Without a Traceroute

Puente de las Mujer

The Puente de la Mujer (Bridge of the Woman) is a footbridge that spans the harbor in the Puerto Madero neighborhood in Buenos Aires. It’s kind of a renovated port district, along the same lines as the Docklands in London. The Puente de la Mujer also reminded me a bit of London’s Millennium Bridge, but they don’t really have that much in common beyond both being fancy pedestrian bridges. Interestingly, the bridge also reminded me of the City of Arts and Sciences, which I visited in Valencia, and it turns out that’s because they were both designed by the same architect, Santiago Calatrava.

In the section of the audioguide where he discusses the bridge, Calatrava claims to have been inspired in the design by Argentinian tango. The left side of the bridge is supposed to represent the male dancer, standing up, while the right side is the woman dipping. I don’t really see it. To me it looks more like a harp, or perhaps an abstract interpretation of the cranes which surround the docks.

In an interesting connection closer to home, Calarava is also the architect for the yet-to-be-built Chicago Spire.

Ok, so I kind of love Argentina for stuff like this. They’re way, way into Che Guevara here, which leads to really interesting formulations like this. Behold, the only fast food burger named for a communist revolutionary, the McChe! I’m frankly impressed that they managed trample McDonald’s trademarks and Comrade Guevara’s grave in one go. It’s too bad there’s not a bigger audience for sarcastic, faux-radical slogans in advertising, because the McChe is ripe for them: “Overthrow your hunger!”, “It’s a revolution for your taste buds!”, “A coup for your appetite!”, “The Revolution will come with a side of fries and a large coke.”, “Your hunger will be the first thing up against the wall!”

Mmm…sacreliscious…

For a long time, I’ve been saying that I want to post more frequently, but it turns out I’m not a very fast blogger. It usually takes me several hours worth of research and writing time to produce a decent post with decent links. I’ve decided that on days when I haven’t put together a real post, I’m going to throw up a “Picture of the Day” in any case.

El Obelisco

Here in Buenos Aires, there is a giant obelisk seemingly copied straight from the Washington monument. But, unlike some cities, Buenos Aires doesn’t shy away from the phallic symbolism.

The Obelisk stands in the middle of what is, by some measures, the widest street in the world. The shot I took above is probably the most iconic photo one can take in Buenos Aires. The Obelisk is to BA what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris.

This past weekend, one of my friends came to visit and we went up to see Iguazu falls in Northern Argentina. It was kind of a tourist trap, and they were definitely onto gouging foreigners (entry to the park: 20 ARS for Argentinians, 60 ARS for others) but it was still absolutely spectacular and certainly worth going. I’ve never been to Niagara falls, so I can’t compare them personally, but Eleanor Roosevelt is reported to have exclaimed, “Poor Niagara!” the first time she saw the Igauzu falls.

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A few days ago, I finally picked up some plug converters. They’re actually surprisingly tricky to find. No regular electronics/appliance stores carry them. I’m told that there are occasionally vendors who walk around tourist areas selling adapters, but I haven’t seen these. I found mine at a stand at one of the weekly street fairs. I’ve heard a couple explanations for the difficulty, but I don’t know how accurate they are.

Breaking standards-compliance

One guy told me that it’s against the law to sell adapters because they want to force people to buy Argentinian electrical products, rather than bringing in foreign ones. It’s true that high-end electronics are generally cheaper in North America than here, and I’ve talked to Argentinians who make a point of buying digital cameras and computers on their visits to the States. Still, I really doubt there are enough of these people to warrant a law banning the sale of power converters. Plus, wouldn’t those people just buy adapters abroad too?

Another explanation was similar, but with the justification that because Argentina is in the process of changing from an European Type C plug standard, to an Australian/Chinese Type I plug (oh, but they wire them the opposite way!), and they don’t want you using converters to cling to the old standard. Why Argentina feels the need to change their national plug standard, I’m not sure. Today, it’s common to see both types of sockets, as well as weird hybrid sockets that accept either plug. I’m not sure this explanation for scarcity of adapters makes much sense either. Newer buildings and appliances are all Type I, so people would gradually make the shift with or without adapters.

My own theory, for which I have no evidence, is that the adapters simply aren’t worth the trouble for a retail shop. They’re small, dirt-cheap pieces of plastic and metal. The ones I bought cost $5 ARS which is about $1.35 USD. Because they cost almost nothing, but come in a zillion subtly different varieties, the profit margins may be so thin that it’s not worth it to a regular retail shop to organize and stock them.

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