19 Comments
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Xavier Narutowicz's avatar

The South American coffee cafe is different than the Gringo; the Gringo does not congregate for conversation; for the Gringo, conversation is impossible. Starbucks is full of purple hair, a land unto itself.

Joel Bowman's avatar

Indeed, the purple hair brigade have taken over the American café experience. I go to a little coffeehouse in Houston when we're visiting family there. The actual coffee is great, but it's full of all the usual woke illiterature and its mindless purveyors. It used to annoy me, then I remembered that everyone on earth has a purpose... and the purpose of septum-led morons is to make the rest of us coffee. (h/t Arynne Wexler)

Fartin' Martin's avatar

Try a true neighborhood tavern, they do still exist but are getting harder to find.

Quod Scripsi Scripsi's avatar

Our café is a mix of Spanish +Italian + French but much more informal than those original elements. With a melancholy touch via the tango subculture.

50 Bravo's avatar

In Texas, after a day of riding motorcycles with friends of 20+ years, we sip decent tequila and wonder how our replacements will handle the dichotomy between freedom and safety. We’re not sure of anything but the fact that preserving this bubble of freedom is their issue, not ours.

My hope is that their choices are less influenced by their principles than the popular media.

Judy Crawford's avatar

I just finished all 26 C.J. Box books set in Wyoming. I can see why people hate our government after reading them. We definitely are not free.

Quod Scripsi Scripsi's avatar

You don't fool me, Joel. That guy by the window is Don Rickles who feigned his demise and secretly moved to Buenos Aires.

Joel Bowman's avatar

Let the scuttlebutt and conjecturing begin!

Quod Scripsi Scripsi's avatar

Release the hounds! Alameda Café on Av. de Mayo (corner of Saenz Peña?)

altschule's avatar

when “good” or “fast” or “rich” floods the land in overwhelming quantity, you may as well have none of it at all .. yet the opposite of these (bad, slow, poor) are just as valid and more likely to appear as the laws of inverse reaction are always part of the same equation ..

larry smead's avatar

I wish things were as simple as the World Cup.

Richard Smith's avatar

Joel, Like the Cafe Confidential name, a story in itself. thanks

Phil G's avatar

African or European? Which reminds me, maybe this weekend a Netflix search for The Holy Grail

Joel Bowman's avatar

Thank you! If only one reader got this reference, it was all worth it. Enjoy the search!

Judy Crawford's avatar

Your daughter's question was so smart. I was thinking about why she would be reading about Adrian when I saw the footnote. I speak enough Spanish and look like a gringa rubia that I get to eavesdrop frequently in San Antonio LOL

Always love your articles.

Kevin Beck's avatar

Scoring three goals in a football game makes someone a genius? Hmmmmmmmmmm ... I have to think about that one.

A skilled athlete, for certain. But a 160+ IQ? There appears to be something missing.

Joel Bowman's avatar

In context, I assume it means a “football genius.” Like Jordan was considered a “basketball genius.” Doesn’t mean I’d trust either of them to build a rocket to Mars…

Flier's avatar

Tut tut. Unblemished? This imagination? Heaven forfend.

Tao Of Freedom's avatar

Milei has it right about the only (coercive) left that works ... that punishing left foot of Messi ... ☺️👍👌