What's New, Buenos Aires?

September 24, 2008
The title of today’s entry is, of course, an homage to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Evita, and Madonna. John and I finally arrived this morning in Buenos Aires after flying for 4 hours from Boston to Atlanta , having a 4 hour layover at Hartsfield Airport, and then a 10 hour overnight flight. The big difference in going to South America is the lack of jet lag, which makes it possible to function after such a long flight. We were picked up by our host, Enrique, and his driver. We then had 3 hours to shower, eat some breakfast, and prepare for my lecture and induction into the National Academy of Medicine (see next entry). In order to find a bank to change money we went for a short walk along the Avenida 9 Julio, which is reportedly the widest avenue in the world. As we were crossing the street we noticed the energetic men shown in the photo who are literally human billboards. As soon as the traffic light turns red they stop in front of the cars with their advertisements and are in the drivers’ “faces.” No avoiding their messages, which in this case, were advertising Patagonian seafood. We had a typical Argentinian breakfast of coffee, “medialunas” (literally, half moons, but they are croissants), and juice. Later in the afternoon we walked around the area near our hotel and had a late lunch at “El Palacccio de Pizza.” Pizza is very big in Argentina. We had something called a fugzaetta, which was dough covered with charred onions and melted cheese, topped with ham.