It’s a clear and sunny morning, and I’m at the Buque Museo Fragata Presidente Sarmiento in Puerto Madero, considering whether to the descend the ladder-like stairs to view the cadets’ quarters. Seeing a well-dressed couple, perhaps a decade my senior, weighing the same decision, I decide to defer to them, figuring that if they can make it down the ladder, so could I. Instead the man asks me where I’m from, and before I can answer, he launches into his opinion of Argentine politics. Another unsolicited monologue:
You know about the new president? What do you think of her? Let met tell you what’s wrong with this country: it’s the politicians. They are ruining the place, driving it into the ground. Now the military was bad, but the politicians are even worse. It’s terrible, and there is no end. You know that no one decent voted for Cristina? No one with a brain would. You know that, right? It’s about more than the economy. The universities are bad. The only good one is the Universidad de San Andres. But we have more Nobel Prize winners than Brazil ever will. The politicians in this country are bad.
What brought that on? I have no idea. Maybe I’ve been wearing some kind of sign on the back of my Maria de Guadalajara which says “Tell me what you really think of Cristina.” Really, I’m not asking anyone.
Red Shoes are Better than Bacon 