June 18, 2009
Heavy metal surgery in the developing world
The uniform was green and white plastic chiffon. They put me in a shirt, little booties and a skull cap. A cap? I'm bald! I found the whole outfit quite unbecoming and a tad chilly for this time of year! I was allowed to keep on my undies, which was a relief; the woman before me had had her surgery delayed until a maintenance man could come up in overalls and cut her ring off with a pliers.
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Posted by Tony Phillips at 05:51 PM | Comments (5)
June 10, 2008
Driving Star -- Project Allende 1
I just got back from a night of music in the Bauern hotel, a worker-run cooperative and a nineteen story high hotel three blocks from my new place. There were Cubans, Venezuelans and some Argentines and 3 gringos, myself included.
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Posted by Tony Phillips at 04:56 AM | Comments (3)
May 18, 2008
Principín Proprietario
A short note to you all that I have done something rather extraordinary (for me, anyway). I bought an apartment and I live here now. It has been a mind-bending experience, the complexity of which you would not believe. I enclose a few photos and a some writing that I have been doing to come to terms with the purchase.
I now have a lot more space, (2000 Ft. Sq. / 190 Mt. Sq.) so I enclose my new address and phone number for prospective visitors...
Tony
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Posted by Tony Phillips at 06:17 PM | Comments (14)
December 04, 2007
Inside hospital Borda
It was a sunny Saturday in the walled compound of a turn of the twentieth-century unusual gated-community, the puzzle factory: hospital Borda. The buildings all look rather similar and so I stuck close to Paul as we went in. The streets in Borda are named after doctors (which seemed logical) but no one was handing out maps. There are no cars, hence no traffic, so the leafy avenues form wide green walkways, very peak oil! We shuffle by the first few buildings and the whole place seemed much less frenetic than life outside, eerily quiet.
There seemed to be some sounds ahead so we ambled along toward it.
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Posted by Tony Phillips at 03:46 AM
November 30, 2007
A day with the Crazies
Saturday I had the pleasure of being invited to partake in an extraordinary visit. I took some maté and bought cigarettes for the first time in four years. The maté was to help me get over the ill effects of cachaça and beer from the previous night; the cigarettes were not to be smoked but to be shared.
This is the story of how a paranoid Irishman enters the world of some of the whackiest stars of Argentine media. Hi, ho and off we go to Hospital Borda, better known by its radio station La Colifata, A Buenos Aires insane asylum.
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Posted by Tony Phillips at 02:15 PM | Comments (1)
November 12, 2007
Yum yum, pig's bum, cabbage and potatoes!
I've been in Buenos Aires now more than a few seasons. I've been in Latin America a few years.
Every once in a while I ask myself why? The locals always ask too. "So where are you from?", Answer: "Astoundingly rich, cold, island no-one has ever been to, but everyone thinks must be beautiful." Follow on question, "What are you doing here?" Answer: obscure political Masters on South American integration project that few people understand (even here). Their identity cards say MERCOSUR but ask them to name the four member countries. Short conversation.
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Posted by Tony Phillips at 02:13 AM | Comments (7)
September 12, 2007
Bargain hunting for a house :)
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Posted by Tony Phillips at 05:40 PM | Comments (13)
July 05, 2007
Asunción Photo Album
Posted by Tony Phillips at 06:22 PM | Comments (0)
July 03, 2007
TP at the Yacht-y Club
Asunción Paraguay: 29th. June 2007 The form asked whether we would be arriving by commercial jet or private plane. In our case transport was provided by the Brazilian discount airline GOL. Two hours behind schedule, at 6:00PM on the 28th of June, we landed with a bump on a mid-winter’s night in Asunción.
We were in Paraguay; the umbiliculum of South America …
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Posted by Tony Phillips at 01:27 PM | Comments (3)