Los K Visit New York

Los K con Clinton

It was the best of times: Néstor and Cristina traveled to NYC, El Pingüino spoke to the annual U.N. event-a-thon about Iran and AMIA, and Los K sat down with Bill Clinton (though not Hillary) to bask in the man's stardust. But, sadly, economic and government irritations kept impinging on the honeymoon. Transparency International released its annual list of Perceived Corruption, and Argentina ranked 105 out of 180 countries (tied with Bolivia, Djibouti and Burkina Faso), while the World Bank's Doing Business index placed Argentina 109 out of 178 in terms of ease of doing business. Of course, as one reader comment pointed out in the forum tied either to the La Nación or Clarín story on the Transparency International index, that index measures perceptions of corruption, not corruption per se; still, if semantics is your only defense, you got problems. "It depends what the meaning of the word 'is' is" doesn't work so well--just as Bill Clinton.

Also, after a speech she gave in front of the Council of the Americas, a U.S. free market business group, Cristina got panned by financial analysts for the lack of specifics about inflation, the national debt, and her plans if elected. In an article in La Nación, Daniel Kerner, an analyst at the Eurasia Group, called her speech "a lack of respect,"and said, "It left the same doubts there were before the meeting." (Of course, La Nación tends to be anti-K, so the description of her bombing in front of the Council members should be taken in that context.)

But at least Los K looked great touching Clinton's hands (above). Even better: "La reunión fue estupenda," Cristina said of their chat with the Man from Hope.

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Please return Francis Ford's creative work!

I've started to watch the morning news while patiently feeding young Henry, who likes to take his time nibbling, gumming and regurgitating breakfast. This morning, the TV cameras were reporting live from Palermo Soho because Francis Ford Coppola's new pad on Gorriti was burglarized last night & one of his collaborators was hurt in the process. Stepping back for a moment: It was big news earlier this year when FFC purchased his 2-story place for $900,000.00 (an astonishing figure for the area).

Back to today's news, I heard and then read that 5 delinquents broke in and lifted computers and filming equipment -- including parts of the script and related work for FFC's upcoming Buenos Aires-based flick, Tetro. According to Crónica, a Coppola colleague (acting as spokeswoman) was suggesting that a copy of this file or backup could be left anonymously... There may be a reward...

What a nightmare. I do hope his creative work is returned & that this doesn't get in the way of the film, which is scheduled to start shooting in February. Including actors' salaries, real estate, etc, it's reported that FFC is investing US$3 million in La Argentina.

I see stories in English are starting to appear:

Thieves raid Argentine home of Francis Ford Coppola (Reuters)

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Gay World Cup

On Saturday, for a short piece that ran in today's Guardian (UK), I dropped by the Andy restaurant in Palermo to interview several international players signing up for the 2007 running of the Gay World Cup of fútbol here in Buenos Aires's Parque Sarmiento. The competition was intense: a player on the defending champs, London's Stonwall FC, said they'd be disappointed if they didn't make the finals, a road made tougher by the addition of a bunch of South American teams to this year's event, the first played in Latin America.

I'd previewed the upcoming World Cup on two small Gridskipper posts (1, 2) in months past, so by my previously stated Law of 3, now that I've shamelessly flogged the story I'll move on from the subject.

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"These are not the droids you're looking for..."

As a member of the foreign press, I get almost daily updates on the prouncements of government figures. Some of these, shall we say, bear repeating. To whit...

QUOTE OF THE DAY, from Chief of Staff Alberto Fernández:

Argentina en este tema es una suerte de alcohólico recuperado. Uno debe estar atento, pero en verdad, en Argentina no existe inflación porque esta supone un alza generalizada de precios, y no hay un alza generalizada de precios y nadie se anima a afirmar temerariamente semejante cosa. Descubren que la papa sube y entonces todos hablan de la papa, pero que la papa suba no quiere decir que hay un aumento generalizado de precios.

Tanto se habla de que hay una inflación paralela, que lo único que genera es uno de los elementos por los cuales se dispara la inflación que es el factor expectativa. En Argentina no hay control de precios, hay acuerdos de precios con comercializadoras y grandes fábricas.

Ah, everything clearer now.

(All emphasis added is mine.)

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¡Feliz cumple, Henry Emiliano! ¡#1!

He's completed a year out here in the world! Seasonally speaking, it was a little different than most first years. Born on the first day of spring – a school holiday here in BA – he jumped from spring to fall to spring to summer to fall to winter to summer back to winter again. And now, we're back to spring at last. It's been quite a ride so far. From a 4 kilo, big-headed hunk of baby to a 10 kilo, curly-haired little boy with a penchant for the word "WOW / GUAU" (He's bilingual, of course.) We look forward to more wow-worthy milestones in year 2. With love --

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The Penguins Are Coming!

The penguins are arriving at Punta Tombo (Chubut) for breeding season, and you can follow their tuxedoed waddle online.

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Pueblitos Perdidos

The abandoned train station in Volcán

On Friday, Washington Post correspondent (and new father, and Goodairs friend) Monte Reel had a really nice piece about how the privatizing Argentina's railroads in 1993 led to a dearth of medical care and a mass exodus of residents in many small towns. Reel follows a train run by Fundación Alma that beings doctors and dentists (foto to right) to these forgotten rural towns.

It's something both Cintra and I came across while driving through Salta and Jujuy in northwestern Argentina. Towns like Volcán (above) and Alemania (below left) retained little but empty train stations and wandering dogs. The difference, however, between these towns and the town in the Chaco province that Reel portrays, Chorotis, is that they were on the tourist train; both housed artisan stores selling textiles and jewelry. For those not lucky enough to live on a travelled road, however, there is little shelter.

Other articles: The NYT gives a solid wrap-up of the trial of a Catholic priest accused of being an accomplice in the last Argentine military dictatorship, while the Telegraph (UK) runs a dimwitted piece about buying property in Bariloche, in which it quotes one realtor source saying, "Real estate values in touristy regions like Patagonia are up by 60 per cent since 2004; it's a good time to buy." Note to self: buy before the run up, not after.

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Outsourcing to Argentina

Altria Group, the parent company of Phillip Morris, announced on Friday it will close its San Antonio service center, laying off 42 employees and shifting their work to Richmond, Va., and Buenos Aires in order "to reduce costs and improve efficiencies."

Insert joke about Argentine efficiency here.

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Palermo "Queens"

Renaming neighborhoods to increase real estate values is par for the course--at least in the U.S. In New York, Hell's Kitchen became Clinton, for example, while in New Orleans the Irish Channel got smoothed into the Lower Garden District. But this obfuscatory marketing technique, like so many of the sort that are accepted with a shrug and a wry grin in the U.S., is getting a slightly more earnest reaction in Buenos Aires. As Buenos Aires realtors Palermofy more neighborhood names in order to cash in on Palermo love among foreign buyers (and Barcelona mocks them accordingly), the local consmer protection agency--the Defensoría del Pueblo de la Ciudad--is asking that Shenk Inmobiliaria, which renamed part of Villa Crespo "Palermo Queens" ("Palermo Staten Island" presumably being taken), be investigated and possibly fined for deceptive marketing. In August, a square meter in Villa Crespo went for US$600 while one in "Palermo Queens" fetched US$1,050.

Don't even ask about Palermo Bronx.

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Mendoza Clips

In publishing, it seems that obsessions--or at least article subjects--come in waves. Buenos Aires was hugely popular a year to 18 months ago; Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula enjoyed a short, weird moment in the NYT sun; and "France on the cheap" articles pop up, as if by law, every spring. On such a recent streak, I've been spending a bunch of time in Mendoza which is, deservedly I think, getting attention as an international wine center. Instead of blabbering on about it, though, I'll let my two recent articles speak for themselves. Here's one from Fortune Small Business on Americans getting into the wine business there, and here's one from Food & Wine about the increasingly sophisticated offerings in the once very provincial capital. Buen provecho, yo.

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Beef and Rugby

Ross Anderson of the Times UK does what one must and more his previes to last week's Argentina/France game in the Rugby World cup: he turns the inter-nation game into a culinary face-off and recipe story. Happily, our fair country wins for its sheer steak quality. As he rhapsodizes about a trip he took to Buenos Aires:

Show a gaucho a French steak - a thin sliver of a thing, flash fried, tough, stringy - and he’ll fall about laughing. When a mountainous Argentine fillet isn’t hanging off the side of your plate, it’s melting in your mouth. I was in Buenos Aires not long ago, and as our restaurant asador wiped a cow’s bum and slapped it on the grill I asked him why Argentine beef was so sensational. “It’s the pampas,” he said.

Desperate to give France its due, at the end of the piece he notes that, "The French contribution to our meal? Well, they’ll win on the pitch..."

Well, as we know, it didn't happen that way: underdog Argentina won 17-12. All that and steak too...

UPDATE: Another use for the Argentine rugby win--As a "proof of life", the kidnappers of an Argentine businessman released a tape of the businessman reading the game's final score.

Photo: Telegraph.co.uk

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Another Menem Scandal? Shocker.

Reading this AP article from yesterday, I had the predictable yawn reaction Yeah, yeah, ex-President Menem barred from leaving Argentina for suspicion of selling arms to Croatia and Ecuador, blah blah blah, the usual. Then I hit this:

Federal Judge Rafael Caputo also ordered that US$112 million (€82 million) of Menem's assets be frozen as he investigates the allegations of illegal weapons deals during Menem's presidency...

Not "all of Menem's" assets, but rather $112 million of them. As if it's but a part. How do you get $112 million working as a politician. Good horse bets? Smart investing choices? Luck in the lottery? Seriously, if there's anybody left in Argentina (or the world) who doesn't believe the ex-prez was skimming...

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Nos Vemos a la Vuelta---Okey, ahora

After two months of travelling through our native land (that sounds so much more exotic than 'The States', no?), we're back in Buenos Aires. We ate "ethnic food" (i.e. food that involves spices), I spouted the appropriate expat cliches ('Wow, the people and cars here are huge, and everybody has so much crap.'), and Henry seriously enjoyed his early first birthday party (although, as you can see above, he remained unconvinced that his birthday candle was not in fact a nefarious attempt to set him alight). He also began what presumably will be long and illustrious career torturing those smaller than him (below).

But we're back, and we're hungry for carne.

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