My 96-year-old aunt, Virucha, told me this as we walked around the block in Buenos Aires that was once the quinta of the Pagliere clan (the block surrounded by Corrientes, Sarmiento, Gascón, and Acuña de Figueroa). In front of my cousin’s shop was a sign that said something like: “No dejar canastos en la acera o la calzada”. She saw that I wasn’t completely familiar with the words, so to illustrate she told me the following story.

[Virucha, mi tía de 96 años, me contó este chiste mientras dabamos la vuelta de la manzana que antiguamente era la quinta de la familia Pagliere (la cuadra entre Corrientes, Sarmiento, Gascón, and Acuña de Figueroa). En frente de la fábrica de mi prima Lucila Ballester (que diseña y hace trajes de baño de mujer), la hija de la tía, había un cartel en que estaba escrito: No dejar canastos en la acera o la calzada. Virucha vió que no conocía muy bien las palabras, así que para ilustrarmelas, me contó la siguiente historia.]

Una española se muda, con su gata, a Buenos Aires. Le pregunta a un vecino “dónde podría ir a pasear con mi gata?” “Bueno,” le dice el vecino, “el jardín botántico es lindo y ahí hay muchos gatos.” Entonces, un día la española lleva su gata al jardín botánico.
Un gato del jardín se acerca a la gata y le dice, “Qué tal si vamos a pasear por la vereda?”

La gata le dice, “no se dice ‘vereda’, se dice ‘acera’.”

“Bueno,” dice el gato, “qué tal si vamos a la calle?”

La gata le dice, “no se dice ‘calle’, se dice ‘calzada’.”

El gato, un poco harto ya, está casi por irse. Ahora la gata le dice, “Qué tal si vamos a coger un ratón?”

El gato le dice, “No se dice ‘ratón’, se dice ‘rato’.”

Here in Buenos Aires again, the land of the unexpected adventure and an anarchistic everyday life, on a nearly annual family visit cum winter escape. Heat, sun and chaos of possibility to escape cold, cloud-locked Ann Arbor with its dual self-delusions of cultural diversity and progressiveness.

Staying at a fantastic find of an old apartment in a casa chorizo in Palermo Viejo, which may have already jumped the cultural shark since last visit. Other barrios up and coming. All in flux.

More postings to come.

In a conversation recently with someone about how many Argentines are blonde (which for some reason still surprises some people), I was pointed to http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/. Cool site.

A recent email from my second cousin in California about her childhood visits to the family ranch (la Atropellada) northwest of Buenos Aires. It has since become a dude ranch of sorts, or at least a resort.

Hola Alan,

Acá va información en “La Atropellada”.

Originalmente eran 4000 hectareas que Luis compró antes que yo naciera (o sea más de 60 años). Marcos era el que las administraba y vivía en el campo.

Muere Luis, pasa a suceción, muere Marcos y le quedan 600 hectareas y el casco a Lucila. Ella lo abre a turismo y de ahí esta página web.

Pero es original de la familia. Ahí yo pasaba mis tres meses de verano andando a caballo, nadando en el tanque australiano, yendo al arroyo en sulky, y mientras te lo cuento huelo los eucaliptos al mediodía, escucho el arrullo de las palomas a la hora de la ignomiosa siesta forzada y recuerdo el cielo
tachonado de mil estrellas mientras corríamos y agarrabamos las luciernagas para ponerlas en frascos
junto con ranitas chiqutitas atraídas por la luz de la galería.

Lamento que todo esto pertenezca al pasado, tal vez la única manera sea escribirlo, pero a quién le interesaría este esfuerzo?

Alicia

So, looks like Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has won the election in the first round. Seems most are saying that this means a continuation of the current political and economic situation in Argentina. A cousin of mine, L, who I talked to last week, was afraid that Cristina would win and that things would continue or get worse. From what I’ve experienced during my visits since 2001, I see a slow but steady general improvement for the majority of poor and lower middle-class.

Though even for middle class folk, things are not great, I think she is not as badly off as many, many people in Argentina, She told me that her son, M, who according to her knows more about this sort of thing, predicts a collapse in 2008 or 2009.

Argentina is interesting in that everyone there complains about the current state of affairs, the corruption, the dog-eat-dog nature of day to day living, that everyone is working an angle. Just consider the lyrics of the famous Tango Cambalache. The basic philosophy is since everyone else is doing it, you better get good at doing it yourself. Only way to make your way in the world. So, if things are so bad, why vote for the same? I know too little about Argentine politics, but I suppose other choices may not be so great, the devil you know versus the devil you don’t, all that. Actually, that happens in the US too, no? With the illusion of choice we have in the US in all realms of life, from the supermarket aisles to our politicians, we “get to” choose between slightly left of center and slightly right of center. (Of course, there are periods in history, like Viet Nam and the current Bush regime, where things are ever so slightly more polarized, but considering the spectrum of all possibilities, its a small range). I digress.

We’ll see if M is right. Though Argentina can and will surprise, I’d be surprised.