Days of Wine and Graffiti

Mendoza is the wine center of Argentina, located at the foot of the Andes mountains, with a sunny, crisp climate not unlike Northern California. Valparaiso is the colorful French settlement in Chile that boasts a dense array of street art and old funiculars, ascenosores (elevators) that get people up the hills to their brightly painted houses.

Mendoza is the cleanest city in Argentina and there are aqueducts that line its city streets. Mindy, my sister, used to work in wine and is passionate about paint, so we took the double decker bus to wine country and then to the Chilean port city swathed in color.






From Mendoza, we caught a shuttle to neighboring town of Maipu. We rented bikes from Bikes and Wine and set off to see some wineries. The first one was the Rutini museum, with historic methods of juice extraction and a poor excuse for a tasting. But it's Rutini, one of the best labels, so we tried something and jumped back on the bikes. It was noon and we had a lot of wineries to get to.

You might think biking and imbibing don't really mix and, you'd be absolutely correct. Thing is, this is Argentina where, 1) people don't drink much and 2) capitalism isn't around. Nothing functions to make money, it's all about having a nice day and taking your time. Our bike trip? We drank very little wine, road very far on gravel with large trucks speeding by, and most of the wineries happened to be closed. Because it was Saturday and why have a winery open to the public that day?

Next day we went to the park to get some sun. We hung out at a big swimming pool there and ate at a strange, country club restaurant with a cold cut buffet full of German dishes. The park was nice but Mendoza was really boring. We were excited to cross the Andes.

Driving in South America is what you think it would be like. That's why the curtains are kept closed on buses, and why a lot of trips are done at night. That way the passengers can't see how scary the roads are. We didn't see enough of the landscape, but we did stop at the border, high in the mountains, to wait in line and show our passports where it was freezing in the middle of summer.

We got to Valparaiso and it was everything we'd hoped.




Winding, cobblestone streets, brightly-painted houses piled up on hilltops, murals and mosaics around every corner.








The port was an impressive example of history and function combined.
Chile was very different from Argentina. The warm, talkative people of the port city where I live were in contrast with the polite, Chileans who keep to themselves.
6 hours from Mendoza was a very different world. It was haunting and plaintive and it was beautiful.

Music and Economics, BA

This week the Latin Alternative Music Conference reared its lovely head in my hood San Telmo, where three nights of showcases and two days of music industry panels brought artists and people in the biz to embrace Argentina into its pan-Latin fold. I caught an interesting discussion on publishing where the Chilean version of BMI or ASCAP talked about supporting artists in sort of Che Guevara-esque language of the struggle and the little guy. It was cool and I thought it was some sort of radical non-profit/union until it was explained to me that it's the same as ASCAP, just that in the U.S. we don't employ socialist verbage.

Speaking of, there's plenty of talk about the U.S. economy and what effect it might have on the Argentine economy. And I'm like, can it really get any worse here? Soaring inflation, stagnant wages, a climate that's hostile to entrepreneurial ventures, with law enforcement and taxation little more than a joke, but yes it's sure to get worse in line with what happens in "Yanquilandia."

I just wrote a piece about the black market of coins here that's the result of a privatized city bus system. The buses require exact change and then word is they hoard the coins, creating a demand that pushes up price so that if you need to buy change you pay 12 pesos for a 10 peso roll of coins. Businesses are always low on change and sometimes won't sell you something because they can't break your $20. Baffles tourists, of course, who think it's bad service to not give change to a customer. It's amazing to see what happens in a society that doesn't seem to give tickets or hold people accountable for not paying taxes, etc. I'm on the outside looking in, but the mess and corruption seems to have something to do the forgiving nature of the culture, along with disorganization and strategic skimming all around.

Kasha and I have been hanging out on the roof of the apt where we live this month. We're likely going to move again soon, where we are is nice but it's furnished and out of budget. Meanwhile we play on the roof at sunset; me on the guitar, Kasha bats bugs with her paws and sniffs the wind.



This was my second Yom Kippur in Buenos Aires. I went with a friend of a friend who just moved here, two days ago, and caught his first impressions of the city and of Argentine temple. We were one of the first people there, this morning at 10am. He was surprised at what seemed like a light turnout. I told him how the day doesn't really start in BA before 11am. By 11:45am it was standing room only, some suits, some jeans and sneakers, familiar songs on the piano minus the pop music performances common in U.S. I enjoyed the sermon in Spanish that covered everything from the economy to taking the leap of faith necessary to survive as a couple, relevant stuff lately.

I live just off the square now, Plaza Dorrego, and get to hear the marching drums Sundays as they pass by my house. It's nice to hear traditional percussion in a city where easy listening American music rules cafes and stores and cabs. There's tango in the square on the corner on Sundays, I hear the retro recordings that play for tourists and a few locals to dance to. Though maybe it's like easy listening for locals, worn out songs they'd like to leave behind for a while at least. The record label I work for is bringing some fire and they don't even try to get on the radio, here or anywhere. They just throw their own party and book their own tours and so far it's working for them. We're in a do it yourself world here for music and the local economy. Maybe that's where it's all headed.