Pic of the day: walking to Belgrano
Images, Buenos Aires, walking tour — Stephen on 10 November 2008 @ 1:28 AM — 0 comments
Today Thomas, Vagner and I took a little walk from Palermo to Las Cañitas to Belgrano and el Barrio Chino.
Another look at downtown
Satori, Peru, walking tour — Stephen on 22 September 2008 @ 10:53 AM — 0 comments
Joaquin, Ricardo, Christian and I went strolling in El Centro yesterday, and saw a number of interesting things. We stopped by the bar that invented the Pisco Sour (to have a Pisco Sour, ‘natch), visited a number of old city houses (that are now museums, including one with a fascinating Tola exhibit), and wandered through the older streets of Lima admiring the architectural details that are signatures of Lima (such as tied wrought iron work and enclosed balconies).
We also stopped by the fascinating Iglesia de Santa Rosa, where she lived and practced her very odd forms of worship and self sacrifice. Today we would say this woman was disturbed, a masochist and probably schizophrenic in great need of help. Back then, they thought she was pious and sainted her. Thousands of people come every year to worship and leave wishes in the well at the site. It is fascinating to me how context changes the interpretations of things. The same actions that seem the mark of insanity in one culture are venerated in another.
Charleston
Satori, naming, walking tour — Stephen on 24 July 2008 @ 9:53 AM — 2 comments
Bob and I went down to Charleston yesterday, and took a tour of the historic town center and several of its buildings. It was fascinating, there is a very distinctive collection of buildings that are some of the oldest in the country and most of them are restored. Charleston was lucky (in a sense) that it suffered such a long period of economic decline, or these buildings would probably have been razed and replaced. But because they never had the money or much economic activity through the 20th century, the architecture remained intact, somewhat frozen in time until the city could be reborn as a tourist destination to see these very buildings.
Evidence of past glory and wealth (largely based on slave labor) was everywhere. We also learned a few new interesting details while touring some of the homes. For example, what was called the “Georgian” style of architecture (after King George) was renamed after the War of Independance to “Federal” style. The war was also why the Episcopal Church was so named (breaking with the Chuch of England). So the US clearly has a long history of renaming to show their “independance” from things. And lest you think the level of the silliness reflected in such idiotic terms as “freedom fries” is a recent phenomenon, you should know that in World War I there was a move in the US to rename “sauerkraut” as “liberty cabbage” (I kid you not).
Coyoacán and San Ángel
Satori, walking tour — Stephen on 25 January 2008 @ 6:09 PM — 1 comment
Mo and I took the Metrobus down to the end of the line in San Angel, had lunch at the well known Saks restaurant, then had a leisurely walk over to Coyoacán. Both these neighborhoods are stunningly beautiful and an absolute pleasure to walk around in. From there, we caught the Metro back up to Roma and walked home. I have to admit the public transit systems here are a breeze to figure out and cost almost nothing to ride (about 27 cents for the Metrobus and 18 cents for the Metro).
