Map of World - Click a place Brad's been

February 2016 - Hairy Days, Making a Move, Roller Hockey

Before I start the write up I just want to pass on my condolences to the Morrissey Family after the passing of Mother Mary Ann February 14.


February the second restart of the year.  Chopping hair and moving apartment (still in Buenos Aires, for now), plus a few odd photos in the Other Stuff section including my start back in to Roller Hockey.

Funniest photo of the year so far!
Said good bye to the mop on my head which I have had since I arrived in Buenos Aires in 2012 (shaving my head October 2011 the day before my big ride to Argentina).  Of course I have had hair cuts since, but have keep it long for 4 years.  It's time to grow up again, haha. Oh and Jessy is my new barber!

It's time!



No more hair in my face, quick drying after showers
and much cooler in the summer.

Haircut meditation,
not a fan of hair in my face

Ya esta, done.















My Turn!

Not bad for my first time.
















Down sizing.  At the end of the month we moved to a smaller apartment to fit our needs.  Didn't take me long to get packed as you can see in the video.  As well we had to leave a few bigger pieces with the renters we switched places with (they wanted a bigger place).  The new government just removed electricity, gas and water subsidies so this seemed like the perfect move (pun intended) to cut costs.

Side Story: The new government assumed control in December taking over from a very immature corrupt team over the last 12 years, first the husband and then wife after the husband fell ill.  They offered a bed of lies that the uninformed jumped all over putting the country in the worst situation it's been for a long time.  In 2001 the peso and USD were on par, and today 15 pesos to 1 USD.  Ouch!  This lead to the new government desperate need to cut costs and save money so electricity, gas and water subsidies were removed and in effect all these rates jumped between 250% and 400%.  Yes 250% and 400%.  I wouldn`t make plans to visit Arg in the next year or two.

Grabbing boxes where ever we could
find them.




About 40% of the stuff.
    
Tight fit, but we made it.
I can work with it, but give me
some time to get adjusted

Bubba's got a home

Bumble's got a home






























Other Stuff


Possibly my last Spanish Course and not because I'm fluent

Who's wearing lipstick?

Yoga time

I prefer this to some of the other faces 

Apparently I blocked this scooter
in with my moto.  Oops.

The shark is back.

These things are worth 7 cents
and usually look the part

Japanese and Vietnamese

Incredible chocolate mouse/pie that weighed about 1 kg
and cost about $12 to make at home!. Worth every penny!

For moto reference one day

Back on Rollers.  Playing Roller Hockey in Parque Palermo







January 2016 - Started with a Bang! Surprise visitors, Bdays and Police chases

January always the month of restart which was prompted by fireworks exploding right beside us.  Where do you go from there, well some surprise visitors from Calgary, some hosted Vegan dinners, throw in a few birthday parties and of course a roof top Police chase and you got a month to talk about.  Also for those engineers out there I had a construction tour of a new high rise underway in Tigre.
My question is ... "Who's on top?"
WARNING - These NYE fireworks videos are Awesome!

Very cool video showing local firework displays around the city of Buenos Aires as the clock stuck midnight.

A little more intense when our neighbours across the street on the second floor decided to light up the sky.  Only problem, we were on the 10 floor of our building which I guess is the explosion range for these particular fire works.  WATCH IT!!!



The Cops take down our neighbours!  I wish I had it all on video.

Side Story: About 8 months ago the abandoned / condemned building next to us became occupied by a few squatters.  Last year I watched as the cops would gather in front of the building thinking about doing something, but they never did.  Apparently there is law that you can't remove squatters which sounds ridiculous to me, but may be that's just how it works here.  Needless to say nowadays the abandoned building is home to all sorts from Poor Families just trying to get by to Drug Dealers and Prostitutes.  May be the government should have another look at that Squatting Law???

Video of the cops tidying up the suspected drug dealers.

Kinda dangerous; Jessy watched the
Cops stop the criminals by pulling
guns and saying "Stop or I will shoot"



Welcome Visitors: On that note, welcome to the neighbourhood friends from Canada; Marty and then later in the month Steph and Elisabeth.  

Marty, a guy I worked with in 2011 and loosely knew, turned up in BA one day through a comedy of errors cancelling a flight to Venezuela after reading how dangerous it is these days and then not being allowed to enter Brasil as Canadians need a visa prior to entry.  Sorry Marty, but I guess hanging out with us wasn't too bad either.  Fun to hang out with you in the Southern Hemisphere.


Scrabble in Parque Palermo drinking mate

At La Colorada


















Elisabeth and Stephan, newly weddings, had planned to visit BA and Uruguay, but we never did know for how long, etc.  Fun to hang out with the second Anderson to visit me in BA (Tom being the first in Jan 2014).  Anyhow, good to show you guys a little of my second home and Best of Luck with all the things in your future.

Look at the dishes at
Cafe San Juan

Cafe San Juan in San Telmo






















Dinner reservations for opportunities to try potential plates at a soon to be Vegan Cafe - Costa Loba (soon, like 2 years soon if the chef goes for it).


First guest in 2016, Carolina and Gabby

The Chef

One of the Starter Spreads

Another day where I got to test the home made torillas
with delicious fillings.

Cooling technique for a tasty pie





























Birthdays!  
Sole caught up to me in years yet again and we celebrated that out at La Pelegrina with some family from as far as Calgary (her sister Gaby and Kevin and kids).  Thanks for all the fun.

This is going to be good

Sole and Dad Jorge

Live band like my bday, sort of...

Kevin Morrissey in the house!

Good Team





























And then Lina hosted a triple Birthday Party shaker for her, another friend of mine Patrick and some dude from her office who supplied the food, booze and the people.

Nothing like a little chugging to know it's your b-day!

Fernando, Patrick, Lina


Construction Site Visit - My buddy Julian working as an on-site Architect building a high rise in lovely Tigre.

One of two twins going up

A type of drilling rig for making piles

No idea if the orange hat means
I a big deal or a big jack ass?!

Stay Tuned - My children's book series.  Don't worry, I'm sure the first sketches of Mickey Mouse were just as scary, haha. 

The first Simpsons didn't look so good

The nose is the key for the first book of the series

Other Stuff

Thanks Morrissey's

This is actually an all you can eat Vegan Pizza restaurant

A sign of things to come in
Parque Palermo

Out of  Service

Water main break flooded the
basement storage.

CD's and DVD's better than tapes in a drying out situation.

Hey! paper starts as pulp and water 

Nope, not a car dealership

The Chevrolet Roller Hockey rink at Peru Beach

Get your head out of ...
the dumpster pal!