Su amigo Estadounidense en Santiago

Hello to my loyal audience,
I am in Santiago right now, but I haven't written anything about Argentina yet, or anything at all for that matter, so let's cover Argentina first, shall we? I will try to keep the foul language and other potentially offensive material (photos, stories, etc) to a minimum since I never know who will be reading this, but will be as colorful and descriptive as possible so as not to bore you to death.

I enjoyed Buenos Aires - met a lot of terrific people, saw some great sights, ate fantastic food, and spent a fraction of the amount of money that I thought I would spend, but I'd go bonkers if I had to live there all the time, and I see why all the people there are a bit stressed and a little crazy like Seal. The good things first: the nightlife is awesome, there are many cultural and historical sites to see that are unique to BA, the parks of Palermo are fantastically beautiful, the Puerto Madero area near the city center is very nice, relaxing and modern, the food is great if you like red meat, the prices are cheap, the women are very attractive although difficult to approach and not all that friendly, and they love football. The Spanish is very pleasing to the ear as well, though difficult for those of use accustomed to Mexican, Spanish, or Carribbean accents.

The downside: there are so many daily tasks that I easily and thoughtlessly accomplish in US that are difficult to accomplish in BA, made more difficult by the language barrier - for example there aren't enough coins or small bills in circulation, and the ATMs only dispense 100 peso notes, so often you find yourself in a position of having too much money to buy anything. I did not hear one nice word about the government from anyone in Argentina, and I have to agree with their opinion if the government can't make enough effing coins and small bills! If the gov't can't handle something simple, why would anyone have faith in them to handle complicated problems that have serious consequences? Another example - some jackass of an Argentinian customs agent - if I still had the letter I'd use his actual name - tried to hold a package of personal effects sent to me from back home hostage until I paid a ridiculous fee to get it out of hock. Those of you familiar with my level of patience can imagine my reply to them, and a special ironic thanks to FedEx Argentina for being of absolutely no help whatsover with this openly corrupt customs after charging an extortionate shipping fee. By 'thanks', I mean that I think that you are useless idiots who are terrible at what you do, and I hope you fail miserably very soon at your job and in the next four or five things you do in life. Ok I am done with that rant. I loved the nightlife in BA and in general, but I am not 22 anymore like a lot of my comrades were, and can't do it every single night. The next days were usually a complete waste after being out at a nightclub or bar. Yes, only nightclubs and bars, I did not go to any strip clubs or casinos, though they were definitely available.

OK, next posting will go into more detail about my opinion about the fun things to do in Buenos Aires, and later I'll go into Bariloche. I'll intersperse this with some daily updates. All the best and buena suerte to you all.