Browsing the blog archivesfor the day Saturday, May 16th, 2009

Day Three in Argentina

Argentina, Trips

Day Three, as was every day in Argentina, was spent in Buenos Aires.

I am writing this after returning to the States, and without checking pictures (Check out Gallery – Trips – Argentina – Buenos Aires – Day Three) it’s hard to remember what I did.

Buenos Aires, evidentally after months of expectation, had just begun a hop-on, hop-off double deck tourist bus. I went to the Tourist Information booth on Diagonal Norte and bought a 48 hour ticket for 35 pesos (around $8.50). This day I stayed on the bus, never hopping off, in the hope of becoming somewhat familiar with the city.

Despite the fact that the pictures are sometimes in reverse chronological order for some perverse reason, most of my wit-filled comments for this day are contained in their captions.

It Depends on How You Ask the Question

Humor, Wisdom I Have Learned

Recently I remembered a story, told me as a joke when I was a student at Fordham, that I came to view as containing wise information.

It seems a Jesuit and a Dominican were on a retreat. The retreat master was a Franciscan. During free time when they could talk they both said they’d like to have a cigarette or two during the Meditation Hour, so they thought they should each seek the retreat master’s permission.

The next day during the Meditation Hour the Jesuit was smoking, but the Dominican wasn’t. Afterwards the Dominican asked the Jesuit how it was that he was smoking.

“Father gave me permission,” the Jesuit answered.

“How can that be?” the Dominican asked. “He wouldn’t give me permission.”

“What did you ask?”

“I asked whether I could smoke while meditating and the retreat master said he didn’t think that was such a good idea.

“What did you ask?” the Dominican wondered.

“I asked whether it was okay to mediate while smoking,” the Jesuit responded. “And Father said he thought that was a great idea.”