Puppies, Pigeons & Petrol

Today we had our grammar finals which means starting next week our classes don't start until 12:30 each day.  This means today was my last day of fighting the end of the morning rush hour. (I am smiling, you just can't see it)

So this blog post includes three things that I have been meaning to talk about, but don't really fit into any blog - so I'm going to write about them here.  I don't usually use the word petrol for gasoline, but I find alliteration amusing, so you'll have to bear with me. 

The first thing I would suggest is that people that love dogs be mentally prepared when they come to Buenos Aires.  Whether we are doing our walking tours, going to class or just headed out for a bite to eat there is almost always certainly some sort of stray dog around.  I have included the following pictures of some that I have been able to snap photos of, but rest assured that there are more out there.  If you are like me... you will find a reason to want to take all of them home.

John Doe Doggie #1

John Doe Doggie #2

John Doe Doggie #3

While we were doing the architectural walking tour I saw this sign for the first time:

I immediately though to myself... yeaaah... riiiiiiight.... (drawn out for emphasis), and as I turned around I saw this cute little guy running all around the park.

John Doe Doggie #4

He was wandering around freely until some teenage kid picked him up by the gruff and tossed him at some man laying down next to a bench in the park and then walked off.

Another thing that they do here, that is similar to other large cities - they have dog walkers.  I snapped this picture of one.  It really amazes me at how well behaved the dogs are... I'm pretty sure my puppies at home would have none of this.

The next animal that comes in no short supply in Buenos Aires is pigeons.  I snapped a couple photos of how they get when someone decides feeding them is a good idea.  

Pigeon side note:  I actually saw a pigeon fly into a tree the other day and flap it's wings to maintain its balance while it ate berries off the tree limbs.  It was pretty impressive acrobatics. 

Lastly I thought I would end with a math problem to show everyone what gas prices are here.  I don't know about you, but when I travel (even within the United States) I like to check out gas prices.

$6.289 Pesos per Liter of Petrol

Stick with me until the end... or just scroll to the bottom if you trust my math skills.

$6.289 Pesos per Liter

There are 3.78541178 liters in a gallon.

$6.289 ARS Pesos x 3.78541178 = $21.81 ARS Pesos per gallon

Current exchange rate: 1USD = 4.52 ARS Peso

$21.81 / 4.52 = US Equivalent per gallon

$5.269 U.S. Dollars per Gallon of Gasoline

Ciao,

Tim

Residents of the Street

So yesterday I had an interesting exchange with one of the tour guides during our graffiti tour.  This is how the exchange went:

Enter some random guy with dirt all over his clothes, missing teeth, matted hair and a brand new, all white, very clean cell phone.  He and the tour guide have some sort of verbal exchange regarding the art and then he walks away.


Me:  Hey, so did you happen to figure out if that guy was homeless because it seemed like he had an awfully nice cell phone.
TG:  No, he wasn't homeless.
Me:  Oh, okay... so was he just visiting...err...
TG:  No, he lives in that van he was standing by.
Me:  <blank stare> Um...  I think you and I have different definitions of the word HOMEless.


So this led to a discussion about how she doesn't think of anyone that actually has some sort of place other than the actual street to sleep is homeless.  Maybe it's narrow-minded of me but I was legitimately confused when she said that he wasn't homeless and lived in a van.  I am actually glad this exchange occurred because I really feel like these cultural differences are important to uncover.


In the city it is difficult to go anywhere and not see a person sleeping on the street.  Like many other big cities with a mild climate I assume this is an issue.  I am not sure what programs here are available for homeless people, but I do know that public health care and the public university are both free of charge.  Where I am from there are laws preventing this type of "camping" but here the people have mattresses outside of buildings with pictures taped to the outside of the building and other personal affects surrounding their space.

I took the picture above of a guy that was taking a little siesta on a park bench during one of our tours... and if you look back at my blog about the zoo and other things there is a picture of a cute girl that was begging for money on the subway.

One of the interesting techniques that I have seen some of the homeless street vendors (I am sure not all of them are homeless) utilize is to leave things with you.  So if you are sitting on the subway they will just drop off books, facial tissues, flash lights, plugs or whatever else they are trying to sell.  They leave it on your lap for awhile and then come back to collect the item back or the money you need to pay.

Also, one girl whose housing situation I do not know was reading tarot cards on the subway.  She was probably around 9 years of age and would stick her hand out as if to shake your hand and if you responded by shaking her hand she would shuffle the cards and deal them to you.  She would leave the cards with you for you to read and then return after she finished her rounds to collect the cards and your tip.

I haven't purchased anything from a street vendor yet... but I hear the DVD's are pretty reliable and would be a good way to learn more Spanish.

On a complete other topic... people still use payphones here... I took the picture below of some woman using a pay phone to prove it.

Ciao,

Tim

Graffiti Tour

After our regular classes ended at 14:30 today we were taken on small buses to various parts of the city to view graffiti in the city.  In Buenos Aires there is a rich history with graffiti and it has been used as means of political protest, as an underground form of communication and to find missing people believed to be killed by historical dictatorships.  These pictures are taken in the Palermo district where I live and some of these artists are well known and charge a lot of money for their work, but believe this is a way for them to give back to the community.  It is still technically illegal here, but many times the artist obtains permission from the property owner or these are done on public buildings where permission was granted in the past and the newer artists just use that as blanket permission to paint.  Also, some political parties - including the one in power now - will actually pay groups of people to perform graffiti with political slogans.

It should be noted that the Palermo district is quite large and split into several factions and these pictures were taken in Palermo SOHO and what is now being referred to as Palermo Queens.  I guess the developers in these areas try are familiar with the geography of Los Angeles and New York.

The photographs: