Slave Markets in Argentina -- Maybe Just Women

I was struck by this store in downtown Buenos Aires, which seems to be offering slaves.  I know enough Spanish to tell that it must only be female slaves because of the "as" ending on the end of the word "esclavas."  If you doubt they really meant "slaves" check out the "linked chain" logo above the word.  And it looks like you can get the slaves immediately "Las Esclavas Express."  Unfortunately, the store was closed (most of the stores close at random times throughout the day).  But then, we do already have a housekeeper, a doorman, a tango teacher, and many chefs (nearby), so another slave would be surplusage.

The Accounting Profession -- A Lie By Any Other Name

We spent a delightful day yesterday in the town of Tigre, with our travel agent Silvia. 

She used to be an accountant but could not take the pressure.  In a country with high inflation, no company can make a profit buying and selling goods with regulated prices.  By the time the goods are manufactured, the sales price is always less (in real terms, taking inflation into account) than the cost of making the goods.  So, manufacturers sell their goods on the black market, where prices are, of course, higher.  But their books can't reveal the actual prices for which they sold their goods, because that would be illegal.  So, the accountants challenge is to make up some sales prices (and maybe costs of manufacturing) that look like legal prices and still make it look like the deals produced a profit.  Don't get it?  That's because it is nonsensical.  So, Silvia decided she couldn't handle all of that creativity and decided to become a travel agent.  Good idea.

Teatro Colon

From the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes (see Jake's post below), we went on to tour another building built to impress the world, the Teatro Colon.  Begun by an Italian architect in 1889, the entrance features 3 types of Italian marble, hand-laid mosaic tile floors, and intricate stained glass windows.  Finished 20 years later by a French architect, the salon features gold-leaf trim and hand-painted ceilings seemingly straight out of Versailles.  The young tour guide related the details of the building through stories of its architects and intrigues, and through some social commentary on the times.  Once in the main opera hall she demonstrated the acoustics by singing a verse from a well-known tango in a lovely voice.  She said that when Pavarotti came to sing at the opera house, he said he could never come back.  When asked why, he said it was because the acoustics were too perfect and he could hear every flaw in his singing!

Funny Money -- OK, call me a cynic.

No picture for this one, just a news flash.  The Argentine government announced yesterday that for the benefit of all consumers faced with the difficulty of rapidly rising prices, it had worked out a deal with the largest grocery store chains to fix their prices for two months.  (We haven't really noticed price increases, but we have noticed that whereas we used to get 6.2 pesos for a dollar four weeks ago on the black market, we now get 7.3 -- good for us!).  So, no more price increases for consumers.  Yippee for consumers.

But wait, there must be a catch . . .   Ah yes, the grocery stores in exchange will give up their discounting.  Traditionally, each store has discounts for using different credit cards on different days -- 20% of for using a Citibank card on Tuesdays, a Galicia card on Wednesdays, etc.  These are big discounts, much greater even than the rate of inflation.  Oh well, yippee for the grocery stores.

But wait, it gets better.  Sometimes banks would underwrite the discounts as promotions for their credit cards.  They didn't like this practice, but if some banks did it, other banks felt compelled to do it as well.  Ah, that nasty competition among banks -- can't we do something to get rid of it?  Why sure!  Just get the government to let us agree to end discounts -- in exchange for the stores fixing prices for a couple of months.  Yippee for the banks.  Everybody is winning so far. 

But wait, it gets even better.  In March or April, the government is facing labor negotiations with some group.  If the government can show that prices of essential items have stabalized, they can give smaller wage increases.  And, look at grocery prices . . . stable as can be.  No price increases for two months!  You don't need a raise!  Yipee for the government.

So overall, the government is helping everybody -- especially those consumers who, the newspapers screamed in the headlines, were being saved from inflation. 

Mafalda and Me

I don't know why the cartoon character Mafalda isn't better known in the US.  We live on Mafalda's corner here in Buenos Aires. Not 5 minutes goes by day or night without someone having their picture taken on this bench by her.  Her Argentine creator, Quino, lived in a building on the same block.  Mafalda is very popular throughout Latin America and in Europe.  She is known for her wise beyond her years, irreverant social commentary or general views on life.  

"Isn't it the case that this modern life has more of modern than of life?"

"From where do you have to push this nation to get it to move forward?

"Life is beautiful, the bad thing is that people confuse beautiful with easy."

"Errare politicum est"

The Palace of Running Water AKA Toilet Museum

We recently visited El Palacio del Aquas Corrientes (more or less), which was the headquarters, including holding tanks, for the water distribution system in Buenos Aires.  The building is pretty incredible as it was built during the period when Argentina was trying to convince the rest of the world (i.e., France) that it was sophisticated and rich enough to deserve some respect.  The exhibits in this museum are less than extravagent, but include some nice items such as this American visitor.

And, this display is undoubtedly the most photographed.

 

World travel is so broadening.

My second favorite item in the museum was this valve, which a visitor could actually operate.  Those machinists really did a great job.  You probably can't see how the value seats in the faucet to create a perfect seal, but I was impressed.

Didn't get a picture of the child care center across the street for the employees of the running water department but it was called "Little Drops of Water" ("Gotitas de Aqua").  Cute, no?

National Holiday!

Yeah!  A day off from Spanish classes for a National Holiday!  Ask most Argentines and they have no idea why there is a holiday.  Turns out, it is the 200th anniversary of the first Constitutional Assembly.  The constitution granted freedom to anyone born to a slave family (in other words, if you were already a slave, tough luck, but at least your children could not be enslaved), as well as some other freedoms that were subsequently overturned in various disputes between the provinces and the federal government.  Still, it was apparently the first Constitution in South America.

Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo -
mothers of children who were "disappeared" during the military dictatorship 

Political banners on the Plaza

On the Plaza de Mayo in front of the Casa Rosada (equivalent to the the National Mall and White House respectively), hordes of people waited in long lines to get a commerative coin, see the new 100 peso note featuring Eva Peron, gather various other free publications, and to watch big groups carrying flags representing different political parties.  Turns out we had actually gotten a few of the new 100s in our last money pickup and given the suspicion over counterfeit 100s, we were relieved when a shopkeeper recognized the new bill and accepted it.

We have been taking Spanish classes at Academia Buenos Aires, a 15 min. walk from our apartment.  There were 5 other students in my class, two students from Holy Cross  in MA here for study abroad, an American who writes for the web and who had been studying Spanish for 15 weeks, a Brazilian voice therapist here to learn Spanish, and a British woman living in Germany who works as a German to English translator who needs to learn a third language to get licensed as an Interpreter.  We had a great teacher, a woman in her early 50s who is from B.A. and who had a great sense of humor and was well-versed in both teaching Spanish and in history. She does an excellent impression of the grand ladies of Recoleta and could have swooned when she found out that the British student's mom had gone to the same school as two of the Beatles.   4 hours of lessons from 9:30 - 1:30 pm, plus a three hour make up class one afternoon because of the national holiday.  Jake started out in one class, had one day of class where he was the only student, then was joined by two others at his level on the third day.  I think he felt that although his teacher was technically proficient, she didn't quite have the sense of humor to make 4 hours of classes fun.