"Big Fat Hairy Deal"

Religion serves as guidance for most people in the world. It's a source of stability and security in times of uncertainty and doubt. To be part of something bigger than your own personal dreams, wants and desires - what ever that might be - creates a sense of purpose. Purpose, or what some people call mission, is crucial to happiness. Once you've found your purpose in life everything becomes simple, almost effortless.

But happiness and religion are two different things. Maybe two sides of the same coin. Since I'm much more of a disciple of Russell than Jesus or Mohammed, I prefer the filosofical reasoning than the religious. That said, it's all good as long as either process brings out the best in us and lets us find why we excist.

Today, my mind opened new doors to celebral places that I've never visited. It was triggered by our daily lunch discussion but a result of being in a different place than before. It was a Heureka! moment. Things started to come together which was the whole reason for taking time off. There was clarity created from chaos, risk and intuition.

I forgot to mention that in addition to religion and filosophy you need science. Or at least some kind of reason. Doesn't have to be mathematical or logical but it needs to make sense from a thesis / antithesis kind of way. Ah, and emotions. That's what usually stires up the mix and creates chemical imbalances.

The analysis leads to comprehension via synthesis. You face the uncertainty, the unknown, the fear and then you understand and move on. What freaked you out in the past might just be your saviour.

So back to the new door; it just confirmed that the intuitive action of taking time off to earn (yeah, you really have to earn it) perspective was the right thing to do. I should have done it much earlier but now I know when to do it next time. :)

Buenos Aires Warmer Than San Francisco

July is official winter in Argentina and Buenos Aires - as told by our friends here - used to be chilly if not cold. Today, not knowing that it's actually winter, you would think early fall or late spring. The sun came out right as we were having our first outdoor lunch at Croque Madame at El Palacio Errázuriz Alvear on Avenida Libertador (a 20-minute walk from our pad). The temperatured reached the high 60s with a 69% humidity.

The Palace is one of the most beautiful private residences in Buenos Aires and one of the few opened to the public to show how the power elite lived in the beginning of the 20th century. It was designed for the Chilean diplomat Matías Errázuriz and his wife the socialite Josefina de Alvear in 1911 by a French architect René Sergent who actually never visited Buenos Aires. It was left to the Argentinian state in 1937 and became a historic monument in 1997.

The palace is halfway to Malba (El Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) and well suited as an excellent pitstop. Malba was unfortunatley closed today so we'll just have to do it all over again tomorrow. ¡Maldición!

"C'est la Samba Bleue..."

France beating Brazil in the quarter final was the biggest things that has happened in France since... France beat Brazil in 1998.

We are yet again celebrating with the best cheese in the world - the French - and the best wine in the world - the Argentinian. If France gets it to final we'll have a St. Julien from Bordeaux and some Tallegio from Lombardy.

Alemania Afuera La Copa Mundial

¡Qué día linda! Italia ganó a Alemania por 2-0 en un muy divertido partido. El fútbol de Alemania sería muy aburrido and el equipo es finalemente afuera la Copa. Gracias a Grosso y Del Piero.

Close II Home

Well, for some people home is just where they were born and/or grew up. For others, home is wherever they lay their hat.

For me, it's when I find my favorite online resources: bookstore [www.musimundo.com], music store [www.10musica.com], grocery store [www.discovirtual.com.ar] and TV-Guide [buscador.multicanal.com.ar]. That is, to quote one of my buddies, key technology.

They Net has become a part of my DNA. It's no longer a nice to have or a need to have. It's a essential part of life and sometimes it's life.

That makes every trip to a new country a challenge. I need to research books and music before I go to the book or music store (in places where the iTunes store is not yet).

I want to read the reviews on the evening's dinner place. I want to compare products, services and shops. I want to be informed before venturing out in the real world.

It's therefore extra sweet when I find the local iTunes, Amazon, Safeway, Travelocity and Yahoo! TV. I did today! :)

That extends the question: Can the Net make an inefficient economy efficient? An 60GB iPod cost US$870 in Buenos Aires and US$399 in San Francisco. When can we connect all comparison sites to create real global free trade?

Keep On Keepin' On

Today felt like a great day to venture outside of our current favorite Barrios (neighborhoods). We had heard so much about Villa Crespo - a very proud, middle-class neighborhood south of Palermo Viejo. It's known for the leather outlets on Calle Murillo and for the bohemian and intellectual residents.

We decided to burn off the Sunday Asado by walking to Villa Crespo via Avenida Pueyrredón and Avenida Corrientes. It took little over 90 minutes which is the furthest we have walked one-way in BA. Once we got to the leather outlets, we were too exhausted to actually care about all the leather ware and just quickly browsed a few stores and headed for one of our favorite lunch restaurants, Central in Palermo Hollywood.



Central is an amazing restaurant. The food is very well-tasting and inexpensive, the staff super friendly and the place very well-thought out with comfortable lounge sofas and a wall full of magazines. Their Menu del Día runs at about AR$ 16 (US$ 5) and includes a starter, main and a glas of wine.

One of our favorite things with Central is that you can hangout there for hours with no pressure for turning tables. The lounge sofas invite to both reading and power napping. And if you happen to stay there for a few hours I highly recommend the afternoon sandwiches with cheese and ham - deeelish!

The walk home was anything but enyojable and probably took about 90 minuts as well. We made a few pitstops in Palermo Soho then via Avenida Santa Fe and our local grocery store Disco.

Our First Asado With Friends

Argentinians love their weekend Asado (barbeque). Yesterday we were invited to our friend Luis' asado with his friends and family. The morning sun gave good hopes for a beautiful Sunday in the burbs of Buenos Aires.

We were picked up at about 10:30am for the ride out to Escobar, about 25 miles north of Buenos Aires. There were hardly any traffic this early but with a strong weather report everyone expected a lot of porteños to leave the city for a day out on the beautiful country side.

Our host started to prepare the Parilla (the grill) as soon as we got to his house. There is a special ritual how to light the fire, heat the grill, prepare and cook the meat. It's a very active process and takes about 2-3 hrs from start to finish.

A real Argentinian asado offers much more than the usual burgers and hot dogs. It usually concists of several different sausages, inner organs and several different cuts of meat. We had (in this order) Chorizos, Morcillas (blood sausage), Mollejas (pancreas sweatbread), Matambre de Cerdo (brisket), Asado de Tira (ribs) and Vacio (flanksteak). You usually start with the sausages and organs and continues with the meat on the bone and steaks.



An asado is the true feast for a carnivor eventhough there is salad, bread and wine served. The meat is only prepared using salt, nothing else.

Eventhough it's winter down here we were sitting outside, in short sleeved shirts and enjoying the warmest day in weeks. The aroma from the grill got us all hungry and we nibbled on some cheese and cured hams. I think mentioning that we also had some really great Navarra Correas wine (Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon) might be superfluous.

The feast was beyond our wildest expectations. The asado turned out to be a fantastic fiesta with new friends and foods. All the different meats were fantastic, grilled to perfection.

We enjoyed the afternoon digesting the meats in the sun and learning more about Argentina's economic and political history. We learned that our host is not only a great Asador but also a brilliant conversationalist.

The sunset called for our siesta and we headed back to the city in rush hour like traffic on the seven-lane Autopista. What an awesome day!

The Big Blow

There is not enough wine in the world to make this day go away. First England gave in thanks to Rooney's stupid red card, Crouch's moronic play and Beckham's injury and then France-on-crack kicked the crap out of Brazil.

England played well and held their own through most of the game. They had a lot of opportunities to score but made it harder for themselves than needed by Rooney's red card. Portugal wasn't that great but eleven against ten takes its' toll during 120 minutes. A penalty shoot out is as random as a dice game. Portugal got lucky. I so wanted Eriksson to bring his team to the first semi-final since 1990 (it would have been the third after '66 and '90). He deserved it.

France played on par with Brazil through most of the first half but elevated their game to a class of their own during the second half of game. Zidane was brilliant and Henry's goal was superb. It was like a well temperatured aged wine from St. Julien. I take back everything I've ever said about Henry. What a goal. A classic.

Brazil played like a bunch of school girls compared to the team performance by France. That said, Brazil is a great winner and even better loser. I love the way that Roberto Carlos, Ronaldhino, Ronaldo, Kaka and team smiled all through the game, showing that it's just a game.

To be honest, I've been wrong all through this WC and only one of "my" teams went the whole mile: Italy. So here is the last bet: France will beat Germany in the final and Italy will beat Portugal for the bronze.

That said, this WC kicks butt. The games are awesome and Buenos Aires is a wonderful place to watch them from. Our local hangout - Bar 6 - is generous enough to give up their best chairs for us to watch football for 4-6 hrs per day. I'm trying to drink as much wine as I can to support their business as payback. Barefoot is best!

Tricks of The Taxi Trade

Taxi is a convinient, inexpensive and relatively fast way to get around Buenos Aires. The only exception is during rush hour when it pays off to walk or just have a siesta.

But one should be careful when using taxis in Buenos Aires since it's not a very regulated industry and that opens up for bad apples. There is no training which means that everyone and his uncle is driving taxis. The taxi drivers aren't very friendly and have in most occasions no idea where restaurants or other destinations are.

The first thing to think about is to always use the Radio Taxis. They are more reputable and safer than the street taxis (very often run by the local mob). You recognize them by the the Radio Taxi sign on the roof and on the passenger doors. To call them is the best thing but you can also hail them on the street. Just be sure that it really is a Radio Taxi.

The street taxis are known to prey on tourists, outside the airport, outside banks and restaurants. Never grab a taxi that is waiting outside any of these areas. You'll be asking for trouble.

The most common ways of releaving tourists from their hard earned money is:

1) Pick them up outside a bank or a restaurant and then robb them. People tend to be safe when they are in a taxi but the truth of the matter is the reverse. Ever heard of captive audience?
2) Fake an engine breakdown and ask the tourist to take the taxi behind (which is driven by a mob friend) and then robb them.
3) Use counterfeit money as return change.

Here are the main things to think about:
1) Only use Radio Taxis. If at a restaurant or hotel ask them to call one for you, especially if you are a little intoxicated. Otherwise only hail moving Radio Taxis.
2) Give directions by street and cross street, not by restaurant name. For example: Calle Uriarte (street) con Honduras (cross street) en Palermo Viejo (neighborhood). That said, once at the location, ask him to drive all the way up to the hotel or outside the restaurant. The driver is less likely to pull any tricks while other people are watching.
3) Always have exact change. Once you have paid, get out of the taxi. If the taxi driver is making an argument, just walk away.
4) Check that your bills are valid by looking for the water stamp. Do this so that the taxi driver can see that you are aware of the counterfeit tricks. A common trick is for the taxi driver to exchange your bill for a counterfreit and then return it too you saying that it's counterfeit. That has happened to us twice, fell for it once.
5) If the driver is pulling any crap like engine breakdown, need to stop to check the oil, fill up gas, pick up something on the way et cetera just get out and walk away.
6) Ask the driver to take the major streets and then observe where you are going. It's a great way to get to know the city as well as knowing where you are at any moment.
7) Chit-chat with the driver. Football is always a popular subject as is weather. That gives you an idea of what kind of person the driver is and shows that you are not just the average dumb tourist.

Stick with these rules are you'll be fine. We have taken about hundred taxi rides in Buenos Aires and only had trouble twice: the first time the driver argued counterfeit and we just left and the second time (after a visit to a restaurant at nightime) we fell for the counterfeit + letting us off in a dark spot around the corner of our hotel trick. Lost AR$10 (US$3) which is a small price to pay for an important lesson.

The Night That Keeps The Darkness Away

Once we had accepted the fact that Argentina was out of the WC it was clear that we needed some culinary healing. Our minds weren't in the mood for trying something new but revisiting an old favorite: Bar Uriarte in Palermo Soho. So we grabbed a radio taxi and drove through the warm winter night and got their around 10.30pm - they had one table left.

It's the perfect restaurant with a long buzzing bar, open spaces, high ceilings, great food and decent prices (AR$120 for two if sharing the courses). But the most fun are the people there; very vibrant, stylish and interesting. It's everything from the accidental tourist (very few) to families, couples, young crowds, fashionistas and semi-celebrities.

We had Carpaccio Clásico, Ojo de Bife and Chocolate Fondant with some Trapiche Roble. The food is well thought out in taste, portion and display. Sharing works great, gives us the opportunity to try more dishes.

Bar Uriarte also have a coat check and a security guy that can hail a safe cab for you. It all adds up to a very pleasant dinner out.