GoodAirs: More than a bad translation of "Buenos Aires"

Argentina: Secret Hideaway

2009-06-24T12:41:00.003-03:00

It turns out that recently missing South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (right), who supposedly had gone off to hike the Appalachian Trail in order to clear his mind, had actually come to Argentina for a bit of unannounced R&R. Sanford had last been seen at work last Thursday. This Monday, a state legislator asked where he was after hearing from security officials that the governor could not be contacted and his whereabouts were unknown. The governor's wife, Jenny Sanford, told The Associated Press she had not seen him since Thursday but was not concerned because he'd told her he wanted to get away and do some writing. Today the Republican governor returned to work, telling the local newspaper The State that he had considered hiking on the Appalachian Trail but had decided at the last minute to come to our South American country because he wanted to do something "exotic."

I'm not a Republican, but this guy is almost weird enough to vote for.

Fernando Peña Has Died

2009-06-17T17:22:00.006-03:00

Radio and stage comic Fernando Peña, 46, died this afternoon. While working as an airline steward/purser, Peña amused passengers (and himself) by playing the role of outrageous Cuban stewardess Milagros López over the plane's loudspeaker system. Argentine radio personality Lalo Mir used to travel on Peña's flights and when he discovered that not only did Milagros López not exist, but was also played by a man, he helped Peña launch a radio career that soon moved into acting. Well-tattooed, vocally gay and openly battling HIV, Peña provided some of our favorite controversies during our time here (like this battle with Luis D'Elía). He'd been suffering from liver cancer and undergoing chemotherapy when he died. A very funny guy who at speaking engagements would forgo the customary water for a liter of Stella Artois, he will be missed.

Bill Clinton's "Noche de Soltero"

2009-06-17T13:45:00.004-03:00

When Bill Clinton passed through Buenos Aires on June 2 to raise money for his Clinton Global Initiative, it seems the ex-President may have had a boys' night out as well. Local press like Perfil report that after his speech and fundraiser, Clinton and friends went to the Barrio Norte cabaret/strip joint Cocodrilo. There, Peril says, Clinton fell for the dancing of Andrea Rincón (above) a former Gran Hermano participant who does some sexy dancing at the club. Clinton apparently had the VIP sealed off and Ms. Rincón was paid $1,000 to do a five minute show (including an on-stage shower). She and Clinton, it seems, never spoke. In the US, the Washington Post (and then Gawker) picked up on the story. Here's the Clinton denial from the WaPo.

A Clinton spokesman in New York, however, said yesterday that her story "is completely false. They were at the hotel playing cards with the former and current presidents" and "a small group of staff and friends." They were playing "Oh, Hell," he said.

No word on whether Clinton beat Los K at cards.

Buenos Aires Herald Book

2009-06-12T14:24:00.002-03:00

While it may not seem like much these days, during Argentina's "Dirty War" the Buenos Aires Herald stood up heroically against the dictatorship when few others in media did. The editor at the time, Robert Cox, risked his own (and his family's) life to tell the truth, and now his son, CNN Web producer David Cox, has written a book about his father's life reporting on the run-up to a 1976 military coup and the chaos that ensued, "Dirty Secrets, Dirty War - The Exile of Editor Robert J. Cox". (The book came out in December, but the first article I've seen about it--this AP story--came out today.)

Why did the son and not the man himself write it? "This is the book that I could not write," the elder Cox, 75, says in the foreword. "I still find it too painful to relive those malevolent times by writing about them."

Welcome to the Porteño Blogosphere

2009-06-10T15:13:00.002-03:00

Just wanted to give a quick call-out to Daniel Karlin of Anuva Wines, who's just launched Expat Argentina with some nice meditations on Argentine customer service (or lack thereof) and contrasting visions of work held by Americans and Argentines (i.e. What does "What are you doing?" really mean.)

Welcome to the scene.

Resto Crunchtime

2009-06-09T17:05:00.003-03:00

In the first four months of 2009, the average cost to dine in a Buenos Aires restaurant has risen between 25% and 50%, 425 restaurants have closed, and the average menu has seen 75% inflation over the last 18 months. That's according to an article in today's Crítica that traces the declining fortunes of the Buenos Aires restaurant industry. Booming until recently, the restaurant industry is being buffeted by overexpansion, rising costs and falling demand. It's not a pretty picture.

Según analistas de Claves, la industria gastronómica –que facturó 38.429 millones de pesos en 2008– espera cerrar 2009 con una contracción del consumo del 30 por ciento.

(Photo: Crítica)

Earl Tony "E.T." Wayne Rocks Out!

2009-06-05T11:10:00.004-03:00

Yesterday evening, I received this press release from the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires regarding its rockin' goodbye party for departing Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne (above).

Esta tarde, en la sede de la legación diplomática en Palermo, la Embajada de EE.UU. despidió al Embajador Wayne y a su esposa Pamela en ocasión de finalizar su gestión en la Argentina con una fiesta a puro rock.

Los grupos “Infierno 18” y “Virgin Pancakes” animaron con sus temas la festiva recepción, haciendo bailar tanto a los empleados como al mismo Embajador.

You got to like an ambassador who kicks it with undefloured breakfast food, no?

Photo: Infobae.com

A New Musical Starring...Evita's Corpse!

2009-06-04T13:18:00.004-03:00

A new musical comedy about Evita's postmortem travels opens this week in Washington D.C. Here's a story from the May 29 Washington Post:

"It feels like a story Monty Python could have told," says Mariano Caligaris, director of a dark musical comedy recounting Evita's posthumous exploits that has its world premiere at GALA Hispanic Theatre next week.

"Mummy in the Closet: The Return of Eva Peron" attempts a tonal balancing act similar to that of Stephen Sondheim's "Assassins." Like that tuneful profile of president-killers, "Mummy" aims to be a whimsical, if macabre, retelling of tragic events. There is even a zombie number.

Hat tip: jdanky
Photo: Washington Post

La Falta de Monedas

2009-06-02T14:29:00.002-03:00

This week's New Yorker sports a Financial Page piece by James Surowiecki on Argentina's much-lamented coin shortage. It's a interesting take (albeit six months behind and far less amusing than this Slate piece), in which Surowiecki blames the hoarding on psychological reasons to do with Argentina's constant economic problems. But while this may be partially true, Surowiecki misses or plays down some basic reasons for the shortage. As the Slate article notes, bus companies were hoarding coins to the extent that one was caught with 13 million monedas in October. And, as we pointed out, Argentine simply doesn't have enough coins in circulation. Since that bus company was busted for its hoarding, the shortage has eased (though not entirely disappeared). Once again, Occam's razor--that the simplest explanation is usually correct--seems to be right.

(Image: The New Yorker)

Who's a Punch Line?

2009-06-01T18:15:00.003-03:00

“It is a myth that countries don’t go bust, you only have to look at the history of Latin America to see that they do. When you look at the financial position of many European countries today, especially east European countries but also some west European countries, it’s every bit as bad as Argentina was in 2002.”
-- Harvard University professor Niall Ferguson to Bloomberg Television.

Mirá! Ballenas!

2009-05-27T13:10:00.003-03:00

One of the most beautiful experiences I've had here in Argentina is going to the Peninsula Valdés in the province of Chubut and watching right whales, who come into the bay there to give birth and play with their young. Beginning in 2006, the province has been putting the live spectacle of the playing whales on the web, via a webcam. And they're doing it again this year. Through “Vigilia de las Ballenas”, you'll be able to watch a web cam of the Peninsula Valdés whales from 10 a.m. Friday May 29 to 8 p.m. on Sunday May 31 (all times Argentine). Hit the "Ballenas en VIVO" link to see the whales. And enjoy!

(Photo: Flickr)

Ameritina Pt. 2

2009-05-26T18:19:00.002-03:00

As we noted in April, Alan Beattie's new economic history, False Economy: A Surprising Economic History of the World, savages Argentina's economic management by comparing it to the U.S. Should you wish to read a bit more on this, an excerpt from the book was published in Saturday's Financial Times, where Beattie is world trade editor. (Photo: FT)

San Telmo Grub

2009-05-21T17:27:00.002-03:00

Defensa a Sur (Clarín)

There's an interesting piece in today's Clarín noting that the chi-chi resto boom that's hit Palermo, Recoleta and other parts of Buenos Aires has landed in San Telmo too. According to the piece, during the first four months of the year, 38 restaurants applied for permits to open in the zone.

Some of the most notable new places?

Sagardi (Humberto Primo 319)
La Vinería de Gualterio Bolívar (Bolívar 865)
Caseros (avenida Caseros 486)
Defensa al Sur (Defensa 1338)
El Baqueano (Chile 495)

From our visits to San Telmo, we've heard very good things of Sagardi (but never tried it), thought on passing that Caseros looked re-Nueva York (tipo Odeon), and tasted the 97-course "molecular" tasting menu at La Vinería de Gualterio Bolívar, which was tasty but, let me tell you, it takes hours to get through that many dishes.

The Elections on The World

2009-05-21T11:59:00.002-03:00

Just a quick bit of self-promotion: I did a radio piece on Argentina's mid-term elections, Gran Cuñado, and "testimonial" candidates that ran yesterday on the BBC/PRI radio show The World.

Cristina on Gran Cuñado

2009-05-13T11:21:00.002-03:00

Just watch. It's tooooo funny.

Visa Prices Gone Up

2009-05-10T13:09:00.006-03:00

As has been ably noted by Taos @ The Argentine Post and Dave @ Discover Buenos Aires, visa application and renewal fees for foreigners have gone up. Way up. Like heap lots of up. Renewing an expired 90-day tourist visa has one from 50 to 300 pesos, renewing a temporary residency now costs 600 pesos for non-Mercosur types, and it'll set you back 1,000 mangos to change a tourist visa to the work variety.

We've been a bit out of the loop on this since Henry was born in Buenos Aires (thus giving us automatic permanent residency as Parents of an Argentine and also explaining why his full name is Henry Residencia Mount). Curiously, someone recently someone asked me what to do about an about-to-expire visa and I said don't worry, no pasa nada, it's only 50 pesos to renew an expired one at Ezeiza. The next time I saw said person he was a bit, er miffed. Sorry.

Finally, as someone recently remarked to us, this price hike makes the visa-by-child option more attractive: it may actually be less expensive to have a baby that to extend a tourist visa over a year.

(Photo: infobae.com)

The Falks

2009-05-09T23:28:00.003-03:00

A rusted Argentine gun on the Falklands

As Cintra kindly noted in a previous post, I wrote the cover story of a recent Monocle magazine on the economic opportunities in the Falkland Islands. We'll, I've written another Falklands story, this time on immigration on the Islands, for Slate.com. Enjoy.

The Poor American Taxpayer

2009-05-09T01:06:00.003-03:00

I was just--barely--getting over my ire at the American taxpayer funding of pro-Che book presentations at the Buenos Aires Book Fair when I read in this FoxNews story that the U.S. gov was funding the NIH to the tune of $400,000 to study why drunk gay men have risky sex in Buenos Aires gay bars. What's next? A taxpayer-funded study of risky drunk Castro-on-Che booty calls?

Let's be honest: I'm not offended at all. It's just fun to take faux offense at things. FoxNews makes a living off it (they are kidding about being offended, right?).

Happy Day of the Worker

2009-05-01T12:38:00.003-03:00

Today is May Day, also known as International Workers' Day, Día del Trabajador, That Holiday in May, etc. So it makes perfect sense that Argentina's main labor group, the CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo), held its big downtown event, which blocks all traffic through the center, the day before the holiday. Because you wouldn't want to waste the holiday, you know, celebrating the holiday at some obligatory union event. Better to save that day itself for fun, and mess up everyone else's commute the day before. (And, hey, who's against a four day weekend anyway?)

(Photo: Clarín)

You know you're in trouble when...

2009-05-01T12:06:00.002-03:00

...your key election technique is to warn/threaten the public that if they don't elect you the country will fall apart. That, sadly, is where Los K stand these days. Having lost most of there support through the farm strike, the nationalization of the AFJP and Aerolineas (alright, pretty much anything that had money they could plunder to pay off their debts), their penchant for calling the oppostion "coup mongers" and their bizarre handling of the current financial crisis, they're down to playing the last card in the deck. Fear. Several days ago Néstor K told a group in San Nicolás that, "Si Cristina no tiene mayoría, el país explota." And on Wednesday, Cristina herself told a group of mayors from the province of Córdoba that, "El 28 de junio estará en juego la estabilidad democrática." Seriously? Not unless you make it explode. As one opposition lawmaker said, life will go on, with different people in congress, and the people will have the same problems as they had the day before. Really, trying to scare people into voting for you is so...sad.

Africa en Buenos Aires

2009-04-28T13:01:00.003-03:00

You've seen them around Buenos Aires--where they stand out because of the surprising lack of black Argentines--and you've wondered about the who/how/when/why. Happily, last weekend's La Nación delved into the story of Buenos Aires' recent wavelet of African immigrants. The article traces the hundreds of recent arrivals from Senegal, Nigeria, Camerún, Liberia and Sierra Leona, many of whom sell jewelry from briefcases on the city's streets. A few takeaways:

* The majority are refugees who've requested asylum (largely from wars).
* The rest have arrived via Brazil.
* 859 people requested refugee status in Argentina last year, up 47% from the previous year; 38% were Sengalese.
* Most are males under 40 without family.
* The Senegalese have problems getting refugee status because there is no war in their country and Senegal has no diplomatic relationship with Argentina; most of them enter via Brazil.
* "There are more than 2,000 of us Senegalese here," says Alioune Ndiouje, 27.
* New arrivals buy a pre-made plastic portfolio of jewelry to tell on the streets; it costs 500 pesos.
* Compared to European capitals, Buenos Aires is welcoming to Africans. "I know from friends that went to Europe that it'stough there," says Alioune. " Argentina is a country of immigrants and there's no racism, luckily."

One final interesting factoid from the article: in 1810, 33% of Argentina's population had African blood.

Che's Afterlife

2009-04-28T12:02:00.003-03:00

I enjoy watching the birth of a book. I first heard that Michael Casey, the Dow Jones bureau chief in Buenos Aires, was taking a book leave via mutual friends a couple of years ago. Then he was back on the job and a manuscript of Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image appeared at a journalist gathering. Then a facebook group and a blog. Then came a prominent, positive review by Michiko Kakutani. All very exciting.

When I heard Casey would read from Che's Afterlife at the U.S. Embassy's stall in the book fair, I signed up. As in past years, expat acquaintances sprinkled the Embassy's program (as well as visiting big guns Annie Proulx and Junot Diaz.) Casey's presentation was enjoyable, with a powerpoint of engaging Che iconography.

What came next struck me as silly. The Miami Herald headline ran: "Forum on Guevara just part of U.S. rebranding." I'm going to soft-pedal here because I know the reporter and I haven't asked for his account of the story's spin, but I must quote one funny, incendiary line: "U.S. taxpayers funded the discussion at the Buenos Aires 35th International Book Fair of the Argentine revolutionary who dedicated his life to armed struggle against capitalism and imperialism."

For the record, no funding was involved. In his reaction, Michael Casey estimates the total cost to U.S. taxpayers to be $1.50 -- "you’d have to pro-rata the three-week lighting cost for the stand for that which was relevant to my 40 minutes in one corner..." he blogged. Responding to the Miami Herald's misleading story, an irate Republican congresswoman allegedly issued a press release titled: "Ros-Lehtinen Comments on U.S. Funding of Che Guevara Event: Condemns Use of Taxpayer Funds to Praise Brutal Che." The press release cannot yet be found on this official website (hence my careful use of 'allegedly'), but Casey posts it here.

"You can't buy better publicity..," Casey wrote on fb. And sales are climbing on Amazon. Congrats, MC.

[Photo from the NYT review: Courtesy of the exhibition “Revolution and Commerce: Portrait of Che Guevara by Albert Korda”]

Más! Siempre Más!

2009-04-23T16:50:00.003-03:00

Just when I thought these two stories wouldn't go much further:

1) A third woman (this time named Hortensia) has stepped forward to claim that Paraguayan President (and former bishop) Fernando Lugo fathered a child with his. Add this to the two we reported before, and you've got the cast for a remake of Los Tres Chiflados. But no, there's more! Word is that there are at least three more Clerical Love Children to come. Admitting that there are some, well, jokes and hair-pulling inside the Lugo regime, Paraguay's Minister of Women, Gloria Rubín: "They say that more kids are going to turn up, five or six. Some say 16," she says. "And, well, if they do, we'll check them out, case by case."

2) For the third time this week (and at least the fifth since December), a military member/policeman accused of taking part in torture during the 1976-1983 dictatorship has committed suicide. This time it's La Pampa politician Eulises Guiñazú, 72.

Saturday Night Fiebre

2009-04-23T16:39:00.003-03:00

John Travolta has been in Argentina since Tuesday. Apparently, like fellow celebs Tommy Lee Jones, Luciano Benetton, Francis Ford Coppola and Ted Turner, he wants to buy a piece of real estate.

Superpapá!

2009-04-22T11:01:00.004-03:00

Fernando Lugo and (someone else's) baby (Source: La Nación)

Everybody loves sexy priest humor. So, after Paraguay's ex-bishop/President Fernando Lugo was accused of fathering not one but two babies during his time as a man of the cloth, it was inevitable that the naughty jokes would start flying. Happily, Clarín has compiled them in an article today titled, "Chistes y una cumbia, todo vale para reírse del caso." To whit:

* A local musical group, Los Angeles, has created a new Lugo cumbia with the lovely couplet, "Lugo tiene corazón/Pero no usó condón."

* Walls and bathrooms have been covered with the graffitis "El semental del Paraguay", "Superpapá" and my favorite, "Papá de todos los paraguayos"

* Theater veteran Carlitos Vera has announced the upcoming show "¡Grande Pa!", in which he will play a priest and the model Lilian Ruiz will play a maid from the countryside who comes to town and finds herself in a "situación embarazosa".

Tee hee, tee hee hee.