STL DPB Going Home: The Spirit Of Argentina

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When this post goes up we'll probably be over Brazil somewhere in the middle of the night.

We had an exciting trip. It was our third visit to this country. We found a nation full of ambition and pride with an infrastructure often crumbling under its feet. I always got email and Internet on my iPhone. After a heavy thunderstorm Friday afternoon the aging storm sewers were overwhelmed and torrents ran down the streets of Recoleta, a nice part of town, starting to flood homes and businesses. The children - lots more than in white America and Europe - were ever cheerful. Yet the national poverty rate is about 25% (by someone's definition) and we saw abject shantytowns. Nearby the dangerous slums of La Boca, the steel and glass towers of Puerto Madero gleam over the Rio de la Plata - the Silver River. The people are stylish. You can dine fabulously well for a moderate price. The government plays to the crowd. Lots of people evade taxes. The sidewalks crumble. They have national health care, unlike someone else we could mention.

Come here if you get a chance.

This time next year we hope to come back to South America and focus our attention of Chile. Our little taste last week was enticing. Home by this afternoon. More new pix in the set on Flickr here.

STL DPB Far From Home: Life, Death And Transitions In Buenos Aires

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My co-workers have an unfortunate habit of throwing black balloon birthday parties at the 10 year marks. I'm having none of it. I turned 40 and 50 far from St. Louis. Today I turn 60 in Buenos Aires.

This city has an intense sense of life and death. I shot some more in Recoleta Cemetery yesterday and was again struck by the monuments of mourning. Over the top by today's standards, sure, but so robust, so brazenly displayed by those who survive. In the evening, we went to the obligatory tango dinner show at La Ventana. Fabulous. Well-performed tango is electric, a swirl of motion and full of grim sexual energy.

A couple of museums today, then an overnight flight back to the US. Home tomorrow afternoon.

STL DPB On The Road: Buenos Aires

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It's 4:55 AM Sunday morning and we just got up to go to the airport for out flight to El Calafate. We had a little time for a walk when we got to Buenos Aires yesterday afternoon so we went to famous Recoleta Cemetery. Eva Peron is the best known resident but her tomb, shared with many family members, is not so impressive. There is still lots of weepy funerary sculpture to photograph. More later if possible.