"La ciudad nos regala sabores" Picking fruit from the city´s trees.

As I mentioned before, there are plenty of free cultural activities to be done in Buenos Aires.
Some are hosted by the city, or associations or even private initiatives like " La ciudad nos regala sabores"( the city gifts us with flavours)

Started by Ludmila Medina who grew amazed at how many fruit trees that populate Buenos Aire´s sidewalks, many planted by the neighbours, she decided to create an association to help people find, identify and even harvest fruit from them.

Yesterday I went on a walk on the Versailles neighbourhood here in Buenos Aires, this hood sits at the west border of the city and is not very visited even by the locals, but it still has the charm of Buenos Aires of old and reflects the typical neighbourhood that has disappeared in other parts of the city.

Basically we walked the streets reviewing the fruit trees and even eatable weeds that just grow on the curbs, all of this with detailed explanations by Ludmila.
I highly recommend these walks, for more info I include their facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/LaCiudadNosRegalaSabores/

happy 500 posts

So we hit 500 posts, who would imagine. Many things happened since that first post in 2007.
A big thank you to all those who follow this blog and have helped me continue with this small but important narrative of my trips and assignments.
Some people say I travel a lot, but I think I travel as much as anyone, but the key is to take advantage of everything you see around you, not only when you travel but in your day to day.
thanks again for your feedback and support and I hope that this blog will contribute and help you on your travels and your life journey.

the Boca-River affaire

Yesterday we finally got to watch the final game of the Libertadores cup, played for the first time in history between two soccer teams from the same country and even the same city.

delayed due to riots before the intended game at the River Plate stadium, it was finally played in Spain to all the fans dismay.

I watched the game with the Boca fans and passed by the obelisk where the River fans were celebrating their victory.

Friendship in Argentina, "El día del Amigo"

El día del Amigo or friendship day is a pseudo Holiday that Argentines celebrate every July 20th, right smack in the midst of winter ( I guess to prove that you really care about friends in spite of miserable weather)
Its origins go back to the late 60s, but nobody knows for sure.
The objective is to gather with friends and party or dine, it extends to the immediate weekend and even the whole week. some groups buy gifts for each other but it can take many forms according to age, gender or social strata.

Yay, 1000 pics in Fotolia

Yesss, I made it to 1000 pics for sale at adobes Fotolia site.
mind you it took me 11 years to do it with a total revenue of less than 300 bucks.
but anyway its a good thing to pass some free time uploading the files and going through the selection process.

https://ar.fotolia.com/p/238694

The Agony of looking for a job in Buenos Aires # 2 - looking for a new job

(continued from previous post)
So after I got laid off I started looking for a new job, not only in my area of expertise but also in other areas like gastronomy, since I was studying to be a chef, also in the diplomatic circles in embassys and consulates of English speaking countries.
At first I was called to various interviews that seemed promising but that later felled trough.














I was never layed off in Argentina so I thought it would be easy to find a new day job with some experience and good resume. Unfotrtunatelly when asking around for references I found out that most of my friends jobs were very unstable and were hanging by a thread, and also you come to realise that the facade that they put on does not coincide with their real way of making money, which depends more on some sort of lateral income than a real job.

The Agony of looking for a job in Buenos Aires - The Layoff

Maybe you noticed that I slowed down on my posts in this blog, the main reason was that I got fired from my day job in Buenos aires and my schedule was altered since I had to do several odd jobs to be able to survive here.
It all started in May 2017 right after a very good series of trips to Patagonia, salta and Uruguay.
I was full of trips scheduled for 2017 that got cancelled due to my economic uncertainty. You may think that I work as a full time photographer, but no. I normally do Logistic work, and it so happened that the company I was working for, decided to let me go along with other "10 lucky guys".
In this series i will recount all the new experiences that I went through in my 8 month job search.
First the layoff came as a total surprise since I was in good standing and had no problem with my boss or my fellow workmates. In the passing months I was told that the company has the policy of firing people before they gain seniority since here in Argentina your salary increases with seniority and also the indemnization they have to pay to get rid of you.

In Passing snapshot - The Bike shop

Everyone loves vintage stuff, now in Uruguay all the retro and vintage stuff is original, no one renovated this bike shop, so as to look retro, all the furniture and even the goods are originally old, and are kept without any shame or pretencion.
Uruguay is packed with places like this bicycle shop in Carmelo, and make excellent pic material.

In passing snapshot - the sleeping mut

This puppy was taking a siesta right in the midlle of the intersection during one of Buenos Aire´s summer fairs.

In Passing snapshot - The Patagonian man

As you may imagine, Patagonians are a quite tough breed. The same as people from Northern Canada or Siberia, they live in one of earths most desolated regions.
This chap whose name I will omit, is a tow truck driver which helped us out in a moment of need during our trip, and was kind enough to show us around the Buenos Aires Lake.
Born an raised in Patagonia, he was as most of them, very generous and helpful to anyone in need. Here we see him picking up some driftwood to take home.

No wonder so many gringos live in Buenos Aires

Yeah I´m grounded in Buenos Aires for a while, and I´ve noticed that a lot of North Americans and Europeans are living or studying in Buenos Aires, without mentioning other Latin Americans that are studying at state run universities.
Anyhow, I´ve noticed that food, rent and transportation can be cheap if we measure in dollars, and a proof of that is some casual shopping I did at a discount super just a block away from home.
What you see in the pic set me back 127 pesos or 8.50 bucks American. Definitely very cheap compared to most other cities even in South America.
Now if you earn in pesos that´s another story, but I still think you can get by considering that the bus fare is 25c american.

In Passing snapshot - Best Buy copycat

I saw this sign in one of Montevideo's shopping streets. Someone obviously copied the Best Buy tag and translated it. I really do not think that the store actually belongs to Best Buy. So much for being original.

In Passing Snapshot - The Birdhouse on the statue

Passing by the " Bosques de Palermo" I saw this statue of some obscure hero, whose name I can`t remember, but what really caught my eye was the "hornero" house, which belongs to a local South American bird called Hornero, or oven maker, cuz he makes his nest with mud and looks very much like a wood oven.
Indeed this bird was not satisfied by the thousands of trees that abound in the park and decided to go exclusive and perch his nest on a statue.

In Passing Snapshot - The Tiramisu

There are cities where you can loose weight, by easily abstaining from its bad food.Buenos Aires in not one of them, here you can find excellent food at any small restaurant. Such is the case of this piece of Tiramisu I ate last week at a small bar in Villa Crespo.

Rua Santa Ifigenia, the gadget paradise of Sao Paulo

As I continued to roam the commercial area of downtown Sao paulo, I arrived at my destination, which was the Rua Santa Ifigenia a place that you must and will know if you want to buy something related with computers,audio,electricity or whatever you need, they will always send you to Santa Ifigenia.



Besides there being very colourfully painted shops in a city that primes for its grey buildings, you will find all types of Chinese knock off gadgets or legit parts for any electronic or electrical device.

Old beaters

It amazing how good footwear can make a difference when out on photo ops. A good pair of shoes that keep you dry, comfy and give you the necessary traction to climb rocks,trees, or just run for your life.
At first I used to spend over 100 bucks on my hiking boots, but with time I realised that when it comes time to take a beating they all react pretty much the same, and after two years, you already think about dumping them to save some weight on your plane luggage.
These I bought at walmart for 30 bucks, and they did the job. All the jobs, like biking, hiking,  gardening,camping and even house painting. so inevitably after three glorious years they made it to the gallery.
I do have another pair of 5.11 tactical boots that I use for more city like photo jobs, but that´s matter for another post.

O Orelhão

I´m amazed at how some people can be colourful (in a good sense) without effort. In more boring places you would need to hire a model an set up props to get a scene like this. Cheers to Brazilian originality.
By the way, these ubiquitous phone booths in Sao Paulo are called Orelhao, which translates roughly to Big ear.

Jalapeños with argie attitude
















While living in Mexico, I picked up one of many cullinary bad habbits, wich is my love for hot peppers. I said goodbye to the fresh version of these, since outside Mexico you can only find the canned type. To my amazement I discovered that they also grow them in Argentina, and they come with an extra punch., so I decided to marinade an can my own. powerfull stuff these jalapeños. They seem to have adquired the local attitude.

Vauquita, Bliss in a snack

Allow me to introduce you to the ultimate argentine brain food. Its called Vauquita, maybe in analogy to vaquita, that means little cow, and consists of a small bar made entirely out of dulce de leche (no translation for that, even if someone says its like caramel. you wo´nt know till you have some). I have finally found an alternative to Jujuves and Jelly beans, that are very hard to come by here, to provide some high sugar content in a small size snack, that will get me trough hours of photo editing.

¿Por que se llama Vauquita? Nadie lo sabe, a pesar de que muchos le dicen Vaquita igual, he aquí la solución para el antojo de comer dulce de leche sin tener que acudir al pote y la cuchara, y al enchastre consecuente. Indispensable en el cajón de todo esclavo fotográfico, y adicto al azucar.

The rain in spain...

The rain falls mostly in the plain, not only in spain. Buenos aires has had a tendency to flood every time it rains, still there are nice shots to be taken.