Mystery Presented, Mystery Solved

This post is going to have a "today I learned" theme running through it. But first a mostly irrelevant story.

I have a friend named Abdul, though I generally call him Ab. I met him my first day of tenth grade. I was new to the school. I was new to the state. I had just moved to Florida that summer from a small city in Iowa. Ab was also new to the school. He had moved over the summer from a small city in New York. One of our early conversations, though I don't think it was on that first day, had to do with being Jewish and the necessary conditions for being Jewish. This was not a heady philosophical discussion. No, the characteristic that Ab had in mind was having eaten a knish.

Not only had I never eaten a knish, I didn't even know what a knish was. Ab was incredulous, telling me I couldn't possibly be Jewish if I had never eaten a knish! I think there was a catastrophic flaw in his reasoning. I think having eaten a knish or even knowing what a knish was indicated coming from a place where they had knishes much more than being a member of any particular religious or ethnic group. More geographic then demographic.

I assure you, no one sold knishes in small town Iowa when I was a kid. I doubt anyone sells knishes in small town Iowa today. There just wouldn't be enough demand. I'm not sure you can buy knishes in Des Moines, and that's the biggest city in the state. Maybe you can in Des Moines today, though I suspect knishes would have been conspicuous by their absence back in the 1980s.

Today I learned that the Spanish word for "knishes" is "knishes." How did I learn it? Because I saw it on a sign at a shop selling knishes, along with empanadas and other more traditional Argentinian fare. You see today we walked to Villa Crespo which is one of the neighborhoods in Buenos Aires with the highest proportion of Jewish residents.

Buenos Aires, today I learned, has the highest Jewish population of any city in Latin America. Now, aside from the place selling knishes, I didn't see a lot of evidence of Jewish life in Villa Crespo. I'm sure it is there, just not where I was.

But I did see a lot of other interesting things both in Villa Crespo and on the way there. There was a shop selling little cushions you hold in your lap while you are sitting to watch television. And these cushions have voids for you to place your cup or your snacks in.

Are those cup holders Stitch's breasts?

Yeah, that was disturbing.

We passed a bakery (which was not selling knishes) having some sort of promotion today. And how do you best sell it? With a clown on stilts. Note, I don't say clown in a derogatory sense. I mean it literally. He had a red nose! I don't know why stilts promote a bakery. Maybe because bread rises? I also don't know how clowns promote a bakery. But a clown promotes a fast food chain, so maybe there is nothing clowns can't shill for.

Makes me want to buy baked goods!

In Villa Crespo, I saw a statue and monument honoring Osvaldo Pugliese. Today I learned that Pugliese, (I won't say Osvaldo as I feel I am not yet on a first name basis with him) was an Argentinian composer who wrote tango music. He didn't invent the tango, but he is credited with developing concert-style tango music. You know how in the United States, Carnegie Hall in NYC has a reputation as being the place that means you made it. If you play Carnegie Hall, wow, you really made it in your art. Well, in Argentina, that place would be the Teatro Colon. And Pugliese made it! He got to perform a concert of his tangos at the Teatro Colon.

That's Pugliese and behind him, I guess, his band.

We passed through Parque Centenario. This is a very nice park. It has lots of playgrounds for children. There is an amphitheater. There is a lake with fountains and koi and all around it are geese.

Big geese with little goslings. Aww!

Also pigeons.

Big geese with smallish pigeons. Not so much aww.

The park has some interesting statuary. One of the statues led to a little mystery.

This one is called Aurora which means Dawn. Not sure I get dawn from this.

This one had no title, but all those people in a box, doesn't it feel like Oppression should be the title?

Why doesn't it say who you are?

Who is that man sitting in a chair which is on top of books? What is he holding in his hand? Why is there no plaque anywhere on this monument or around it to tell us who this is?

Here's the good news. Today I learned who that is. But let me get there.

This triceratops outside the front door, its tail moves!

It's amazing that they found complete fossil saber tooth tigers who died while fighting and stayed in that posture!

On the north side of the park, there is the Museum of Natural Sciences. We decided to visit and had a great time. This building was built to be the Museum of Natural Sciences. And it is there in the details. The reliefs on the outside of the building show various people groups and animals. The rainspouts look like the heads of rodents or reptiles. Check out the door. Check out the cornice.

I love the spider in the web as the door decor

Good thing bats are holding up the ceiling, wouldn't want it to fall

The exhibits were very good. Most of the explanation was in Spanish, but I got a lot out of it. And their collections of various fossils, casts, shells, taxidermy species, skeletons, specimens, and minerals was impressive. I love to learn new things at museums. Today I learned something new about mollusks. Mollusks evolved in the oceans. Some mollusks then evolved to live in fresh water. And descendants of those fresh water mollusks evolved to live on land. But there was another group of mollusks who evolved right from the sea to live on land. And then their descendants returned to the water, but fresh water this time, evolving to live there. One group goes ocean, fresh water, land. The other goes ocean, land, fresh water. I'm probably over-explaining.

That's called a Rococo Toad. It's the world's largest amphibian.

Today I learned also, in that same exhibit, that the Spanish phrase for "fresh water" is "aqua dulce" which more literally would translate as "sweet water." But from context I figured out "sweet water" doesn't make sense and "fresh water" does. Aren't you proud of my inferential skills?

That's the jaw of a right whale, though my picture is from the wrong side because it's facing left.

Then, we came into a room and guess what sculpture we found inside the museum?

Hi again!

That's the same guy we saw in the park? The same chair on top of books. Holding something in his hand. But this time it was low enough that we could see it was an animal skull.

And there was a plaque with his name. Today I learned this is Hermann Burmeister. He was a naturalist and a director of the museum (though before it was in this building.) Actually, his name was all over the room. But sometimes it was spelled Hermann and sometimes it was spelled German. In Spanish, that G at the beginning would sound like an H in English. So I don't think they were saying he was German, though Burmeister could sound like a German name.

Could have been a Jewish name too! I wonder if he knew about knishes?