Master Dilettante

I love the Argentine lifestyle:  long lunches, afternoon tea, late dinners, late nights, late starts in the mornings — then repeat.

I didn’t understand how that schedule worked with work until Argentine eBay-er MC explained that managers will arrive in the office at 9:30-10:00, that lunch is an extended affair and that the work days don’t end until past 7:00 p.m.

In vacation mode and without work to attend, for me this meant dining after 10pm, for hours, staying up past 4 a.m. and waking past noon every day in Buenos Aires.  Perfecto!

On Day 2, we did the map-guided tour of Recoleta Cemetary, last resting place of elite Argentine public figures such as Eva Peron (Evita).  Unlike most cemetaries in California, with graves in the ground, the entire cemetary in Recoleta is comprised of crypts with above-ground vestibules and below-ground chambers.  Coffins often are visible through glass or wood doors or metal bars.  Also unlike in the U.S., where sites are purchased in perpetuity, sites at Recoleta effectively are leased and payments must be maintained to keep them.  My understanding is that a waiting list exists to take over abandoned sites.  I suppose that means the last resting place is only for a nap!

I assume there must be some architectural conventions followed, but there’s still a mix of apparently more classic and some more modern styles. We saw Evita, including the epitaph that inspired the musical, and scores of government figures.

One morbidly fascinating sight we saw: A lot of feral cats are around the grounds; we saw one emerge from through the metal bars of a decrepit, overgrown crypt with a half-eaten pigeon in its mouth and continue the feast.

Somehow, the historical, public and tourist nature of the cemetary made touring it less morbid and somber than I imagine walking through another cemetary might be.

By the way, here’s what Lonely Planet writes of La Boca:

La Boca is not the kind of neighborhood for casual strolls — it can be downright rough in spots. Don’t stray from the riverside walk or the tourist sections of Caminito, Del Valle Iberlucea and Magallanes, especially alone or toting expensive cameras. There’s nothing you’d want to see outside these areas anyway.

Hm, so i guess inland on Defensa isolated on one side of a deserted street with a fancy SLR wasn’t so smart. My bad!

Buenos Aires is a beautiful, modern city, and travel buddy LTS and I serendipitously covered many of the major sights in my 3 days there. I particularly loved the architecture, mixing modern and older styles; the older world European feel; the civilized people; and, of course, the food — delicious — and inexpensive relative to American standards.

But the most story-worthy tale is about how I evaded robbery at gunpoint on my very first day in the country!

We had walked all the way from the Recoleta neighborhood to the San Telmo neighborhood, the latter lined with quaint shops and, on Sundays, a street fair for crafts and antiques.  The La Boca neighborhood wasn’t much further, so we kept walking, now in the late afternoon.

As we left San Telmo behind, the streets emptied of people and the apparent economic conditions seemed to decline. We saw a burnt, rusted car parked rotting on a street. But it was still broad daylight and we did see others here and there. Had I read my Lonely Planet guide more carefully, we might have heeded its warnings to avoid all but the major, most touristed streets of La Boca, regardless of time of day . . . .

This photograph could have cost me my life!

Instead, just a couple blocks from those safer areas and perhaps 50 yards from a full children’s playground, we’d paused to photograph two artfully painted building facades. My friend was across the street and later told me she saw a dark car pass her and make a u-turn towards me. I was standing a foot into the street taking photos and saw the car, with its dark tinted windows, approach uncomfortably closely, allowing little space between it and a high curb to my left. I saw at least 3 people, who appeared to be locals, in the car and remember being puzzled briefly that locals might be stopping to ask me a question.

Ah, but that’s not what they wanted. The car now immediately next to me and inching forward slowly, a dark-haired guy perhaps in his late 20s/early 30s in the back passenger seat brandished at me what appeared to be a silver, 9-millimeter pistol. Almost at the same time, either he or someone in the front passenger seat (and this is why eyewitness testimony can be so unreliable–I don’t know exactly what happened) grabbed my right wrist, which held my fairly new Canon Rebel EOS XSi SLR camera. I just reacted. I jerked my wrist and camera away and ran to the rear end of the car and beyond; I ran right by the passenger with the gun, behind the car and across the street. LTS just saw the car approach me, between the two of us, and then saw me sprinting from it.

Thankfully, the car didn’t turn back, continuing onward and away from us. And within 30 seconds we were at the children’s playground surrounded by others and a bit shaken.

Later, I told my friend that in the blink of the moment, my immediate impression had been that the man with the gun was a petty thief and didn’t intend to shoot me. Of course, I didn’t know that, and I would never risk my life for a camera. But I just didn’t freeze; I just reacted and ran and lived to tell the tale of flight over losing the fight, with just a minor abrasion to my wrist.

Having been maxed out on vacation accrual for months and not having taken a real vacation since 2004, I need/want some time off from work. It’s off to Argentina for some rest and recreation!

The plan is 2-2.5 weeks in country, with stops in Buenos Aires, El Calafate in Patagonia (for the Perito Moreno glacier and a trip across the Chilean border for some trekking in Torres del Paine), back to Buenos Aires (the hub for many domestic flights) and then a couple of days at Iguazu Falls before heading home via Los Angeles to see my niece.

Bon voyage!

I must be spoiled. Over the past two years, the only airplane flights I’ve taken over 6 hours have been international flights in which the amenities, meals and service have been adequate to great. Moreover, I’ve been fortunate to travel business or first class.

By amenities, I mean the in-flight kits containing socks, toiletries, etc., given to business class and above passengers and little things like even audio headsets. By meals, I mean the quality and variety of the food and drink provided. And by service, I mean the attentiveness, attitude and efficiency of the flight staff.

If you fly internationally on non-U.S.-based airlines, you will realize immediately that the amenities, meals and service on U.S.-based carriers, particularly on U.S. domestic flights, in contrast, are noticeably and unequivocally worse.

Amenities on U.S. carriers are non-existent or minimal at best. I’m writing this post on a United Airlines flight to Boston, and the audio headset for listening to in-flight entertainment was loose, not packaged in plastic, with the cord coiled around it. At least the plastic packaging that used to be used provided the illusion of hygiene. Now, high-maintenance gadget geek that is am, I bring my own Bose noise reduction headset wherever I fly. Today, however, I can’t use it, because the headset jack in my seat is not just broken, it’s literally missing altogether.

But wait, there’s more! Meals . . . . I must have missed this in the news, but somewhere, somehow, sometime, domestic flights on United discontinued hot, included meals. Now, if you want to eat on a 6-hour flight, you can either bring your own food or you must pay $5 for a lousy assortment of cold crackers and snacks. United Airlines lists the “SnackBoxes” available.

Last, service ranges from outright rude to measurably dour. Southwest Airlines is a noticeable exception, but Southwest doesn’t offer long flights. (I haven’t flown Jet Blue yet).

Compare this experience to the experience you might receive on any Asia-based airline, say Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Asiana, Korean Airlines or Quantas, and you’ll know that American carriers aren’t even trying.

I have neither monitored nor studied the plight of U.S. carriers. I know that United Airlines has been in a world of hurt. Evidently, the failed economics and/or management of these carriers prevents them from providing even the service they provided in the past.

The only thing that keeps me with United is my accumulation of frequent flier miles, but, even were I want to switch, it is but as if American Airlines or any other U.S. carrier offers a superior alternative.