Tengo Tango
The next time you find yourself in Buenos Aires, run, don’t walk over to the La Ventana Tango show. It’s AWESOME!
NOTE: This post was created after having my laptop stolen in Mendoza. So the photos and details are sparse.
Feeling Empty
Here are a few shots from Mendoza that represent how I feel after my loss.
NOTE: This post was created after having my laptop stolen in Mendoza. So the photos and details are sparse.
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Helados!
If anyone knows me, they know that I am not a huge fan of ice cream. I mean it’s okay, but it’s just nothing that special to me. Unless… you happen to happen across Ferruccio Soppelsa in Mendoza. It is by far the greatest perveyor of Helados in the world!
I only went in there in the first place as per a recomendation from a Couch Surfing friend Luciana. I wanted to sample their Dulce de Leche ice cream, but apparently you can’t get just one flavor. So I selected vanilla as my second choice. HOLY COW! Some of the best vanilla I have ever tasted!
So I returned the next day and ordered a mint chip and some vanilla. And again, the mint chip blew me away.
So I returned the next day and ordered a raspberry and lemon. Same results.
Before I left Mendoza, I made one last stop at the corner store for some more mint, and more delce de leche. I’ve had more ice cream here in the last 4 days then I have in the last year of my life.
So ya, if you make it to Mendoza, make sure to make a stop by Ferruccio Soppelsa for a cool down cone to see taste what I’m talking about.
Photography Black Gold
Before I get into this post, first let me give a quick plug to Recuva data recovery software that let me recover a few photos that were still on my cameras memory card. It’s barely a dent in the 7,000+ that I had on the laptop, but at least it will allow me to keep this blog current.
Now that that is out of the way…
The other day I was wandering the streets of Mendoza to just sort of get acquainted with the lay of the land. Part of my journey lead me to Centro CÃvico – Casa de Gobierno which is a government building where many city buses pass by.
As I walked past one of the bus stops, I noticed a few men placing used tires near the curb on front of the building.
I thought it was a bit odd for them to be placing tires there, but didn’t think too much of it until I saw a small fire inside one of the tires.
But even still nothing really dawned on me that anything was out of the ordinary. I did think it was a bit of a peculiar place to dispose of tires, but hey I’ve seen stranger things on this trip, so I walked on. I was sitting down on a bench at a nearby fountain when I heard this harsh crackling sound. I turned around and looked back over my shoulder towards the area whence I just left.
What had started as a small hand warming fire, had now spread across the full length of the sidewalk and the street was quickly becoming engulfed in thick black clouds of smoke!
I rushed back over to take some flicks…
…all the while trying to stay upwind from the fumes.
After about 10 minutes of ducking and dodging the swirling wall of smoke the bomberos finally showed up to put an end to the fun…
…turning the black smoke…
…white.
I was flabergasted that they didn’t want my assistance since I had just purchased a bottle of water.
After the smoke had cleared (literally) all that remained were the metal wire bands from the inside of the tires…
…and a few protesters that were responsible for the petroleum protest that were hauled off in a police car.
Does anyone else find it ironic that these people were protesting petroluem companies by burning tires, and then they get haulded off to jail in a gas powered police car rolling in 4 tires?
Naked Blog Rat
If you are sitting there wondering to yourself why the blog seems a bit naked these past few days… it´s probably because I´ve been chronicling my adventures from a nude beach here in Mendoza. Either that or I had my laptop swiped and I am now without my photos. 🙁 You decide.
Yeah. Major bummer. I had been staying in what I thought was a relatively safe hostel here. There was a gate with a buzzer on it to get into the property. Everyone in the place was friendly. There were lockers. Above the reception desk were two plaques for winning ¨Safest Hostel¨in 2006 & 2007. So maybe I let my guard down a bit. Even despite hearing stories from other guests about thefts in Mendoza.
Last night I was feeling a bit drowzy at around 10:30pm so I took my laptop up to my room and watched an episode of The Office. After it ended I closed the laptop and slid it under my bed. I was in the corner bed on the bottom bunk so the laptop was the farthest from the doors that you could possibly put a laptop. And I was sleeping in the bed above it! It was a 6 person dorm, so there were 5 other people in there as well. But somehow at some point during the night a prowler snuck into the room undetected and managed to relieve me of my 15¨ Macbook Pro while I slept only inches from it. I guess I really was tired as I can normally sense humans in my personal space, even while sleeping.
After talking to other people in the hostel and the police, it turns out that 4 unscrupulous individuals (allegedly from Buenos Aires) checked into the hostel late last night and then went around pilfering rooms. At one point one of the girls asked to borrow some shampoo from a Canadian gal residing on the hostel. Being a Canadian, she naturally obliged and gave her some shampoo — at midnight. The girl then took the shampoo into the ping pong room. Note: there is no shower in the ping pong room. Then at around 3am the same girl was found IN the Canadians room. The Canadian (Sarah is her name) woke up to the same girl again asking for… shampoo! Right. Something is NOT right. These people also managed to pick 200 pesos out of the pocket of a passed out Hawaiian dude.
Anyways, long story short… I am now without a laptop and it totally sucks! I´ve been in a major funk the last few days and am now just trying to figure out how to cope without a computer. I wassoupset and depressed that I actually stooped so low as to eat at a McDonalds. Yes, it was that bad. I just wanted to see if the Mickey D´s could possibly make me feel any worse. Only slightly. Almost everything I had on the laptop is recoverable… except for ALL of the photos & videso from this trip! I guess it´s a good thing I was keeping this blog as those photos are still available. But there were some other gems that are just not replaceable. I guess I´ll always have the memories.
It´s actually pretty amazing that nothing else has happened to our laptops in the last 7 months. But we had heard all along that South America was going to be dangerous. Sure enough.
Word to the wise: Apparently knocking on wood has no effect in protecting laptops.
There must have been some small print I missed on that one.
*sigh*
Life goes on.