Decision time

Mimi and I fly to Toronto this afternoon. We have our appointment with the Argentine consulate (two appointments actually). One on Monday (to surrender our passports) and one on Thursday for the 'most of the day/hang around' to get our visas meeting. The rest of the paperwork was done months ago - police background check, re-issuing birth certificates, marriage certificate - all had to be translated into Spanish and sent to them. We just had wait to get our appointment date at the consulate (Ok, I had to postpone it once, due to work).

So Mimi & I looked at each other and said, 'Do we want to get these visas and stick around for awhile?'

Let's look at the facts, shall we :

• The most recent protest in front of my office building (Thursday) resulted in one of the front doors being smashed.
• 300 industrial natural gas users had thier gas supply cut back to ensure heat for homes.....and the cold weather has only just begun.
• A quick trip to the grocery isnt quick. You need to book time in your calendar because it is an event.
• There is little change in the country, people hoard the coins because the metal is worth more than the face value, apparently.
• The elevator in the apartment does strike fear into Mimi. Not only does the interior cage door require special handling but my predecessor's wife was stuck in it for 2 1/2 hours with the grocery delivery boy (and a load of groceries). It is cosy with three people in it. Neither spoke each other's language at the time.
• Mimi wont have to do laundry or iron anything for at least two years.
• We have 5 bathrooms in our two story apartment, 2 of which I have never used.
• We still need to declare on which soccer (futbol) team we are going to support - San Lorenzo, Boca or River Plate. It makes for great coffee talk in the mornings at work and going to a game is a real thrill.
• A roadblock near the community of 25 de Mayo caused our oil field to be shutdown because our trucks couldnt pass. It was local landowners, who had been deeded land who were protesting because they didnt want to pay taxes on the free land they got.
• Gasoline prices are about $0.65/litre here, and even then we have a driver.
• You can get any food, any time by take out. There are guys with insulated boxes on the back of thier scooters from just about every restaurant in the city. There is even a couple of guys on roller blades.
• There is the 'dog sh*t on the sidewalk' factor. We have had only one (reported) incident to date.
• Mimi and her caddy, Tito are a good team.
• Then there is that damn Malbec. They dont export the good stuff. It stays here....for us!
• The smoke from the grass fires hasnt invaded the city for a few weeks.
• The ash from the Chilean volcano hasnt interrupted flights to the field for at least a few days.
• Dulche de leche.....especially as Panqueque de dulche de leche (with rum).
• Cooper is in good hands back in Calgary.
• I do work with a great bunch of people and I do enjoy the work.
• We are excited about learning Spanish.
• Mimi has met a lot of new friends and her social calendar is starting to see her being doublebooked at times.
• We look forward to a Copa de Champagne to start many a meal.

Based on the facts (and we will continue to learn more of them over time), we have decided by a unanimous vote to get those visas and stay here for awhile.

B.

The best in the world

We are fortunate to have a maid at the apartment. She is a delightful woman who works hard. She is there three times a week. She speaks no English but has learned 'Cooper' and between Mimi, Esperanza and the spanish/english dictionary, they get along great. When they hit a language stumbling block, my assistant translates between the two of them.

Esperanza has to be the best ironer in the world. I have the crispest shirts in the country. I like them that way. To prove she is the best - Mimi put a shirt/blouse in the laundry last week. It was one of those shirts where the wrinkles are part of the look, the style - and I know she paid extra for them.
Well, last night on our way out to dinner, Mimi put that shirt on and noticed that Esperanza had ironed out every single single wrinkle. It must have taken her an hour to iron that one shirt. We both had a good chuckle. Taking the wrinkles out of the shirt made it look 2 sizes too big.....Mimi is out shopping for a new one!

We would recommend Esperanza to anyone - but you wont get her - she's a keeper.


B.

No fast moves at this Disco

A chain of grocery stores here is called Disco. It is popular because it is close - just 3 blocks from the apartment. That is the only reason.

We had been warned by everyone about the problems shopping there and yet, like a car wreck you are drawn to it.

• You cant find those small baskets to carry groceries around in while you shop.
• For several weeks during the strike there was no dairy or beef.
• From week to week, there will be some products there and then, the following week, the entire shelf will be replaced by something else. Kinda like Costco, if you see it and you want it, buy it - it may not be there the next time you are in to shop.

But the piece de resistance is the check out. There are 10 checkouts and we picked the wrong one.....but the rest were all the same. There was only three people ahead of me and it took 68 minutes to get through the check out. Paying with a $100 peso bill is like trying to sneak a thousand dollar bill through at Safeway, at home. The check out ladies are seated. They scan everything .....slowly. Some bottles of wine have security tags on them and a security guard has to be waved over to come and unlock it each time someone buys one.

We shop at Carrefour now, it is a bit of a walk and a $10 peso taxi ride home, but worth it.

But the best Disco story was.......A guy I used to work with many years ago does some business in Argentina. He would rent an apartment for a few months at a time and woul commute from Houston. Mimi and I went to dinner with him last week. Mimi hadnt met him before. Now you gotta know this guy...very serious, very studious, all business. We were walking around the neighborhood, in no particular direction, when we came across the Disco. Mimi asked him "So, do you go to the Disco?" He responds. "O no, I'm not that kind of guy - I dont have time for that sort of thing when I'm here."

When it all was sorted out, we all had a good laugh!

Caddy Shack.....or Tito Town

Golf for Mimi will NEVER be the same again.
The last post including a comment about her fretting a bit about have to have a caddy.....well, you dont have to worry about that again, ever.

Mimi was invited for a round of golf at the San Andrés Golf Club, which is the oldest golf club in Argentina. The first course was built near the present location in 1892, where the first official golf match was played in Argentina in 1894. They do recommend you take a caddie to look for balls, as the rough is "quite fierce".

The 18 hole golf course was designed by Scottish Pro Mr. Mungo Park. Many important moments of the history of golf in Argentina happened here. San Andrés Golf Club was home to the Abierto de la República (Argentine Open) 21 times, more than any other club. Roberto De Vicenzo, 1967 British Open Champion, twice won here. Added to this illustrious history is now the 'Mimi & Tito' story.

Mimi figures Tito was there for that first round back in 1894. He's been caddying for 56 years.
He is a professionale and the two of them bonded very quickly. The language barrier was broken down by several key phrases included 'suav-ay' and 'tranquill-ay' - which Mimi mistook for tequill-ay and for the first few holes, she felt she could have used a couple of shots!
Tito carried her bag, chose every club, adjusted her grip, threw away her long tees and located errant shots in the 'fierce' rough. He wouldnt hand her a club until he felt she was ready. He lined up her putts and even shared his chocolate bar with her.

Mem-ay, as Tito would refer to her, would get a shrug and a disinterested look with every good shot, as if to say 'What do you expect? You did everything I showed you - so it should be a good shot'.

I have been reminded to also report that on the back 9, Mimi had three pars, one birdie and a bogey. Not bad for someone who wasnt keeping score....but Tito was! They leave for Uruguay on Tuesday to join the Sudamericano Tour.

Tito's Swing Thought for Mem-ay was "Tranquilla - keep head on ball."

To our friends at Bearspaw - Caddies rock!

Fore!

Mimi has always said golf was something she really wanted to do when she was here. Well, today was Round One. It was a grand day at Pacheco. Rumor has it that it is still winter in Calgary - but in BA, a fall day is still 20 degrees C.

The Pacheco Golf Club is a 30 minute drive from our apartment. It is part of a gated community and it was more than just a wave to get through the front gate. Three security guards and 'lets roll down all the windows and have a look and see who is in this car, shall we'.

We had a 2 pm tee time (which is getting close to a twilight tee time at this time of year). We were able to get a pull cart so Mimi didnt need to have a caddy but we had brought our Spanish/English dictionary just in case.

We checked in at the starter shack but he had gone for the day. We snooped around and found score cards. It was interesting because the cards were leftover/recycled from the 2007 South American Senior Womens Amateur Championship (XXIX Campeonato Sudamericano de Golf Senior Amateur) held at Pacheco last November. Mimi was 'Susana Canot' from Argentina and I was 'Doris Rendon de McAllister' of Columbia. Let's just say we didnt play to 'our' handicaps.

The golf course was on the flight path of a small plane airport, so all day, little 4 seaters were cutting their engines as they prepared to land. The sound was a bit unsettling as you worried whether they were going to drop out of the sky and land on the 6th fairway.

They did have a driving range, 5 pesos for a bucket of balls. I once said that New Zealand was where rear entry ski boots go to die, well, Argentina may be where range balls or water balls go to die. These babies were rocks with dimples. I've seen antique golf ball collections with newer golf balls. Not to worry, it was a good warm up.

The course was an easy walk and the weather was perfect. It was just the two of us, no time clock, some water (which we put 6 balls in, collectively) and 2 bunny rabbits which reminded us of Valley Ridge.

We had a great round and had time for a couple of beers before Gustavo picked us up to bring us home.

B.

Alfajores.....Wagon Wheels on steroids

Havanna Alfajores are described as "two biscuits joined together with a lot of dulche de leche and coated with the purest bittersweet chocolate".

I had bought a box. They were (to be) a thank you for the Argentine Consulate in Toronto for arranging our visa meeting on short notice.

We cooked dinner last night – it was our first home cooked meal in the apartment. It was quite good, excellent in fact. Mimi needed something sweet for dessert (postres). No 'Fruit & Nut' bars were handy but she did see the box of Alfajores......just sitting there. She cracked it open and had one. As did I. They really are amp’d up Wagon Wheels!

Dulche de leche on, in or near anything does an amazing job of soothing a sweet tooth!

I had another one for breakfast on the walk into work this morning.

Is it an Alfajores or a Wagon Wheel? The first bite will tell you.

I have been ordered to remove the remainder of them from the apartment - as they are a dangerous source of energy....or weight gain. I am sure the folks in office will make short work of them.

B.

Dodged a bullet...

This volcano in Chile shut the Neuquen airport down today. It was the airport I flew out of last Friday. It is the closest one to our operating area.



If this eruption had happened last week and I couldn't get back to BA and missed Mimi’s arrival flight – she would be back in Calgary by now!

I am starting to get a sense for the Bible’s 10 plagues - food strike, jet fuel handler's strike, field operations strike, fires, volcanoes….if the locusts show up, we’re outta here!

Apartment elevator works well. We are off for drinks tonight with Mimi's baggage handlers (Milt & Linda). She makes friends everywhere!

Still having fun in BA,
B.

Mimi arrived in one piece....more or less

I was out in the field for three days. It was an interesting trip that started with a work disruption/strike by the fuel handlers union at the Jorge Newberry Airport (domestic). It delayed our flight to Neuquen by 3 hours. Since planes with no fuel tend to drop out of the sky, I was OK with the delay. It was a bit of foreshadowing because on that trip I spent 5 hours in meetings with unions discussing work disruption possibilities in our operations.
I was more concerned that my trip home would be delayed and there would be no one to meet Mimi at the airport....I feared she might just catch the next flight out of town. I was confident in the fact that she was so loaded down with luggage, I could find her in a heap somewhere in the international airport.
My flight back to BA on Friday morning was on time and her flight from Toronto was delayed, so things all worked out. I was also blessed by the fact that two fellow travellers helped her carry/wheel/push her bags through Customs/Security where I and the remise driver were waiting. We are meeting those two fellow travellers for a thank you drink later in the week.

The only casualty of the trip was Mimi's new golf carry bag......and a shoe. The plastic golf bag case ended getting damaged (cracked) and Mimi was missing one shoe. We think the shoe never made it out of Calgary!
The weekend was a blur of getting caught up, getting (re)acquainted with the neighborhood and making room in the closets for Mimi stuff. I had taken over the place.
Mimi had spent one week here in February and had an excellent recollection of many things. It was a bit embarrassing as she picked up on things in days that took me weeks!

We did get busted on Sunday morning as the phone rang at 8 am. The portera who looks after the building called and said 'something' in Spanish. I sniffed the air to make sure the place wasn't on fire and then went to check the door to see if were expecting someone or something. It turned out that the night before, we had forgotten to close the inner door on the elevator when we used it. This keeps the elevator at our front door - and no one else in the building can use it. I sheepishly closed the inner door and it was summoned to another floor immediately. Mimi doesn't notice but every time someone from the building see us, I point at her & shrug!

I am sure we will make more mistakes in the future but forgetting that damn inner elevator door will NEVER EVER happen again!

The fall weather continues to hold, Mimi bought a purse and we have a tee time on Saturday. Life is good in BA.

B.