Election/El Tigre
Trip Start
Aug 03, 2008
1
20
23
Trip End
??? ??, 2008
Tigre,
Central Argentina,
Argentina
Saturday, November 8, 2008
I wasn't in the states, so I don't know for sure, but I think the election may have been almost as big of a deal here as it was in the states. Everybody was talking about it and it was in every newspaper.
Most Argentines that I'd been speaking to couldn't even really name who Barack Obama was running against (not a bad thing :-P), so that gives you an idea of how close they didn't think the race was. I'd get questions about it every day, from cab drivers, "Obama will win, right?" to people on the street... Questions from almost anybody who could tell that I'm an American, which doesn't take long once I open my mouth.
(Sidenote: I know that the term "American" should apply to people of South and Central America too, but... I just don't go around calling myself a United Statesean.)
We decided to watch the election at the location designated by the Buenos Aires chapter of Democrats Abroad, which was a place called "Sacramento Bar" in Palermo. The energy was great. It was PACKED with Americans of all ages, and we couldn't even find a place to sit when we got there at 9:00 pm. Since we couldn't find a place to sit, we decided to camp out right in front of the projector where they were broadcasting the CNN results all night. This was kind of uncomfortable for our necks, looking straight up, but it also put is in a great position to be photographed by press here.
After finishing my first Spanish interview..
It also didn't hurt that my friend group on Tuesday ended up looking like a diversity-acceptance poster, with a blonde whitey (guess who that is), an African American, an Asian, an Indian, and a Jew. Not bad eh?Anyway, the election itself was pretty intense. There were enormous cheers every time CNN announced Barack had won a state. I'd say a significant percentage of the people in the bar cried during the projection that he'd won or during his acceptance speech. I almost got a little misty-eyed myself, of happiness, watching Sarah Palin's crocodile tears during McCain's concession speech. Thank goodness she's out of reach of the white-house. (Sorry, I don't mean to offend anybody... other than strong Palin supporters)
On Wednesday, after the election, I had a bunch of texts and missed calls on my phone saying that we were in some of the newspapers, so I promptly went out to buy them. I've attached a picture of us in the most popular paper, the Clarín. There were dozens of pictures being taken of us throughout the night, and I tried my hardest to look jubilant and inspired in every one, but they ended up using the one picture during which I was taking a swig of Quilmes. My teachers at IES joked with me about it a bit, and now every time my door man sees me he says, "OBAMA!!!" and then cracks open an imaginary beer. All in good fun, I guess!
Didn't do much else during the week until Friday, when I decided to go along with some girls to El Tigre, which is a city about an hour away by train. The train costs about 2 pesos, or 70 cents, round trip. The city itself isn't the main attraction though. Tigre is popular for it's series of islands in the river, many of which are home to private spas and resorts. We decided to get the cheapest boat (about $5) to an island 30 minutes away called "Tres Bocas", which is "Three Mouths" in English. It was just fun to ride around in the boats, see all the islands, walk around a bit, have a nice lazy lunch, etc. There wasn't actually much to do, but it was a fun and pretty inexpensive day trip.
So far, my extremely fashionable security wallet (pictured) with rope/string attachment is working out great. I haven't been pick-pocketed once! It's already falling apart though, which kinda sucks, but I'm thinking I can make it last as I'm only here for about 5 more weeks.
I don't really have much for plans this weekend, other than translating "Baby Got Back" into Spanish for my workshop. Hope you guys are all doing well, I probably won't update again until I get back from Chile. I leave Wednesday! Wish me luck.
-Brad
