Monday, October 29, 2007

Evita, Isabelita, Cristina

I think it's neat-o that Argentina has voted for a female President. They like dynasties over there (see Peron), and so the Kirchners are one. Cristina Kirchner is supposed to be super smart, and her husband bailed Argentina out from major economic disaster, so let's hope she shines.
It's very interesting to me that in countries where machismo is still rampant, like Chile and Argentina, people vote for female presidents. I don't think this could happen in Mexico, for instance.
I've spent around 20 days visiting Buenos Aires, and my interactions with Argentine machos were of this order.
1. A cabdriver who took us to the Boca neighborhood told us that by no means could we go unaccompanied as two women to a soccer match at Boca stadium. He made it sound like we would be torn apart by packs of wild dogs. We decided not to find out whether he was right.
2. Men on the street ogled, but that is common everywhere in Latin America. They were much more forward than anybody is used to here and they were extremely flirtatious, and sometimes hilarious. We're walking around the Recoleta neighborhood, a tony part of town, as two middle aged men walk by us. One of them turns to us and says:
Excuse me ladies, but do you know how we can go out to Avenida Pueyrredon from here?
Us:
No idea.
Guy:
And how can we go out with you?
Compared to the vulgarities you sometimes hear from oglers, this was like Shakespeare. As Larry David would say, "pretty, pretty good".

So felicidades to all of you gauchos down there. Eat a lot of steak, drink a lot of Malbec, and have a great female president.

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