El Choque Urbano

Last night I went to the Ciudad Cultural Konex, an open-air theater
that is made from a reused industrial space. In addition to the stage,
there were a number of art installations and exhibits - I arrived
early and got to practice my Spanish in the wild before the music
started.

The band was great - they played pipes, pots, pans, plastic bags, oil
drums, etc rather than instruments, and created an effect that sounded
like a mix of Stomp and LCD Soundsystem. Not bad for less than $4 US.

Per special request, my next post this week will focus on food here -
if other people have questions, topics, and whatever that they want to
see here, please let me know.

Bears for Peace

As part of a traveling art exhibition, there are 140 bears in Plaza
San Martin this week - one for each of the countries represented in
the UN. Here I am, striking a pose with the Italian bear. If I look
a little groggy, it is because I ate a steak and a chorizo sausage for
lunch, but luckily it has cooled down enough here that I was able to
go for a run in the afternoon to work it off.

Andes

While in Mendoza, I also took a side trip to the high Andes, right along the border with Chile. I exhausted my camera battery before the summit (and before my paragliding trip the next day), but I snapped a few scenery shots before it went dead.

Bodegas

No trip to wine country is compete without a tour of a bodega (the Argentine term for winery, not a store like is used in the north). Start with some grapes, bottle and age them, drop a Malbec label on it, then sit in the sun and enjoy.

Mendoza

Already wanting a break from the hectic pace, crowds, dirt and noise of BA, I escaped to Mendoza for the weekend. Mendoza is the heart of Argentina's wine region, in the foothills of the Andes, and as luck would have it it was the first day of the harvest season when I arrived. There was a citywide party and a beauty pagent, where contestants competed to be Queen of the Harvest.

At the center of the city of Mendoza is a large plaza full of fountains, and four smaller plazas are spread out from there, each one representing the city's heritage (Plaza Espana, Plaza Italia, Plaza Chile, and Plaza Independencia).

The photos above show the main plaza, some of the art in Plaza Espana, a child playing in a fountain in Plaza Independencia, Amistad statues from Plaza Chile, and another fountain in Plaza Italia (with the water died purple for the festival).

Loca for Boca

Soccer isn't my favorite sport to watch, but I didn't want to come to
another futbol-crazy country and miss out on going to a match (why
didn't I see AS Roma while I was studying there? Que tonto soy!). The
experience lived up to the hype, despite a smaller crowd than normal
owing to the torrential downpour that parked itself over BA today. The
wet crowd sang fight songs for the entire match (and nearly an hour
beforehand), and the applause was literally thunderous - it drowned
out all but the loudest thunder claps. Boca played a pretty sloppy
game, blowing four set plays and failing to score until the 30th
minute of the second half. But as they say, when it rains it pours,
and Boca scored three times in the final 10 minutes to win easily. The
third goal was especially dramatic, timed perfectly with a flash of
lightening and the biggest dose of thunder of the day.

Good times all around.

EP de la Boca

Just in case anyone wondered what I might look like while watching a
futbol match, now you know.