Hotchey Doggey!

Ahggg, having trouble writing this morning--my night job of food and spirit taste tester is starting to impede on my A.M. productivity. But the coffee is muy fuerte, so I will be O.K.
Yesterday we got an early jump on the day and went to the Recoleta neighborhood to check out their famous cemetary, where the likes of Evita Peron ("dont cry for my Argentina") are buried in monumental burial chambers set up like a miniature city. It's quite a morbid form of tourism and the ridiculousness of the burial chambers (said to cost $1 million for just the plot) adds a new element to the idea of "keeping up with the Jones." But as someone once said "at the end of the game, the king and the pawn all get returned to the same box." As such, when walking through the cemetary it is hard not to wonder how full life was lived when such priority was placed on where their bones were destined to rot. Regardless, as my life for the past month has been devoid of my usual KC Star obituary readings, this excursion served as my required dose of mortality. Carpe Diem! Also, as much as I am probably worthy of such an ornate and monstrous burial chamber, just burn me up and spread whats left down at the closest thing to heaven on earth: the Lake of the Ozarks. On to brighter things........
There has been a recent influx of Germans at the house that are worth mentioning. In our room there is some shady character who arrived at the house not long after bribing his way out of a hash arrest in Columbia. To add to his unappealing credentials, he also thinks he contracted Dengue Fever there (although usually non-fatal, the two week period of symptoms is said to inspire people to wish it was fatal (don´t worry Mom, its not contagious, i think). Needless to say, everyone is steering clear of that guy. Also, there is the german born 70 y/o Canadian Ziggy, who has decided to live out his retirement "chasing gals" in Buenos Aires. Good luck Ziggy. In other room news, the room union finally said enough and the senior room resident, LA Mike, told the owners to get rid of the kitten farm or there was going to be trouble. The good news is that they removed the kittens but the bad news is that the word is out that they hired a union buster to break some whiney American legs.
Our Spanish lessons are going well and there is a rumor that we "are the best students they ever had." Then again, this was said after we just put a whole bunch of money in their hands. Nevertheless, we are studying unfamiliarly hard and hope to soon master this language soup we are wading in. Speaking of languages, i think i have found my new favorite foreign words, which are what the Brazilians here use: Hipey Hoppey (Hip Hop), Picky-Nicky (picnic), and my favorite Hotchey-Doggey (hot dog), which may replace "Rusty" as the name of my first born son.
Well, its almost the weekend, meaning that the weekend-esque activities commenced here two days ago. No word yet on our next move, however we are crossing our fingers about a possibility that has emerged for us to work on a dove hunting ranch in rural Argentina.

Guns+Gringos=Good Time,
Q