Sunday, May 31, 2009

BA Murals II





"Long live socialism and liberty."




"More Love; Less Business."

Monday, May 25, 2009

Joel


This is Joel, one of my dearest and closest friends in the world. He was the first friend I made when i moved to NYC and the first gay friend I ever had. He showed me the ropes.



He was tremendously encouraging of my South American tour and even took me to the airport. These were the first pictures taken in the journey.



Well, the old girl came down to visit a few weeks ago and we had a blast.



As most of you know, a real queen looks regal and fresh at all times.



And Joel, having a way with the gentleman like I've never seen before or again, has kept true to that cardinal rule.



"I am what I am." You tell 'em sister!



Many times he tried to out 'fierce' me...



But I stood my ground.



One thing that worried me a bit was that there might be some conflict between Joel and Andre, since, the first time that they met there was a bit of friction.



Come to find out later that, at that time, they were both really stressed out. In BA, we all hung out, almost every day, and they got along swell.



I took Joel everywhere; Recoleta, San Telmo, el Caminito. I even almost went back to Montevideo with him. The old girl was exhausted.



I am very thankful for Joel's visit. It was hell a' fun and he gave me my fix of that New Yorkiness I had been starved of. Also, with this visit I establish more cred with friends who might be considering coming down and visiting. I've done it in New York and I've now done it here. I encourage you all to come down because, well, I like to entertain. I love to be a tour guide. I'm proud of where I live, be it NY or BA. And if we were in DR, you can bet your ass it would play out the same way.

No Es, ever!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Birthday

My birthday, as those of you who care might know, was this past week, on the 15th. It wasn't a terribly special birthday. I didn't reach any age bench marks, or throw a lavish party. I simply hung out with some friends at this laid back expat bar called Gibraltar. This post is lame, I know. But, the pictures I managed to get have given me an opportunity to properly introduce Andre's and my BA friend base.



In this picture, Andre is accompanied by Jennie and Andy.



Andy is cool, British and an overall good time. He's in BA all the way 'til next year teaching English and learning Spanish.



Jennie, on the other hand, is a lovely Texan girl who thankfully thinks like a northerner. Woohoo for the correct pronunciation of 'nuclear'!



Andre and I have really incorporated Jennie into our little house of homo. As you can see here, Jennie and this Truman Capote-looking fellow, dashing and handsome as he is, act as if they had known each other since they were in grade school.


To round off the cast we got the locals:


Miriam, seen here with Andy.



And Patricia, seen with an unidentified male companion. Actually, that's not true, it's just that none of us remember his name. We all agreed, though, that he looks a lot like Bob Ross from the Joy of Painting. Ironically, most of the girls thought he was really cute and/or sexy. I guess you could say he made them fee like 'happy trees'.

Be kind; rewind... Mr. Anderson

Platonic



"Jesus, you are my best friend."

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Labor Day, done the right way.

Unlike in the U.S., May 1rst is known around the globe as Labor Day or International Workers Day. On this holiday, people and their labor unions commonly go out and take part in demonstrations celebrating or demanding improvements to their professional treatment and the ties to their unions.


"On May first, no parties or partying. Today is an international day of struggle. Dario Santillar Popular Front."


So, I expect you not to be surprised when I tell you that Labor Day is an extremely important holiday in Argentina due to the fact that the government, since the era of Enter text here.Perón, has had crucial ties to all the labor unions. I mean, Evita and General Enter text here.Perón, who are possibly the most iconic leaders in Argentina's history, credited most of their successes to their good relations with the labor parties and unions and to the fact the Evita, prior to her governmental status, was just a working class citizen.




The problem is that the pictures previously shown are from April 30th. Why? Well, here's the scoop: No matter how important Argentines believe their unions to be, they are still Argentine. I'll Elaborate. Labor Day is an international holiday, like Christmas or Bastille Day. There is no way you are gonna get a Latin person out of bed, early, on a holiday. Labor Unions are very aware that they probably won't get half as many people to their big event if they hold it on a holiday, so they do it the day before. This phenomenon, obviously, stunts productivity for the week. But the workers don't really have a choice. It's a very common practice for Union leaders to offer the workers some kind of compensation for their attendance to the big show instead of going to work. This "compensation" can consist of money (direct payment), salary raises, promotions or simply favors or promises, which are almost certain to be honored.







As you might have already figured out, holding national demonstrations on a regular work day can be extremely inconvenient to those of us who have no interest in participating; specially in a city as large as Buenos Aires where so much is going on at all times, in every area. On this day I had to attend my class at UBA (University of Buenos Aires). On the way I encountered 3 different union events and got stuck in the middle of a protest. Mind you, all the previous pictures taken on the large avenue took place about 5 blocks away from Andre's and my apartment.






Perhaps the biggest annoyance came when it was time to make my way back home. I realized that upon reaching the main avenue of 9 de Julio, the final stretch of my journey, it was extremely difficult to cross it because the traffic lights were off and different sections of the avenue were closed off. So basically, whatever traffic could pass was driving around in a rather rogue manner. The other thing was that the scene of the aftermath was not a pretty one. The workers partied, and they partied hard.







Unconventional Transport.



"Help. Line 168."