La Isla Desierta

It has been quite a weekend.

On Friday, I went to see the much hyped (and aforeblogged) play, La Isla Desierta at Teatro del Ciego (literally, Theater of the Blind Person). While I had originally thought that the play was performed by blind actors and the play took place in entire darkness in solidarity with the actors, I am beginning to think that Teatro del Ciego is a new fad in theater experience, engaging all senses other than sight. Check for yourself: http://teatrociego.org/

First of all, I would like to revisit the conversation about my professor about the play not being racist. Throughout the play, we traveled to China and Africa (no country, just the continent) and could only use our sense of stereotype to intuit our location. "Chinese" was being shouted across the theater, as an audience laughed (I think out of amusement, not discomfort). "El mulato" was someone from Córdoba, with a different accent. His accent, however, was used as comic relief to make him seem like a buffoon. All in all, I was quite uncomfortable in the dark, not enjoying the anonymity of this experience. One of my professors once told me that if you do not enjoy or politically agree with a peice of performing arts, you always have the right to walk out. I felt like I did not have that right as I was in the dark.

Beyond my political issues with the play, which are important, I had a very difficult time understanding the plot. I thought that maybe without sight I would be able to focus on language, but the lack of visual cues made it very hard to keep up with the dialogue. Thank goodness for the occasional smell-o-vision and sense of touch (it rained on us).

All in all, it was a very interesting experience. I felt uncomfortable with parts of it, but it was a discomfort that I needed to feel to ask this question- If something that I find blatantly racist and offensive in the United States is not considered offensive in Buenos Aires, what is offensive?

I asked my friends Louis and Michelle this very question over dinner the next night. We went to Taj Mahal, a great Indian restauarant in Palermo. Delicious! But they didn't really have a response for me. While Michelle argued that certain racist acts or incidents were not of malicious intent, she acknowledged that almost everything goes. Obviously, a sample size of two will not come close to answering my question. But is something I am going to think about throughout my time here. But, the food was great, the company was great, and I would definitely go to that restaurant again. http://www.tajmahalbuenosaires.com.ar/ Jamila and I then joined Michelle at the birthday party of a friend, held at a club called El Universo. We didn't stay out too late (Jamila is recovering from a stomach bug), but it was a good time.

Up this week: lots of assignments, final Spanish exam, marching with La Madres de La Plaza De Mayo on Thursday, and leaving for the North on Sunday!