Don't Cry For Me Argentina...

This past weekend was awesome! My hosts (Tony Novoa and Edi Alvarez) made sure to schedule a bit of “fun time” that included things other than eating. Yes, we all enjoy eating…and I’m afraid that by watching these videos, my audience will think that’s all we do. Fact is, we DO eat a lot because everybody wants the foreigner (i.e., me) to try a bit of everything. But we also have fun in other ways…like visiting the local tourist traps and what-not.

Oh, and there’s a popular misconception that I’d like to nip in the bud. As I’ve said on previous blog posts, I do actually WORK on these trips. Unfortunately, the nature of the work would appear a bit boring if captured on video. I mean, do you really want to watch hours and hours of business meetings…or had you rather see some of the local tourist stuff?

Yeah, I thought so. But people forget that this is a business trip. Trust me; for every hour of “fun” that I get to experience, I spend 8.7 hours in boring meetings (I’ve timed it).

Now, on to the video. Tony picked me up on Saturday morning and drove me around town. He was careful to point out some of the changes that have happened over the past 50 years. This is because my good friend, Daniel Montoya, grew up in Buenos Aires, but he left his home country in 1959. He’s never been back. He became quite excited when I told him that I would be visiting his home town, and I promised to film a few of the sites just for him. So, Daniel…some of this footage is just for you!

Tony and Betina asked if I might be interested in eating Chinese food…which happens to be one of my favorite cuisines! I learned many years ago that there are three ways to judge the quality of any nation. First, try their beer (if they don’t have beer…run like hell!). Second, try a pizza. We all have eaten pizza’s in our own countries and know that there’s a basic list of ingredients…a flat crust for the base, some tomato sauce, a bit of cheese…and then…who knows? That’s the great part! They serve pizza everywhere in the world, but each culture puts its own spin on how it’s prepared! You can tell a lot about a society by how they treat their prisoners…and how they make their pizza. Finally, order a Chinese meal. The Chinese are masters of taking their basic cuisine and modifying it to excite the local taste buds.

The highlight of my day was a visit to one of the most famous cemeteries in the world; La Recoleta. This is the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. It is the cemetery of presidents, Nobel-laureates, war heroes, and titans of industry are laid to rest. It is, by far, the most awesome cemetery I have ever visited.

Much to my surprise, neither Tony nor Betina had actually visited this tourist-attraction! They simply had never had any reason to go there. I suppose this is somewhat like the New Yorker who had never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.

After visiting the cemetery, we went across the street to a café to enjoy a cup of coffee. As we were sitting there, Tony kept saying that the woman sitting across from us looked just like his teacher from the third grade…when he was an eight year-old boy, and his teacher was probably in her mid-twenties. Betina and I must have told him three or four times that he MUST go and introduce himself…to find out if it was her…his third-grade teacher from forty-four years ago.

Was it her? Well, you’ll just have to watch the video to find out…