Mike Jutan's World: November 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

"We shouldn't mistake participation in the interactive world, with mastery over it"

This is stellar. "We shouldn't mistake participation in the interactive world, with mastery over it." Thanks for sharing, Jeremy! Very sweet kid, and totally awesome talk about technical education.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Website updates

Just updated my website with some more details about recent volunteer work, as well as new rotating banner images from my South America trip.
The big update though is that my South America trip journal is complete!! Check it out here: http://mikejutan.com/travel/peru2012/

Final Peru/Brazil/Argentina Journal post: Links to all blog posts

That's the end of another Trip blog! Here are links to each post from my Peru/Brazil/Argentina 2012 trip. Thanks for reading :)

Peru/Brazil/Argentina 2012 Journal

Peru

Brazil

Argentina

Peru/Brazil/Argentina Wrap Up: Memories

June 2, 2012
Peru/Brazil/Argentina Wrap Up: Home and Gifts

We've been back home a few days, unpacked and everything is back safely. I downloaded and looked at some photos, SO awesome :) I had a second to take some photos of the cool gifts and house stuff I bought while in South America!

Thinking back on the trip, there are such great memories. At the end of a trip like this, it sad that it's wrapping up, but at the same time it's always so nice to be home, to have nice warm showers with water pressure, toilets with a consistent sanitary standard (assuming you stay away from downtown public bathrooms or train/bus station ones, ha), tap water that you can drink without it destroying your insides, cab drivers that at least follow *some* traffic laws... :) haha.

All these crazy things though are also what makes it so great to travel. Silicon Valley always talks about "disrupting" an industry... how about "disrupting" your own life? It's gloriously wonderful to throw yourself out of your comfort zone, experience culture and food and the magical nature of foreign countries... each moment opening your senses to something new, something unexpected, something you never could have dreamed of. Calling back to our man Dr. Seuss in "Oh the places you'll go" - all these moments while traveling won't be perfect, some things will be less fun, some things will be hard, some moments will downright suck and you'll just wish you were back home. But those moments give you perspective for those glorious travel highs, where you are taking it all in, enjoying the moment for the magic that is flowing full-throttle into your soul, inspiring you and taking you upwards to a better life. Those moments when you learn about other cultures, other people's life experience... there is no better moment I've ever had in my life to teach me more about myself, and give me better perspective of my own role in the world.

And when a trip is done, it's also just nice to finally come home. :) Back from a big adventure, regaling the world with stories of your travels (as I hope you have enjoyed reading in this blog), back to the city you love, the work that inspires you, and the people you have missed a lot.

Another great trip!

Mike Jutan
6/2/2012

Yerba Mate gourds and bombillas

Carved toucan from Iguazu Falls

Carved balsa snake from the Amazon

Cafe Tortoni espresso cups and milk jug

Lots of tasty snacks! Yerba Mate, Havanna Alfajores cookies, Tea, Pisco Sour mix, and more and more Tea :)

Spanish/Jewish blessing for my home

New shoes!

Mezuzzah/decoration from Buenos Aires

Hamsa keychain with Argentinean colours

Awesome!

Tastes of different Piscos, a Pisco for mixing Pisco sours, and a "sipping" Pisco

Funny Andean hat I got in Aguas Calientes

Socks for Mom!

Cool bag I got at the Pisac Market in Peru

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Peru/Brazil/Argentina Day 28: Cafe Tortoni and Packing up

May 30, 2012
Argentina Day 28: Cafe Tortoni and Packing up

Aww, last day of the trip.

What an AMAZING adventure though. Crazy times. This was an awesome length for the trip - it has been an epic adventure but we're all ready to go home and have a real shower and look at our photos. :) We started with a quick coffee in the morning and then headed out to go see Cafe Tortoni.

This is a famous cafe in Buenos Aires which some awesome people frequented in the past (Albert Einstein, included!) and it was great. I got a "Submarino", a hot milk with a chocolate submarine that you mix into it! Also I had a queso medialuna (cheese croissant) and it was fantastic. I saw water siphon bottles and asked for one for our table, but they couldn't do it for some reason... maybe they just serve out of them at the counter into glasses for you. The mugs/espresso cups were so awesome at Cafe Tortoni.

Cafe Tortoni

Submarino! A chocolate that you drop into hot milk, and it was shaped like a Submarine!

Tasty egg/cheese croissant

Argentinian Churros

This rocked

Hahaha, the craziest expression ever

We walked to the Pink House (Argentinean "White House"). "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" was playing on some speakers near the Pink House. How fitting.

The "Pink House", where Eva Peron addressed the crowds of Argentinians

From there we wandered markets and some churches, wandered some shops, and found some last-minute gift requirements or things we'd been meaning to purchase but hadn't yet.

Awesome Church

I found a cool mate gourd store and bought 2 more. :) I kept thinking about those awesome espresso cups at Cafe Tortoni, so I walked back there and got 2 cappuccino cups with saucers and a milk pourer. I found the closest Havanna store (the place that sells packaged Alfajores, cookies with Dulce de Leche in them) to our apartment, and got a couple of boxes to take home for friends. I didn't go crazy like Frank and Jess, who bought like 12 boxes :)

Back to the apartment and now it was time to clean up and get ready to go. Pack, chuck out garbage, etc. The duffel bag worked out super well, an idea Jess had to take a folded duffel in my backpack on the way there, and then check it as a 2nd bag on the way back. Good call, Jess. :) Raquel came to check us out and that was fantastic, she was so nice. She stayed while Frank and I literally ran across back to Havanna to buy tons of cookies for them to take home as gifts. Frank spent most of the deposit we got back on cookies!! :)

Frank packing up

The cool room I stayed in

Our lounge from the past week

A view of glorious Buenos Aires

Back to the apartment, and our taxi car was already waiting for us. We loaded up our bazillion things, and headed out of the city, sortof "collectivo-style" - in the style of insane South American driving that scared the crap out of us back in Peru. :) "This guy could turn this thing on a Centavo!" He was driving on the shoulder for a while, which was awkward and reminded us why traffic laws are necessary. Lanes in general were totally ignored, and we said to each other, "Instead of traffic laws and lanes, they have car horns!"

So the driving was crazy and Argentinean-y which was a little nuts, but fine. As we got out of the city though things got more, uh, "interesting", I guess.

We were juuuuust getting out of the city and onto the highway and the toll booth arrows mostly were green but turned to red "X's' as we approached. Then they ALL turned to red X's. So you couldn't enter the highway. Uh? Everyone on the major 12-lane highway then starting doing U-turns and turning around to go the other way. Uhh??! We had no idea what was going on. Our driver sighed and seemed annoyed that the highway had just suddenly closed, but, as I mentioned, he could turn that thing on a dime (and he did).

We drove through a few dodgy neighbourhoods, our driver ocassionally winding his window up. Uhh?? He was hauling ass on this tiny side streets, it was both impressive and terribly insane, and we were wondering if leaving only 2.5 hours before our flight was good enough. There was a CRAZY amount of local traffic, totally backed up, everyone ignoring street signs and crosswalks and so on, using their horns like crazy, all because we had all been re-routed from the highway. Always keen to arrive very early for international flights, I was mentally calming myself and preparing mentally for us to arrive at the airport at 7:00 for our 7:55pm flight...

Jess announced after many turns in local windy roads and tons of traffic, sitting in car fumes, "This air... SUCKS!" We burst out laughing... at both the hilariousness of her comment and comedic timing, but also at the sheer helplessness of being in another country and being forced to go with the flow. Oh well. After about 40 min of spinning at insane speeds around tiny neighbourhoods and honking his horn at maybe every single old person in Buenos Aires that crossed the street during that time... we FINALLY got out of the scenic route and back onto the highway. Sweet glory!

We joined the highway just after the blockage was clear, and there was NO ONE behind us. It was weird. We were tearing up the road after getting onto the highway. The posted speed limit was 130 km/h, and I was surprised and somewhat overjoyed to notice that our driver was actually driving at the posted speed limit. That may have been the biggest surprise of the evening. :)

After mentally preparing to arrive at the airport at 7:00, we actually got there at 6:22pm. WOW. What an amazing driver. We tipped the heck outta him for getting us there in one piece. He should stop driving a cab and become a Formula 1 Racer instead.

We checked in and I got my duffel bag wrapped up. Checkin, security and customs was fast, which was nice after that crazy ride. I asked the lady at the desk what happened on the highway, and she said sometimes the toll collectors decide to go on random strikes because they want higher wages, and this is possibly what happened. She seemed quite annoyed by it, implying that the educated people in Argentina work hard, and these toll jobs are well-paid enough for what they are, she implied. She thought it was crazy that they would strike like this, but I asked her how often it happens and she said reasonably often. Pretty crazy! After all this, a Coca Light was in order!

I tried to change money in the airport and they said to do it inside the checkin. In there, they asked me if I had a receipt, as in, did I have the receipt from when I originally changed money at the airport. I didn't, I just got this money from an ATM. Weird. He said because of that he "couldn't change my money for me"?!??!?! Super weird. Time to go home :) I'll try to spend it in Lima on some Duty Free Pisco :) (As it turned out, I read later that the Argentinean government is really cracking down on money exchange in Argentina because there is a "black market" for the currency, where the rate against the US dollar is much less (or more?) and having tight control on currency exchange at the airport is one way they are trying to curb this currency black market... very strange.)

The plane was awesome, nice seats, inflight entertainment, great food. The ride to Lima was 5 hrs or so, but was maybe faster, say 4:25. We got back to Lima and had a couple hours before out next flight. We were happy to be going directly home to San Francisco instead of via Miami like on the way in. It will be nice to be home and start going through all my photos!! What an awesome trip.

I started thinking about all of the best experiences of the trip on the way home.

The Best Food:

Chi Cha in Arequipa, Peru. That was AMAZING.
Steak at La Cabrera on my 30th Birthday in Buenos Aires
Volta's Maracuya y Naranja ice cream
Cebiche in that random place in Arequipa on the town square
Food on the Peru Treks Inca Trail hike
Crazy fruits and juices at the Otorongo Lodge in the Amazon

The Best Events:

Day 3 of the Inca Trail: it was mostly downhill, day 2 was done (thank goodness!), and it was a good vibe of friendship between all the fellow travelers, we all know each other pretty well by then and were really comfortable.
Buenos Aires city stuff: shopping, Jewish tours, Kosher McDonalds, just general architecture and stuff to do
My Travel Buddies: what a great group!!!

This trip worked out SO well. In the past I've often traveled on my own, making my own plan and my own choices along the way, and just meeting up with interesting friends (or making friends) at hostels along the way. This time, it was so nice to go with people that have such similar travel interests/vibe to me, and it worked out SO well. I knew it would. It's tough to pick a group of friends that will mesh well together on a trip, and we just rocked it. No dramas! Frank and Jess are a heck of a great combo to be with! This was an excited, involved, adventurous group of people to be with... totally into trying new things and adventure, but not into stupid risks or unsafe things. A perfect combo!

Lima was good, I got a Chicha Morada and Cebiche at the airport, it was very good!!! We got onto the plane and it was a nice one again. They gave us LAN branded yellow earplugs and a purple sleep mask, nice. I was asleep almost right away, and I totally missed the dinner on the plane. When I woke up, they gave it to me anyway :) I was so exhausted, I got about 5 hrs of sleep which was great.

Back we got to SF, and everything was super smooth, and people at customs were friendly which was really nice after such a long flight. Nice and quick, 1 hr SuperShuttle and back home!! Frank drove me back to my apartment so I could put down my stuff and change.

Tea, Shower... and then right to WORK. Yep :)

I used all my vacation days (and then some), so I went straight into the office, ready to catch up with people and clean up my Inbox. :) It's usually "work hard, play hard" - but after a whole month of playing super hard, it was time to get back to work.

What an adventure. And what an amazing and wonderful group of friends that I got to share it with.

Peru/Brazil/Argentina Day 27: Jewish Buenos Aires, Teatro Colón Opera

May 29, 2012
Argentina Day 27: Jewish Buenos Aires, Teatro Colón Opera

This morning I slept in after our crazy late evening last night for my birthday, while Frank and Jess headed to a tour in Recoleta. After a quick Gatorade/Drinkable Yoghurt stop for on-the-go breakfast, I grabbed a cab and headed up a couple hours later to meet them in the Recoleta area. We met up and we got some ice cream for breakfast (again. I love Argentina!) Volta is amazing!! This time I got Limon and Maracuya y Naranja flavours. It was epic. Volta is still the clear winner in front of all the other gelato options in Buenos Aires.

Volta gelato: breakfast of champions

From there we went for a walk down closer to Cordoba/Teatro Colón.

Awesome architecture

Love it!

I was going to stop then and head to the Shoah museum, but we were all hungry for lunch. So first, a quick jump on the Subte and back to Carlos Gardel station to get off at the Abasto Mall... for Kosher McDonald's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were so sad that it was closed last time (because we went on Shavuot... duh!) and so we headed all the way back there so we could try it. It was OPEN!!!!!! Yeah!!! I made sure to treat Frank and Jess cause they schlepped all the way there just for me :)

Yes!!!! And our visit to the Kosher McDonalds is finally a success!

Literally the only time I've ever seen a yarmulke and a box of tefillin at a McDonalds

Kosher certification for the restaurant! Describes (in Spanish) how the french fries are fried, etc.

Other than being super awesome and a Kosher McDonalds, just kinda looks like a regular McDonalds

No cheese on this Big Mac!

Oh yes, they DID have a ritual handwashing station :)

So excited

Yes!!!!

So fun to try this, the only Kosher McDonalds outside of Israel!

This was one of 3 McDonald's in the mall, but it's the only Kosher one outside of Israel (in Buenos Aires?!!!) It was so exciting and we had to try it. A guy in line was really funny, he had a yarmulke on and said, "You guys know this is the Kosher McDonalds, right?!" wondering if we'd gotten lost looking for the boring 'ol regular McDonalds. Nope, very intentional :)

We were wondering if the prices were going to be any different than the regular McD's (due to extra costs in preparation of the meat, or to pay for extra care in cleanliness in the kitchen etc...) but it was the same price as the other regular McD's in the mall! Nice! It was really funny and awesome to see a few specifically Jewish things in a McDonalds - there was a Yarmulke and Tefillin in a container there, presumably for the times where the Rabbi comes in to bless the kitchen and equipment. No cheese or bacon of course :) It was a meat-only restaurant actually, which makes sense. There was a ritual handwashing station which was so funny to see at a McDonalds. A certification document on the wall mentioned details about how the fries are cooked (in beef fat?) and they were much better than the ones you get at a regular McD's. I got a burger called the McNifica, so fun!!! It was tasty.

After all this Judiasm-meets-popular-culture excitement, we were still keen for more snacking and we got some amazing cake for dessert. We are crazy!! I guess we're burning lots of calories with all this walking around all the time :) The cake was huge but glorious, so we took some home for later.

Then we got this AMAZING cake

That is an ocean of Merange

Dulce de Leche is awesome

Frank and Jess went home to nap, and I headed downtown again to go to the Shoah Museum. There was a temporary exhibit in there about Eichmann in Argentina - it was in Spanish but it was still very interesting and there were lots of photos about his years spent hiding in rural Argentina after WW II. There was a section entitled "Why Argentina?" - probably something that all visitors to Argentina (including myself) are interested to know - as Argentina has a pretty strange and unusual history of both offering exile to Jews in WW II and also allowing Nazi war criminals harbour in the country as well. The exhibit was fascinating, and there was (as much as I could understand the Spanish), mention of Juan Peron's support of the Nazi party and of allowing Nazis into Argentina as a sort of "safe haven" after the war. Pretty crazy stuff. Though the exhibit did distance Argentina somewhat from Eichmann's protection in general - showing that he entered the country on falsified documents (including photos of the documents themselves) and that these documents were from Geneva and procured in countries other than Argentina. Pretty surprising to learn about all of this, but also interesting that the material was presented very matter-of-factly.

Headed to the Holocaust Museum, this was an exhibit about Eichmann's hiding in Argentina

Documents about the Holocaust surfacing in an Anti-fascist periodical in Argentina in 1942

Adolf Eichmann in gaucho (Cowboy) clothes, hiding in Argentina

Amazing exhibit at the Shoah musum in Buenos Aires, very emotionally powerful, and artistic interpretations of events.

Albert Einstein's exile

Sigmund Freud's exile

Anti-Communist/Anti-Semitic magazine from 1943 in Argentina

This was pretty crazy to see. A photo of a Nazi rally/party at Luna Park in Buenos Aires in 1937.

Further on in the exhibit was a memorial area for victims which was very nicely done. There was an excellent permanent exhibition with photos of Argentinean Jewish life before and after the war, along with a nicely written English translation. This was a very touching exhibit and had a very good tone to it - it was respectful but there was no sugar coating. There were also some tough photos to look at, but at the same time they did not rub your face in horrifying images - enough to educate and warn, but not disrespectful to the victims. Excellent museum. If anyone reading this goes to Buenos Aires in the future, I definitely recommend a visit to the Holocaust (Shoah) Museum. At the end of the exhibit, the was a hopeful tone, showing life continuing after the war, Nuremburg Trials, and justice. Lovely exhibit and museum. I bought a mezuzzah, one I'd been looking at when I was at the Museo Judio the previous week.

I finished up there and instead of taking the subway to Av. de Mayo, I figured it was close enough and I'd just walk. I walked by Teatro Colón to get a CD for Dad. I asked them if they had a CD made from the Orchestra of the Teatro Colón, and they said, "We have only one!" Easy!

Walking by Teatro Colon, where we'll be returning for an opera!

From there it was a nice walk down the Ave 9th of Julio, to Calle Floria, to Av de Mayo. I got some earrings for Norm at the Av de Mayo street markets. The artisans there were very, uh, "Artisan-y". Lots of dreadlocks and scraggly hippy clothes. Very artsy! While there I also got a Mate gourd and Bombilla straw. Then headed back home to chill and change into my new suit and shoes and belt, in preparation to head back to Teatro Colon for the opera tonight! The suit looks awesome, and we took some secret agent shots together. I still need to tailor the suit (we had to tape up the bottom cuffs of the pants because they aren't hemmed at all yet!) but it's OK for the theatre for now. We're sitting at the back anyway :)

Wearing my new suit, ready for the Opera!

Looking classy with Jess

Wait for it...

Boom!!!!

You can dress us up, but you can't take us anywhere

We took a cab over to Teatro Colon and man it looks glorious lit up at night! It was amazing inside, and there were some really awesome box seats we could see. We were way up in the $36 nosebleed section, but it was still epic!

In line at the Teatro Colon

Main steps at Teatro Colon

Orchestra and Stage

Amazing lights

This was so beautiful

Excited for the Opera!

The orchestra was awesome. The opera tonight was "Edipo", the Oedipus opera. It was sung in French, with subtitles in Spanish... close enough! We really loved it, and there were some interesting set choices (an airplane, the car driving and lights for travelers on the road, etc.). Intermission was fun and cool to be hanging out with lots of people who all seemed to be local Argentineans. I got a "Whisky National" for an intermission drink! The 2nd act was awesome too, crazy elaborate set pieces, Roman Colosseum style. There was "rain" in the epilogue, cleansing of Edipo's sins. Totally awesome. We were so glad to get a chance to see something in Teatro Colon as it had recently been under renovation and I think had only reopened 2 years before.

From there we took a cab to San Telmo and hung out at Bar El Federal, a place where Frank really wanted to go. It was great. I got a Roquefort pizetta and a Coca Light :) We also had a "Federal" fancy coffee! Fun times!!

Bar El Federal

Cool bar design

Some more late night food

All this eating late at night meant a walk home was in order, and we walked back to our apartment from San Telmo. Chillin' and chatting, we went to sleep quite a bit later, maybe 2ish. Another AMAZING day!!!!!! We are really packing in stuff here, though it hasn't felt rushed. What an awesome trip. Awesome peeps, too :)