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By oncptime

Italy, the land of bistecca, and cozze, gelato and prosciutto has—miraculously—turned me into a vegetarian. Whenever my dietary restrictions come up in conversation I have a soft chuckle to myself before regaling my listeners with the harrowing tale of how I singlehandedly liberated an entire farm’s worth of innocent woodland creatures from a sadistic, blood-worshiping cult/sleeper-cell not two blocks from my home. The sick bastards planned on eating those doe-eyed does. Monsters.

Thing is though, I’m the farthest thing from a vegetarian. Unless barking or meowing, animals aren’t people, they’re food. The sadistic cult gathering I crashed? It was a barbecue festival. They wanted €30 to get in. Monsters.

I get away with telling stories like this primarily because these days I’m running on little more than bread, water, and the occasional bowl of Budget brand corn-flecks. I might splurge on some broccoli every now and then or maybe even—wait for it—a bag of potatoes when they go on sale for a single Euro (like today!), but even that is an extravagance that I must be wary of.

If you haven’t put two and two together yet, let me make my point clear: I’m ridiculously, hopelessly, unequivocally broker than broke. And somehow, I’m making it work.

...continue reading "We love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all…we can’t afford meat."

La BocaThis weekend I went to visit a friend's art studio in La Boca, a neighborhood with history as complex and vibrant as it's architecture there. Beyond the world-class fútbol club and being the birthplace of Tango, La Boca is known as an immigrant neighborhood at the mouth of the Matanza River. In the late 1800's the British built the Buenos Aires port and other infrastructure throughout the city to make it easier to export Latin American goods  back to England. In order to build the port and operate it later on, they imported labor from Europe (mostly Italy and Spain) and La Boca was soon flooded with people from Genoa, Italy.

As ships would come in and leave behind containers, the immigrants of the are would pull the containers apart and use the corrugated iron to build their homes, as well as other materials laying around the shipyard. They also used leftover paint to decorate the iron (which is why there are squares of different colors of paint they would use the leftovers, run out, then use other leftovers). ...continue reading "La Boca"

By oncptime

You can learn a lot about a culture of a place from its grocery stores; hints and clues litter the places. The fresh produce, the types of sales, the music blaring from the tinny overhead speakers—each of them tells you a little something more about the personality of that specific place on the planet.

Florence is host to a number of minimarkets, corner stores, and bodegas of varying size, but it also has its fair share of American-styled grocery...boutiques. They’re not quite Whole Foods but they’re certainly not Safeways; they’re somewhere in between. The Conad on Via Nazionale, is my favorite. Fresh baked bread, Spanish imported mussels, and Alaskan salmon all just a few steps away from my apartment.  Uncle Ben’s brand curry jockeys for shelf space with Patak’s and three brands of pita bread conveniently lie in wait just one shelf down. The store is an exercise in internationality, and strolling down its aisles reminds me of similar stores in D.C.

The Conad outshines a number of other grocery stores in the area for a number of reasons: selection, longer hours, a markedly friendlier staff—but honestly, I’m not here to talk to you about a grocery store. Not really. No, this is a story about how I learned how not to wait in line in Italy.

...continue reading "Aspetta, Prego, Avanti"

By quericolavida

Argentina ElectionsAs I have mentioned before on the blog, Argentines love to talk politics, and the political tension continues to grow as many disagree with President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s policies (mainly economic and foreign). People in Buenos Aires frequently rally against the current populist government’s recent policies such as heavily restricted imports, and ban on the legal purchase of American Dollars in Argentina, that when coupled with a 15% tax on credit card purchases outside of Argentina makes traveling abroad extremely difficult for the average Argentine. ...continue reading "Argentina Bring Younger Folks Into the Discussion"

By oncptime

Hello. My name’s Charles. I’m a 22 year-old journalism student from Washington, D.C., and I am a not-so-recovering political junkie. Like so many other wonks, I got hooked on the stuff after getting a taste of the pure political electricity that was the 2008 election. Just a single week shy of actually being able to vote, I did everything I could to feel connected…which pretty much meant consuming inordinate amounts of news coverage and producing a mini-documentary about the inauguration.

I’ve since become that guy who relishes in political sparring with friends, family, and complete strangers. “What do you mean you aren’t voting? Let me tell you why abstaining is NOT an option.”

...continue reading "The Spectacle of American Elections"

By quericolavida

Atacama DesertSometime ago I wandered into the National Gallery of Art on the National Mall because I wanted to see a movie in that great theater they have in the East Building. (they show interesting and free movies almost every day!) Although I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into when I sat down to see “Nostalgia for the Light”, it turned out to be fascinating. The documentary tells two stories in parallel, both set in Chile’s Atacama Desert. One is the story of archaeologists and astronomers who study in Atacama, which as the driest desert in the world, lends itself to fossil preservation and the clearest views of the stars in the world. Astronomers from all over put their names on a long list to eventually be able to visit some of the worlds highest observatories and largest telescopes.

...continue reading "The Atacama Desert, Northern Chile"

By oncptime

Italian Men Are Always Happy To See You

The stereotypical Italian man is a flirt. He’s swarthy and charming, insistent and forward. His name is Fabrizio or Giuseppe, or Vito, or Angelo, and he is always happy to see you. It isn’t his smile or the matching kisses he greets you with that clue you into his pleasure at seeing you, though. One need only to look…ever so slightly south of the belt buckle to see just how fond of you he really is. ...continue reading "Italian Men Are Always Happy To See You"

By quericolavida

Astor PiazzollaA few weeks ago my host brother, Lucas, invited me to take a peek at his record collection. Among the pile of 80’s gold, I found an LP that really stuck out. It was one I had never seen before, with a drawing of a wacky mustached character (pictured). The drawing was of an Argentine musician called Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), who I had never heard of. And the weirder thing was, that it was signed.

I gave Lucas the “what is this all about” look, to which he replied “no conoces a el!”. He put on some of Astor Piazzolla's tunes, and I was blown away. I had heard tango before, but not like this. Piazzolla was a classically trained composer and bandoneón tango player (the  bandoneón is an accordion-like instrument). However, he broke away from the norm of Argentina at the time and fused the classical tango sounds with some elements of Jazz, and the result is beautiful.

...continue reading "Astor Piazzolla ; Where Tango Meets Jazz"

By oncptime

I’ll be perfectly honest with you; I’m not much of a team player. I’m the guy who’d rather build his own diorama of the Pantheon. I’m that guy to wander away from the guided group tour. I’m that guy who, against all recommendation, likes to travel completely on his own. Wandering the world alone lost in audiobook, armed with nothing but a map and a canteen full of water, I am at my happiest.

You might call me antisocial. I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with you, though I prefer to think of myself as “independent.” There’s something to be said for exploring on one’s own whileabroad. We’ve all seen those groups of students taking “cute” pictures with the Queen’s Guard, or beneath the Eifel Tower. That’s well and good, but I always find myself wondering whether these people are really experiencing their surroundings. There’s nothing quite like frantically navigating your way across a strange and foreign city in an attempt to catch the last train back to your hostel at 2A.M.

...continue reading "Solo Sessions"

By quericolavida

Pop quiz: What do DC, Buenos Aires, and Rome all have in common? They are all cities I have lived in that built obelisks out of stones and pride. These slender structures are one of the few surviving art forms that have remained ‘tres chic’ since egyptian times when somebody said:

‘Hey, why don’t we make a little pyramid and put it on top of a shaft.’

‘Why Ramses?'

‘Because we can Sehkmet, that’s why.’ (historical fact)

Obelisco de Buenos AiresThe ‘Obelisco de Buenos Aires’ in Plaza de la República, is a source of national pride that was constructed in 1936 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first foundation on Buenos Aires. It was built in just 31 days, probably the quickest (only quick) construction of anything in Buenos Aires which probably has a lot to do with the fact that a German company was contracted to build it. The Washington monument took 36 years to complete and has had some structural difficulties lately, but it was started a lot earlier than the Argentine monument and is the biggest in the world (go ‘murica). ...continue reading "Obelisco de Buenos Aires"