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2 reviews for:
The Condor And The Cows: A South American Travel Diary
William Caskey, Jeffrey Meyers, Christopher Isherwood
2.75 AVERAGE
2 reviews for:
The Condor And The Cows: A South American Travel Diary
William Caskey, Jeffrey Meyers, Christopher Isherwood
2.75 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
A bit boring and monotonous, but the later parts about places I had actually been to/was going to resonated a lot more and therefore made it much more enjoyable.
Quotes:
“the symbol of the foreigner
who comes to Reuador and sees it as a beautiful riotous inke
Aquaint endearing land of irresponsible revolution, weenin
characters and pieturesque screwball customs, Every country
can be viewed from this angle, of course the United Suter
piot least, 'The point is that the United Staten, in it power und
it giory, needs to be laughed at. Leuador, in its poverty and
weakness, doesn't, It isn't chat Reuadoreans can't take a joker
they haye plenty of humor. Tut a joke wt what they wil
just now. They want intelligent understanding They wa
in be taken seriously, Indeed, it would be for more friendly
criticize them even brutally
than to treat them as loville,
ineffectual and absurd.”
“I pinned my faith on a large fat man who had firmly announced that he must get to Tumbes that night. He looked purposeful.”
“Sarita has introduced us to the
Pisco Sour, an alarmingly potent drink which is made by
mixing Pisco, the local brandy, with lime-juice, beaten egg-
white, sugar and Angostura bitters.”
“Standing there and looking out to sea, you feel the gentle overpowering sadness of the Pacific - that same sadness which invests Hong Kong, San Francisco and the islands of Japan”
“Nowadays, you can take comparatively cheap South
American round-trips by plane; down the eastern coast to
Argentina, over the Andes into Chile, then back up north to
the States. Of course you are quite free to stop over anywhere
along the route if you have the time, but many people haven't.
They try to cram the whole continent into an annual vacation
which would be barely long enough for a visit to a single
city. This kind of total travel is Tikely to become more and
more popular, until we have a generation which has seen all
the world's principal airports--and nothing else. At the Hotel
Maury I met a dazed American lady who was suffering so
severely from travel-indigestion that she seemed uncertain
where she was, where she'd been, or which way around she
was going.”
“Ihe
now-mountains were pink where they faced the sunrise, the
reat lake was icy black, the pure thin air was bitingly cold.
When vou breathe it in deeply, it seems to possess you to
he very tips of your toes and fingers. You feel transformed.
riumphant, almost demonic;
an inhuman creature riding
nigh above the world of cities and men. It wouldn't be difficult
o go mad in this country. It is the perfect setting for delusions
of grandeur.”
“_we felt almost indecently glad to be going. We had grown weary, weary to
humanly gigantic mountains, thar somber
y its Incaic ghosts, that weird
weird rarened
tmosphere. Our nerves and muscles and castra
open revolt at last against the tensions f
urney, unashamedly demandine a br of rule
ome cooking, and solid urban fatness. As thE
ut. Caskey danced a joyful little jig, singing
Hello . B. A.!' It was like starting for an exciting cocktail party”
“They are incredibly touchy-
especially where the United States is
concerned. You must always remember to say,
"I am a North American and not, I am an American,’ lest you should appear
to be laying claim to the entire Western Hemisphere.”
“Buenos Aires must be the most truly international city in the
world. Its population--at any rate in the business sections of
town--appears to be a three-part mixture of British, German
and Latin (Italian almost as much as Spanish.) Its banks and
offices have a definitely British atmosphere; they recall the solid
solvent grandeur of Victorian London. Many of its restaurants
are German; they have the well-stocked Gemutlichkeit of pre-
1914 Munich and Berlin. Its boulevards and private mansions
belong to the Paris of forty years ago.
But this does not mean that Buenos Aires and its inhabitants
have no national character, Quite the reverse. For these foreign
elements have been blended and transformed into something
indigenous, immediately recognizable, unique. Many cities
are big in actual acreage, but Buenos Aires, more than any
other I have seen, gives you the impression of space. Space
for the sake of space. Space easily, casually afforded. Space
squandered with a sort of imperial magnificence. You feel
here an infinite freedom of elbow-room which corresponds
naturally to the expanse of the nearby estuary and the ocean,
and to the vastness of the surrounding plains. The other basic
characteristic is weight. The public buildings are laden with
ponderous statuary; their arches, doorways and staircases
are wide and massive.”
“Buenos Aires seems both very modern and very old-
fashioned. Its stores sparkle with newness: clothes, furniture,
automobiles and advertisements are self-consciously up-to-
date-
-so much so that you wonder if every object over five
years old hasn't been deliherately destroyed to make room
for innovations. And yet, as L have said, the mood of. its
architecture belongs to a much earlier epoch, when luxury was
grave, assured and untroubled by anxiety or a bad conscience.”
“South--that recurring, highly emotive keynote in European
poetry, has quite another significance here in Argentina.
Instead of leading into the familiar harmonies of sunshine,
palms, wine, warmth, blue sea, blue sky and das Land, wo die
Zitronen bluehn, it introduces a sinister leitmotif of desolation,
wind, storm and ice, the mystery of the Antarctic. Or, ir
you don't want to get too dramatic, ir suggests, at any rate.
the peculiar aloneness of this southern end of the continent.
pointing into a vast cold sea where there is no other land at all
on this side of the world, except the polar regions.”
“I can accept no responsibility for
the dullness and boredom of Mar del Plata. It is clean, tidy,
respectable, unimaginative, municipal and colorless, without
any character whatsoever.”
“In this country, you must never forget to call the islands The Malvinas; to use the other name is a national insult”
“And now, looking back over this journey, Lask myself what are
the deepest impressions that remain? How shall I answer when
people ask me, 'What is South America like?”
“ How
should I describe it?
Best, perhaps, by contrasts--the strongest I can find,
For this is a land of opposites, startlingly opposed. Snow-
mountains towering sheer up out of jungle and tropical plain.
Glaciers overhanging bamama plantations, Condors circling
over cows. Airline passengers looking down on pack-trains
of llamas. Brand-new Cadillacs honking at mules. Coca-Cola
cuties on mud-huts, A girl in a Parisian hat buying eggs from
a market-woman in a blanket.”
“It is a land of violence.
Thandier and ralanches im che
mountains, huge foods and storms on the plains, Volcanoes
exploding. The earth shaking and splitting. The woods full of
savage beasts and poisonous insects and deadly snakes. Knives are whipped out at a word, Whole families are murdered
without any reason. Riots are sudden and bloody and often
meaningless. Cars and trucks 1ra driven into each other or
over cliffs with an indirerence which is half-suicidal. Such an
energy in destruction. Such an apathy when something has
to be mended or built, So much humor in despair, So much
weary fatalism toward poverty and disease. The shrug of the
boulders, and the faint smile of cynicim. No good. Too late.
It's gonc. Finished. Broken. They're all dead. Ignore it. Use
the other door. Sleep in another room. Throw it in the gutter.
Tie the ends together with string. Put up a memortat cross.”
Quotes:
“the symbol of the foreigner
who comes to Reuador and sees it as a beautiful riotous inke
Aquaint endearing land of irresponsible revolution, weenin
characters and pieturesque screwball customs, Every country
can be viewed from this angle, of course the United Suter
piot least, 'The point is that the United Staten, in it power und
it giory, needs to be laughed at. Leuador, in its poverty and
weakness, doesn't, It isn't chat Reuadoreans can't take a joker
they haye plenty of humor. Tut a joke wt what they wil
just now. They want intelligent understanding They wa
in be taken seriously, Indeed, it would be for more friendly
criticize them even brutally
than to treat them as loville,
ineffectual and absurd.”
“I pinned my faith on a large fat man who had firmly announced that he must get to Tumbes that night. He looked purposeful.”
“Sarita has introduced us to the
Pisco Sour, an alarmingly potent drink which is made by
mixing Pisco, the local brandy, with lime-juice, beaten egg-
white, sugar and Angostura bitters.”
“Standing there and looking out to sea, you feel the gentle overpowering sadness of the Pacific - that same sadness which invests Hong Kong, San Francisco and the islands of Japan”
“Nowadays, you can take comparatively cheap South
American round-trips by plane; down the eastern coast to
Argentina, over the Andes into Chile, then back up north to
the States. Of course you are quite free to stop over anywhere
along the route if you have the time, but many people haven't.
They try to cram the whole continent into an annual vacation
which would be barely long enough for a visit to a single
city. This kind of total travel is Tikely to become more and
more popular, until we have a generation which has seen all
the world's principal airports--and nothing else. At the Hotel
Maury I met a dazed American lady who was suffering so
severely from travel-indigestion that she seemed uncertain
where she was, where she'd been, or which way around she
was going.”
“Ihe
now-mountains were pink where they faced the sunrise, the
reat lake was icy black, the pure thin air was bitingly cold.
When vou breathe it in deeply, it seems to possess you to
he very tips of your toes and fingers. You feel transformed.
riumphant, almost demonic;
an inhuman creature riding
nigh above the world of cities and men. It wouldn't be difficult
o go mad in this country. It is the perfect setting for delusions
of grandeur.”
“_we felt almost indecently glad to be going. We had grown weary, weary to
humanly gigantic mountains, thar somber
y its Incaic ghosts, that weird
weird rarened
tmosphere. Our nerves and muscles and castra
open revolt at last against the tensions f
urney, unashamedly demandine a br of rule
ome cooking, and solid urban fatness. As thE
ut. Caskey danced a joyful little jig, singing
Hello . B. A.!' It was like starting for an exciting cocktail party”
“They are incredibly touchy-
especially where the United States is
concerned. You must always remember to say,
"I am a North American and not, I am an American,’ lest you should appear
to be laying claim to the entire Western Hemisphere.”
“Buenos Aires must be the most truly international city in the
world. Its population--at any rate in the business sections of
town--appears to be a three-part mixture of British, German
and Latin (Italian almost as much as Spanish.) Its banks and
offices have a definitely British atmosphere; they recall the solid
solvent grandeur of Victorian London. Many of its restaurants
are German; they have the well-stocked Gemutlichkeit of pre-
1914 Munich and Berlin. Its boulevards and private mansions
belong to the Paris of forty years ago.
But this does not mean that Buenos Aires and its inhabitants
have no national character, Quite the reverse. For these foreign
elements have been blended and transformed into something
indigenous, immediately recognizable, unique. Many cities
are big in actual acreage, but Buenos Aires, more than any
other I have seen, gives you the impression of space. Space
for the sake of space. Space easily, casually afforded. Space
squandered with a sort of imperial magnificence. You feel
here an infinite freedom of elbow-room which corresponds
naturally to the expanse of the nearby estuary and the ocean,
and to the vastness of the surrounding plains. The other basic
characteristic is weight. The public buildings are laden with
ponderous statuary; their arches, doorways and staircases
are wide and massive.”
“Buenos Aires seems both very modern and very old-
fashioned. Its stores sparkle with newness: clothes, furniture,
automobiles and advertisements are self-consciously up-to-
date-
-so much so that you wonder if every object over five
years old hasn't been deliherately destroyed to make room
for innovations. And yet, as L have said, the mood of. its
architecture belongs to a much earlier epoch, when luxury was
grave, assured and untroubled by anxiety or a bad conscience.”
“South--that recurring, highly emotive keynote in European
poetry, has quite another significance here in Argentina.
Instead of leading into the familiar harmonies of sunshine,
palms, wine, warmth, blue sea, blue sky and das Land, wo die
Zitronen bluehn, it introduces a sinister leitmotif of desolation,
wind, storm and ice, the mystery of the Antarctic. Or, ir
you don't want to get too dramatic, ir suggests, at any rate.
the peculiar aloneness of this southern end of the continent.
pointing into a vast cold sea where there is no other land at all
on this side of the world, except the polar regions.”
“I can accept no responsibility for
the dullness and boredom of Mar del Plata. It is clean, tidy,
respectable, unimaginative, municipal and colorless, without
any character whatsoever.”
“In this country, you must never forget to call the islands The Malvinas; to use the other name is a national insult”
“And now, looking back over this journey, Lask myself what are
the deepest impressions that remain? How shall I answer when
people ask me, 'What is South America like?”
“ How
should I describe it?
Best, perhaps, by contrasts--the strongest I can find,
For this is a land of opposites, startlingly opposed. Snow-
mountains towering sheer up out of jungle and tropical plain.
Glaciers overhanging bamama plantations, Condors circling
over cows. Airline passengers looking down on pack-trains
of llamas. Brand-new Cadillacs honking at mules. Coca-Cola
cuties on mud-huts, A girl in a Parisian hat buying eggs from
a market-woman in a blanket.”
“It is a land of violence.
Thandier and ralanches im che
mountains, huge foods and storms on the plains, Volcanoes
exploding. The earth shaking and splitting. The woods full of
savage beasts and poisonous insects and deadly snakes. Knives are whipped out at a word, Whole families are murdered
without any reason. Riots are sudden and bloody and often
meaningless. Cars and trucks 1ra driven into each other or
over cliffs with an indirerence which is half-suicidal. Such an
energy in destruction. Such an apathy when something has
to be mended or built, So much humor in despair, So much
weary fatalism toward poverty and disease. The shrug of the
boulders, and the faint smile of cynicim. No good. Too late.
It's gonc. Finished. Broken. They're all dead. Ignore it. Use
the other door. Sleep in another room. Throw it in the gutter.
Tie the ends together with string. Put up a memortat cross.”
adventurous
funny
informative
slow-paced