Expatriating, The Nomadic Way: So, Now What?

article from December 21, 2010
By Jamie Douglas

In the previous installment, I described my wife and my departure from the USA and arrival in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is what happened next.

After the first couple of days of living diagonally across the street from the Federal Police Headquarters, watching the armored personnel carriers and water canon trucks come and go, with fire trucks literally shooting out of a garage in the middle of the block, we decided not to continue our nightly disturbances, opting instead to move right into the center of town, two doors down from the intersection of  Avenida de Mayo and Avenida 9 de Julio, to the charming and surprisingly affordable, Hotel Reina.

Everything was within walking distance from our location right on the main avenue that leads from the Casa Rosada to the Palacio del Congreso, assuring almost daily protest marches from a large cross section of the population. Nothing ever turned violent, but the armored personnel carriers and water cannons were there, just to make sure. The obelisk was  a couple of blocks away, and we often strolled the pedestrian-only mall on Florida, where there were Tango performances at night, street vendors galore, mostly selling handicrafts from Peru and Ecuador, stores and ice cream shops, and a sufficient tourist police presence that made us feel fairly secure.

But after so much Tango, a fiery Flamenco festival, many great cafés and restaurants, and walking dozens of miles all over the city for over a week, we remembered why we came to Argentina – and it was not to be in one of the world’s largest metropolises. We had read on the Internet about this cute little hippie town in the Andes called El Bolsón.

To get there, we first had to endure a 20-hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to San Carlos de Bariloche, which was brutal. Our attendant was a complete douchebag – about as inattentive as you can get – and we, as unknowing yanquis, had thought that “first class” would mean that there would be plenty of food and water on board, so we failed to stock up. Very Important Note: When taking long distance public transport – anywhere in the world – do yourself a favor and bring your own water and snacks. Our attendant would   disappear for hours, not caring about the well-being of his guests. Finally, at around 11 pm, after seven hours on the road, he delivered the worst form of packaged meal you could imagine. I will spare you the details.

We finally arrived in Bariloche the next afternoon, got a room in a hostería, grabbed a decent meal, and crashed in a quiet room overlooking Lake Nahuel Huapi. We spent a few days there, but it was so touristy that we were more than ready to head on to El Bolsón, which is a few hours to the south, right on the 42nd parallel south.

After booking one night in a budget hotel that lacked the usual facilities but had a fabulous restaurant across the street, we decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, even though it was only cuatro de Mayo, in Patagonian style, with an early dinner of great food, a bottle of Malbec, and for dessert, we couldn't resist a splurge on the spectacularly artful tiramisú and chocolate mousse.

Then we went to the tourist office to inquire about renting an apartment, or a cabaña, for a month or so. The helpful fellow behind the desk recommended a place called Los Girasoles that came complete with Internet and cheery restaurant, but when we got there, most unfortunately, we found that they were booked up. Dejectedly, we began to walk back to the tourist office, and within less than a block, we saw a lovely hand carved wooden sign announcing the Don Celestino Cabañas – a turn of fate. We knocked on the door, met the proprietress, Marina Losada, and her companion Miguel, who speaks some English, and were shown a wonderful, new, yet rustic, two-story apartment by these friendly people. We immediately booked for four weeks.

When we returned to our east-facing room back at the other end of town that evening, we were treated to one of the most astounding sights, as the full moon rose above Cerro Piltriquitrón. It was a truly magical day.

I will have to leave it there until the next installment, when our skin, or at least our cameras, are saved by a broken ladder.

Until then, continue to live your dreams.

Jamie Douglas

Patagonia

Don Celestino Cabañas, Avenida San Martín 3430

Tel 02944 498521 or Cell 02944 15 591069

[All photos by Jamie Douglas]

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.

Language Learning: The Very Hungry Expat

article from December 16, 2010
by Julie R Butler

I recently wrote a post that listed some ways to practice Spanish before your move abroad. There are many more things you can do that will help you get a leg-up on language before you leave, too. One is to watch all the episodes of the adorable Mexican cooking show, La ruta del sabor (watch YouTube videos of the program, or keep your eye out for it on satellite TV).

I am suggesting this program in particular because it is appealing on so many levels. To begin with, the young host is so affable that you will see him as a friend, cheerily encouraging you to join him in his journeys to various places in Mexico to learn about their regional dishes. Then there is the fact that the show always begins with a little segment about each location, so you will get a taste of the various flavors of Mexico’s heritage and culture. And then, of course, you get to find out the most authentic way to prepare great Mexican foods – all while learning Spanish from native Mexican speakers.

You will definitely need to learn some cooking terms in order to read the directions on packages of pasta, rice, sauce mixes, etc., to set up or find your way around your kitchen, and to enhance your gastronomic experiences by being able to read recipes such as the one your neighbor scratches out for you for that fabulous budín that she is always bringing over. Why not let your stomach motivate you to learn all the Spanish you can in preparation for your move abroad?

There are many, many more cooking videos in Spanish on YouTube, in addition to all the cooking shows on Spanish language TV. The cooking network elgourmet.com is produced in Buenos Aires, has an extensive website, and features a stellar lineup of the best celebrity chefs from all over Latin America and beyond. As a sophisticated answer to La ruta del sabor’s cute, casual approach, the cosmopolitan Spanish is a much harder to follow.

As long as I am talking about Latin American cuisine, I must mention The Mija Chronicles. This blog is written in English by Lesley Téllez, who started Eat Mexico Culinary Tours. There is so much to learn about language and culture when talking about food. And need I remind you that it is not just in the kitchen where you will want to know food terminology, because you have to feed yourself some way or other, whether it be in restaurants or by hitting the fresh produce stands that abound all over Latin America? Probably not, but I just did, anyway. So even English language culinary talk is useful, as it covers the names of various food items in Spanish and explains what they are.

Checking all this out might lead to travels abroad with the confidence that you will be eating very well. At the very least, it is making me one very hungry expat.

Buen provecho!

Julie R Butler is a writer, journalist, editor, and author of several books, including Nine Months in Uruguay and No Stranger To Strange Lands (click here for more info). She is a contributor to Speakout at Truthout.org, and her current blog is Connectively Speaking

email: julierbutler [at] yahoo [dot] com, Twitter: @JulieRButler

Expatriating, The Nomadic Way

article from December 15, 2010
By Jamie Douglas

My wife and I, being the nomads that we are, had spent a lot of time in Pátzcuaro, in the State of Michoacán, in Central-Western Mexico. It is a very artistic town, with many writers, sculptors and painters, and the whole region’s economy is based on the various indigenous artisans who produce some of the finest handcrafts I have ever encountered in my travels over this planet. Since the early 1970s, I have made many friends and felt very much at home there, being surrounded by so much creativity. Through the years, we have spent many a late night carrying on highly intellectual discourses with friends, fueled by a little tequila, or pulque, or agavero, sitting by fireplaces, discussing art and poetry, and solving all the world’s problems.

So when George W. Bush was to be sworn in for his second term, we felt we could no longer live in the USA, and one year later, we moved to Pátzcuaro, lock, stock and barrel, with our two dogs and our minivan loaded to the hilt with everything we owned. Of course, having lived in a motor home for many years made this much less complicated than moving out of a house.

Unfortunately, during our two-year absence, much had changed. More and more gringos had discovered out private paradise, and all sorts of scammers had moved in. And then there were the drug dealers. The now-infamous Zetas were kidnapping people out of restaurants in broad daylight, and horrific crimes were being committed in Michoacán. During one particular weekend, 17 people were murdered in another town in the state, and the following Monday, we headed back to the USA, where crime was a little less unnerving.

The next few years were brutal for us. It was like living on an economic sine wave, where the ups kept being less up, the lows became lower than one could have imagined, and when the collapse of the housing bubble finally came, we again plotted to do the only thing that I could think of: Get the Hell out!

Weeks of research led us to this time select either Uruguay or Argentina as our destination, and with more research and the help of Expedia.com, I was able to secure two roundtrip tickets from Miami to Buenos Aires for under $1,000 – for both of us! I hit the “buy” button immediately, and the date was set: April 20, 2009.

Once again, we gathered together all of our belongings, taking stock of the assets in our jewelry business, and we launched our fire sale. Our plan worked perfectly. During weekly trips to the local flea market, we liquidated virtually everything we owned, saving the necessities for last, giving some of our best treasures to good friends, and whatever was left on the final day went to Mexican migrant workers. The most difficult task was to find a good home for our one remaining dog. Selling our car came last, and then we rode the train to Miami and flew on Aerolineas Argentinas off into darkening skies.

As luck would have it, one of my dearest friends in Miami was connected with this airline, and in spite of having probably the cheapest tickets on that plane, we ended up getting upgraded to Condor Class, where we were introduced to the hospitality of Argentina with some of the country´s rich Malbec wine, the vineyards of which thrive along the sunny Andean precordillera of Mendoza Province. We enjoyed a great meal, and after the second glass of Malbec, Julie slept through the rest of our pass over Cuba, and the storm-avoiding tour over Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina, but woke up in time to see our early morning approach into Buenos Aires. It is from the air, in darkness, when you can really grasp the immense size of greater Buenos Aires, one of the largest urban areas in the known universe.

One flawless landing later, we whisked through customs and immigration, then went directly to the nearest café, where we learned that croissants were called media lunas, or half moons, and we were able to enjoy the first of many a great cup of coffee, which are traditionally served with little pastries and a small glass of bubbly mineral water. As coffee addicts, we had indeed ascended.

By the time we had finished our first Argentine breakfast, and we had sent emails and Facebook messages to our friends and family that we had indeed arrived safely, the tourist information businesses opened up, and we soon found ourselves in an old hotel near the city center, with 20-foot-high ceilings and a caged elevator that required two trips to lift us and our luggage upstairs. We were right on one of the main arteries bisecting downtown Buenos Aires, where the added commotion of the Federal Police Headquarters across the street assured that we quickly got used to big-city noise.

We had arrived, and our big adventure had just begun. I will elaborate more on how we spent the next few weeks and then ended up in a quaint little abandoned beach town, La Paloma, in eastern Uruguay, close to the Brazilian border, where we could buy our beloved coffee by the kilo very economically.

Live your dreams!

Jamie Douglas

Photos by Jamie Douglas

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.

Latin America´s Growing Middle Class

article from December 14, 2010

by Julie R Butler

Having addressed the issue of poverty last week, the good news is that Latin America’s middle class is growing.

According to recently published report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), once the figures are collected,

“Poverty and extreme poverty will fall in Latin America in 2010, thanks to the robust economic recovery in most of the region's countries.”

The report emphasizes that, despite the global recession, poverty rates in 2009 rose by only one tenth of a percentage point and are now back on track with the region’s larger trend that began in 2003. The figures show impressive resiliency in Latin America’s response to the economic crisis.

The study found that six out of the nine nations considered showed reduced poverty levels, and that addressing the vexing issues of child poverty through social aid programs and improvements in the effectiveness of educational systems proves to be the most efficient means of undoing “inequalities of origin,” which is especially promising for countries such as Guatemala and Nicaragua.

The mention of these two nations by the authors, in light of the fact that the only Central American nation that was included in the study, Costa Rica, was one of the three where the poverty level increased, shows some concern for the plight of the people, there. And as Eduardo Sacayón, the director of the Interethnic Studies Institute at the Guatemala University of San Carlos, recently told IPS,

"The situation of the native peoples may be even worse than before. Poverty has increased, the quality of education is very poor, and there is no intercultural perspective in health services."  

Also, the only Caribbean nation to be included in the study was the Dominican Republic, which did show a decrease in poverty, and other nations in the Caribbean still lag behind. It has been successes in the Southern Cone that have pulled the overall numbers for Latin America up, while Mexico, Central America, the northwestern region of South America, and the Caribbean continue to struggle.

Another report was released on 3 December by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) documenting the growing middle class in Latin America. This report lists Uruguay at the top, with just over 55% of households being classified as “middle class,” and then Mexico and Chile, at around 50%. Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Argentina follow, with decreasing numbers of middle class citizens. Colombia and Bolivia come in at around 30%.

Again, education is stressed as the surest way to promote the rise to higher social and economic status. But also, the report warns that this sector in Latin America is more “economically vulnerable” than those in the more advanced economies of the world:

“There is normally a direct correlation between a sizeable and relatively prosperous middle class and long-term growth, greater equality and less poverty. However, high levels of labour informality, low coverage of social-protection programmes and limited fiscal resources to improve public services could cancel out the possible benefits in Latin America.”

Ángel Gurría, Secretary General of the OECD, summed up the report.

“A growing and vibrant middle class is a sign of good economic prospects in Latin America,” she stated. “However, Latin Americans in the middle of the income distribution still face serious hurdles in terms of purchasing power, education and job security. These groups still have some way to go to be fully comparable to the middle classes in more advanced economies.”

What these two reports show is that, despite some regions being plagued by violent regional conflicts, despite the daunting issues faced by marginalized indigenous peoples, despite long-entrenched social attitudes and structures, despite chronic instability – and perhaps it is because they hold no illusions that there are any easy answers to their ongoing challenges – overall, the people of Latin America are slowly managing to move toward improvements that, if the trend toward finding a delicate balance of economic and social interests continues, could bring a level of sustainability that would be good for everyone.

Julie R Butler is a writer, journalist, editor, and author of several books, including Nine Months in Uruguay and No Stranger To Strange Lands (click here for more info). She is a contributor to Speakout at Truthout.org, and her current blog is Connectively Speaking

email: julierbutler [at] yahoo [dot] com, Twitter: @JulieRButler

Haiti Earthquake vs. Chile Earthquake and Recovery

article from December 13, 2010

By Jamie Douglas

This year has brought two major natural disasters in the form of the massively destructive earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. Haiti, being the poorest nation in the hemisphere, never mind its decades-long political instability, seems to have suffered the most, as the infrastructure was not in place for dealing with a catastrophe of this scale.

After a natural disaster such as the ones that befall these two nations, it is only normal that people start “looting.” But it must be understood that the people who were raiding the supermarkets for water and food were not looters; rather, they were looking to survive and take care of their families, as social order had broken down. However, when you see people coming out of stores with flat-screen TVs, washing machines and domestic appliances, I think you can apply the term “looter” without reservation.

Earthquake in Haiti

After the earthquake in Haiti, all hell broke loose. The prison collapsed, the Presidential Palace collapsed like a wedding cake, and the harbor was damaged to the point where it was not possible for the first rescuers to land. The international community rallied, promising billions of US$ in aid and sending emissaries, including two former US presidents, Bush and Clinton, to the scene, in a show of moral support. It was during that ex-presidential visit where one could really see that Kanye West’s statement that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” had some truth to it.

While President Clinton and President Bush were in the crowd, after someone shook Bush’s hand, he actually wiped his hand on President Clinton’s shirtsleeve, as if he had touched something toxic. Rebuilding in Haiti really is stalled, and now the cholera outbreak, torrential rains and passing hurricanes have made things even worse for the populace there. Rumors were spread that the cholera bacillus was being spread by Nepalese UN soldiers, which turned out to be true, although it was the result of leakage from one of Haiti’s own sewage pipes.

No real rebuilding is going on there, with the exception of a few luxury properties, and most of the billions that have been promised have not materialized. There is no “Operation Bootstrap,” where those who help themselves get help. Instead, the victims are living in tents and under tarps, on top of the ruins of their country. Very few are making an effort to try to rebuild their homes and businesses. Commerce is done in the open, crime is rampant, and they are still waiting for help that will never arrive. Reconstruction will have to be accomplished somehow by the citizens of Haiti themselves.

Earthquake in Chile

I was watching live pictures from the earthquake zone in Chile on TV just after it happened, and there was some looting there as well, but within 48 hours, the Army and Carabineris had established curfews and were guarding properties. Then came the heavy equipment that started demolishing properties that were unsafe. People were sleeping in the streets and helping each other out as well as they could. There were a few bad incidents as well, which should not be overlooked, but within a few days, repairs and rebuilding had begun. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton arrived, hugged people, shook hands, promised aid and did not wipe her hand on anyone. And today, Chile is way ahead in the recovery phase compared to Haiti. Aid was quick in being delivered to Chile from all of its neighbors, and no Christian aid groups tried to steal children and smuggle them to a neighboring country. In fact, because Chile is overwhelmingly Catholic, there was very little aid offered from the American evangelicals.

Haiti just can´t catch a break

Haiti is a lot closer to the USA than Chile, but Haiti has had so much bad press in the USA that people just did not really care that much. Could it be because they are all poor and black? Or could it be that they are not just the poorest, but also the most corrupt country in the hemisphere? Ever since the French left their former colony impoverished and in ruins, things have just been going downhill for the regular Haitians. When they do make a desperate attempt to reach the shores of the USA, they are incarcerated by the Home of the Free, while Cubans benefit from the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, which gives them automatic asylum if they manage to crawl onto a beach in the Florida Keys.

What Haiti needs is not money – nor missionaries. They need rebar, cement, building blocks, pipes, water treatment plants and lineman, just to mention a few items. Any monetary donations will be abused by agencies all over the world as overhead and salaries, and the little that will trickle down to Haiti surely will be absconded with and end up in corrupt officials’ bank accounts in the Cayman Islands and Panama.

And now, the recent rigged elections and riots that followed ...and Sarah Palin?

Jamie Douglas in Patagonia

[Image of Haitian Presidential Palace via Wikipedia]

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.