Va a Estar Malo Buenos Aires

Mauricio Macri has won the election to be mayor of Buenos Aires.

His supporters - his real supporters - say that, as a businessman, he can keep the city in order. Having the son of an increibly wealthy businessman as our president didn´t work out to weel for us, but I guess the Argentines haven´t learned their lesson.

Worse than that, though, was the reaction from the supposed radicals at UBA and my Hugo Chavez-supporting host mother. Originally there were signs all over the place urging people to ´votar en blanco´; that is, use their obligatory vote to vote for nobody. One by one, though, they all squirmed and admitted they had voted for Macri.

¨But WHY??¨ I asked.

¨You know, to...uh...send Kirchner a message?¨

This is how extremist regimes come to power. People get disatisfied with moderation and send a ´Fuck You´ to the center-left by putting the ultra-right in power. Where´s the Old Mole when you need it?

At the Crossroads

Some time ago, the city planners of Buenos Aires realized that they were fast running out of presidents and generals to name their streets after. No doubt as a way to both save time and win some international goodwill, they decided to name streets after almost every country and would-be country in the world.

You can make what you will, for example, of the fact that the city zoo is located on Republic of India street, or that United States street is home to one of the city´s better (and cheaper) steakhouses. But now and then, the intersections betray a sense of irony not usually found in municipal government (the weird glowing effect is because I used a flash):



Ooh, the symbolism is just so ripe. I wonder what henpecked beaurocrat laughed himself to sleep thinking of that one.