Even more golf....and (oh ya) networking

I belong to the Club del Petroleo de Buenos Aires. They organize speaker meetings, golf tournaments, tennis tournaments and sailing regattas. It's the local oilmen's club. It helps with a bit of industry networking.

A couple of weeks ago, it was Petro Andina's turn to sponsor a golf tournament. The pictures just got posted on their website.

Our foursome included our country manager, Jose, the head of our partner's (YPF-Repsol) Joint Operations group, Pedro and one of our field advisors, Alberto - who's brother happens to be a golf pro : ) .

Needless to say, we did well (as a team). I perhaps, shot the worst round of my life). I think some folks might have been chuffed that we won our own tournament....but what the heck.

THEN, they drew my name for the big door prize, a Big Bertha driver. I don't think that my name was taped to the bottom of the draw bin but this is Argentina (and these guys are oilmen!).

This brings my Argentine golf earnings to $300 pesos, a new putter and a new driver.

B.

Baby Jake from Dubai

Mimi went to a BAIN (Buenos Aires International Newcomers) luncheon last week and met a couple who were visiting from Dubai for 8 weeks. They have a newborn, Jake with them. They wanted to get away from the heat of Dubai and spend time together as a new family.

What brought them to Buenos Aires was a link through polo. Yes, well the only polo I am familiar with is water polo. These folks are the real meal deal. He has a string of ponies and was down here looking at buying enough tack (saddles etc) to fill a 20 ft container and ship it back to Dubai. Based on the shopping spree they had, a third of that container might contain baby clothes for little Jake.

Anyways, they invited us out for dinner and we spent 4 hours in the corner of a local restaurant talking about everything. They are both British and were consulting in IT (him) and in Public Relations (her) for companies with business in Dubai. Of course, I am an oil company executive ; ) and Mimi used to run her own agency. We have our own Jake (and a Katie and a Cooper!). Our stories were just as good as theirs!



The best part was to watch Mimi holding Baby Jake while we visited. She enjoyed that!

On the walk home from the restaurant at midnight, we noticed a number of police vehicles with lights flashing. Driving past us were 4 police motorcycles and 3 police cars 'escorting' a red Ferrari. In it, was former Argentine president, Carlos Menem - out for a drive with his security detail. He cruised by us with his cell phone to his ear.
Never a dull moment in this town!

B.

More golf!

Mimi and I were invited out to play golf at the Pilar Golf Club this weekend. It is a private course about an hour from downtown.

It is one of the few courses in BA with golf carts, with 27 holes and probably the ONLY course which has 4 chandeliers in the lobby of the clubhouse! It was quite spectacular. Our golfing wasn't but no complaints. It also had security guards circulating on the course driving golf carts.

It has a 645 yard, par 6 hole. It was Hoya 9 of the Cancha Colorada, which was our finishing hole. You just keeping hitting and hitting....and hitting! A ball retriever came in handy too as water crossed the hole several times.

Anyways - we played with some nice folks who are members. He is a drilling mud salesman from Texas (Texas A&M logo proudly displayed on his Toyota HiLux SUV) and his wife is an Australian from Melbourne. This is their second time living in Argentina. They were here in the late '90's. They are probably the only people we have met that say the prices are reasonable because they were last here when the peso = US dollar before the crash in 2000/01.

We could get spoiled playing golf there again.

B.

Camp Canada vs. Canada Club

We received an invitation to the Canada Club Happy Hour at the Canadian Embassy for last night. We had to RSVP with passport numbers. It sounded like fun (first contact with the Cdn Embassy since we got here).

Some of you can relate to the successful Camp Canada at the Lake Louise World Cup, so let me give you a comparison....


Location:
Camp Canada : Originally a tent with heaters in the parking lot of the Lake Louise Inn, now moved into the lower level of the Inn.
Canada Club: 4th Floor of the Canadian Embassy in Buenos Aires.

Security:
Camp Canada: Volunteer Services crew with big scary mitts on.
Canada Club: Armed security guard and bulletproof glass.

Decor:
Camp Canada: Ski posters, provincial & Canadian Flags and a Christmas tree decorated with beer cans.
Canada Club: 4 Haida Indian masks and a huge flat screen TV showing a Tourism Canada promotional video...over and over and over again.

Beverages:
Camp Canada: Keg set up the corner.
Canada Club: Beer, wine and champagne.

Camp Canada: Free beer.
Canada Club (all you Canadian taxpayers will be happy to know) : Cash bar.

Food:
Camp Canada : Free BBQ'd Spolumbos sausages and salads.
Canada Club: Empanadas ($3.50 pesos each).

Languages spoken:
Camp Canada: English, French and Impaired.
Canada Club: Spanish and a small amount of English.

Outfits:
Camp Canada: Ski jackets & toques.
Canada Club: Ski jackets & toques. It's 8 degrees here, practically freezing for locals. Just kidding - they arrived wearing them but did remove them at the door.

Greeting:
Camp Canada: 'Hey, ya want a beer?'.
Canada Club: Silence.

We did meet a couple of people from the Embassy, one who "isnt here" (if you know what I mean) and someone who knows Mimi's cousin, Peter - who is also in the Cdn Foreign Service.

We stuck around for a couple of drinks and then took the remise back to the Alvear Palace Hotel (next to our apartment) for a Hamburguesa Alvear (which is yes, a hamburger). It was quite good. The Alvear Palace is a cross between the Palliser Hotel and Buckingham Palace - quite grand.

This weekend, we are going to Cirque du Soleil. Should be a great (Canadian) show.

B.

Israeli Embassy Memorial

My walk to work each day takes me by the Israeli Embassy Memorial. It is at the corner of Arroyo & Suipacha. In 1992, a truck bomb was driven into the embassy & detonated. It destroyed the embassy and the Catholic Church & a school across the street. It killed 29 people including several children from the school and injured 242. There is a significant Jewish community here in BA and as I have been told, the only Kosher MacDonald's outside of Israel.

The site of the embassy was turned into a memorial. There are 21 trees and 7 benches to honor those killed. When you take a few minutes there, you eventually notice the wall of the memorial. It is actually the inside wall of the embassy, as it was. The walls of the rooms, the stairways inside the embassy, the roofline. I went to the top of a nearby hotel to take the overhead picture.

When I go by it, there is always someone sitting on one of the benches or reading the plaques displayed there.

B.

Rally Time

Early dismissal today.

There was a grassroots protest this past Monday night. Pot banging and a big marching protest down our street in support of the farmers. People were banging pots from their balconies for two hours. There were many similar protests that shut down many parts of the city.

Today’s rally is the government’s response. We are sending the staff home early today from the office. The main reason - this 'rally' could jam up bus routes and subways for hours.

The rally/protest is at the Plaza de Mayo in front of the Casa Rosada (the Presidential Palace). Not near the apartment, not near my office.

About 400 meters from my office is a popular spot for protesters (for whatever is being protested that day) to assemble. I have been listening to them bang drums (not pots) for two hours as they gather together.

I think there are many rallying points in the city that have been set up in advance of today’s rally. The drumming has died out meaning they are on the move to the Palace.

Observation: Flag sales (or flag giveaways) are strong here in Argentina.

B.

Road trip to Colonia for Dia del Padre

It was just like everyone said.....a great (one) day trip.

We booked passage on the Buquebus Fast Ferry to Colonia, Uruguay for a Father's Day trip.


We went to the ferry terminal one hour early to get in a line to check in, to get in a line to go through security, to get in line to go through Customs, to (surprise) get in line to get on the ferry.
Otherwise, it was very efficient process.


The ferry ride was only an hour. A Fast Ferry gets up to 40 knots. We got off the ferry, hit the local tourist info centre to get a map and walked the 8 blocks to Old Colonia. We only saw 4 people in that 8 block walk (not necessarily a walk I would want to do in the dark).


It is a cool little touristy destination. It was a nice little day tour where we learned a bit of history.

It has a lighthouse (built from the ruins of the convent) which we climbed to the top of,



a tile museum - which we went inside for a 3 minute tour (that was the extended version of the tour!), a yacht club - where we had lunch. It also had a few good patios where they served the local Uruguayan beer (called Patricia) that was quite good.

We did see one of the more interesting pots in which a plant grew....either that or they never tow away abandoned cars......




I like the rental vehicle fleet here - it consists of dune buggies (the cobblestone streets are pretty cobbly), scooters and golf carts.

We walked instead - Colonia isnt that big to need a golf cart to see the whole thing. We got there at 12:30 pm, saw the whole place, went up the lighthouse, toured the tile museum, had a long lunch, stopped for a beer on a patio and still made it back for the 5:30 pm sailing (including another customs visit with paperwork and passport stamping)!


We got back on the ferry, had two scoots of champagne and did some duty free shopping in time to arrive back in BA to catch the Sunday coverage of the US Open. The duty free rum and Amaretto supply in the apartment is back up to an acceptable level.


Monday was a(nother) public holiday here in Argentina - Flag Day!


B.

It started with one pot....

We usually go out for a long walk on the weekend. We pick a destination - a part of the city we haven't been to and head out. This past weekend, we just started walking. It was a warm sunny day.
Then it started.
One lady on her balcony banging one pot. In the next block, it was 2 more. Then a few more, then the car horns started, then people walking on the sidewalk started clapping their hands. Soon, we were in the middle of a stadium of noise. It was another groundswell of support for the farmers.
The farmers have been on (and off) strike for nearly 100 days. The roadblocks have turned violent as the strikers clash with soldiers trying to clear the roads.
There are shortages of some things in the grocery stores. The government has dug in their heels as some farmers have stopped hauling goods to the ports and to the stores. In other places, roads are blocked to prevent other farmers from moving their goods.

We will see how this one ends - as this one cant continue without it escalating.

B.

Diplomatic Immunity

We are in Toronto getting our visas. This trip had two parts to it. Part One - surrender our passports on Monday and then go back to the consulate on Thursday to sign papers, get 2.2 sets of fingerprints done (includes a 3rd set of thumb prints).



Part One difficulty - the fire alarm went off in the building as we waited for our meeting at the consulate. The rest of the people in this 14 story office building evacuated but not this little piece of Argentina. Nope, we actually met with the lady while the alarms were screaming in our ears. It was fascinating as she calmly described what the process was and that we were to return three days later for the rest of our 'processing'.
We left the consulate and we were the last two people to exit the building as part of the drill - we got some looks from the hundreds of people on the sidewalks as they watched us come out. That's 'diplomatic immunity'.......or they think they are fire-proof.

Anyways, we returned three days later to get our fingerprints done, review the papers and get final sign off from the local Consul General. That's when Part Two difficulty started - I noticed that they spelled my last name wrong on one of the forms. She said no problem, she scratched it out and corrected it. The Consul General hadn't signed it, so it wasn't a problem. She said come back in two hours and we should be all set to go. She needed to get the Consul General's signature on everything.
When we returned, we started to review the process of returning to Argentina - which papers we were supposed to surrender at Immigration, which ones were now glued in our passports and those that are stapled in. That's when Part Three difficulty arose. They had spelled my name wrong on an original, signed, sealed document. That's when the color drained from her face.
She immediately went looking for the Consul General - who unfortunately had left for a long weekend. She called him on his cell and explained the situation. Sometimes the best solution is to do 'nothing'. She returned and said "don't worry about it, they probably wont even notice".

So we get to Immigration at the BA airport and what happens? The Immigration officer is more concerned with where her staple remover is to remove the sealed document from my passport than to actually read it. We are here and I think we can stay!

Oh and they spelled my middle name wrong too - I go by 'Brian Jose' now.

B.