A picture worth a 1000 words!

Ok, I haven’t actually counted whether or not this picture says that many words, but it says a whole hell of a lot. Displayed on the front page of the newspaper for an article discussing the 1% increase in the inflation of the country’s meat prices, I think many would be hard pressed to find a better photojournalistic image that better summarizes the essence of Argentina better, meat and femininity, femininity in its most traditional western world sense. Calm down my American feminist friends! It’s true that America might have every reason to be up in arms regarding such an image, expecially being titled CARNE, meaning meat in Spanish. But I’d like to suggest there are probably no things nearer, or dearer, to the heart of Argentineans than the meat they eat and females. So for the first time, might it be possible that being compared to a good cut of meat be a compliment? It's hard to say, and though I’d really like to write an argument in favor of such a conclusion, I’m afraid of the lashing some of you might give me for even the most academic of attempts! At this point then, I will be satisfied to point out three glaring facts and leave the rest to the more philosophical types.

First, meat is serious here, seriously yummy and inexpensive!! I heard this before arriving, but serious is a little of an understatement. It’s more like meat is the STAR of every meal. Side vegetables really are sides, boiled, stemmed, plain, salutes to the ever more illustrious star of the show, the cut of meat. The love of meat is such a strong force here that there is even a very popular brand of cracker that comes in several meat flavors!! And where there is a meat flavored crackers, Lay’s potato chips can be found as a noble competitor with various tasty gourmet meat flavors of its own. The Lay’s beef steak with caramelized onions is actually one of my favorites. What would Dr. Atkins say about that? Ha!

Second, Argentina is femininity on steroids. Dresses are much more popular here than in the states, especially when going out for the evening. This has been a real challenge for me to get my act together, and out of my jeans habit. Hard to believe eh, Brenda! Then there’s the extra long straight hair that most females keep here, note I said straight. This is critical because straight hair seems to associated with money and upper classes. (It goes without saying that my curly hair is going over a little better than a brick.) Regarding the length though, I’ll never have to worry about a stylist cutting my hair too short, in fact my experience has been the opposite in that they won’t cut it short enough. And as everyone knows that where there is long hair there is also tons of hair “things” to be found, and considering the number of females with long hair in this country, there's probably a ton X 10 here! Rubber bands, bobby pins, berets, and yes, even those ever alluring flowers so strongly associated with the Latin culture, are all very much in abundance. The Tango hall may actually be the best place to watch the femininity play out though, as females are alway found in longish dresses/skirts, fabulous high heels, and always the more dynamic of the dancing duo.

Lastly, I would simply like to point out that this photo would never have passed the editor’s desk in any legitimate newspaper in America, large or small, any day of the week, for any page, especially the front. With that said, I’d like to leave the other 384 words I didn’t mention about this picture to your own imagination…...

Love you all and thank you for the support!