Post 7: Views of San Rafael

Smallish town probably under 5,000. Quiet. All streets -- all -- are shaded with old trees. In fact, I think Argentina is a country of trees. They've been planted everywhere.

This is one of the streets just off the main street in town. Three guys riding bikes down the middle of the street. Very Quiet.


The main drag.


Our corner street sign. All of Argentina's street signs are the same (if they exist or if you can spot them!). 90% of the streets everywhere are one way and can change names every few blocks. However, every city and town uses exactly the same names for their streets. No variation: 9 de Julio, 25 de Septiembre, Gen. Alvear...


The gutters here are open with bridges at driveways. Sidewalks are good to nonexistent. I really had to keep my eyes open.


Quirky Argentina Quiz: What is the thing below?


It's the Argentine version of a trash can. All sorts of styles, shapes and colors but all are a basket on top of a pole. We didn't see much trash here. People conserve everything. These baskets are usually empty or have one or two full plastic grocery bags. I think the trash collectors pick up overnight.

Post 6: In and around San Rafael

San Rafael. Beautiful small town in the country's wine growing region.






Our bed and breakfast, the Red Wine Club, in San Rafael.

Old and new...

The neighborhoods in most of AR are a mixed of new and old, residential and commercial. Lots of small corner markets.

Notice the sidewalks in these pictures.












It appears that everyone is responsible for their sidewalk. Hence, the condition varies widely. Sometimes it was easier to walk in the street...

Out trip west to the town, General Alvear, an agricultural town, and on toward the Andes.



Pear orchards. We stopped for cafe chico in Gen Alvear and bought dried pears and local walnuts from a street vendor. They were Really Good.


A small part of an active winery complex and the unused horse barn from earlier days.




General Alvear. The town stream ran down the center of the main street in cement channel with fancy wrought iron fencing. Life blood of the community.


And then, our first peek at the Andes.




They are unbelievably big. All the mountain ranges in Argentina seemed to push themselves up out of the earth in great ridges.

Post 5: La Paz to San Luis

After two days around Cordoba, we've advanced westward to San Luis. For the most part, what we've seen is rich, lush agricultural and grazing land reminiscent of scenic rolling hills, like the drive from Santa Barbara to Los Osos in central CA, without the ocean or intense development. The city of San Luis was totally unmemorable but the countryside was beautiful.

San Luis to San Rafael





Goats! being herded across the road.



Entering the San Rafael area. All the outlying streets around towns look just like this. A country of trees.



Our first look at San Rafael.

Post 4: Guesthouse in La Paz

10/26/08 We stayed in this guesthouse in La Paz.


This is the bedroom upstairs looking to the deck outside. The next photo is through the bedroom floor to downstairs. Yep, industrial grate flooring...



Our big adventure came the second day here when we went driving during the day. We ended coming home in the dark. Dirt streets, no streetlights or street signs. Somehow we navigated our way back. We were really uncertain we'd find it. whew.

Post 3: Cordoba to La Paz

10/25/08 Over a mountain range to a tiny town called La Paz. Beautiful scenery.

Post 2: Buenos Aires tour...

We hired a car and driver for a 3 hour tour of the city. It was a fun way to see the different neighborhoods (barrios) and we got lots of good tips on how to be savvy tourists, like the way to tell a radio taxi (good) from a private taxi (possibly bad). So you know, the radio taxis have two signs on the side of the car instead of one.



Buses don't run on time. Sidewalks seem to be maintained only by the owners of the property on the sidewalk...The city has LOTS of monuments and parks. All streets are shaded by trees.











Most people go out in the evening and walk around, eat, talk to neighbors. Very relaxed but they don't start till about 9pm. Between 1-6pm the streets are deserted. Siesta. Although as a commenter pointed out, siesta is mostly practiced outside of BsAs.


San Telmo is another barrio close to the old port. It was a neighborhood of dock workers but the port moved to accommodate bigger ships as the years past. Since paint was expensive the workers asked for the ship paint leftovers and painted their houses really uniquely. ; ) They also expanded the homes by using corrugated sheet metal. San Telmo has now become a quirky trendy neighborhood...

Post 1: Argentina...

But first, Miami...we landed to a locked down airport. An abandoned car in the passenger pick up area. The hotel driver had waited in the traffic jam outside the airport but went back to the hotel. Without us. When we called he wanted us to take a taxi...2-1/2 hours later we made it to our hotel. Don't think we'll go back to Miami...

We made it to BsAs. Whew. We are sitting in a bar in Palermo Viejo district at the moment. BsAs is a wonderful city--a cross between Manhattan & Paris, circa 1940. Slightly run down, but a great cosmopolitan atmosphere.

Here are our pics so far.

B&B in the Palermo barrio, Buenos Aires: DomusBA.com. Great place. The owner, a linguistics professor at the university, lives in the back part of the house.

Built in the 1911, it was gutted and remodeled. Most homes like this were either derelict or gutted and remodeled on the inside.

The neighborhood is very bohemian. Rich and poor are all mixed in. Lots of small old grocery shops, no fast food. Long distance telephone and computer/internet available at the neighborhood 'locutorio' for roughly 1 peso per 1/2 hour (about $0.30 US). Good system except that they allow smoking. Cough choke. Although surprisingly most public places don't allow indoor smoking (incl restaurants) which was great.

Our door to the patio...




...in our room stairs to loft with tourist in foreground...


...loft space...




...front doorknob and keys...

these types of keys are used everywhere in Argentina.

okay, i have to sloooow dowwwwn...

i find i'm hyperventilating with the knowledge that we could actually have this person as our president...and i thought America would wake up after bushco...jeeeeeezzzzz

Gidget Does Washington...

Ebert on Palin

Movie critic Roger Ebert turns political critic in this column noting Sarah Palin's appeal as an American Idol version of a political candidate. He'd rather have the real thing.

I trust the American people will see through Palin, and save the Republic in November. The most damning indictment against her is that she considered herself a good choice to be a heartbeat away. That shows bad judgment.

TalkLeft

god, this is good...

The GOP Loves the Heartland To Death

It tells us something about Sarah Palin's homage to small-town America, delivered to an enthusiastic GOP convention last week, that she chose to fire it up with an unsourced quotation from the all-time champion of fake populism, the belligerent right-wing columnist Westbrook Pegler...read the rest...

I bet it's the victim's fault too...

USA Today, in a story about how, while Sarah Palin was mayor of the town, Wasilla billed rape victims for needed evidence-gathering medical examinations.

Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said in an e-mail that the governor "does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test."

"Gov. Palin's position could not be more clear," she said. "To suggest otherwise is a deliberate misrepresentation of her commitment to supporting victims and bringing violent criminals to justice."

Of course, the problem is that whether she "believed" in it or not, the Wasilla policy when she was mayor was to bill rape victims between $500 and $1200 for the needed exams. Some members of the Alaska state legislature were appropriately mortified, and the state passed a law forbidding it -- and they had Wasilla directly in mind when the law was proposed. There's been absolutely no question about any of that. Given that it gained the attention of the state legislature, it seems extraordinarily unlikely that Mayor Sarah Palin didn't know about the policy that even her own state government was decrying. (Especially considering that it seems the policy was instituted on her watch.)

Compare and Contrast....hmmmmm...

What's wrong with this picture?
(Double click for larger image to be sick on. Sorry.)

Go figure...

War doesn’t pay, nor does imperial ambition. This proposition should be evident to anyone who has paid attention to the fivefold increase in the price of oil since George W. Bush took office.

Robert Scheer, Truthdig

If they weren't so true, I'd be able to laugh...

There are no words for this kind of beauty...

Audrey, bun adopted by Kelly W. from our fuzzbutts at Rabbit Match.

www.rabbitmatch.org