Laberinto

Awhile ago I blogged about the conflict between the government and the campo. I said that the strike was over and hopefully negotiations will start. Well, I was wrong. Since then, there have been about 3 attempts at talks and they all failed. The farmers are demanding the taxes go back down to where they were, and the government is refusing; the government demands that the farmers abandon their strike with no incentive, and of course they are refusing. Inflammatory rhetoric on both sides has just made the situation worse.

Recent developments in the gobierno/campo conflict have driven me to blog once again. The conflict continues, more and more tense each day. Monday night there was a massive protest against the government's policies in cities all over the country. "Cacerolazos", or protestors who bang pots and pans, took over most of downtown Buenos Aires but luckily did not go to the Plaza de Mayo, where militants hired by the government were counterprotesting. Yesterday tensions eased a bit as the President announced she was sending the taxes to the Congress to be debated, but plans continued for a speech by the President today. Everyone is anxiously awaiting 3 pm, when Christina will appear in the Plaza de Mayo. I've been watching the news all morning and there are already a ton of people there.  Everyone is hoping that her words will be conciliatory, but if they're not I doubt the next protest will be as peaceful as Monday's. In that case, I am definitely staying home tonight.

As crazy as the situation has been (today is the 99th day of conflict) I feel so lucky to be a student in Buenos Aires, able to talk to Argentines about what is going on in their own country. It has given me a deeper understanding of Argentine politics and a better appreciation for this complex society. The government has accused the farmers of trying to stage a "golpe de economia" (economic coup), taking advantage of the continuing fear in Argentine society of a military coup. Luckily, the farmers quickly quashed that accusation and accused the government of fear mongering, which they were. I think it is a testament to the strength of the Argentine democracy, while imperfect, that even in the fact of extreme obstinance and carelessness by the government 1) such extreme protesting has been allowed and 2) the protests have been peaceful. 

Except for the political situation, life here is swimming along. I have my first final (!) this afternoon, for Spanish. This weekend is my last weekend in Buenos Aires for awhile, since Leah and I start our weekend travels soon. I'm sure we'll do this amazing city's nightlife justice, conflict with the campo or no.

Besos!

Natalie

P.S. On re-reading this post the situation sounds a little scary. It is, for example some of my friends aren't coming to school today, but as long as we all stay out of the Plaza de Mayo and surrounding areas things will be fine. Also Puerto Madero is Christina Central so there will be no clashes between pro-campo and pro-gobierno people in my neighborhood. 

Wanderlust: Salta; and One Week in Buenos Aires

Last weekend I continued my travels with a 48 hour jaunt up to the north of Argentina, to a province called Salta. It was the second GW program trip, so everything was done first class. We flew up on Friday night (about a two hour flight) and were pleasantly surprised by our hotel, an adorable boutique establishment with Spanish colonial style architecture. After checking in we promptly went out to eat at a "peña folclorica", the salteño version of a porteño "parrilla", or steakhouse. We were treated to an extremely argentine meal of empanadas, steak and vino tinto (claro!) and after dinner there was a concert of traditional music and dancing, or folclore. Since we had to be up at 7 the next morning for an all-day bus tour, we all went back to the hotel after dinner and crashed.

The bus tour route consisted of driving about 3 hours north to the city of Jujuy and the Quebradas de Huemahuaca. "Quebrada" is another word for "canyon" and it was named a World Heritage Site in 2003 due to the breathtaking scenery and rich Incan history. Our first stop: Purmamarca and the Cerro de los Siete Colores, a small hill that nonetheless was extremely impressive because, as the name suggests, it is made up of rocks of 7 different colors. After taking a ton of pictures, we continued on to an open air market to do some shopping, and eventually made it to the town of Huemahuaca for lunch. A small village filled with colonial architecture, we enjoyed some more traditional food (some of the girls ordered llama!) and took a tour of the town. Apparently their church has a cuckoo-clock in the tower, except instead of a bird out pops Saint Francis of Assissi. Our guide also told us a little bit about the demographics of the region. The north of Argentina is much more "criollo" or Indian than the rest of the country, and shares many cultural roots with neighboring Bolivia. Therefore, walking around Huemahuaca we saw many indigenous flags hanging out of windows and doors.  Since I can't really describe it, here is a picture: 

After lunch we continued on our bus tour and routinely stopped to take pictures notable places, namely an indigenous cemetery and the Tropic of Capricorn. Our last stop was the city of Jujuy where we made a quick tour around the main square and ducked into a cafe for pick me up coffees. By this time it was about 5 in the afternoon, and we were exhausted from our long day of sightseeing. That night we went to another amazing restaurant and ended up at a bar with live reggae music. After getting our fill of Salta nightlife, we headed back to rest up for our last day in Salta.

Sunday we took a city tour of Salta, including an archaeological museum with mummies! During the Incan empire human sacrifice was a common religious ceremony, and they would bury the dead high up in the Andes to be closer to heaven. The Salta Museum of Alta Montaña has 4 such mummies, all kids younger than 14.  It was interesting but very difficult to see because although they have been dead for over 600 years the mummies still had hair and eyelashes *shiver*. I was glad to continue our tour to the Salta Cathedral (it's pink!) and the Monastery of San Bernadino which had some more beautiful colonial architecture. We traveled up to a sub-tropical forest to have lunch, which was cool since the day before we had eaten lunch in the desert, and then had to head to the airport. A whirlwind trip but well worth it. 

Monday, one of the loves of my life, Leah Spelman, arrived here in Buenos Aires. She has spent the semester in Cairo but decided to come to my lovely city for the summer. I am so excited she is here so I can show her all around! Which is what we've been doing this week, when I haven't been in class or at Bairexport. It is weird, and sad, to think that this past week marked the 4-month mark that I have been here, and I have barely two months left in South America. It definitely does not feel like four months, it has gone by so fast. 

Political update: the conflict with the campo is still going strong, and yesterday I had a terrifying cabbie who told me that if progress is not made soon it is likely people will start rioting. Obviously, I hope he is exagerrating, but with every passing day it seems the two sides are becoming more and more entrenched in their positions: the government refuses to either adjust the tax or negotiate while the campo's rhetoric becomes more and more inflammatory. For a quick summary of the developments since March, go here: 

http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11465492

I hope everyone is enjoying their summers!!!

Besos

Wanderlust: Mendoza Edition

I don't have much time to update because LEAH MARIE (ALLYN) SPELMAN just called me and I am meeting her in an hour but I haven't posted in awhile and wanted to tell you all about my travels...

After Roberta left the homesickness that I'd managed to get rid of after Mar del Plata came back with a vengeance so I decided an adventure was in order. Mendoza had been on my "must-see" list for awhile so I packed up my friends Sailee and Sabrina and we headed off for a weekend in wine country. We left on Thursday night, slept on the micro (a 13-hour bus ride) and arrived at our beautiful hostel on Friday morning. Hostel Lao was decked out with hammocks, a patio, and, befitting wine country, a kitchen full of vino tinto. Though we were a little tired from our journey, we decided to take advantage of the day and start the weekend off with a bike wine tour. The students option, the bike wine tour involved renting rickety yellow bicycles, being given a map, and left to our own devices. The first stop was the wine museum which showed the development of the wine making process since the first vineyard was opened in Argentina in 1856. Pretty cool. After the wine museum we made it to three other bodegas, or vineyards, before it got too late to continue. A van from the tour company came to look for us before we got picked up by "policia turistica" or the rent-a-cops that patrol the vineyards at night. Apparently some tourists try and stay later to wander through the vineyards...

The next day Sabrina wanted to go hiking, but that tour left at 7 in the morning so Sailee and I opted out. We spent the afternoon going to the bodegas that we had missed the day before, and ended up on an adventure. Instead of biking we decided to take the colectivo, or bus, but we guessed wrong about which bus to take and ended up with about 2 miles to walk to the bodegas. Halfway into our trek Sailee had the great idea (probably inspired by the tourist story we had heard the night before) to jump one of the barbed wire fences around the vineyards to get better pictures. Luckily, no policia showed up and we got some pretty great pictures, but the scratch on my leg is still healing. We spent the night out with some friends we made in the hostel. I have grown to prefer hostel living to staying in hotels because if you get the right hostel everyone is SO friendly. Young travelers, all looking for... adventure? Anyways, it was fun.

The next morning (Sunday) we did wake up at 7 to take a bus tour of Canon Atuel, in the Andes. Stops included Puente del Inca, hotsprings that the Incas believed had magical healing powers; Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America; and Las Cuevas, a tiny tiny mountain town that is the last Argentine town in that region before Chile. Everything was beautiful unfortunately we couldn't see Aconcagua due to cloud cover. Oh well. I bought a postcard. Sunday was also a national holiday in Argentina: Veinticinco de Mayo, or, Dia de la Patria. It marks the day in 1810 that the Virreinato del Rio de la Plata (present day Argentina, Chile, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay) decided to fight against the Spanish crown for independence. The war that was started did not end until July 9, 1825 (9 de Julio is another Argentine independence day). Apparently a traditional food to eat on 25 de Mayo is called locro, a stew made with chickpeas, beef and vegetables, so when we stopped for lunch in Las Cuevas locro it was. That night we explored Calle Aristides, basically Mendoza's version of Adams Morgan. They have some really cool bars with great reggaeton music, something Buenos Aires is lacking. Another great night. 

Our last day in Mendoza we decided to explore the city, since we had spent so much time outside of it. We wandered around Plaza Independencia, their main square which is much smaller than Plaza de Mayo, and Parque las Heras, their park. We also managed to find Cerro de la Gloria, a monument to General San Martin. After liberating Argentina he crossed the Andes close to Mendoza, in the middle of winter, to start on Chile. No easy task, and he managed to do it in 5 days and still win when he got there. The monument was beautiful and it was fun to get some more history. By the time we got back to the hostel it was time to check out and get to the bus station for another overnight trip back to Buenos Aires. An amazing weekend and I had managed to renew my appreciation for this amazing country. 

This past weekend I was in Salta with all the GW girls which was another great trip, I'll update about that as soon as I can. I cannot believe it is already June and I have only two more months here. Rough outline of my remaining time in South America:

June: in Buenos Aires, lots of studying, hopefully trips to Puerto Madryn to go whale watching and Iguazu Falls to see the waterfalls.

First week of July: Finals

Second week of July: living with Leah in the Road2Argentina residence, doing all the touristy things around BA that I have managed to not do until now.

Last two weeks of July/First week of August: Adventuring around Peru/Bolivia/Chile with Leah.

Home on August 9th. 

Besos

Meatheads. Literally.

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, things got crazy last week with midterms and I had my last one only yesterday. It was my hardest one, for my "Politica Exterior de Argentina" class, the one with other Argentines. But I think it went well, so now I can relax and enjoy my BIRTHDAY MARATHON WEEKEND. Roberta gets here on Friday morning and as I've been telling everyone estoy demasiado emocionada (I'm too excited). After we check into our apartment for the week, we are going to Bairexport for a birthday asado. Which brings me to this post's topic. 

Every Friday at my internship we engage in the most argentine of all argentine activities: we make an asado. It is arguably my favorite part of the week here. At first glance an asado, for the uniniated, appears to be your standard barbeque like we have at home. But it is oh so much more than that. Walk around the park in Puerto Madero any given Sunday and there are tons of families grilling, laughing, and just hanging out. Meat is a huge part of the Argentine ethos and asado is a reflection of this. It is a process. First there is the choosing of the meat. I went last week with my boss to the carneceria and let me tell you, it was a process. He asked questions like, "when did this meat come in?" and "from which farm?" I have never done that, or seen anyone else do that, in any American supermarket. Next there is the actual cooking of the meat. Usually it is a staffer named Emilio who does the cooking, and he starts the grill at about 12 to eat at 3. You see, an asado cannot be rushed. The grill has to get to the exact temperature and the meat has to cook slowly, to make it soft enough to eat in a sandwich. Then, finally there is the eating, my favorite part! Asados are a huge part of the argentine community fabric and my group at Bairexport is no exception. We take a long break from work and just hang out and joke around. I have learned a ton of Argentine slang from these hours, let me tell you. I don't do asados with my host family since the girls go with their dad on the weekends, so I am really grateful to have a Bairexport family with which to learn about the asado process.

I won't post again until after Roberta leaves, so try not to miss me too much. I'm sure that post will be a novel as I detail all of our adventures around this amazing city :)

Besos

N

Sonriendo :)

I am in a really good mood today, even though the smoke is still giving me breathing problems. My sister/soultwin is coming to visit me for my birthday in three weeks; and I am so excited I actually cannot stop talking about it, one of my best friends Leah finalized her plans to spend her summer here in Buenos Aires, and I had a really great weekend. 

We had so much fun dancing in Bariloche that on Thursday we decided to go to a boliche, one of the infamous all-night dance clubs. Chosen destination: Lost, a club that changes its music depending on day of the weekend and Thursdays are hip-hop night. Imagine my excitement. It was great to be able to actually sing along with some of the songs instead of just pretending I can understand the Spanish reggaeton or rap. I died a little inside when they played Kanye's "Touch the Sky." I stayed a lot longer than I had intended to (since I have interning Friday mornings at 10) but did not regret it at all. 

Friday, my boss mentioned that he was going on a wine tour that night. "Wine tour", you ask, "that sounds intriguing." Well, that is what I thought so I asked him to elaborate. Coordinated by a company called  Wine Tour Urbano vineyards set up shop in select boutiques over a three block stretch of Recoleta. You buy a glass and a wristband and can wander as long as you want. He sent me the information, and later that night off we went. Sailee and I met up with some of our German friends from orientation and learned more about the wonderful world of wine. We tried every type of red you can imagine, some aged in wood barrels, some in metal barrels, some organic, one mixed with white wine... it is amazing how a small difference like one more year of maturity changes the taste of a wine. Most of the wines were from the Mendoza region of Argentina, which had always been on my list of must-go places, and Friday just reinforced it. After the wine tour, and after dinner, we decided to go to another boliche and danced the night away (again).

Saturday my friend's parents (who are here visiting for three weeks) were throwing a party at their apartment so I decided to go for a little then call it an early night. It was really great to just chill and talk and hang out with them in a place not smoky or incredibly loud. The other exchange students here are having the same problems I am making friends with portenos, so we discussed why that is. I have one Argentine girl I can really call a "friend," and the others are more acquaintances. The education system here is set up so that from kindergarten on students are in the same sections all together, and private schools are not common. Hence, most of them have had the same friends since age 5. Once in university, most of them take a full course load and work full time on top of any extracurriculars they do so they really do not have much interest in expanding their circle of friends. This may sound awful, but made me feel better that I am not the only exchange student having this difficulty. After hanging out all night, I caught a cab back to Puerto Madero to sleep off this crazy Argentine weekend. 

Back to reading... and more smiling :)

Besos!

Nati

Fire in the Campo

Another news flash: recently fields of pastizales, a tall grass farmers plant to recuperate the land, caught fire. This would not exceptional except that the area burning is about three times the size of greater Buenos Aires, and the wind is carrying the smoke into the city. Highways have been closed for lack of visibility and a lot of businesses have closed as well. I bought eyedrops because I was starting to look like I have pinkeye. The situation has aggravated the aforementioned ongoing conflict in between the campo and the government. The strike has been called off but they are still in very tense talks, and the fire has not made the situation any better. The Government is blaming the agricultural leaders for setting the fire intentionally, and of course they are denying it. Fires like this apparently happen pretty frequently, but not on this large a scale. Also, since there is so much bad blood, the two parties are pointing fingers for getting the fire under control. So, right now there is a diplomatic impasse while the country burns and the people have trouble breathing.

Fun is My Middle Name: Bariloche

This past weekend we took our first GW program trip to Bariloche in the southern Lakes  District of Argentina. Located at the foothills of the Andes, the main draw here is the sightseeing in the summer and skiing in the winter. I was a little nervous about the cold, but I knew it was going to be a fun trip when a mix up with the paperwork gave me the middle name "Fun" on my boarding pass. How they got from "Ann" to "Fun" is beyond me but it turned out to be a lucky sign. After a 2 hour flight we got to Bariloche at around 12:30 on Thursday night, and promptly went to find the only restaurant still open. We definitely weren't in Buenos Aires anymore, since at 12:30 on a Thursday most restaurants are hitting their peak traffic. After a delicious (if provincial) meal we went back to the hotel and rested up for Friday.

Friday morning we woke up relatively early and headed out on a guided tour of the Circuito Chico, a circular trip around the city with stops at the tourist highlights. I was not a happy camper when our guide told us it was about 6 degrees Celsius below freezing, but then "Incomplete" by the Backstreet Boys came on the radio and it was fine. Our first stop was the Cerro Catedral, which we scaled in a chairlift. This is where words or pictures stop doing justice to the sheer natural beauty of Bariloche. We got to the top of the hill and in every direction were blue blue lakes and green green moutains. Behind the green mountains closer to us were snow capped ones, and our guide told us that in between the green mountains and the white ones were glaciers. We wandered around for about an hour taking pictures and generally wondering at the beauty. Eventually we went to the cafe to warm up, and took the chairlift back down the mountain. Our next stop was another scenic overlook with an outdoor market, where I took more pictures and played with a St. Bernard puppy one of the vendors had. The final must-do was a visit to a rosa mesquita taller (workshop). Aceite de rosa mesquita, or rose hip oil, is one of the main products of Bariloche and they turn it into everything. We were able to try face cream, lotion, soap, shower gel, bubble bath, "dulce" (jam), and tea. I bought some lotion since I could already tell the cold was doing a number on my skin. After the tour was over, we had the afternoon free to wander Bariloche. The city is adorable. The architecture is very heavily influenced by the Swiss and German immigrants who built it, and around every corner is another beautiful view of the lakes. We wandered around an outdoor fair for awhile, found another indoor fair, and went to one of the many chocolate shops (another main product of Bariloche) before my friends decided a nap was necessary. I was not tired yet, so I visited the Centro Civico, the main square. I was surprised to see a panuelo (handkerchief) of the Madres of the Plaza de Mayo painted on the ground, but I know I should not have been. Every province and every city was affected by the dictatorship, not just Buenos Aires. Back at the hotel, I napped, we had dinner and went out to take advantage of Bariloche nightlife.

The next day, Saturday, was horseback riding day. We were picked up at the hotel by a nice German man and drove about an hour to the middle of nowhere, where the stables were and where he lives with his family. I sat in the front and talked with him the whole way. Apparently in the winter when they get snowed in he goes into Bariloche for 5 or 6 days at a time to buy supplies, and then doesn't leave again for another few months. Wow. My horse was named Pinineo, and imagine my trepidation when I was given a stick to hit him with because "he likes to bite the other horses." It may seem like I've been doing a lot of horseback riding lately, and I have, but I have to say that my intense discomfort around horses has not changed. Riding a maladjusted horse was not what I had in mind. Once we got started riding however, I was able to forget my fear and cold for awhile to enjoy the scenery. About halfway into the two hour ride I was getting too cold to ignore it anymore so I asked our gaucho guide if he could teach me a gaucho song to distract myself. He could not, so I started a round of row row row your boat with my friend Laura. We sang that and other songs the rest of the way to the estancia, where we had a delicious asado lunch. I have had the luck to eat a couple of asados during my time here, and I think they deserve their own blog post, but basically it's barbeque. We got back on the horses, and luckily the afternoon was much warmer than the morning. We rode along a stream most of the way which was beautiful. I was almost sad to say good bye to Pinineo, who had only bit one horse the whole day. We all slept the whole way back to the hotel. After dinner we were so tired we almost didn't go out, and it took our tour coordinator Lea coming into the room and kicking us all out of bed to get us to leave. I am so glad she did, because the second night was definitely more fun than the first. Bariloche has its own Irish pub named Wilkenny's, and it played the best dance music I have heard in a really long time. Portenos love their techno, but I am not a fan. The DJ at Wilkenny's played the perfect mix of pop and reggaeton, and we just danced the night away. 

After sleeping in Sunday morning, we had lunch in the hotel and went out to take one more walk around Bariloche before leaving for the airport. I was sad to leave the natural beauty of the lake district, but every time I leave Buenos Aires I am more excited and happy to come back. I think it is because I know that one day I will leave for good, and I realize how lucky I am for now to be able to come home to this amazing city. 

Besos!

Nati