Buenos Baby

Buenos Aires - a city of bars, cafes and markets, where people drive crazily and pedestrians play a contiunous game of 'lets see if the car i am steeping out in front of will stop'.

A place where despite the fact that siesta lasts for a few hours less than in other parts of the country (where it was 11am-3pm) you still cant change money after 3pm, and AIDS awareness was marked by a huge red condom being put on a 30m high obelisk that stands on the main junction in the city centre.

A capital city that wouldnt look out of place in Western Europe yet which has huge levels of poverty.

Where there are more Jews than in England and a 400g steak with chips costs less than a Shwarma at Sollys.

Where no one goes out before 1am but still somehow manage to get to work the next day.

A place where there are police on most street corners, newsagents appear every 50 yards selling the same things, lots of anti Bush grafitti, street demonstrations, street bands, beautiful women and an unhealthy obsession with Che Guevara.

A place where watching Tango helped me to understand the prohibition on watching women dance (i am not planning on stopping...i just understand better where the Rabbis were coming from) and perhaps most importantly, a place where the sun shines in December.

Getting here wasnt as easy as i would have hoped. A pilots strike on an airline that has a virtual monpoly on internal flights left me with the unenviable choice of hanging around on my own in El Calafate or taking a 40 hour bus journey. Yet through a mixture of perserverance, asking the right questions, quite a bit of luck (and i would like to think a certain amount of charm,) i managed to get a flight the next day...its amazing how much calmer you can be if you are not in a hurry!

i had left this group of Israelis who were kind of convinced that because i was dati i could guarantee us good weather on Tiyulim (i dont like to be dogmatic, but i'm pretty sure there is no link between prayer and weather and that Gd has better things to do than to make sure Calev and his friends get a tan...and that if you did believe such stuff, you should definitely consider not being secular...but the theory did work out so im not complaining) and have just spent the last few days walking around Buenos.

i brought my flight forward by a week so i am coming home Wednesday morning. Its been great, but i decided i wanted more time at home whilst it is till home and I look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks. There are a few hours yet till 1am so may have to twiddle my thumbs till then...

Calev