Visit to Colonia, Uruguay

Last Tuesday, our program took a trip to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, which is just a short 1 hour ferry ride across Rio de la Plata. We went to Colonia to renew our tourist visas (which only last for 90 days). Basically, we had to go through Argentinian immigration and get a stamp on our passports, but it was a nice excuse to see a new town and a new country!
A little history....this town was formally colonized by Portugal, but later was lost to Spain. Many of the houses are from the 16th century and it's a very picturesque colonial town. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site (not to be confused with UNICEF, which I made the mistake of confusing).
Here are some pictures!

Estoy Enamorándome con Buenos Aires!

Yes, it took a few months, but I am finally falling in love with Buenos Aires.

Yesterday was a long and wonderful day.
Jamila and I walked from el Obelisco to la Plaza de Mayo, via Calle Florida. The Obelisk is such a presence and seemed so big! It's actually a smaller version of the Washington Monument (or so it seems), but I kept seeing it behind me in the distance. It was a lovely. Calle Florida, a pedestrian street, is very touristy and I don't exactly see what makes it so special, but it was nice. Just a lot of fancy shops and boutiques.
We spent a few hours at the fair in honor of the gay pride march. It was a beautiful afternoon and there were lots of people, out enjoying the weather. I saw a lot of American exchange students there (they were speaking English loudly). It was a lovely time, with some musicians performing and the energy high. At one point, I looked over at the Casa Rosada and saw someone on the balcony. I think it was the president! There was a marching band in front of the house, but I like to believe she was watching the fair.
The parade then (slowly) proceeded down Avenida de Mayo to Congreso. Jamila, our friend Guillermo and I walked along the street. It was beautiful! Trees lining the street, old European architecture, etc. And we passed by the famous Café Tortoni! I just peeked in, but it looked beautiful and I definitely want to go there! We passed by the Obelisk again, as the sun set, and everything looked beautiful. Streets and avenues I did not find grand when I arrived had a different appearance. Everything seems a little more elegant. I guess I am becoming accustomed to the city and its nuances. And beauty is looking a little different.
It was a lot of walking, a lot of cheering, and a lot of finally feeling comfortable in this city.
It's a great feeling!

La marcha de Orgullo Gay

  Yesterday Emily and I went to the gay pride march which began in the Plaza de Mayo.  La Plaza de Mayo is right in front of the Casa Rosada or "Pink House" and historically has been a site for people to gather from the supporters of Juan and Eva Perón to the Mothers of the disappeared to angry Argentines who were frustrated by the 2001 economic crisis.  In that way it was very exciting to be in such historically political space in such an important moment for the Gay community in Buenos Aires, and around the world really.  

   An estimated 50.000 people attended the march although it didn't feel as big as a parade as I had seen in Seattle with Emily or has she as seen in New York.  They started with a fair with information booths and people selling handmade items and t-shirts.  It was a really safe space, surrounded by a 10 foot high fence and police.  In Buenos Aires in particular, the gay community has been abused by police in raids of gay bars and clubs.  So it was a complicated image, because as soon as I left the space surrounded the fence, I did not feel safe anymore.  To be fair, I never feel safe around police here.  At least in the states, I generally feel like police are there to help, but here I never feel that way- and most Argentines would agree with me.

For my final project in SIT program I will be studying the Gay Rights movement in Buenos Aires, more specifically focusing on Gay Marriage rights.  As of recently, organizations have been pushing for gay marriage beyond the civil union rights they already have.  It is a very pertinent issue, and is a movement happening right now- needless to say it's a perfect time for me to be in Buenos Aires.  Hopefully I will be going to Congress on Tuesday, it's open to the public, to listen to the debate about gay marriage.

Final Thoughts on Salta Upon Returning to BA

Nearby CEDES, the research center where SIT is located, there is an outdoor restaurant called Sanchez&Sanchez.  There's always people eating there and their food is pretty good, but kind of pricey.  When eating, one can expect a lot of noise, a lot of movement, but they are rarely interrupted.   However in Salta, where you can sit outside in the beautiful plaza and eat, interruptions are a common occurrence.  Vendedores ambulantes or walking vendors, as well as people begging for money, approach your table every five minutes or so.  It is both distracting and disheartening.  I simultaneously wished these people would just leave me alone and thought it was important to recognize the extreme poverty in Salta.  During these meals, poverty was just in your face and you couldn't really escape.  That's why it was so difficult.  Even in some indoor restaurants, walking vendors were allowed to come in and essentially disrupt the meal.  A few times people even begged for leftovers or bread that was on our table.  

Back here in Buenos Aires, you might not be disrupted by your meal, but the poverty is definitely still there.  

I just thought it was important to talk about these moments where I was uncomfortable, because there were many during my trip to the North.  And the pictures might not show how ugly that place could be.  

The North in Review

So much happened in the North! It was a wonderful experience, challenging at times, and now I am rejuvenated to return to Buenos Aires for the last 5 weeks of the program. Some notes/highlights.

• Salta is a large city, the capital of the Province of Salta. While the Plaza was extremely beautiful, lots of the city were difficult for me. Within the city and later in the countryside is where I encountered extreme poverty for the first time. I have been lucky enough to never have experienced this poverty firsthand. I also have been fortunate to travel, but this trip is my first time in the developing word. The poverty was striking at times, the comedores (soup kitchens) where children got their only meal of the day. At many points during the trip, I wrestled with my privelege and my reactions to this poverty. What could I do? At times, it seemed enough to speak with people, express interest, and learn more about them. Other times, I felt like a small person in a large global system of inequality. These experiences will stay with my always and will hopefully be a catalyst for any work with human rights in the future.
  

• We stayed in La Quiaca, a border town with Bolivia, for six days. We celebrated Manka Fiesta, a fair of trade from Andean tradition. People from both sides of the border brought foods and spices, llama pelts, artisan goods, furniture, etc. It was a windy day, with bright sun and dust blowing everywhere. We saw lots of people selling charqui, dried meat. I wonder if that's where the word jerky comes from. Being in La Quiaca was a very interesting experience. The people, for the most part, had much darker skin, and the women were dressed in more traditional clothing. Some pictures are included above. Many of the women had long braids with beads or wool at the bottom, decorations that became extensions of the hair.
  

• On the other side of the border is Villazon, a bustling city. Most interesting there was seeing the ormigas, literally, "ants." These are people who spend all day carrying cargo across the border. Customswise, it is much cheaper to carry things across the border than drive across, so businesses hire these people to run across the border carrying heavy loads. Many of these people were very young and very old. It was difficult to see, and appeared to be one of the most difficult and physically trying jobs. It was almost modern-day slavery, people working from sunup to sundown carrying bags of wheat for big corporations.
  

• I lived with my friend Francesca during the Rural Homestay for four days. We lived with Natividad, a single man of 49 years, his uncle (affectionately called "Tío" by all), his twenty-year old niece, Isabel, and her son, Estebán, who was two. We lived on a plot of land in Quebrada del Toro accross a currently dry river, which Natividad called "la playa," the beach. The house had no electricity and we used a latrine for the bathroom and candlelight for lights. The house was surrounded by animals: 2 kittys; a horse named Rocío, which I rode throughout the pueblo; laying hens, 4 herding dogs, and an abundance of sheep and goats! They were so cute, especially a little goat named Tania. Unfortunately, the pooped and peed everywhere. On our first night, Franceca and I made yummy tortillas (secret ingredient: lard) and slept well even though it was super chilly! On our second day in Quebrada del Toro, I witnessed the slaughter and butchering of a goat. I was a vegetarian for three years, and had always told myself that if I were to eat meat I would do it with my own hands. That way I would feel ownership and connection with the food in a more organic way. However, I had a very visceral negative reaction. I felt faint and almost threw up. I felt rude taking fresh air, as I knew that eating a goat was not an everyday occurence for the family. It was pretty amazing that within an hour a goat went from frolicking to becoming lunch. El tío butchered him very professionally, and although it was hard to eat the first few bites, it was pretty yummy. We ended up eating goat for the following 4 meals and drying the feet for charqui. They used all of the animal, keeping and selling the pelts, a way to honor it. It was a difficult but very worthwhile experience, to feel discomfort with knowing exactly where my food came from. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

That's a lot of information, and I will post more as it comes to me! I would love to hear your comments or thoughts.

Jamila's Rural Homestay

Although our town was perhaps more connected to the rest of the world because of tourism, after the buses left, the town became quiet and isolated again. After the sun set, a generator turned on and provided electricity for the 12 families in the pueblo. After midnight, it turned off, and the only light came from the illumination of the moon. I have not seen that many stars in a while. Although four days and three nights wasn't so long, I got a taste of a completely different lifestyle.

My host mom, age 56, lived alone and was a baker, selling pastries to people on buses coming in and out of the city. I learned a lot of good recipes and tried not to get in her way.

-Jamila

Incan Ruins

Guillermo and I stayed in a small town in Quebrada del Toro, basically a valley, during our rural homestay. The town's economy was based on tourism, partially due to the Incan ruins nearby. Similar to Machu Picchu but a different flavor, it used to be a town of 2000 people. Instead of walking all the way down, we jumped in the back of a pickup truck for a fun ride. In the pictures are my host mom, Elsa, and her neice Gabriela.
-Jamila