2009.09_Argentine idiosyncrasies

To sum.

Sobre el clima: It's so erratic -- every morning (noon) I pull the drapes, and I'm shocked. Today was the first day of spring in Buenos Aires, and as if the universe knew its cues, the rain cleared and the sun heated up the city. I even got the nerve to whip out my fancy camera long enough to grab a few shots.

Sobre el dinero: Shit's so cheap -- I gave the grocery store the equivalent of $7, and they gave me a two-day food supply and a bottle of fine wine. The weird thing is that the cajeros spit out 100-peso bills (100 peses ≈ 26 USD), but that's like a lot, so most vendors refuse to change this bill. This tends to leave me with a lot of $26 bills, and incapable of buying anything because I can afford it too much.

Sobre los alimentos: Okay okay, the meat is good. I give I give! Now give me more.

En las calles: One thing that BA does not have going for it is cleanliness. I waited at a crosswalk today (Seattle taught me to do this), and when the cars cleared, all that was left was a puff of smog so thick that I couldn't make out the silhouettes on the other side. A minute later I was walking behind a boy -- hand in hand with his mom -- that threw a soda cup in the air as high as he could. I wondered how he was going to break away from mom to get it, but he was not wondering the same thing. Both he and his mom watched the cup fall to the ground several feet away, and continued on without breaking their stride. The 80s are back!

Sobre la enfermedad: While Argentina accounts for a quarter of the Swine Flu deaths in the world, nobody wears masks, and there don't seem to be any signs of paranoia, or even caution. However, I did cough in a crowded bar the other night, and the mass flinching that ensued proved that this nonchalant veneer is merely a state of denial. This same theory was reinforced on the subway -- where every window in every car stays open, even on the cold days. Yes the windows on the subways open, and the operators hang out of them and high five each other at stops. It's so cool.

Sobre el tiempo: My friend asked if I wanted to go get a drink the other night, to which I said yes, of course. He then told me he would come get me at 00:00. Now, it was only 19:00 (7) at this point, so of course I triple-checked to make sure 00:00 meant midnight, which it did. Okay, maybe I can't keep up.

Sobre el entretenimiento: See photos of my first Argentine concert at link above. If I'm not mistaken, they speak for themselves.

More on the workers' movement soon, I swear, but here's the thing. People speak very little, if any, English here, which is wonderful, but I'm going to have to get this Castellano Spanish jargon down if I want to hold substantial political conversations. I've tried, but I hear them speak with their Italian accent and gesticulations, and then all that comes out is Italian. I'm actually rather amazed and annoyed with how much Italian I've retained. Whatever I want to say goes through the other-language filter in my brain, pops out of my mouth as Italian, and everyone's stare tells me that I made no sense. I blame it on them for not keeping to their roots.

In the meantime, I watched a great documentary, Argentina Latente (Dormant Argentina), that gives tangible insight into the devastating effects of neoliberal Structural Adjustment Programs and privatization on Argentina. Like any good documentary, it manages to traverse some very demoralizing material, and still end on a motivational note. Though it's mostly about the degeneration of Argentina's engineering industry and its involuntary transition into an export-based agro-industry (compliments of the U.S.), it incorporates inspiring clips from worker-run factories (fabricas recuperadas). One such factory found that, because of technological advancements, it had too many workers with excess time. Instead of laying everyone off, the workers chose to use resources recovered from cutting off management costs and executive salaries to implement social services. What kind of social services? Oh, trapeze and African drum workshops, baby massages... you know, standard factory activities.

I don't know what baby massages are either.

"Our independent history began with men who said 'It's possible,' and showed it was so, with the stubborn effort of the people. After decades of darkness, a rebirth emerges from the Caribbean to the Patagonia as the utopia of native nations and majorities that have been fighting for their emancipation. Latin America has every resource, knowledge and original cultural heritage it needs. It is time to become a great community of nations in order to overcome our little countries' weaknesses." -- Argentina Latente