Home > Still Traveling > Archives > 2007 > June
June 2007
Family section on airplanes?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A new poll conducted by a research marketing organization, randomly surveying 1,000 airline passengers, finds that 73 percent think there should be a family section on airplanes.
I’d love to see the reasoning behind that. Was it business travelers annoyed by children and wanting to be segregated from them, or was it Moms thinking they’d feel more accepted if surrounded by other families when their toddler starts to cry, or a little of both?
What do you think? Would a family section benefit both factions? Are business travelers too judgmental of families? Or do families whose children aren’t well-behaved contribute to the perception?
Permalink | Comments (69) | Categories: About the airlines
A day in the cemetery
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Recoleta is home to the most famous cemetery in the city. There lie the rich and famous, including Eva Peron. But today my friend Ely and I went to a different cemetery, in Chacaritas, that’s bigger and in some ways better. More quiet, less touristy.
Today is the anniversary of the death of Carlos Gardel, Argentina’s beloved tango singer, who died in a plane crash 72 years ago. He remains incredibly popular — you can’t go a day without seeing his face somewhere. The people here have a saying that translates: “Each day he sings better.”
Gardel is buried in Chacaritas, and throughout the day people passed by his tomb to pay their respects. They laid flowers beneath his statue and stood in little clusters singing his songs. Some people — mostly men, but one woman — had dressed Gardel-style, in suits and fedoras.
One man wore a tie he claimed was the same one Gardel wore in one of his movies. He posed for photos next to a guitar case open for tips. Oddly, though, he’d placed a scarf over the tie so that it could only be seen if he moved the scarf.
Another man hoisted himself up next to Gardel’s statue and planted a lit cigarette between its fingers. I guess he figured even dead men need a smoke now and again.
Tomorrow I need to hop a boat to Uruguay in order to restart my tourist visa. I can get there in an hour if I take the fast boat across the river to Colonia, a historic little town and popular daytripping spot.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Buenos Aires
“Sounds like we’re at war”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s been a great week or so for Argentine sports. First Manu Ginobili helped lead the San Antonio Spurs to the NBA title. Then on Sunday Angel Cabrera became the first Argentine to win the U.S. Open. And last night, the Boca Juniors defeated Brazil’s Gremio for the Copa Libertadores de America.
As I’ve written before, I’m not a huge soccer fan. But I love the people’s passion for the sport. The Copa final consisted of two games: one last week in Bs.As., and one last night in Brazil. I read that some Brazilian fans spent all night Tuesday screaming and shooting off firecrackers outside the Boca players hotel (a Holiday Inn) to try to keep them from sleeping.
It didn’t work. Boca, which had taken the first game 3-0, won this one 2-0. The fun part was watching what happened afterwards. The television stations stayed on the field for probably an hour afterwards, filimng the players as they clasped each other’s backs and hopped around like bunny rabbits. Later, as a group, they ran down the field and dove face first onto the grass.
Meanwhile, the streets of Buenos Aires came alive. Groups of men sang chants. Cars let out happy honks. People shot off fireworks, which echoed off the city’s tall buildings. Listening to the celebration from his balcony, my friend Stanley turned to the rest of us and said, “Sounds like we’re at war.”
Boca fans gathered at the Obelisk in the center of town to continue the celebration, and surely some stayed up to greet the team when they arrived home around 5 a.m.
I went to bed, knowing I needed to get up early to greet the repairman coming to fix my heat. I hadn’t had any for six days, but all’s well now.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Buenos Aires
TSA right, or wrong?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When officers of the Transportation Security Aministration stopped a mother trying to get through security at Reagan airport in Washington DC with her toddler son and a sippy cup, it set off a controversy.
The mother, Monica Emmerson, claims she was threatened with arrest for trying to carry the cup with four ounces of water through the checkpoint and she accidentally spilled the water on the floor. The TSA claims she was treated professionally and that she spilled the water deliberately and was asked to clean it up, and they released a video to support their version of the incident.
Whad do you think? Was TSA right to stop her, since liquids are prohibited? Does it look like the water she spilled was an accident or deliberate? Do you think TSA could have handled it differently?
Here’s a link to the video: http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/content/multimedia/video/index.html?clip=20546
Permalink | Comments (60) | Categories: Travel in 2007
Back from Iguazu Falls
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I wrote an entry mid-week, but must’ve messed something up because it never appeared. Sorry about that.
Anyway, I spent three days this past week in the north of the country, visiting Iguazu Falls. If you’ve seen the movie “The Mission,” with Robert DeNiro, you’ve seen the Cataratas, as they are called here. The story goes that when Eleanor Roosevelt first glimpsed Iguazu Falls, she murmured, “Poor Niagara.”
And they are absolutely awe-inspiring. The waterfalls — there are 285 of them in all — lie along the border of Argentina and Brazil. You can view them from either country, but I stuck to Argentina because Americans need a $100 visa to cross the border into Brazil, which didn’t seem worth it for a few hours. And the Argentine side is spectacular. Most impressive is one called “The Devil’s Throat,” where you can stand on catwalks and watch water pour about 800 feet down, not that you can see to the bottom for all the mist rising up. You’ll be soaked by the spray in minutes, but it’s worth it to hear the roar of the water and watch the swifts who make their nests behind the falls gliding through the vapor.
The park itself is lush and green and full of butterflies — small, brightly-colored “mariposas” that land on your shoulder or your shoe if you keep still a minute. Then there are the South American raccoons, which have long snouts and no fear of humans, especially humans with food. You’re not supposed to feed them, but like Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo, the park raccoons will snatch meals right off your table if you don’t keep an eye on them.
The sun was shining and the temperature was in the low 80s — a nice break from the chilly 50s of Buenos Aires. And I befriended a world history teacher from Mississippi who spends her summers traveling overseas. Donna is 60 and doesn’t speak any Spanish. She usually travels with groups of teachers. This was her first solo trip, and she was sharing rooms in hostels with 20-somethings as she moved through the country. She’s adventuresome and funny.
Now I’m back in BsAs. Spent Friday night with my friends at the Dorothy Parker and last night went to see “Sweet Charity” with some girls from school. (Yes, girls!) Afterwards we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, which was a nice change of pace. I never would’ve thought I would miss refried beans, but boy did they taste good!
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Buenos Aires
How does Dollywood strike you?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You just know going in that Dollywood’s going to be tacky, hokey, a hillbilly Disneyland, says travel writer William Schemmel.
But soon after passing through the turnstiles, he says, you look around and think: Disney could take some cues from Dolly.
The theme park created by Dolly Parton in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., is full of country music, country food, crafts and rides. Schemmel says Parton has given the park a soft Appalachian spin.
You’re never more than a few steps, or a few minutes, from live country, bluegrass, gospel and pop, on a half-dozen stages more than 40 times a day.
Have you been to Dollywood? Did you like or dislike it?
If you haven’t been, would you go?
Waiting for a passport?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Are you waiting for a passport and getting anxious because your trip is closer and closer, but the passport is somewhere off in the distance? What I’m hearing from people is that they can’t even get an answer on how far off in the distance the passport is — nobody can tell them whether it will arrive tomorrow or weeks from now.
The State Department has admitted defeat, and announced that air travelers to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda won’t need a passport to re-enter the U.S. if they can show proof that they’ve applied for the passport (travelers by land or ship have until at least January 2008 to get a passport, but it’s likely that deadline might be pushed as well). People who haven’t applied for a passport by the time of their trip won’t be allowed to leave the country.
This is one of those, on-the-one-hand and on-the-other-hand issues. On the one hand, if you knew you were planning to travel outside the U.S. this year, and you knew there would be a crush of people wanting passports, why did you wait until January to apply for, or renew, your passport? On the other hand, wouldn’t you expect you’d be able to get a passport in a reasonable amount of time, say 4 to 6 weeks? Wouldn’t you expect that the government would also be expecting a crush of people to apply for passports and staff accordingly? Any business so ill-prepared would be out of business soon. What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Passports
Election results, soccer and an accident
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mauricio Macri — the wealthy candidate that the cartoons portray as “Senor Burns” from “The Simpsons” — took first place in the election on Sunday. But because he didn’t collect 50 percent of the vote, he now has to face the second-place candidate, Daniel Filmus, in a run-off on June 24.
I suppose for me what that mostly means is another Sunday when almost everything is closed.
Filmus is a protege of the president, Nestor Kirchner. He’s far behind Macri, who happens to be president of the beloved Boca Juniors soccer team.
I don’t know enough to know who’s the better candidate, but to answer someone’s earlier question: I have adopted Boca as my football team. I saw them play two years ago when I was here, but have yet to go to a game this trip. The one game I watched all the way through on television was the classic Boca-River Plate match-up, and it ended in a tie. (This is why I don’t think I can ever be a big soccer fan: I respect the athleticism of the players and the passion of the fans, but I need a winner!) Anyway, I always know when Boca is playing because for 90 minutes I hear shouts of delight and dismay echoing from other apartments in my building.
Changing topics: I saw a bicyclist and a car collide about an hour ago. It was awful. I was standing about 10 feet away, about to cross the street myself. I think the cyclist will be OK — he seemed as if he’d just been banged up, although he was still lying in the street when I left the scene (a policeman and many others had moved in to help).
It made me feel sick to my stomach. Many, many streets here don’t have stop signs. You’re supposed to slow down, look, and go if you can, I suppose. But it seems so dangerous to me. And with no clear rules for who goes when, drivers are forever honking and nudging the car in front of them.
I’ve visited some of the places you all have recommended. I’ll write more about that later. As for my accent: Robert, you’re probably right that I’ll sound much more like an American than an Argentine. But so far I’ve been mistaken for a Brazilian, Colombian and Mexican, which makes me feel kind of good!
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Buenos Aires
Friday in Buenos Aires
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Should be an interesting weekend here. The people choose a new mayor on Sunday. There are campaign signs plastered across the city, including one that portrays one of the candidates —who comes from an extremely wealthy family — as “Mr. Burns” from “The Simpsons.” Or at least that’s what it says. To me, the drawing resembles Ned Flanders. But maybe there’s some symbolism I’m missing.
Voting here is required by law, though many people apparently still don’t do it. Officials stamp your document (passport) to prove you’ve voted, and my teacher says from time to time you might get hassled at the borders if you haven’t voted. Usually, Buenos Aires sells alcohol 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week. But sales will cut off Saturday at midnight and won’t resume until Sunday at 6 p.m. — I guess to make sure people can’t say they didn’t vote because they were too hungover, or drunk.
Meanwhile, people are fed up for other reasons. Here’s the lead-in of an AP story that explains what’s going on. So far, I’ve been lucky…
By BILL CORMIER Associated Press Writer
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - A cold snap in Argentina led to electricity and natural gas shortages this week, idling factories and taxis and causing sporadic blackouts in the capital.
Beset by the coldest May since 1962, millions of residents fired up space heaters, straining Buenos Aires’ electrical grid for three nights and forcing authorities to slash power supply nationwide and briefly cut domestic natural gas provisions and exports to Chile.
Grumbling taxi drivers waited for hours in lines stretching several blocks to fill up their black-and-yellow cabs with scarce compressed natural gas. Some protested by tossing garbage into the streets during rush hour Thursday, causing traffic jams.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Buenos Aires
