Eichmann's (Fake) Passport

Bloomberg News's Eliana Raszewski has an interesting story today on the fake passport used by Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann when he entered Argentina under a false name in 1950.

The document was included in a 1960 petition by Eichmann's wife, Veronica, for a court to investigate his disappearance... When she filed the petition, Veronica Eichmann didn't know her husband had been abducted by agents of Israel's Mossad secret service.

The story tells the curious history of the Nazi use of Argentina as a refuge, including Hitler's desire to "retire" in Patagonia and "Angel of Death" Josef Mengele's eluding of justice until his death, in Brazil, in 1979.

A copy of the false Eichmann passport will be on view at Buenos Aires's Holocaust Museum, Montevideo 919, starting tomorrow.

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SiCKO

I saw Michael Moore's new film SiCKO last night. Via the miracle of BitTorrent, a friend of mine downloaded a copy of the film pre-release and so I got to see it here previous to its NYC release (tomorrow). I'm not going to say who downloaded, as it seems that film producer Harvey Weinstein is mighty pissed off about the pre-release piracy. Here's what he said to the NY Post:

"We created lots of phony sites, and people had to input their private information to gain access to 'SiCKO.' We are turning over all the information to the police and prosecutors and are stopping Internet piracy."

But back to the movie, which has gotten largely good reviews from those who do that. After a little over two years here in Argentina, covered by the basic national healthcare and then covered again by OSDE 310, I've forgotten the sensation of living in utter economic fear of ever getting sick or hit by a car, as I often did in the U.S. I say economic fear, because I wasn't worried so much for my health--I was fairly sure, correctly or not, that I'd make it through fine--but that I'd catch something or break something that would make me go into bankruptcy. Considering the craptastic insurance we had while freelancing in the States--it covered, um, nothing--that was a distinct possibility. So watching the film--which, yes, as critics will note does not present opposing viewpoints and does hype up the Cuban medical system somewhat uncritically but, hey, it's pretty convincing--I must say that I had the "foreigner" reaction to the U.S. medical system: How the hell can the States do such a bad job providing access to health care--instead of being a luxury of sorts, shouldn't it be something that everyone should have without stress?

During out last visit to the U.S., Henry developed a lump on his arm, so we went to the hospital. After misdiagnosing the problem, the hospital had us wait for 4 hours, spent 5 minutes lancing the supposed abscess (it was a harmless reaction to a BCG shot), and tried to charge us $1,500 for our medical pleasure. Luckily, we'd bought Argentine travel insurance for him before we left. After that experience--and the film--I know we'll be doing the same as well for our next trip back.

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The Expat Chronicles

Reading through the current five-part series in the Atlanta Journal Constitution by former AJC writer Soyia Ellison (right) about her move to Buenos Aires, I couldn't help but feel, well, unoriginal. We here at Goodairs have also bitched about Argentine bureaucracy, written up our language classes, and rhasodized about tango. Reading over the other expat blogs over the last few years, I've noted that we're far from the first or last to comment on these things. The titles of the pieces even perfectly encapsulate the 10 Steps of Expatriotdom ('Expatriate takes leap of faith, relocates to Argentina', 'Moving to Argentina, writer finds Spanish a tongue twister', 'Argentine adventure: Reality sets in, annoyances show up' etc.).

All this commonality of experience makes me wonder: now that we have the five-part, platonic ideal, newspaper published chronicle of the expat experience (not badly written either)--and now that reading any newby expat blog gives me that weird Groundhog Day, "Haven't I been here before?" feel--isn't it time to declare a moratorium on all base level expat observations? No more posts about how water splashes up from loose sidewalk tiles, no more wonder at the number of dogs the walkers have, no more wowing about Evita. Time to dig deeper. At least that's what I'll aim to do.

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Still Beautiful; Still Cheap Part II

Once again, Mercer Human Resources Consulting came out with its annual Worldwide Cost of Living Survey of 143 world cities and Buenos Aires just leapt in cost--from 142nd place to 138th place. The cheapest place to live for expats--Asunción (for the 5th year in a row), with Montevideo coming in as third cheapest. This is all understandable and fine. What I don't understand is why the 2006 survey included 144 cities while the 2007 version had only 143. Which city disappeared?

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If Orwell Had a Flight From Aeroparque...

Sigue el paro de empleados de Aerolíneas y Austral
Airline travellers angry over habitual long flight delays assaulted an airline check-in employee, so airline check-in employees have instituted a work slowdown meant to further delay flights in order to protect themselves from passenger aggression.

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I ran a maratón today

Sounds more impressive than it is. A maratón can be any old race. This one was "approximately 7.5 K" -- just a fraction of El Maratón (42 K). I went alone (Ian took care of the pibe this time), so I had plenty of time to think about how New York and Buenos Aires races compare. In the only-in-New-York column, you have heart monitors, GPS pace-setting devices, dry weave outfits that cost hundreds... and then the race ends with a banana and a bagel for replenishment. In the only-in-Bs-As column, there are the girls in white spandex leading the warm up exercises, the mate sipping on the sidelines, the "No a las papeleras!" protest signs thrown in for good measure... and the race ends with water. So, I miss New York's bagels more than anything else.

Today was a big deal for me because it was my first post-pregnancy race. I realized how much I missed them. I kept my same old strategy: I lined up about 2-3rds of the way back in the pack and then I scoped out which bodies ahead of me I wished I had. Those are my pacesetters. (Ok: I have my watch on & I know approximately what time I want to beat, but the kilometer markers are a little unreliable in casual Argentine races, and following a nice butt is amusing.) As usual, I went through several pacesetters, because running bodies can be so misleading. Some big butts can moove & some sculpted rears just give up and walk. But I'm an experienced racer, so I took this in stride.

Success. I met my time goal & got a free t-shirt & had an excuse to see all the construction sites of soul-sucking Puerto Madero, which is really kinda beautiful on a sunny Sunday morning.

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Matty C Is Jaun-Tee

Now that we've gotten that terrible rhyme over with, we'd like to say that we are here to celebrate former Time Out Buenos Aires editor Matt Chesterton and his bullshit-deflating posts about Buenos Aires tourism on Jaunted.com. The man knows his meat, drinks and death. Read. Enjoy.

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Covering a cold snap

It's been freezing here in Buenos Aires, and we don't have central heat. Press coverage of the cold snap has the death count at 34 as of Friday afternoon -- including deaths from exposure (street sleeping), heating-related fires as well as carbon-monoxide poisonings (from burning fuels in unventilated spaces). Carbon monoxide / suffocation from precarious heating set-ups is just too scary here. We have one area heater (out of our 4) that I believe would be banned in many U.S. states. But don't fear, dear readers, we are very careful with ventilation and we have a CO-detector in the baby's room.

In some less morbid cold coverage, Clarín decided to ask transvestite prostitutes (aka, travestis) near Chacarita Cemetery about business in the cold. Of 9 spotted by Clarín's reporter on a recent chilly night, one named Gaby said that, in general, she likes getting to work earlier in the cold, but that trading in her mini skirt for pants has cut business almost in half(!).

Travestis más vestido y con menos "trabajo" (last item)

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