Re: The Truth About Harry


" *JimH*" <me1@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0oKdnX8kUrbI2BbenZ2dnUVZ_vmdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> <chuckgould.chuck@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1133198447.072285.162120@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > Sir Rodney Smithers wrote:
> >> Chuck,
> >> Glad you had a nice trip. Was this a business trip or a vacation, or
the
> >> best kind a business trip where the company paid for expenses and you
> >> spent
> >> all your time on vacation. ; )
> >>
> >
> > The Mrs. and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary in Buenos Aires.
> > Pleasure trip.
> > Great place to go in the winter. The weather down there right now is
> > about like Los Angeles in late May. Everything is in bloom, shirtsleeve
> > weather every day.
> > It's ridiculously cheap. Most things are priced (in pesos) at a number
> > that would make sense espressed in dollars, or less! Example: Dinner in
> > a very nice restarurant with appetizers, 4 glasses of wine, duck a
> > l'orange, 3-inch thick filet mignon, and two deserts. 100 (pesos)
> > including a generous tip. Cost in dollars? Just over 30 bucks.
> >
> > Took the Tren de la Costa up to Tigre' one day and enjoyed a nice
> > boatride on what just might be the most polluted river in the western
> > hemisphere. A non-stop parade of garbage floating by. Wow. Not prepared
> > for that. Smelled awful, as well. There's a mjor amusement park built
> > on the shore of the river- and while we didn't bother venturing in it
> > seemed like an odd place to go for recreation.
> >
> > Since this is a short summary to rec.boats, I can't avoid mentioning
> > politics. :-)
> > Argentina has had a lot of political turmoil over the years. The last
> > time somebody attempted a coup, they apparently decided to use the
> > subway to attack the Casa Rosada
> > (Argentine "pink house", head of the executive branch of govt. This is
> > the building where Evita Peron used to stand on a balcony and address
> > the crowds in the Plaza de Mayo). Across the street from Cassa Rosada
> > is the Minstry of Economics, with a marble facade just behind the exit
> > from the subway. It's riddled with pockmarks from machine gun fire. I
> > guess the govt decided not to repair the marble as a "reminder" to the
> > next batch of rebels that sneaking up on the Casa Rosada through the
> > subway ain't exactly a bright idea.
> >
> > It's a place where abject poverty and incredible privilege are elbow to
> > elbow at all times.
> > We befriended the owner of a business who moved to Argentina from Los
> > Angeles a few years ago. One of his associates (who spends several
> > months a year in Miami- where he owns an art gallery), has a penthouse
> > with, supposedly, over $5mm US in furnishings and art. Down on the
> > street below, and on every street in Buenos Aires, the major source of
> > income for a lot of people is sorting garbage. The shops and apartments
> > pile all of their garbage along the curb every night for an early
> > morning pickup. The people descend on the garbage like an army of ants,
> > sorting out glass, cardboard, aluminum, or anything else that can be
> > recylced. They pile bicycles, carts, wheelbarrows, and enything else
> > that will roll to incredible heights with bundled up recyclables. Young
> > kids 5, 6, and 7 years old are scrounging through the garbage along
> > with their older sibliings and parents.
> > I know that more than a few are actullay hoping to find something to
> > eat, as one little kid came across a sack of half-eaten rolls from a
> > restaurant and you would have thought he'd found a rond trip ticket to
> > Disneyland.
> >
> > On one of our cross town train trips, (cost under a peso for a
> > 40-minute ride), we noted a group of "huts" in a depression next to the
> > track. Cardboard, sheet metal, scrap wood, canvas, you name it- any
> > sort of junk material imaginable had been employed in creating these
> > rude shelters. These weren't temporary "homeless" camps, there was
> > laundry hanging on lines, little kids playing in the dirt, etc. After a
> > few hundred yards of "huts", we came to a fence running perpendicular
> > to the track. On the opposite side of the fence were some tennis
> > courts, and what appeared to be a very exclusive tennis club. Waiters
> > standing around serving drinks, etc, to tennis players in crisp, white
> > shorts and tennis shirts. The whole place underscores the importance of
> > sustaining a viable middle class and illustrates what can happen when
> > any group is allowed to prosper at the complete expense and without
> > regard to its fellow citizens.
> >
> > Argentina is rich in natural resources and if it ever gets past all of
> > its political and economic problems it could become a very powerful
> > country in the future.
> >
> > Tax deductible?
> >
> > I do hope to write the entire thing off as journalistic research. I
> > needed to confirm which direction the water circles around a bathtub
> > drain in the southern hemisphere. (Clockwise, at least at the Kempinski
> > Park Chateau in Buenos Aires). :-)
> >
>
> Welcome back. Glad to hear you had a great time with your wife.
>
> Congratulations also on 35 years. Quite and accomplishment Chuck.

Argentina sounds a lot like what I saw in Peru.


>
>


.

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