Dear Mom...

Here in Buenos Aires, my sister and I have been making generous use of a little book called "Point It" Some genius, most likely in the 70s, decided to go all over the place and take pictures of objects, like food and transportation, and put them in a little book that you can fit into your pocket. This book is not for casual dentist office reading, no, oh no, it's a communication tool. If you're in a place where you don't speak the language, and you need, say, a wheel of cheese, you can find the appropriate picture in the "Point It" and, well, point to it. This solves all manner of cross-cultural communication diffuculties because everyone the world over knows what a wheel of cheese looks like. As soon as you point to the picture of the wheel of cheese, the appropriate designee will hopefully produce for you a wheel of cheese. So Mom, you're coming to our fair city this weekend, so Jen and I have prepared our own "Point It" of objects we would like you to bring with you! First, Pilar will model the appropriate way to use the "Point It" Thanks, Pilar. Don't you have an adventure to go on?




American Crew Fiber Hair Stuff. Available at all participating Target stores.

Waterproof mascara. (my sister wants the ladies in the audience know that this is her gross "back up" mascara, but she had to use it because of the humidity.)

The Time Out Guide to Patagonia. Barnes and Noble??

...dinero

That ought to do it. Thanks Mom

Wildlife on Charcas

I have internet! It's cable internet, which is actually about as slow as the signal I've been stealing from the neighbor all month. But, it's a dedicated line; I don't get bumped off when it rains. Everything finally came together when I took a deep breath and went downstairs to talk to the building super. The super. We call him Guido, because he's very Guido-like. He props our building door open during the day with the end of a cigar and stands on the sidewalk and greets everyone who enters. Or, he questions them. By them, I mean me, except I don't understand the questions. One day he went on and on telling me that I need to turn the radio off at 12 on weekdays and 3 on weekdays. He seemed irritated, so I just apologized profusely. Needless to say, he and I got off on the wrong foot. He sort of just glares at me when I go in. Oh, I asked him to fix our toilet. That's what supers do, right? Two days later he still hadn't come over. I asked him again and he informed me that I ought to call a plumber. So the internet people were coming on Thursday (for the third time) and they clearly need information I do not have, so I mustered my charade skills and did a ten minute performance for the super. I imagine it sounded like this: Internet Thursday need help roof two sides. Keys you have, they needing for roof. Roof... and so on. So, thanks Guido, for helping with the internet, but really, could you toss a bit of caulk on our toilet? So life goes on here on Calle Charcas. People are coming back from vacation, the kids started school on Monday, the subway is getting more crowded and everyday a new shop, for lamps, or maybe sandwiches, reopens. Something else is descending on Charcas, too: the wildlife. Last night we killed about 20 mosquitoes on our walls and we were still devoured in our sleep. The mosquitoes are relentless. We bought these little plastic things that you plug in called a fuyi. They emit a sort of citronella that keeps the mosquitoes away. It worked for a while, but we've had heavy rain follwed by swampy weather. Maybe we're not using the fuyi right. I'll look at the directions again, maybe we're supposed to be wearing them around our necks. Or instead of having one in each room, we need thirty. Buenos Aires is not tropical but it's essentially on a swamp. The other day, in the park we say parrots. Yeah, parrots just flying around. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but I'm not a photographer and I find it difficult to take pictures of things that move. We also saw, get this, those big ants that take apart leaves and make a nest with the pieces. Serioulsy, this is some National Geographic stuff here. For your viewing pleasure:


Dirty bloodsukers


Nat Geo ants


Also in the park, a statue of a lion eating a bird while the lion's babies lap up the blood. eek.