protest....

I spent another week inside due to cold weather and the end of the flu....reflecting on the current news events.     I am certainly no expert on the politics down here (or anywhere else for that matter), but President Christina and her guys have me worried....It was bad enough that her declared personal income has more than tippled since taking office, that her new policies for export  have driven farmers to sell off much of their breeding stock of cattle and use feed lots now instead of range feeding, but now she appears to want to curtail freedom of the press.  There is only one paper mill in Argentina, jointly owned by the two main newspapers in the country and with a smaller share held by the government.  This week it was announced that due to paper being "of national concern"  the government wants to take over the mill and control who gets the paper.   Ever since the two main papers (Clarin and La Nation) came out against the government's handling of the farmer crisis, the government seems to be out to get 'em. Also last week, the government ordered Fibertel ,the largest internet server down here, to shut down.   Is it a coincidence that Fibertel is owned by newspaper group Clarin?   I keep having images of Venezuela and Chavez......

On the micro level, below is a shot I took from our balcony of a protest group in front of the hospital across the street.  The hospital workers are striking for higher wages.....Public protest is alive and frequent, despite the average Porteno being somewhat fatalistic about government and the possibility of change (no wonder, they have been through the wringer for the last 20 years).. Every Porteno I have had a political conversation with wants a new head of government, but when I ask WHO they want instead of another 4 years of a Kirchner, they don't have an answer...Next year and the election could be interesting times down here.....

Well, now onto lighter stuff...My big outing this week was down the street a bit to a neighborhood restaurant for lunch....Cabillito on Las Heras...my new neighborhood is much more upscale than past barrios, and this woman in her white cashmere coat caught my eye...(a white coat for me would last less than a day I bet)...

c

My lunch special was sauted vegetable crepes in a three cheese sauce (with wine and desert-28 pesos-7 bucks)...

At home with the flu......

I was stuck inside all week with the flu...so you only get more photos of my view....

I still can't get over the difference from all my past home windows, which usually looked out on nature at ground level......


And your food shot for this week is one dinner that Dave made me to speed on recovery....

If you know Dave, this gigantic amount of lasagna he made for only us two will not surprise you greatly......

A week of Music...

We went back to Babette restaurant  (Las Herras y Billinghurst) Saturday night...and this time all the tables were reserved but one (thank goodness)..again great music and this time lots of audience participation....what a fun evening!

Even a conga line at the end....

I loved this guy's look....

But the music this week that knocked my socks off was by Federico Fico de Castro...I first met him as a tango teacher at Hostel Sol several months ago....Dave and I went back last Monday for a class and afterwards spent some time with him...He hasn't been teaching tango long, but has played music all his life, makes his main living playing at some of the big old tango clubs in town...also has done jazz, rock n roll.....he talked of his new project of using multiple looping, and invited us to his second preformance using this technique....note the board with 8 pedals at his feet....he kept adding lines and it was truly amazing....I made a video and have been stymied by trying to download it, even tried first loading it to youtube....but finally gave up....you will just have to imagine it till I can master videos.....

We have spent much time this week in our apartment due to the cold windy weather....but the views entertain nicely.....I spied these guys on the 15th floor on the next building...what a job!

the top floor of the building in the foreground intrigues me ....There appears to be some sort of workshop on the left and the elevator shaft on the right.....

Your food shot for this week is lunch at the Museo de Arte Decorativo....great food and service...in the foreground is a mild chicken curry inside a puff pastry , great onion soup on the side, and wild mushroom risotto in the back...yumm!!
mushroomrisotto in the back.....

Lujan Argentina...

The first thing you see from miles away entering Lujan is the huge church....and the woman in this picture is not kneeling in prayer, but traveling down the length of the church on her knees....

Religious tourism is the big thing here, with several blocks of stalls hawking all sorts of glow in the dark Madonnas ...

The main alter of the church decked out with Argentine banners in celebration of the Bi Centennial...

Behind the main alter was another chapel....

My preference was the Museo Municipal de Belles Artes of Lujan, which had a great showing of 4 Buenos Aires artists (Boim, Ajler, Menza, and Destefanis)....

Instead of your regular food shot for this week, you get the whole restaurant! We found this place across the street from our new apartment (Babette Restaurante, Las Heras y Bustamente)....besides great simple food, there is music every Saturday night with all the locals dancing and carrying on.....

Teatro Colon and a Polo resort....

For Dave's birthday, we got tickets for an opera at Teatro Colon....just reopened after years of restoration work....billed as second only to the opera house La Scala in Milan....

After all that elegance, we decided we needed some nature and wide open spaces to contemplate it all, so we cashed in Dave's coupon he won at a silent auction  for a day and night at a polo resort an hour out of Buenos Aires....

The resort was a bit of a disappointment for me....the food and room and drinks were great, but I had pictured myself galloping around on the polo fields, maybe whacking a ball or two, mingling with polo folks....instead one was only allowed to slowly WALK older horses around the perimeter of the polo fields....

...and despite the place being filled with families on winter break, the only person that would engage in conversation with us was this little girl....

Besides her, the other thing we loved was all the squawking coming from the giant parrot nests in the eucalyptus trees around the place....

Your art pic for this week is a teaser for next week's blog entry of our time in the nearest town to the resort, Lujan...Alejandro Boim and three other artists had a great show at the Lujan Museo de Belles Artes

And for your food pic, Dave's birthday meal of a typical parilla plate.... barbecued steak, pork, chicken, sausages and other assorted meat served with lemon and chimichuri sauce,  kept warm over a brazier.  I wish this pic was scratch and sniff for you....