Facturas, fruit and Friday's

In a small company, nice gestures become traditions and as you grow in size - they become expectations.

Here in our office, when an employee returns from vacation, it is now the expectation to bring in chocolates, cake or pastries (or facturas as they are called here) on the day you come back to the office.

Traditionally in Argentina, summer holidays are taken in 2 week windows. They also line up as the first two weeks and the second two weeks of the months of January and February. We would have several staff off during the same 2 week window.


We are now over 60 staff in the BA office, so on the Monday that the vacationers return to the office, the facturas supply is overwhelming. There is always an email that is sent out to everyone to let everyone know who brought in facturas (and why).
This is what the kitchen looked like on a recent Monday morning!




But we also provide some healthier options in our kitchen - little of which I recognize.



Although, I can detect a dulce de leche filled medialuna from 70 meters!

Friday afternoons provide an opportunity for teambuilding in the office. My language skills are improving but the following note from our receptionist got everyone into the kitchen.

De: Paula

Enviado el: Viernes, 27 de Marzo de 2009 04:54 p.m.

Para: BA

Asunto: Brian nos invita a festejar el viernes con helado...

It is amazing how ordering in 5 kilograms of ice cream can help the staff 'celebrate Friday'. Even on Friday's, most staff are there until after 6 pm.

B.

Dia del Memoria por la Verdad y la Justicia

Today, the Day of Memory for Truth and Justice is a public holiday.
The city is very quiet. The holiday commemorates the victims of the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process. March 24th is the anniversary of the 1976 coup that brought the military junta to power.

It is estimated that 30,000 people were killed in what was known as the Dirty War. The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo can be seen every Thursday walking in the plaza (wearing their distinctive white scarves) as they have been for the last 30 years to demand justice for their children (and now grandchildren).

Several months after we arrived here, a friend lent us a copy of the movie, Imagining Argentina. It was a story set in that time in 1976 when the Ford Falcon's would arrive at someone's home or office and just whisk someone way, never to be heard from again. Those taken are referred to as The Disappeared Ones. the movie was quite disturbing.

Today is a reminder of what was lost here and that it should never happen again.

B.

Another first!

We got in our first (and hopefully only) car accident last night.

Mimi had finished a meeting with her volunteer group, SACS (Send a Child to School).

I met her on the walk back to the apartment from my office. We grabbed a taxi to go for dinner. It was rush hour. We thought it would be a slow drive as a result. No, we happened to get the Mario Andretti of BA for a taxi driver.
I had just commented how fast he was driving when he slammed on the brakes.....but not fast enough. The VW in front of us had stopped for traffic. We tapped his bumper.

The driver of the VW hopped out, took a look at his bumper and 'then the fight started'. He and the taxi driver start yelling at each other. The taxi driver never got out of the car. They just kept yelling at each other.
The taxi driver thought for a bit to drive away but he was boxed in by traffic and then the VW driver pulled out his camera phone and started taking pictures. Finally, our taxi driver provided his licence details and we finished the drive to the restaurant. The rest of the drive was a rant (in spanish) how he never touched him!

The whole time they were yelling at each other, the meter was running.

Our first car accident experience in Argentina cost us an extra 2 pesos - less than a buck.

Lately, we have been reading about some big vehicle wrecks here in Argentina, mostly on the highways.

I would say we were lucky.

Footnote: After we had finished dinner, two friends walked into the restaurant - we asked them to join us. They sat down and proudly showed us their new ARG driver's licences. After this ride, we wont be getting our licences any time soon!
B.

Pizza by candlelight

I came home from work late and we made the joint decision that San Felicien Malbec and pizza para llevar (take away) was the way to go for dinner.
I opened the wine, had a half glass then went to the corner restaurant to order the pizza. Going to the restaurant, ordering it and then waiting for the pizza has its advantages - it comes with a cold beer......and I can click away on my Blackberry.

Just as I was ordering, the lights went out in the restaurant. It was a power failure. One minute later, my cell phone goes off, "Are you in the elevator?". "No, I am trying to order pizza."

I was 2 minutes from being stuck in the 80 yr old elevator in our apartment building.......

The ovens in the restaurant seemed to work. One beer later, the pizzas were ready to go.
I took the back stairs up 6 floors to the apartment.

It turned out to be a great night, we enjoyed dinner by candlelight on our terrace. You could see the stars (which is rare in such a brightly lit city). Margarita and Fuggazetta pizzas.....with leftovers.

I woke up at 3 am with the lights back on (6 hours later) and the TV making noise.
It sure beats waking up in an elevator!

B.

I need to learn enough spanish to find out of there is a power failure, does the elevator in our apartment lower itself to the main floor or am I stuck there until the lights come back on?

United Buddy Bears in BA

This week, large trucks rolled up to the Plaza San Martin next to my office and forklifts started unloading wooden crates. They say there are 140 crates....but I know there are only 139.

Slowly the display took shape. It was the United Buddy Bears. The bears are part of a UNICEF program that have been displayed in several cities around the world ( www.buddy-bear.com ).

The bears are here with the following message: 'The Buddy Bears stand together hand in hand in a peaceful circle, promoting tolerance and understanding among different nations, cultures and religions.'

Mounted on concrete bases, the bears are arranged alphabetically in a circle in the Plaza San Martin.....

outside my office building here in BA....

It starts with a Buddy Bear from Afganistan.... and goes all the way around to Buddy from Zimbabwe......In between, there are interesting bears from Cuba....and from places like Maldova.....Maldova? - on the Maldova bear, there is a Maldovian that is pointing to where Maldova actually is on the globe - so we all know).
There is also the Bhutan Bear.




There is a problem though - one that has got me a little chuffed. While there are bears from those big bear nations like the Bahamas and the United Arab Emirates. There is NO bear from Canada.
He should be there standing in between the Camaroon Bear and the Central African Republic Bear.
I contacted a friend at the Canadian Embassy to inquire about the whereabouts of the Canada Bear and 'they are looking into it'.


I know he exists because I found him on some website. He looks pale compared to many of the others. He would be the 140th bear in the display and perhaps based on the weather in Canada, he is hibernating these days.

Should I get an update on the Canada bear, I will let you know.

United Buddy Bear Butts....

B.

Meet my neighbors

These two guys regularly park themselves on the railing outside my office window. They are quite happy to sit there, preening and chirping away.

Occasionally, they get riled up and start flying into my office window. They see their reflection in the mirrored glass and start 'fighting'. They then sit back down on the railing - looking like they have just been smacked upside the head and wonder why the bird they are fighting is so damn tough.

B.

Calgary

Calgary in the wintertime.....

Just got my first taste of winter since February of 2008. It started out as refreshing and then it got to be different (Ok, a bit of a pain). I can just imagine how Calgarians feel this year - it has been quite a winter.

It was short trip for meetings at work so if I didnt contact you, it was because I ran out of time.

I did get to see Cooper for his 5th birthday. He sort of remembered me but the kids are taking such good care of him - I completely understand. Mimi stays in touch with him by skype - it does drive him a bit nuts when he can hear her but not see her. I took the kids out for dinner a couple of times. We did drink Argentine wine in one restaurant . Since the kids had enjoyed it down here, it was fun to order it in Calgary. The next place (Bonterra's) didnt carry Argentine wines so Jake was able to share his wine knowledge, having travelled in Italy, and ordered a SuperTuscan wine - it was quite good.

I bought a smaller camera while in Calgary - it means more pictures and less lugging around of my SLR. Now I need to buy an external hard drive to store all the photos I am taking. They take up quite a bit of space but are worth it.

B.

Road trips

Hi there - I havent been on-line lately. I have been busy at work, doing some travelling and my Picasa 3 is on the blink (so I am having trouble with my photo files). Regardless....

Mimi & I recently travelled to Mendoza, which is the centre of the Argentine wine universe and for good reason. I was there for business meetings with our Environment team. While we were there, we did some touring around. You know - check out the environment!

We only visited 3 bodegas (wineries), enjoyed some very nice restaurants and took a trip to the border with Chile. The tours were interesting not only for the bodega 'stories' and wine sampling but because we were on english-speaking tours. It was fun to share stories with folks on a seniors' tour from Florida, we talked Blackberry addictions with a guy from RIM in Waterloo and ran into the same couple from Chicago 5 times on the weekend.

Mendoza itself is a cool city. It has a population larger than Calgary and is located in the middle of a desert. It survives only because of the extensive irrigation system that the city has. The runoff from the snowpack melt in the Andes is the source of their water. On EVERY street between the sidewalk and the street is a canal (or ditch) that accepts water on a regular schedule. Every tree in the city (and there are a lot of them) was planted and is irrigated by this system. Fields & parks are 'watered' by overflowing the ditches and the water seeps across the field....so you have to choose the right time to have a picnic!

We went to an interesting restaurant in the basement of the former residence of the Governor of the Province of Mendoza called Cava de Cano. What you see in the photo is the first course of a 4 course meal. I dont think I have seen that much food for 5 people....especially just for the appetizer!

From what I am learning, successful vineyards exist where they can control the water the vines get and there is lots of sunshine. It only rains 5 days a year in Mendoza so the climate and the local irrigation expertise make for a robust wine industry. I guess so....there are 1200 wineries in the area. We visited three of them. We did sample more than 3 wines though. Lots of reasons to return to Mendoza.

We also made a road trip to the Andes. The drive was on a major highway and we found out first hand why there are so many vehicles accidents in Argentina. Overloaded trucks that are underpowered that get passed by crazy bus drivers....yikes. The existence of double yellow lines and the non-existence of shoulders makes for an interesting trip.Three hours from Mendoza and up a 9 km switchback to an elevation of 4000 metres...took us to a spot called Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemor) de los Andes. It is a large statue built in 1904 acknowledging peace between Chile and Argentina. The statue straddles the border.That peace got tested when Chile sided with the Brits during the Malvinas/Falklands war.

On the day we visited, it was a little breezy. I think it is 'breezy' everyday.

The little guy is Augusto, the son of our Environment Manager, who joined us on the trip.There is a small restaurant at this spot. It reminded us of the Lake Louise Tea House. They were serving locra - a stew made with goat. It was OK.

On the drive back to Mendoza we stopped at Aconcagua Provincial Park, where the highest peak outside of Asia is located.

We also stopped at an interesting spot where a spa used to operate. It has since shut down and the sulphur laden springs have overun the facility. They closed the bridge because they are afraid it will collapse under its own weight. The brand new church (top right) is no longer accessible as a result.

We had the luxury of a local (our Environment Manager) taking us on this day tour. His wife and son joined us. I am sure they had other things to do but they were most gracious in their hospitality.

We will return soon.

B.