Next Life

One of the greatest quotes ever, by Woody Allen, the genius:

In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and
get that out of the way.

Then you wake up in an old people's home feeling better every day.
You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then
when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day.
You work for 40 years until you're young enough to enjoy
your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous,
then you are ready for high school. You then go to primary school, you
become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby
until you are born.

And then you spend your last 9 months floating in
luxurious spa like conditions with central heating and room service on tap,
larger quarters every day and then Voila! You finish off as an orgasm!

I rest my case.

Illness

Just as I get over my cold, it turns out that I might have bronchitis. The feeling I experience upon climbing a flight of stairs is what I imagine it would be like for a 350 lb smoking, asthmatic, diabetic. When I get to the top of the stairs I have to stop, sit down, and catch my breath. Probably not a good sign.

It looks like "Hello Argentine Health System" for me. Actually, if I still can't breath tomorrow and my lungs continue to feel like an angry Porteño punched me repeatedly in the chest, I will be going to the Italian Hospital with Roberto, a rather charming and secluded gem of a hospital just 3 blocks from my house.

The huge downside of all this...I might not be able to go to Cabo Polonio this week/weekend. Wednesday is right around the corner. Bummer. I already paid for boat/bus/hostel. What a waste of money and a waste of a hell of a good time. Oh well, at least I am not a 350 lb diabetic!

Whenever I am feeling down, I just watch my favorite Monty Python Sketch

Lyrics:

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.

So always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath

Life's a piece of shit
When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the right side of life...
(Come on guys, cheer up!)
Always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the bright side of life...
(Worse things happen at sea, you know.)
Always look on the bright side of life...
(I mean - what have you got to lose?)
(You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing.
What have you lost? Nothing!)
Always look on the right side of life...

Glen Roger's

In a last ditch effort to cure my incessant cough, Roberto gets the bottle of Glen Roger's Scotch Whiskey and pours me a liberal glassful. Not sure if it will help. Not sure if alcohol is even good for me at this point. But, hell, you only live once! Viva Argentina!

Cabo Polonio

So, I haven't posted in a while because nothing interesting has happened in my life. I have not left the house in the last few days. I have had a cold since thursday night and am fighting a nasty cough right now. I blame it on the lack of fruits and vegetables in my diet. I swear to god that Argentines live on pizza, empanadas, steak, sausage, mate, and cigarettes. I don't know how they do it and stay as thin as they do. Either way I have modified my diet to include at least 3-4 litres (thats right, almost a gallon) of water, at least one glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, and a few cups of green tea a day. I just need to get over this cough before heading to Cabo Polonio this weekend.

Which brings me to the trip. This week is Semana Santa and as all of South America is extremely religious we have thursday-sunday off to travel. So, a couple of friends and I have booked tickets for wednesday morning to take a boat across Rio de la Plata to Colonia, Uruguay, catch a bus from Colonia to Montevideo, spend the day and evening in Montevideo raising hell, or just doing touristy stuff, whatever, and then catching a 1 AM bus up the coast past Costa del Este to a little known hippy town called Cabo Polonio.

Coincidentally, where we are going looked vaguely familiar to me and I discovered today that I had seen it somewhere. Of course, I remembered, Anthony Bourdain went there. So, I checked the episodes, and sure enough he went to Cabo Polonio. Here is the clip. Check it out.

Anyways, we take a bus up the coast to a small town where we get off, pay for a 4x4 truck to take us almost an hour through the sand dunes to Cabo Polonio. Once there, we have rented a room in a "hostel" so to speak. It is a wind swept shack on the beach with a working kitchen. Most of the houses here have no running water or electricity, so it can be pretty sparse, however our hostel has solar panels to run lights and a fridge and water tanks on the roof to provide gravity fed running water.

I plan on renting a surf fishing rod, pitching a chair on the beach, and bringing along a couple of litres of beer and a cooler and relaxing as much as is humanly possible. I have talked up my cooking skills to the guys so I have to be a good cook now. I am not worried, however, I will be cooking for 7 so it might get a little stressful at times seeing what everybody wants. Oh well, should be an overall amazing time, assuming I don't have this horrible cough still when I get there. My severe water intake and absolute lack of activity should render me 100% in no time. I hope.

More to come soon.

La Marcha

Día nacional de la Memoria por la verdad y la Justicia

Today is the National Day of Memory for Truth and Justice here in Argentina. It marks the date, 34 years ago (I think...1976) that the most brutal military dictatorship overthrew the civilian government, destroyed all institutions (courts and congress), abolished political parties, abolished freedom of speech and of press, all in the name of combatting terrorism and leftist ideology. The military government, through means of torture, "disappearing," and murder, sought to systematically remove all who opposed the dictatorship or expressed any radical leftist views. During the 8 years that the dictatorship was in power up to 30,000 people were "disappeared," that is, likely killed, but few bodies have been found.

There were concentration camps set up around the city where dissidents were held, tortured, and killed. Many were pushed out of planes into the ocean where they either died from the fall or from drowning. And thousands of children were taken from their mothers when they were born. The children were given away to supporters of the military regimes. The mothers were killed.

It was a dark, obviously, period in Argentine history. A period that most here don't want to talk about because it lives freshly in their memory. I think most of the older generation here know many that were tortured, killed, or disappeared and would rather not have to remember those horrible experiences.

ANYWAYS, on a lighter note, today I am attending a march of millions of people that gather on this day in Congress square to march 15 blocks from Congress down to the Casa Rosada (the head of the executive branch...the pink house... that is pink incidentally because white paint used to be mixed with ox blood to give it some color and thin it out). I am going to march with some friends from FLACSO who are going with their families to honor those who disappeared during this time period. Afterwards, in the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada, there are going to be big concerts and traditional dance shows. It should be very exciting. I will post pictures when I return.

Lost in Translation

Here is a quote that I find fascinating from a text I am reading for my Service Learning class about the importance of language and word choice...(this is my rough translation):

"Differences in language can provide evidence for profound cultural divisions. A North America academic once told me that 'solidarity' sounded like an invasion of personal responsibility by means of confidence in 'the collective community.' He was horrified when I told him that 'individualism' in spanish is translated as 'selfishness' or 'egomania.' In fact, individual initiative and collective action have played different roles in the history of the north and the south and are valued in different forms in both latino and anglo cultures. Since the Magna Carta and the US Declaration of Independence, 'individualism' in english evokes the defense of individual interests, the affirmation of one's own thoughts, and the liberty and admiration for the self made man. In spanish, an 'individualist' perspective towards social problems sounds like a contradiction of terms: when the poverty and social problems are so overwhelming, one cannot confront them by themselves. Solidarity doesn't signify the evasion of individual responsibility but rather confronts the problems in a more efficient form: together with others that have the same problems."