(2/7/10) Well, folks, I moved this blog and all it’s content (in the micro van above) to a new URL: http://trevorinargentina.blogspot.com/. Make sure to change your bookmarks!
(2/7/10) Well, folks, I moved this blog and all it’s content (in the micro van above) to a new URL: http://trevorinargentina.blogspot.com/. Make sure to change your bookmarks!
So, Argentina has long been regarded as the haven of rock music in the Spanish-speaking world. Recently the country lost their “Argentinian Elvis”, Roberto Sanchez, who simply went as Sandro. He gained popularity by performing Spanish covers of Beatles hits and various popular songs in the 60’s. You have to imagine how crazy the kids went when they heard the same guitar riffs that drove the rest of the world crazy set to lyrics they understood. It must have been mind-blowing to hear some of those songs come on the radio for the first time! For this reason, the streets of Buenos Aires were literally lined with middle-aged women mourning the lost of their teenage heart throb…embarrassed kids everywhere, ha. Anyways, I love this song, “La Pachanga” by Vilma Palma e Vampiros, which is a band from Rosario, Argentina’s 3rd-largest city. Of course it’s dated from 1992, but hey, we all have our guilty pleasures. The song’s long “whoaas” remind me of that Tarzan Boy song used for Listerine commercials back in the day. Of course I find the band aptly titled because after all, I have a theory that most Argentinians are vampires that live most of their lives at night. The gist of the song is talking about drinking red wine into the wee hours of the night until there’s nothing left and the girls leave. One line says that the kids don’t complain if the night is long, but I think that applies to people of all ages down here. I feel like an old man for wanting to go to bed at oh, say, 1am. For all you 9-5ers, feel free to crank this up and start a dance party in your cubicle; it will be your ticket to popularity in the office, especially with that cute latino/latina you haven’t had the guts to talk to yet.
Wikipedia’s take on Argentine Rock (understandably it’s a doozy):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_rock
Recent Article on Sandro’s Passing (in English):
Meet Daniel (Dani) Estremadoyro, a good friend of mine here in Cordoba who found his way to my Dad’s hometown from Peru via Salta. He loves history, films, sipping on whiskey, and playing with his 3 kids. Oh, did I mention he’s literally one of the top 20 bartenders in the world? I apologize, but sometimes it’s easy to forget exactly how talented and well-known Daniel is because of his humility and genuine interest in everyone he speaks to, and let me tell you, speaking with Dani is a treat in and of itself…his knowledge is vast and varied. His wife, who is from my favorite city in Argentina, Salta, told me that he reads incessantly. After ten minutes of conversing with Daniel, this should come as no surprise; sometimes I think he might know more about my culture and my country’s history than I do. Every time I come into his recently-opened bar, The Real McCoy, I learn the history behind a cocktail, such as it’s rise and fall in popularity, the surrounding circumstances, and Dani’s subsequent attempt to revive the classic flavors of when bartenders were viewed as more than college students slinging vodka red bulls and pulling pints at sports bars. He’s slowly starting a revolution in the world of Fernet and Cokes (the most popular cocktail in Argentina imbibed by almost everyone)…he’s a Che Guevara of mixology down here. I have seen on numerous occasions people having “AHA!” moments when they realize that cocktails can be more complex than mixing your favorite alcohol with a readily available soft drink. Coming to visit him at The Real McCoy has been my gastronomic haven as we talk about the nuances in the world of spirits and mixology. Drinking one of his cocktails is a delicious education! Estremadoyro is a regular contributor to industry magazines distributed throughout Latin America and was recently nominated as Argentina’s bartender of the decade, an accolade he’s likely to win easily. He’s an artisan, not a laborer; he loves what he does, and it’s overwhelmingly evident when you watch him in action. Dani inspires me to find something I’d do for the rest of my life, regardless of pay, and pursue it tirelessly. Oh, and he makes the best cocktails in South America too.
Today (1/24/10) while most of the US was glued to their TVs watching the AFC and NFC chamionships, I was treated to the most famous soccer game in Argentina, “El Superclasico”, as a way of celebrating my 3-month anniversary of the big move. El Superclasico is Argentina’s version of the Red Sox playing the Yankees in the playoffs, because both teams, River Plate and Boca Juniors, are the wealthiest teams in the Argentinian league, and have rich traditions of history with great players to boot. In case you’re wondering, the good guys are River Plate (ha), and fans from Boca are comparable to Raiders fans in the NFL. My dad grew up supporting River, so naturally I am a River fan even though I know next to nothing about their roster or their recent history, ha. It was a fantastic game that ended in penalty kicks, and good triumphed over evil :)
Good ol’ Wikipedia’s take on the game:
To most of my friends reading this, the past 90 days might have flown by, but for yours truly it has seemed like a lifetime. I’ve progressed from going to bed every night completely overwhelmed with the language barrier to being able to understand a fair portion of everyday conversations. Don’t get me wrong, I still speak Spanish like a 5 year-old on tranquilizers, but my ear is being trained to the Argentinian dialect and my daily frustration is far less. I don’t wake up wondering how the heck I’m gonna make it through another day communicating with body language and facial expressions. Interpersonal relationships are still lacking for me, which has lead to some battles against loneliness, but email and Skype have kept me reasonably sane. I honestly don’t know how my grandparents did it 50 years with simply receiving letters maybe once a month. People like Americans down here, so I’m readily welcomed amongst strangers. Most think they understand my culture because they’ve seen a bunch of American movies, but it’s still nice to easily find common ground through talking about all those artistically-rendered blockbusters that make their way around the world (ha). Speaking of which, Argentina as a whole reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The Lost Boys, because of their love for classic 80’s music and the fact that many people live like vampires as the switch their days and nights in regards to their activity and social lives (I’m literally going out tonight with friends starting around 3am). I have yet to run into Keifer Sutherland with fangs down here, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I did (I really apologize if you’ve never seen the movie, by the way). Thanks for all the kind words of encouragement through these first three months, you really don’t know how timely some of your messages have been. In the meantime, enjoy my video of New Year’s in Argentina, complete with retarded rambling and what have you…
So, the video doesn’t really do much justice to how loud and visually spectacular the night was, but I hope you can get an idea of what took place down here! It kinda reminds me of watching CNN in Baghdad circa 1991…
All the cool kids are doing coca in Salta, so I had no choice. But seriously, this is the stuff that cocaine is made from (granted, it’s like 2lbs for 1 gram). Indians in Bolivia that live at high altitude have been using coca leaves for ages as a natural stimulant and aid to digestion. The taste is comparable to seaweed paper and it smells like a hybrid of grass and hay. What the video doesn’t show is about 20 people watching the yankee make an idiot out of himself. Oh the cost of popularity…
On Christmas Day my buddy Javier wanted to take me to a mountain top viewpoint that’s higher than Pike’s Peak (oh how I wish the road was as nice as Pike’s Peak Highway! Our trip to the clouds was cut short because of, well, the clouds. Maybe next Christmas I’ll make it all the way to the top…
Here are some sights from my Christmas trip to Salta. Salta is referred to as “The Beautiful” and I’d have to agree wholeheartedly. The city is the cleanest city I’ve visited in Latin America and is really geared toward attracting tourists. The local government is becoming more and more progressive, with forward-thinking laws like a new mandate for taxi drivers to speak a basic level of English (I could have a lot of work up there!). I was overwhelmed with the hospitality of my friend Javier’s family, who took me in as their own…they wouldn’t let me pay for anything! I got to pet a llama for the first time (her name was Tila), I tried coca leaves (video coming soon), and drank really impressive locally-grown wine. Salta, hopefully I’ll be seeing you again, beautiful…
2009 was the best year of my life (I hope 2010 is up to the pressure), and it deserves some ink on the blog. I am beside myself right now because I’m finally feeling sentimental, so I’m gonna ride this wave and get some thoughts down on paper. 2009 started off with me on the curb at LAX on my way home from Argentina waiting for my buddy Brandon Miquelon to pick me up for a party that would ultimately cause me to miss my morning flight and spend 5 hours sleeping on the dirty floor of the American Airlines terminal. Things only got better from there. Let’s see, I…
-Cooked food for literally hundreds of people at my house in Colorado Springs (man I miss that!)
-Learned how to brew beer, make jam, and cook all kinds of wonderfully different styles of food like flatbread from Uganda, green curry, pumpkin chili (thanks Galloway women), homemade salsa, apple streusel pancakes, the world’s largest mojito, etc.
-Went on a boat ride on The Nile.
-Was almost trampled to death at a soccer game in Argentina.
-Was charged by a warthog in Uganda and head-butted after feeding him some melon (he tried to bite me but his snout got in the way).
-Ate two of the best meals of my life. I wrote about one here: http://trevorschrock.blogspot.com/2009/02/fledgling-restaurateurs-should-pay.html
The second was simply an impromptu night of homemade pasta with dear friends at Amy’s house. I was literally brought to tears by a surprise going away present bottle of my favorite wine on God’s green earth(maybe I’ll upload the video soon).
-Listened to former child soldiers tell their horrific stories of war only to end the stories with smiles because of the God’s redemptive love.
-Climbed my first 14er and in doing so quite possibly discovered a new addiction.
-Got to see all the crazies at Michael Jackson’s Hollywood star 2 days after his death (one of the highlights was a bouquet of white roses in the shape of a giant glove).
-Ate my first donut with bacon on top during a whirlwind trip to Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver in one week (still a strong candidate to steal me away from CO).
-Got to see eight different countries in varying degrees of detail (one of which required 6 different immunization shots in one day).
-Ran dozens of 5Ks and enjoyed a beer after every single one.
-Went on safari and saw a pack of lions begin to hunt for gazelle.
-Ate cow heart and goat kidney for the first time.
-Um, moved to a different country for the first time.
-Tasted the best Cabernet of my life at a small boutique winery in Northern Argentina (I’ve already come to terms with the fact that I may never taste it again).
-Lived with the best roommates in the world at Casa Boncha, where everyone was totally cool with entertaining dozens of visitors every week.
And the list goes on…
In 2009 I made the least amount of money I’ve made since graduating college. I repeatedly ignored detractors and said “yes” more than “no”, erring on the side of discovery. I’m sitting here in a country where I’m not a citizen with hardly any money to my name, no car, no mortgage or steady income, and I couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds. Oh the possibilities! My heart is full of gratitude because of this. My dearest friends continue to encourage me to live a life off the beaten path and I implore you to take steps to do the same. Yes, there is also beauty in the mundane day-to-day grind and even that can look beautifully different, but in general, I urge you to say no to 401Ks, IRAs, picket fences, the notion that owning a house is officially “arriving”, the notion of fear, climbing the corporate ladder, materialism, and safety in general. Do so with wisdom, and yet with a child-like sense of wonder. God ALWAYS provides and we were created to live in freedom, so I urge you dear friends to go and do so in 2010.
