Lacking Technology
Trip Start
Jun 10, 2008
1
4
13
Trip End
Ongoing
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Yesterday, I walked all the way to Puerto Madero, which used to be the port in BsAs when the city was first founded. Since then, the Río de la Plata has been filled with man-made landfills basically to create new land on the other side of the port. The neighborhood is the newest and most up-and-coming in the city and has a lot of skyscrapers and buildings that are under construction. All along the docks (called "diques") are cute restaurants that are probably pretty pricey. I saw two ships from the 1800's that are kept in the port as museums and have the old sails and everything.. It was pretty cool.
So afterwards, I was walking back and I was gonna walk through Plaza de Mayo to take some pictures of stuff I saw the first night here when I forgot my camera
Cool operahouse
. BUT it was all blocked off and there was police at the entrances and some kind of noisy demonstration going on. I was pretty confused but decided to just walk home, and on the way, at the Obelisko, there was also a crowd of people protesting something. I got home and María told me that she had the TV on all day and the news have been reporting live non-stop so here's the story... It's a pretty crazy time to be in Argentina right now. For the past 3 months, the "campos" have been on strike, meaning the agrigultural companies have cut off their routes. It's pretty vague how much of the campos are involved in the strike since they never talk about specific places, but rather just farmers as a whole. The reason they're on strike is cause the government (Christina Kirchner is the current president since 2007) tried to impose huge export tariffs of 80% or something wild like that on all of the farmers. María and I talked about this and she explained the situation to me, as well as the guys, and from what I gather, it's all the big agro companies that are really striking, even though the tariff would most hurt the small family-owned farms. Anyway so yesterday, the government arrested 19 (I think) of the big leaders behind the strike which caused the countryside to ERUPT in protests and demonstrations. BUT, here's the kicker: the protests I saw at Plaza de Mayo and the Obelisko were in protest of the farmers' protests. Confusing, I know. They're basically supporting the government, thought María tells me that the government has to pay people off to support them and that most of those people are in the government or otherwise affiliated. It's pretty corrupt here in terms of politics... They were chanting "Con la comida no se jora" which translates to something like "You don't fuck with food." Vulgar, huh? Anyway, last night I went to a cafe called Kafka to meet up with the Ben, Mark, Patrick, Nathan, and their group
Street vendors on Florida
. It turns out Julia (girl I met the first night out with Pat and Ben) has a friend who sings with her boyfriend every week at that cafe. Let me tell you, this girls voice was one of the best I've EVER heard. She was absolutely incredible. Aaaaannnndd I got to see Ben's debut as a "gran silbador" or great whistler. He's in AirCappella at school, a group that basically whistles. It was pretty cool and kinda impressive. We stayed at the cafe for a long time and then ended up going to Julia's cousin's birthday party which was like a dance party in a rented out room. It was awesomeee except everyone there seemed really young. Let me tell you, these porteños (this is what the people of BsAs refer to themselves at) are very.. passionate. It's probably a more interesting way to live life, but it's a little awkward for a person raised in a Puritan culture to witness.. Anyway, after getting home at 5 last night, waking up even at 12:30 was difficult, but I did it to go meet Ben, Mark, Nathan at a cafe for Brunch. It was deeeelish and in Recoleta, which meant I got to explore after while they went to the library to study. Thank god I have nothing to do here :) I met up with Julia at the Recoleta Cemetary, which is the upscale cemetary for all the rich people. It was pretty amazing and like nothing I´ve ever seen, because it was all beautiful mausoleums, statues, plaques, etc. It had a ton of important general, presidents, and of course, Evita (Perón's wife), who is something of a heroine here. Julia and I then went to a cafe (lot of that lately) for some tea and a crepe with AMAZING fruit, dulce de leche, and crémé toppings. It was muuuy rico (very rich, or delicious).
So far, BsAs is pretty awesome. I like the lifestyle and the attitude, and I'm even getting used to the accent and the vos, especially after hanging out with some porteño friends of the guys' last night. I even cracked some Spanish jokes. :)
Comments
Living it up
Hope you're enjoying everything!!! I'm very jealous and excited for you at the same time. Lots of new experiences, feelings and emotions. Just amazing. Keep writing, it's very interesting and informative. I like the vocabulary segments, too!
Celuy!
Natashka