Sabado, 28 Junio: Rolling on the River

Originally uploaded by Laura Grace

CLICK on the photo to see others...Michael & I, along with a new friend from flickr, Mary, made a journey to the river town of Tigre today.

Although I took zillions of photos, I've only posted a few because I'm sleepy. And although this was taken on the way home, not on the river, I'm using it because I've become fascinated with a software program called Photomatix Pro. I've explained it a little on one of the other photos.

Anyway, it started out foggy, and after an hour train ride, we got to Tigre and it was foggy AND it was cold! Frio!! yes...

But we walked around and took pictures and chatted and had lunch... and then the sun came out!

So we took a river trip. Again, I'll post more photos, maybe tomorrow.

But -- tomorrow Peter (our son) arrives!! And then Emma arrives on Tuesday, so we'll see how much I get done.

I love hearing from you all,
Laura

BONUS - not my photo

Take me out to the ballgame
Originally uploaded by HamWithCam

for all my baseball loving family & friends.

BONUS - not my photo

Originally uploaded by hendriko

Couldn't resist. If you aren't sure where this is, click on the photo and then look at the letters on the top of the bridge.

BONUS - "not my photo"

Originally uploaded by hendriko

My friend hendriko, a founding member of the "famous" vandigicam group in Vancouver, took this awesome shot of "The Maid of the Mist" in Niagara Fall, Canada.

I love the way it looks like the boat is hovering...

Three Generation Vacation

Three Generation Vacation
Originally uploaded by Laura Grace

One of the sure-fire wonderful things about travel, especially being on your own, is that you have the option to chat with total strangers.

Now, I have family members who view this is one of the major drawbacks to travel (!) and who have requested DNA testing...

Anyway, I was hanging out, petting a particularly lovely young cat, in the Botanical Garden/Cat Heaven. These three friendly ladies walked by, admiring my taste in cats, in English.

So naturally, we had a lovely discussion...

So here's to you, ladies!

Land 'o Cats

JardinBotanicalCats - 3
Originally uploaded by Laura Grace

The Botanical Gardens is a short walk from our apartment, and is full of healthy, friendly, well-fed cats who are just waiting for you to sit down and pet them...

If you click here, you can see 14 other photos from our walk in the garden, on flickr.com

Miercoles: Buenos Aires Zoo

Jardin Zoologic
Originally uploaded by Laura Grace

Michael & I wandered through the Zoo today, as you can see...

If you click on the photo, you'll arrive at my flickr photo site, and there are 43 (count 'em!) other photos... I took most of them, but some of the really great ones are Michael's!

Flickr Fiesta

Flickr Fiesta
Originally uploaded by Laura Grace

So, yahoo had a party to celebrate the fact that flickr argentina has the fastest growing flickr groups... Michael & I were really glad to be able to be there, and we met up again with some of the folks from the walk on Sunday, and met some new folks, too. Thanks, yahoo, it was a lot of fun.

OK, you're where, again?

OK, you're where, again?
Originally uploaded by Laura Grace

Isn't this beautiful? This is a Russian Orthodox Church.

We were a bit lost, looking for a famous neighborhood in BA, called "Boca"; this was a nice part of being a bit lost. The church was closed, but wonderful to see.

Barrio Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Barrio Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Originally uploaded by Laura Grace

Not exactly what you'd expect, huh?

(This is a Russian Orthodox Church)

Barrio = neighborhood

Boca = mouth; in this case, the mouth of the river.

for my nephews... Boca Stadium

for my nephews... Boca Stadium
Originally uploaded by Laura Grace

This place is just GI-Normous!

Stadium Star (Photo by Michael Lacey)

Stadium Star
Originally uploaded by Laura Grace

Boca Soccer Stadium; we walked by it as we were attempting to find the famous colorful areas of Boca.

Lunes, 23 Junio: Another side of Boca

Another side of Boca
Originally uploaded by Laura Grace

This is by no means to imply that there aren't plenty of places in the USA with this kind of housing. What was striking, though, is how close this, and many building just like it, are to the extremely touristy area of Boca. When you see photos with gorgeous colors on houses, and tango dancers, you are probably looking at photos of Boca.

We, on the other hand, forgot to check the camera battery, plus we were just overwhelmed by the time we had walked blocks & blocks... so when we finally got to the "real" Boca, we didn't take any photos.

I'd like to go right at sunrise, before the vendors get set up. It really is an extraordinary area, but feels kind of like Disney with sexier artwork & more litter.

I hope to go back with some of the photographers we've met here, to get some local perspective. After all, I would NOT like them to judge Atlanta by World of Coca-Cola...

Caminito (little walk)...

Caminito (little walk)...
Originally uploaded by pianococtail

This photo does a great job of showing the color, and the touristic feel, of this one little area of the barrio of Boca. Taken by pianococtail on flickr.com

Sabado, 22 Junio: Nuevas Amigos!

In 2005, while we were living in Vancouver, Canada, I started a group for photographers. We went on photo walks together, and we all became a part of flickr.com, which is a photo sharing website. That group "vandigicam" is still active, and I still keep in touch with some of the people who helped me have such a great time while far from home.

Well, flickr groups meet all over the world, and yesterday Michael and I went on our first photowalk in Buenos Aires. It would be hard for me to understate how happy I was to finally meet some other photographers; and everyone made us feel very welcome. Several members spoke English extremely well, and gave us lots of attention. What a treat!

You can go to my flickr page and see lots more photos: HERE

and pictures from others in the "porteña" group HERE.

(porteña is what people in BA call themselves)

Photo walk in BA; photo by galiana_78, on flickr.

Imagen 245
Originally uploaded by galiana_78

POLITICS: Michael goes to Plaza Italia

A short video, but interesting because it's near us, and because Michael was actually there.

Going under: taken out the bottom floor window of a moving amtrak train in Fort Madison, Iowa

Going under
Originally uploaded by corvette_skater

This was taken by my nephew, Eddon; his family took the Amtrak from California to Chicago. I am totally impressed, both with the impact of this photo, and the way he set up this photo. Way to go, Pro!

POLITICS: tv news video of farmer's strike

This video shows footage of the blockades of main routes in Argentina. When we were at the conference in La Falda, we heard, first-hand, about participants who had left the conference to go home, but had their buses turned back.

POLITICS: D for Disorientation: Cacerolazo, and then?

The word "cacerolazo" was being used on the TV news, and you might like to read the wiki entry for it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacerolazo


This blog has a good summation of the events since Monday night, when I took the video of the Night of Pots and Pans.

http://dfordisorientation.blogspot.com/2008/06/cacerolazo-and-then.html