Kelly has had terrible back spasms for the past 2 days so our agenda has changed – slowed down from its already glacial pace. With all our stairs, this is not a good place to have back pain.
We knew that we were pushing it with our getting up at the crack of 10:00AM and out the door by 1:00PM - then going into our interval training – walk for 15 min then sit down at a café and eat and drink for an hour or two - then repeat.
Its good to stay on Albuquerque time here. The nightlife does not start until midnight – 8:00PM Albuquerque time - which gives us a chance to go out at night. All the litle kids are up late here. Four to ten year olds are all over the place at 2:00AM. Even Kelly has managed to stay up that late.
Buenos Aires does have much more of a European feel than other Latin American cities. A good proportion of the city has Italian roots and there are lots of Germans, Spaniards and Portuguese as well. Its not 3rd world but not first world either. The UN rates the standard of living as 37th out of 177 countries; between Poland and Hungary. The US is 8th.
There was a major economic collapse here in 2001 which devastated much of the Argentine poor and middle class. The rich had their money invested internationally and so did not suffer so much. Since things are so much cheaper now, the rich are better off than ever.
Lots of people here blame the US for encouraging unchecked borrowing and development. Because of this, it’s accepted that as a US tourist you get charged more for things. Most things are so cheap that it makes no real difference and its done in a business-like, nothing personal manner so there are no hard feelings. We haven’t run into any anti-American sentiment here although as a cabbie told me, “Everyone hates Bush.”
Traveling with Edie is a real change. In some ways having a two year old really slows you down. I tend to walk very fast in cities. I’ve had to learn to dawdle. On the plus side, she has opened up so many doors for us. The neighbors here treat us like we really belong here because Edie and their kids are playmates. They keep bringing us food and its clear it has nothing to do with Kelly, MB or me.
3 comments:
back spasms? sounds like an excuse not to tango! (no, seriously, i hope you feel better, kelly!)
enjoy your fine weather. we've got a few inches of snow in albuquerque today with more on the way.
We would love to overnight the big pants, but I think they have mysteriously disappeared. Terry does have a pair of little pants (the women's size small short shorts he bought in Chicago a couple of years ago) we could send, but I think it would hurt Kelly's back to try to struggle into them. But really, we hope to hear soon that Kelly is much better. Kevin, you must carry her up and down the stairs!!
Sorry about kelly's back. Maybe it is improving by now? I just watched a short documentary on the net about the mothers of the plaza de mayo. I gather that the surviving mothers are still there each Thurs. It is on a fifty crows web site for socially conscious films. Enjoy your time. Get so well Kelly. Love, Pam
Post a Comment