I'm suddenly $600 richer. This morning, nearly two weeks after the erroneous ATM deductions from my checking account, the credits finally appeared. I was within about 24 hours of filing an official complaint to get my money back. I'm quite glad that's over.

This is the place where normally I'd tell you of the amazing, beautiful things I've seen. But alas, all I have are stories of watching TV, exercising and checking out Buenos Aires' nightlife. Not exactly ingredients for exhilarating travel narrative. Except maybe for the really cool sculpture I saw in northern Recoleta while running yesterday. I'll have to go back with my camera. Imagine a cross between a mammoth satellite dish and a flower. Instead of one smooth, round dish it had enormous metal "petals" and things sticking up from the middle that could have been the nose-like thing on a satellite dish or the stem in the middle of the flower (stamen?). Quite cool.

In the absence of fun stories, why don't I take this opportunity to relate some observations I've had but have neglected to write about.

"A street sign that says Avenida September 11?"
September 11th Avenue. Is it just me or would you also be a bit taken back seeing a street sign that says "Avenida September 11?" I saw it first in Santiago, Chile. It struck me as interesting there, but not surprising. September 11th is the anniversary of some military coup or something that took over the country. They actually canceled the corresponding holiday recently... for non terrorism-related reasons.

But there's one here in Buenos Aires, too. I saw it on the destination sign of a city bus. They have these cards that list major places the bus passes... so you don't have to memorize route numbers. (American public transit people should take notice.) In the middle of the list it said "September 11th." How odd. I had no idea the date meant anything here in Argentina. Turns out it's the anniversary of the death of a politician who pioneered the idea of free education for everybody... even college. It's not as big a date here, so the street is hidden away somewhere I haven't found. I'd like to have a photo of the street sign, though.

"What nationality would you think I am?"
You've seen the photos, right? There are tons of shots of me. If you saw me on an island somewhere on the other side of the world, what nationality would you think I am? It's quite fascinating what people guess. Probably 70 percent of the time people guess something other than American. Usually that's locals that get it wrong because they don't speak English well enough to recognize accents... but even other travelers have come up with the craziest nationalities for me. Here's a list as best as I recall.

• British
• French
• German
• Canadian
• Swiss
• Austrian
• Finnish
• Argentinian
• Russian
• Canadian
• Australian
• Spanish
• Dutch
• Norwegian

My favorites are Spanish and Argentinian. It gives me the idea that for one brief moment I was speaking Spanish well enough for someone to think I was from Spain. Maybe they were drunk.

"Fair enough, I suppose if that's really the case."
I friggin hate Brazil. I'll be spending all of about four days there and guess what it's gonna cost me to cross the border. Nearly $100. That's what it's gonna cost me for a visa. What the hell? Supposedly the reason is that Brazilian citizens have to pay the same amount to apply for a visa to come to the US. Fair enough, I suppose if that's really why they do it. But for a country desperately trying not to get dragged into Argentina's economic mess, you'd think they'd try to encourage tourism.

This bothered me less when it was poorer countries like El Salvador, which charged $10 to enter. They need it and I can afford it, I guess. But Brazil... doing it for spite? If my flight weren't out of Sao Paolo I don't think I'd even bother going. I dunno. Maybe I'm being the stereotypical crybaby American... but it doesn't leave me with a very good feeling about going there. Maybe it's because of what I said about their flag.