year in review: 2011

● Where was I? UK & Argentina. Lighter blue = days away from Buenos Aires in other parts of Argentina.

Very hard to believe that an entire year has passed since I reviewed 2010… seems like the blink of an eye. But big things happened. Good things happened.

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JAN ● Began the New Year in London with Darío, returning one week later to Argentina. It was the only international trip I’d take during the entire year! Made up for lost time: creating the Compañía Italo-Argentina de Electricidad Google map (now deleted by Google), creating a separate blog with the history of Buenos Aires housing projects & exploring more of BA.

FEB ● Darío was due back in Argentina in March, so I had to get the apartment ready. Cleared closet space & bought furniture. Condensed all Estanislao Pirovano info for reposting. Went to the immigration office to apply for my Arg identity document (DNI). And most importantly, took a quick trip to Mar del Sur to meet with Jeff, Ceci & their newborn daughter to begin work on our budding app business.

MAR ● Darío returned & I met some of his family. He brought me a Mac mini, so I made the switch from Windows. And at long last my DNI arrived. Accompanied Darío back to Esquel, then took a whirlwind daytrip to Rawson & Trelew.

APR ● Worked on the Recoleta Cemetery app alone while Jeff tackled other projects. But it gave me the time to catalog all 4,000 photos from 2010. I also made a resolution not to take nearly as many pics in 2011 🙂

MAY ● Back to Buenos Aires, the beginning of several months of telephone problems & more computer work in general.

JUN ● Fibertel gave me 6 months of super speedy downloads as compensation. Time to watch all those movies I’d missed because of work, especially documentaries. Jeff returned to Endless Mile, but I had to take a break because of an accident. Subsequent back problems + a black eye = no fun.

JUL ● Darío came to Buenos Aires for winter break. I finally unlocked my Spanish cell phone to use in Argentina. Jeff & I zoom through Recoleta Cemetery app versions 0.5 to 0.9.

AUG ● Went to the Quilmes Cemetery for research & left the next day for Esquel. Darío & I took a trip to Puerto Madryn for some whale watching. Jeff & I performed a quick beta test of the app, he submitted it to Apple & it was quickly approved. A whole new era began when Endless Mile went live, & the Recoleta Cemetery app became available at the end of the month.

SEP ● Back in Buenos Aires, I took some final shots for the Domes of Buenos Aires app & produced most of the content. Went for one week with Darío to explore Salta, Jujuy, Cafayate & Tucumán. Was invited to a release party for a series of architecture books at the Museo de Arte Decorativo… cuz some of my pics are included. Jeff decided to leave Endless Mile because initial sales were not as expected… well, that’s his version.

OCT ● Turned 41 & had to make some big decisions. Since writing & guiding has always been fun for me, I decided to continue with Endless Mile solo & release PDFs for the time being. Within a week, I’d released the Domes of Buenos Aires PDF & began work on the next release. Revamped the company webpage & joined the Dark Side by finally opening a Facebook account.

NOV ● Worked like crazy to finish the Once PDF. Returned to the world of guiding one day for a wedding party: Recoleta Cemetery & Plaza de Mayo all before lunch. Fantastic. Celebrated my two-year anniversary with Darío in Esquel.

DEC ● Next PDF: Plaza de Mayo. Turning out to be longer than I thought, but it’s exactly the kind of guide I would have wanted when I moved to Argentina in 2000. Speaking of which, I’ll celebrate 11 years of living in Buenos Aires on New Year’s Eve. Time flies!

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In cultural terms, 2011 was one of the best years yet. Besides watching tons of movies, I actually made a habit of reading books again… breaking away from the computer screen a bit. As always, most of what I read was non-fiction: history or cultural studies. I’d say that “La Patagonia Rebelde” by Osvaldo Bayer & “Radiografía de la Pampa” by Ezequiel Martínez Estrada were the best of the bunch. Just about finished with “The Collective Memory Reader” & loving every a-ha moment it’s giving me.

Even though it sounds a bit cheesy, 2011 has been one of the most intellectually rich years I’ve had in a long time. I’m used to being on the road & having little time to process things. But now that I’m no longer traveling for work, I have precious time to sit back & reflect. That has been such a great gift. There are still lots of big projects to tackle, & next year Darío & I will spend a few months in Lisbon, so 2012 already promises to be crazy. At least I can look back at 2011, take a deep breath & feel content.

[As of Aug 2015, the Recoleta Cemetery app mentioned above is no longer for sale.]