S'Agapo, Santorini Mou

Back "home" in Santorini, and it is more wonderful than ever.  Tourist season ended  around Halloween, and November has proved to be quiet and relaxing - perfect for catching up with our friends.  As usual, April had the villa stocked and looking beautiful for our arrival.

Home sweet home!

AP-A-RIL!!!

Well, the view hasn't changed.

Neither has the volcano.  Look - only one cruise boat!!

The patio at Tropical Bar - the best bar on earth.

Still business as usual...even with only one boat.

After eight months on the rock, a McDonald's cheeseburger goes a long way.
Geia sou Philippe!!!

First lunch at Psaraki - Mandi is sooo excited for fava!
Look at her little fists!

Gabby and Hales Bales!

Ahhh...together at last!

Look what I found Ma!

Philippe, Laura & Komninos Kenney, and Mandi Beama.

We made it!

London Jackass

Tried to post this November 3rd, but the connection timed out at the Athens airport.


We didn't really have that exciting a night on Halloween, but we made up for it two nights later (last night), by running into the cast of Jackass (sans Knoxville) at our hotel.  They were in town for the London premiere of the new Jackass 3D movie, and we just happened to run into them as they were waiting outside for their cars.  


Mandi has a thing for midgets, so it was all I could do to restrain her from picking up Wee Man, and she did try.  He was really cool and said that he wanted to take a picture with me because apparently I look just like his best friend, and he wanted to let him know that he had a twin in London.  But I'm American, and it got confusing, but anyway, here's the picture.

Hello Wee Man (I'm standing two steps down).

Mandi is in LOVE.

I also high-fived Bam, which was really cool because Bam slept with Kat Von D, who slept with Nikki Sixx, which pretty much means that I high-fived Nikki Sixx, which is way, way cool.    

Well, we're in the Athens airport right now, after flying in overnight from London.  It's 8:30am and we weren't able to sleep last night, so Mandi's having a little nap next to me right now.  Our connection to Santorini leaves in an hour...wooohooo! 

So, we'll be on the rock in a few hours...hello Laura Kenney!!

Halloween In London / Argentina Recap

We're in London for a few days, and I'd expect tonight should be a hoot as it's Halloween.  Last night, the streets looked CRAZY as we took a cab back into the city after visiting Emma, Nick, little Ivy, and tiny Flo in beautiful Raynes Park.  London's got a lot to live up to though, as the Halloween festivities in New York have trumped about everything we've seen...and Tropical Bar Santorini is a close second!  Our jet lag is finally fading away, aided by daylight savings last night, so we'll see what trouble we can get into tonight.  Oh, and...the 49ers and Broncos are playing at Wembley later this afternoon!  We tried to get tickets, but they are sold out - damn.  


Before the month is over, however, it probably would be good to catch up on the last week or so in Bonus Aires, and our first visit to a PUBLIC HOSPITAL.  


The day after the Columbus Day picnic in the park, Mandi woke up with a migraine and a sharp pain in her left eye.  As we have had issues in Argentina before (emergency appendectomy in March), we called on our local and reliable contacts to send us in the right direction to get her eye looked at.  Apparently a public eye hospital is the best way to go?

Wow, that place looks welcoming.  Is it a prison?

The waiting room.  We felt like we were in a 1960's war hospital in an old abandoned elementary school.

Mandi waited in the hallway because she was blind and scared.

I was scared too, probably because I could SEE the peeling paint, the dirt and the rust everywhere, and the one light bulb hanging from the ceiling like in a horror movie.

We were given a number and we waited and waited and waited, and there didn't seem to be any order as to what was happening.  Poor Mandi was in terrible pain and she was scared to death because NO ONE spoke English, of course, and she needed help and we had no idea what was going on.  So...after about an hour, and after seeing no movement from the waiting room, I asked her if she could sit tight for five minutes while I went to investigate.  And she said "Yes, what else can I do?"


On the far side of the waiting room, there was an old door hanging off its hinges, and occasionally someone would walk out and say something, then walk back in (torture chamber?).  So, I decided to barge on in - not many other options - and when I did, I found a couple of nurses and an "assembly line" kind of operation with two filthy eye examination stations.  I politely tried to explain to the nurses that my girlfriend needed help and they didn't give a shit.  


Not only did they not give a shit, they were mean and they tried to shoo me out, so I calmly stood my ground and made sure that they knew that I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.  I gave them the Greek facial expression for the word "no."  I guess they got tired of trying to get rid of me, and realized I wasn't going anywhere, because they finally gave in and told me to go get Mandi, which I did.  Hahaha...I understood that bitches!

Finally seeing one of the nurses...assembly line medicine 2010!

The male nurse seeing Mandi turned out to be very nice (the chick on the right was a bitch) and he diagnosed her with pink eye.  Thank goodness she didn't end up on the operating table like last time!  After a quick trip to the "Farmacity," we headed home with a soft, comfortable eye patch.

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On a lighter note, I had a little medical emergency of my own a few days later.  

I ran out of Pepto-Bismol a few weeks ago, and I'd taken my empty bottle to the Farmacity to show the pharmacist what I was using in hopes that he had a replacement.  Well, he sure did!  He gave me this handy little bottle of strawberry-flavored upset stomach relief, Spanish-Bismol if you will, which actually worked great - and tasted even better! The only problem was that I apparently missed the "Refrigerate After Opening" warning on the label.  You don't have to refrigerate Pepto - how was I to know? 

So...a few days later, at 4:30 in the morning, I reached over onto the bedside table and took a HUGE swig of my new Spanish-Bismol while I was half asleep, and ended up swallowing about 5 tablespoons of chunky, curdled strawberry goo.  

Of course then I completely freaked out and started choking and cursing and spitting and sputtering everywhere, because I was still asleep and I thought I was being attacked, and Mandi was confused and trying to help, and Louis was scared to death under the covers, until he realized that Daddy was vomiting and spitting out curdled strawberry goo (all his Christmases at once), at which point he tried to eat as much of it as he could before it got cleaned up.

Sometimes it's the little hiccups that make traveling worthwhile.

Not so good after a week on the bedside table.

Columbus Day In Bonus Aires

Apparently, way back in 1492, Columbus didn't just discover America...he discovered "The Americas."  So here in Bonus Aires, Columbus Day is a really big deal.  Argentines started celebrating the "Dia de la Raza" or "Day of the Hispanic People" back in 1917 to commemorate the meeting of the Europeans and the Native Americans.  Funny, when we were kids, we thought Columbus Day was about soccer tournaments and going out for pizza.

To celebrate Columbus Day this year, we went to a really big beautiful park with some friends and had a picnic.

I see you Mandi!

Pretty park.

Stay on the path.

Nice little bridge over a lake...you have to cross it to get to the bathrooms.

There's the lake.  Those little boats always LOOK like a good idea, then you get in them and realize that they are a lot of work and it's hot and there's lots of bugs...yuck.  And what if you have to pee?

Getting a little nap in the shade.  He's a good boyyyeee.

Hellooo Megan! 
Hey random Aussie dude drinking from the red cup...if I see you feed Louis one more tuna salad tea sandwich, you're dead!  He has a fragile digestive system.

Look at all the nice trees...and Mandi, John, and Kells Bells!  
Yup, still have the same jeans on.

Crossing the widest street on earth on the way home - 13 lanes going in the same direction!?

I Don't Know How She Does It

Mandi, that is.  This is her 12-hour timeline beginning at 9pm last Sunday.

9pm:  Pack, Tylenol PM, try to sleep.

1am:  Alarm, breakfast of peanut butter toast and Pepsi Max, work.

2am:  Conference call with Asia-Pacific.  Louis is used to this schedule by now.

3am:  Say goodbye to Mommy as her car pulls away to take her to the airport.

That's as far as my camera could follow her, but the next few hours went like this:

5am:  Flight from Bonus Aires, Argentina to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

8am:  Good morning San Paulo! Car from the airport to the first meeting of the day by 9am (that's the end of the 12-hour timeline).

Then it went like this:   Meetings all day, into and through dinner, and Mandi finally got to check into her hotel (to do more work) around 11pm.  She got to bed Monday night around 2am, only to have a wake-up call set for 5:45am for a breakfast meeting.

This is a pretty normal day, unfortunately, and by normal I mean a schedule like this appears on her calendar at least 4-5 times a month.  Mandi absolutely loves her job, but the travel side isn't always as rosy as it seems.

Argentine Food

One of the great things about being in Argentina (there are many), is the exchange rate.  Usually our trips go like this:  fly into some city in Europe, change money, lose half, grumble.  Here however, the dollar is four times stronger than the peso.  Cha-ching!


I've been pleasantly reminded many times in the past few weeks of that infamous day (June 18, 1997), when I was instantly transformed from a 23-year-old broke college graduate with no job, into a 23-year-old rich American King, presiding over the ancient hillside village of Pyrgos, in Santorini, with mountains of drachmas at my disposal!  


And I guess it's kind of like that here, because the direct and delicious result of this wonderful exchange rate is that we can eat at really nice restaurants for next to nothing, so we do...a lot.

The Pacu at our favorite restaurant - Jangada.

Jangada is a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that specializes in grilled river fish.  All the fish they serve is caught by local fishermen in the Parana River (the second-longest river in South America).  Jangada has extremely knowledgeable chefs who prepare each fish by grilling it on it's side, then de-boning it in the traditional manner that has been used by the locals in the jungles surrounding the river for centuries.  The whole fish is presented filleted, and is served with salad, baked potatoes, fried onion rings, and grilled vegetables.  We dine here a few times a week and have tried the Pacu, the Dorado, the Boga, and the White Salmon.  Our friend Lucas runs the place, and always brings us some sort of dulce de leche dessert and a digestif before we go.

Mushrooms Philippe!!

Is that a Dulce de Leche Quesadilla?  So confusing, but sooooo good!  Lucas let me blow-torch the sugar on top.

Ridiculously decadent - Mandi is shaking her head in disbelief.

Mandi's co-worker Andre came to Bonus Aires this past week to attend some meetings with her - he lives in Sao Paulo.  We had breakfast at his hotel a few mornings, and let me tell you, breakfast is completely over-the-top! 

There were all different kinds of breads and muffins, served with jams, salted butter, dark chocolate spread (better than Nutella), dulce de leche spread (of course), fruit salad, whipped yogurt, a large shot glass filled with scrambled eggs with pancetta, whipped cream cheese with chives, delicious espresso, and little shots of nectarine juice, mint juice, and campari with orange juice.  Well, I'll be Bonus Dias-ed!

Andre is on the phone with a local vet to help us with the language barrier.  He speaks four languages (of course).   I can say ashtray in four languages.

Drinks with Andre at his hotel before dinner.  

Working hard.

A few nights ago, we went to a great place called La Cabrera with some friends.  La Cabrera is a famous parrilla, or Argentine steak house.  It is estimated that the average Argentine consumes 150 pounds of beef a year. And I can see why.

When you order the meat, the portion size is huge, and it comes with lots of little side items!  This plate of food (supposedly for one person) costs US $13. 

Are you kidding me?

French fries with lightly scrambled eggs, grilled onions, and cheese?
Shut the f*%k up!

To the left.

To the right.

Check out the bathroom!

All this razzle dazzle - I had to look around to make sure I was in the men's bathroom!
I can only imagine what the ladies room looked like!

Parting shot - it's the fries with the eggs again.
Whoever came up with this one is a bloody legend!

Rap Crap?

We found this great website (www.baexpats.org) dedicated to "foreigners" living in Bonus Aires.  It has been a big help and has answered many of our questions, such as:  How much do we tip taxi drivers, where's the Indian grocery, are there any bars that show American football, and why doesn't anyone speak English?

The other day, I was forced to become a member of the site, because some grumpy old jerks were complaining about Lady Gaga, and going on about how she's destroying music, and how she doesn't have any talent, and blah, blah, blah...  It gets so old listening to people criticize music.  Music is art.  It is subjective.  Some of it's good, and some of it's bad.  Some people say Britney Spears has no talent, but they are wrong.  She was singing and dancing on the Disney Channel when she was 11.  She must have some talent in there somewhere.

Anyway, so I was looking through the baexpats site the other day and reading about how Lady Gaga is ruining music, when I came upon a post by some guy named Ghost, who made the bold statement that he no longer has faith in the future of the world, because rap music is for people who are stupid.  You can call rappers a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them.

So, I had to become a member of the site so I could respond.  Aaron Lucas-style.

POST BY GHOST:  If Lady Gaga concerns you.......try watching and listening to some "RAP" crap. I used to have some faith in the future until I found out that this noise is the most popular "music" in the market. [I guess it's the market for those with IQs under 75]

RESPONSE BY JOHN:  While not being a huge fan of rap music myself, I think it is important to give it a fair listen or at least make a stab at understanding it before jumping to conclusions, because you’re right, IT IS the most popular and best-selling music in today’s market.

Hip-hop music gets a bad “rap” (sorry, I couldn’t resist) because of the lyrics and actions of a select few “gangsta rappers,” who reply heavily on shock value to sell records.  Sadly, this method is apparently working quite well (Lady Gaga is a prime example).  This small section of hip-hop artists and rappers (or performance artists like Miss Gaga) dominate our mainstream media coverage because of their outlandish antics, arrests, and drug problems.

Contrary to what we read in the papers, most rap songs are positive in tone or cleverly worded documentaries of today’s hard times.  The lyrics are quick, smart, and thought provoking (and leagues above lyrics written by current rock, pop, and country artists). Most rappers feel the need to influence their fans in a positive manner, and to use the power of their forum to inspire kids who are living in the ghettos from which they themselves were spawned – even if they do so wearing baggy pants and gold chains.

In fact, it is because of their intelligent, relevant, and thoughtful lyrics, that rap stars now find themselves (like it or not) with a largely middle-class audience, deriving from numerous races, countries, and age groups.  They are rapping about the everyday problems of the common man, and people are listening.  This is very similar to how some of our greatest songwriters got their start - Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Willie Nelson come to mind.  They came from nothing, and wrote songs about what they knew and what they believed in, and it earned them respect.  And I’d suspect that Bruce and Willie have a great respect for many of today’s rappers.  Interestingly enough, Johnny Cash chose Rick Rubin to produce his critically acclaimed final album, and Rubin was instrumental in bringing rap music to the mainstream in the early ‘80s with controversial acts (at the time) like Run DMC and The Beastie Boys. 

Just because you don’t like the sound of a song, or the look of an artist, doesn’t mean that the music is meant for people with low IQs.  Sometimes it’s worth digging a little deeper before rushing to judgment, because you run the risk of sounding like a closed-minded curmudgeon…