Bad Times In Buenos Aires

[dropthezero]

Miranda France is one hell of a miserable old cow and manages to write an entire book out of whinges. Summer? Too hot. Winter? Too wet. Apparently there's nothing inbetween. Almost every singel sentence begins with something like 'The heat was oppressive' or 'The rain lashed down and flooded the streets' or 'The phone was out of order'. Not once in the entire book does she have something positive to say about Argentina. All of us who actually live here (as opposed to passing through or staying just a couple of months) have a lot to moan about but there are actually a lot of positives that France simply ignores. The poster who wrote that France came with preconceived ideas and simply looked for ways to support them was absolutely spot on.

 

[Bill]

I read the book and liked it for the first half. It wasn't entirely negative but that was certainly the overall feeling by the time I was finished. Too much about the 'dirty war' and not enough about daily life in the city itself.
I found some parts very interesting, mainly the economic problems and how her friends are predicting a major collapse, which turned out to be true. Being here in the years leading up to the crash must have been difficult.

 

[JG]

I still cant believe the pollution that comes from the trucks, the busses, and cars. commercial vehicles seem to be the worst. the rich owner of the company living in a private community in pilar or wherever has a green light by the govt. to go ahead and just let it rip. dont stand anywhere near an armored delivery truck downtown or youll be sorry! And thats just the black clouds from the aged wrecks on the road. my building begins shaking around 5am from the airplane-decibel level busses. if youre not here, the noise cant even be described.
doesnt need to be that way at all, completely avoidable and controllable. but this is bad times in buenos aires..................