Saturday 23 December 2006

Random Observations

Every place we've been in so far seems to use hot water radiant heaters. One under windows, one in bathroom usually. Restaurants have them along windows too. Haven't seen forced air anywhere.

I haven't seen a sink yet that has a U trap plumbed in. All are just straight exits.

I'm amazed at how much GPRS (data network, ie. BlackBerry) coverage we've had so far. Haven't even felt the need for an internet cafe yet as we can do web and email. More complicated things like banking still would necessitate a "larger" computer. Might drop by a place today to burn picturs to a CD, most places seem to offer this for $2.

Most of the world uses 26" bike wheels like mountain bikes. I was aware of this, and in most instances I don't think it matters too much. I've got some extra spokes, and I'm not worried about my tires. Having a good rolling mountain bike tire with just the added volume would be nice on some of the roads just for comfort. I'd probably buy the same Conti tire anyway, I'm pretty sure they're also available in a 26".

Front racks would be nice, not to carry more, just to carry what you have more evenly.

My new and slightly smashed Panasonic wide angle mini camera has a sticker proclaiming "extended battery life" on it. I've taken 200 pictures and done lots of viewing and culling of crappy shots each evening. The LCD is "huge", and with all this, the battery indicator hasn't even gone down one bar yet. I like truth in advertising.

It may be just the kid inside me, but Leatherman tools rule. I'm still only 3% as resourceful as McGyver, but I'm improving. Plus they offer a titanium model, and titanium is cool.

There aren't obese people here. I can't recall seeing one fat person yet. Some senioritas fill out their spray on tight jeans pretty well, but there's no massive layers of flab.

There's no litter to speak of. In approximately 350km so far there's been an extremely minimal amount of litter, just an odd piece every now and then.

There's a few stray dogs in Bariloche but not many. Stray dogs seem to be a staple of anywhere south of the US. They actually seem good natured and healthy here, they're not a nuisance to they eye.

Traffic signals seem to be partially obeyed. Most cars are small, which is true everywhere except US/Canada.

Cars are cheap. A VW Golf is $21,000 pesos, divide by three rule still works. I'm guessing it may not have expensive things like ABS or airbags or other necessititos para norte americanos.

The 4 most common posters/pictures I've seen in restaurants, hotels, public areas, etc. are Che, Jesus, Homer Simpson and the Three Stooges. Any bar or restaurant with a TV on has the Simpson's. I feel dumb knowing less Spanish than a dumbass like Homer.

Tori likes Argentina. Wine is $1 per liter in stores, can be as expensive as $3 per liter in restaurants.

I've barely seen any incandescent light bulbs. Everytime I take a moment to examine a lamp it's got compact flourescent bulbs.

Beetles and old hatchback Renault's with misaligned body panels and poor exhaust systems are alive and well in Argentina. They're almost comical as forms of transportation. It's a frequent occurance to see men or women jump out of the car, open the hood latches (notice the order, the hood latch isn't an under-dash lever, they're exterior latches on the hood), and have a look see to try to fix something. Cars here in the rural areas and smaller towns appear to be treated as tools and transportation. I haven't really seen any evidence of them being treated as objects of lust or status symbols like is more common at home.

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