Politics are Personal

First of all, Happy Census Day! Today is Census Day in Argentina meaning everything, and I mean absolutely everything is closed from midnight to 8 pm. People are required to stay in their houses until the Census collector comes around and gets their information. You have no idea when they will come except that it will be sometime between 8am and 8pm.

In the last few days Argentine politics have been a hot topic of conversation. Most importantly, today Nestor Kirchner died of heart problems at the age of 60. Nestor was the president from 2003 to 2007 and his wife, Cristina is the president now, although he still had a lot of influence. His death came as a surprise to many, but I am more surprised by the reactions the news is getting.

I was doing homework in my room at 1030 this morning when Magda answered my phone. After a few "Oh My God"s and "What news!" she finally exclaimed "Kirchner is dead!" This is about the time I tuned in, trying to figure out which Kirchner she was referring too. The next sentence out of her mouth was, "Oh thank goodness! Things will be better now!" I was shocked, I understand that she hates his politics, but to say it will be better now that he is dead seems extreme. I talked to some friends here and their host moms all had similar responses, although one even danced and screamed.

The City of Buenos Aires is notoriously anti-Peronists, and these feelings are not being hidden in the wake of his death. The rest of the country is generally lower-class and like Peronists, including the Kirchners more, so the grieving process seems to be a little more typical out there.

For the next three days, Argentina will observe a grieving period, for a lack of a better term. Brazil, Uruguay and other countries will too, but to a lesser extent. Its not clear what exactly will happen but in all likelihood most businesses will be closed. I am interested in what will happen in this country if everything is closed for four straight days! Blog post to follow...

On a non-Kirchner, but still political note...Yesterday my friend Hannah went to the library at the University of Buenos Aires, school of medicine. The library system here is beyond complicated and requires asking at least five people for help per trip. She asked one man to help her find an article about the Menem period. Menem was president from 1989-1999 and very controversial, in orientation they warned us against talking about him with locals. As soon as this man heard the name Menem, he kicked Hannah out of the library! After five minutes she was allowed back in but forced to listen to a 30 minute rant about the evils of Menem. I bet she thinks twice before naming he-who-must-not-be-named again!

My last political story of this very long blog update involves my Spanish class and freedom of speech. Last class we were given a list of 14 women and told to pick one or two to do a final presentation on. I went through the list and it mostly included people that lived during Argentine independence (1810) and artists. The one person that did catch my eye was Norma Arrostito. The paper described her as a guerrilla fighter in the 1970s who is very controversial and immortalized in many songs. I immediately knew I wanted to present on her. When I told the teacher she responded by saying, "If you do your project on her I will automatically fail you!" My classmates and I were all confused and began asking questions in a chaotic manner. The teacher explained that she does not like her politics and as a result will fail any student who presents on her, regardless of the stance they take. We argued with her for a little longer but had no success. So now my final presentation in comparing two actresses, which will be fine, but I am shocked at the limits she put on our freedom of speech.

Feliz Dia de la Madre!

Last Sunday was Mother's Day here in Argentina. A bunch of the family came over for a huge lunch and the rest of the festivities. After lunch, which took about two hours to get through-- I had to promise that I wasn't hungry at least five times, after eating the equivalent of a Thanksgiving dinner!

The best part of the day was it reminded me of spending time with my own family. Two of Magda's children, both in their mid-forties, their spouses, two grandchildren and the mother-of-Magda's-daughter's-husband (or something like that, it sort of got lost in translation) were in our pretty small dining room. The grandchildren, Nico, age 10, and Martina, age 11, were so much fun that I basically spent all my time with them.

We started off the afternoon by watching Princess Diaries, the dubbed version, something I have definitely seen with Leah and Sarah at least a dozen times. During the meal, the two of them would randomly disappear under the table before reemerging in time for the next course. When we all stood up at the end and realized that our shoes were all untied, their under the table game more sense.

After cleaning up, the adults all retired to the living room and bedroom for a nap. The kids and I spent close to three hours making origami. Luckily we found a website that had step by step videos and no talking about how to make different shapes. It was nice getting a chance to speak Spanish with kids because they can be a lot more forgiving and patient than adults, especially when it comes to grammar.

I loved being included in Magda's Mother's Day celebrations and getting to know part of her family, but it definitely made me miss/be excited to hang out with my family in December.

Here are Nico and Martina with the cranes they made.

Hustling and Bus-iling

After two trips, four midterms and 67 hours spent on a bus it is time for a long update!

Two weekends ago, I went with my study abroad program to Rosario, Argentina. Rosario is 4 hours away from Buenos Aires and one of the second most important cities in terms of population and the economy. Rosario was great! It is significantly smaller than Buenos Aires and has a much more approachable feel. We spent two days exploring the waterfront, visiting where the first Argentine flag was made and going on a boat ride. All in all it was a very relaxing trip. My friend Hannah and I decided that if we lived in Argentina we would want to live in Rosario so we could enjoy the benefits of a city while also having the beautiful water and slower pace. Rosario reenforced one of my favorite Argentine customs: when the weather is nice everyone, and i mean everyone, is outside! All the green space is filled with people having picnics or just sitting and talking with their friends. I think the US would benefit a lot if everyone just slowed down a little and enjoyed more time outside with friends and family.

The Monument to the flag:

Last Wednesday, Hannah and I embarked on our biggest trip yet to the provinces of Jujuy and Salta in the extreme northwest of Argentina, near Bolivia and Chile. Nineteen hours later, we were in Salta, the capital of the provinces. The next day got off to a little too exciting start when we realized at 6:15 am that the key to our lock had been locked in with all of our stuff (fine, i admit it, i locked it in). Don't worry, we apparently have the skills necessary to be burglars and broke open the cabinet, grabbing our stuff and arriving at the bus station at 6:56, perfect timing for a 7am bus.

Five hours later we disembarked in Humahuca, a tiny town in Jujuy and definitely the most remote place I have ever been. We instantly fell in love with this precious area. Its is a very small town, centered on a plaza with beautiful architecture, surrounded by breathtaking scenery, very colorful rock formations. We spent the day wandering between sites (never more than two blocks), making friends with local children (they loved the sillybandz we gave them) and enjoying traditional food before heading back to Salta to meet up with more of our friends.

The next day we took a tour that led us to many amazing places. First stop, Tren de las Nubes. This train is extremely important to the region because it connected Salta with Chile and the coast, across the Andes. It is the third highest rail system in the world and goes through some pretty tough terrain. Now it is primarily used for tourism, but is still responsible for bringing in a significant amount of revenue.

After spotting the train we headed to some old ruins, of a tribe that was conquered by the Incas. The ruins were expansive and it was very impressive how they were set up. Agricultural areas were carved into the sides of hills so that the water could be directed to them. After enjoying the view we continued on to a small anthropological museum where we literally came face to face with a mummy. Next, we stopped in San Antonio de los Cobres for lunch. At this point we had gained a lot of altitude and were given coca leaves and a special soup to help our bodies adjust. With our stomaches filled we headed off to the most anticipated stop of our journey: Las Salinas, the salt flats.

Indigenous Ruins:

San Antonio de Los Cobres: 12 people live in each house!

After two and a half hours on an unpaved road we were there! They were unreal! Las Salinas is where a lake used to be but after drying up all that is left is an expansive salt crust, you can see the mountains in the distance. Here we were in awe but got over it in order to taste the ground (how often do you get a chance to eat what you are walking on?) and take cool, optical illusion pictures. Las salinas is definitely one of the top coolest things I have ever seen.

We then began the long trip back to Salta. We stopped at the highest altitude of our trip, 4170 meters before starting the descent. We made one more stop in the small town of Pumamarca to view a typical northwest town. The scenery on the drive was amazing, the rocks looked like they were painted because they had so many colors, it almost made me glad that I took geology last semester, almost.

Our last day was spent exploring Salta. The town is known for its beautiful and distinct styles of architecture. The coolest thing we saw was the Anthropology museum. Recently, mountain climbers found the bodies of three Incan children, perfectly preserved, and i mean perfectly, there clothes had not lost any colors and food was still in their stomaches even though they had died 500 years ago! They were probably part of a human sacrifice. Learning about the history and culture was fascinating and seeing one of the children up close was unreal! We couldn't take pictures but here is a cool article from the New York Times.

We then took a cable car up a mountain to get the full panoramic view of Salta before starting the 22 hour trip back to Buenos Aires. 59 hours on a bus was a lot for one weekend but definitely worth every second because the things we saw were incredible and the fact that they are so far removed from the busy, modern world makes them even cooler.

Hasta Luego,

Miriam