolutely love the simpsons. it´s on multiple times a day, and it´s painted all over stores and street walls. copyright folks would have a field day i tell you.

2. ice cream and empanadas are everywhere. i mean everywhere. the ice cream is pretty damn good, and with the competition we have in the states, it comes close. i would still say that we win hands down on quality of ice cream. mmmmm...... and the empanadas vary by region and city. up north they were very cheap and very tasty. mostly they either have meat, cheese, or chicken. and i mean literally just meat cheese or chicken. the chicken ones tend to not be so hot, and the cheese here leaves a little to be desired. here in the city of cordoba they have arab empanadas which are meat with onions and lemon, and are quite delectable.

3. almost every town has at least one main plaza. it´s a great way to organize a city, really, because it provides a center, and a place to congregate for folks....and a great place for ice cream stands.

4. the fashion statements here are unbelievable. first off, the mullet...it is the pinnacle of fashion sense, namely because the soccer stars have them. they come in all shapes, and complement whatever attire you desire....the business folks with suits and well groomed tops with their usually short and manicured mullets. the bohemian/hippie types with the range of unkempt mullets, usually utilizing the one stray dred or braid that literally goes down to the middle of their back. seriously, it´s pretty hilarious. secondly they have fully embraced both fanny packs and flavor savors. enough said.

5. mate....it´s a very social thing that for these folks provides something to do at all times of the day or night. it´s actually packed with good things for you, and the caffeine it contains is not as strong as in coffee beans. it´s either taken with sugar or straight, and you see folks of all ages walking around with a thermos tightly clutched under their arms....

6. the music here seems to live in 3/4 and 6/8 time instead of our standard 4/4. it provides a different feel and the dancing is often quite sexy....something about the hips and the latin flair is a bit of an explosive combo.

7. breakfast usually includes lots of bread, cookies, and mate. dinner is after10 and you don´t think about going out until 1 in the morning. lord forbid you come home before 6 in the morning. i swear, i´ve been at restaurants and bars at midnight and whole families, with little kids, are sitting down to eat....and they eat large plates of meat. usually just meat and maybe rice. i guess they start the kids off young, and for them it´s normal. i imagine it helps them sleep through the night, though.

8. the afternoon siesta....man oh man. especially in the countryside, there is not a thing open from 2-5 in the afternoon. literally. it´s the hottest part of the day, and the streets are empty and all the stores close. things get chug-a-luggin again around fivish and are bumping by 8 or 9.
it´s a beautiful thing.

9. there is a strength and vitality to the culture here that is very contagious. people are so very friendly and hospitable. i imagine it comes from not really having much luck politically for so long. there hasn´t really been much work for a while, so this crisis is not really a big deal. the only comparison i can think of is ireland. both countries have developed a culture around music and community that can come only from years of persecution. creo yo.

10. it´s kind of like being in a modern wild west. there´s no such thing as osha, or traffic laws...using your lights at night...for what reason? every intersection is a game of chicken with the crossing traffic, and every street is a rally race including buses, cars, bikes and motos....these people are crazy. it´s great though. you just have to watch out crossing the street, because the cars could give a rat´s you know what if they clipped you or flat out ran over you... you are in their way. the rules only apply so far, most easily paid off by bribes....which i guess has its downsides as well.

the future cometh!

so if you folks didn´t already realize, i´m picking up on this internet thing with quick velocity.

i now have a youtube site! it´s been a while that i´ve wanted to put something on youtube, and now i have....i´ll admit it was a bit anticlimactic. either way...i don´t know the best way to find it other than to say my name is ryanfitzpatrick81, and the two videos are called..carnaval, tucuman...ranchillos and above san isidro.

i also have more pictures on the picasa site...www.picasaweb.com/rfitz81

tucuman

so i left salta and headed for the city of santiago del estero. but....i got to tucuman and it was late and i didn´t want to head to a city and get there at night and well, blah blah blah....

so i made it to tucuman. it´s a pretty good sized city, and does quite a lot of commercial and business traffic within the country. it´s a good looking city with a beautiful main plaza and is pretty hot and humid in the summers. it´s surrounded by fields of sugar cane and is a nice green valley surrounded by mountains. i ended up calling a friend i had met up north camping and met up with him. he´s a great fellow..alejandro vaca, or la vaca...and he ended up giving me a tour on his broken down moto bike around the city. it was quite the adventure riding around on the back of something like that. no helmets, no traffic rules...it´s basically a rally race in the streets here with buses and cars and bikes and motos just weaving around each other trying to race to the next intersection to play chicken with the crossing traffic to see who goes first. there´s not really any stop signs either....

either way it was a wild weekend of discos and bbqs and swimming...there´s pictures on the site. the highlight was definitely the carnaval on sunday. it was the last day of the celebration, and it was held outside of town at a soccer stadium. they had bands playing all day and sold beer and food. the big carnaval aspect of it all was that they also sold packets of powdered paint....that you mix with water or beer and proceed to wipe it on just about anybody that walks by. it was just madness. add to that water being sprayed everywhere and fake snow...latin america is crazy. and awesome. it was a debaucherous afternoon and i was sufficiently covered in paint and a bit inebriated as well.

the lessons i learned from tucuman are...

one...i´m not 22 any more like my tucumano friends. staying out until 6 in the morning multiple nights in a row going to discos and chasing after parties...well. i guess i never really was into that, but especially not now.

two..latin america is crazy. there is a raw energy here that is unexplainable.

and now im in the central sierras of argentina in a quiet little village called la cumbre. it´s after tourist season, so it´s quite nice. getting to play lots of music and relax. and sleep.