The Rising

Generally I try to provide inside to various aspects of my life down here, but this entry will be dedicated solo to one issue: the rising crisis between the government and the farm workers. The situation itself has been developing for quite some time, though it's really come to a head as of recent.

The Basic Discourse: Argentina's economy has actually been quick to recover since its plummet at the turn of the millennium. Although there are still many areas in need of improvement (inflation, health care, etc.) the country has shown its resilience in maintaining a valued economy. A large reason for such a quick comeback has been the value of agriculture. Not only is Argentina famous for it's beef, but soybean and other products have a great value in both national and international levels. After a few successful years the government has decided to re-arrange the export taxes on said products, essentially raising taxes for "the campo" by 10%. The reasoning for this is sound: The Campo is Argentina's cash cow and the government hopes to raise additional revenues from their success so that they can improve other lagging areas like health care and education. The Campo, however, does not take too kindly to this logic. They see the government as essentially punishing them for their success and don't think they should solely carry the fiscal burden for failing Argentine industries.

The History: About 20 days ago the "farm workers" began a strike. I use the term farm workers, though it actually goes much deeper than that and includes meat and dairy producers too. The strike carried on for 16 days and was located in the "interior,” which is essentially every region outside Buenos Aires, though most events occurred in the northern parts. Not only did production halt, but also workers organized demonstrations, protests, and Cortes (cuts). These Cortes were essentially roadblocks that kept good from reaching their destination (image an 18 wheeler stretched perpendicularly along 95 or the 405, surrounded by 40 plus farm workers not letting any produce pass). By the last week the city was really starting to feel the crunch, shortages began to appear in produces markets and elsewhere.

The Protests: After such a strong showing by the Campo, President Kirschner made her way to the interior to try to resolve the situation peacefully; she failed. I'm not sure of the exact details of what transpired but she essentially told the Campo that she would not give in to threats and would not talk to them again until they stopped the Cortes. It was up until this point (about last Tuesday) when I had only been loosely following the story line. At around 9 PM that evening I hear a few people starting to bang pots and pans. At first I try to figure out where it's coming from and also why they are doing it. I initially think its a celebration of a marriage proposal, or their signal of approval for the new national holiday that was celebrated the preceding Monday. As the noise grew, however, I knew it was something more. The clanking grew and ascended on us from all angles, making their way throughout the city towards various congregations. As we made our way to dinner we saw two of these protests on prominent corners, so large that Police shut down roads within a few blocks of each. The protests were peaceful yet inspiring and pretty much consisted of songs of nationalism and shouts of support for the campo. Although I was still somewhat uniformed as to how or why these were taking place, I felt a bit inspired. Not only were thousands of people out in the streets, but also just about every car was honking their horn in unison to the beat created by pots and pans.

The Bad, The Good, and the Ugly:
BAD: The situation, although it is yet to be diffused, got pretty hairy by the end of last week. Shortages were seen in markets and prices were increasing for most goods, especially produce. Private economists are estimating that inflation for the month will be around 3% (what it is for the US in one year). The strike has also left many indirectly affected without work: mainly industries that support agriculture (transportation, etc.) Also, apparently these protests are not nearly as common as I originally thought. The last time these occurred in such a manner was 2001/2002, right after the currency devaluation when the government was taking extreme measures to control prices and inflation. It's a pretty large signal of mistrust of the government by the people. By the end of last week, most of the Argentine's that I know here were starting to have legitimate fears over the whole situation.

GOOD: The Campo has actually shown a sign of good faith in lifting the Cortes this weekend in order to resume talks on Monday. Supplies have made it into the city and though there has not been a full restock, shelves aren't barren. I'm hoping all goes well with the talks on Monday because this country can't afford the fallout from such a prominent strike.

UGLY: Some of the pro-government supporters actually paid bums 50 pesos (less than 20 US) to go into the protests and try to turn them violent by being vocally disagreeable and even physical with some protesters. Simply sad.

I've got a few quick links you can check out below to read a bit more and actually see one of the many protests. You'll need to copy the link and paste it into a new web page. I am hoping for a good report next week:

YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0b5N5RJR7k&feature=related

BBC Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7319903.stm

GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!

*check for pictures*
Perhaps an apology is necessary for the last entry as I needed to clear the air. I'll also apologize for the fact that my blog, right now, is a bit more superficial than I'd like it to be. Between visas, the aforementioned class issue (which has been resolved), and guests in town, I have had little time to focus on more than day to day activities. Recently, however, I have started to bring a journal around with me to make better note of cultural differences and points of interest that go beyond my daily life. I'm hoping I can provide better inside into the land that is Buenos Aires starting very soon. Until then...

This week I had a few guests in town: Fred and his girlfriend Emily. Fred is a long time friend of mine, we grew up together, and I was extactic that he was coming to visit. Although I was yet to meet Emily, she surpassed all forms of flatery mentioned of her. They arrived on Monday, St. Patrick's day, which we chose to celebrate in Ex-Pat fashion. Apparently Argentina has one of, if not the largest Irish population in a non-English speaking country. Additionally, Argentine animocity towards the British (think Faukland/Malvinas Islands)has fostered a great bond with the Irish. Just last year the city chose to make this celebration official, blocking of a small area of the city to traffic and essentially having a party in the street. We were able to weezle our way into Kilkenny, the predominant Irish bar in BsAs, and had a rather good time. In hind sight, it wasn't much more than what a typical bar might have to offer in the States for St.Pattys day (except they also lacked Green beer), but it was interesting to see Argentine's celebrating an Irish/American holiday. I have since been told by locals that it's really just an excuse to drink beer, like I've ever needed an excuse?

As my language classes continue on top of my university classes, I generally find my days pretty full. Most of the evenings are still spent dining out and having a few drinks and I am still struggling to find balance in my daily life. I keep telling myself things will settle down, but am having such a good time that I find it hard to initiate such actions. This week was also Semana Santa, holy week. Good Friday is a national holiday and thursday is an optional work day (optional here means nobody works). Argentina is a predominantly Catholic country, with numbers ranging between 70% and 90%, depending on who you ask. Despite the fact that there is a clause in the Constitution saying the government should support Roman Catholicism, I have seen very few "practicing" catholics. I have been inside some homes and the presence of symbolism and imagery is quite apparent, but there don't appear to be many churches or individuals who go to them.

I've also changed my mentality a bit here in respect to the one I adopted in Europe. That trip was for a very limited amount of time and I refused to allow myself to do anything American. Here...not so much. I'm going to be here for a year and there are a few luxuries that I just have to allow myself. The first one being, of course, NCAA basketball. I tried to start a pool down here, which failed miserably, but still filled out a bracket and watched a fair amount of the games. Fred and I met up in an expat bar on Friday to pull for Davidson and every other underdog as our brackets had already been shot (on the second day, pretty sad huh?) This place totally catered to Americans with dishes like chicken wings and Nachos, and though I won't be making a frequent habit out of it, I loved every second. That night I went set out to two of my favorite places here: Desnivel and Azucar. Desnivel is the restaurant that I previously made mention of when talking about the steak. Although the food is terrific, the ambiance is also great in that you can pretty much be as loud as you want. I believe I have also noted Azucar before, the Salsa club where you can dance until the sun rises. I think and hope all had a great time that night, I know I did.

The absolute highlight of the week, however, was attending a futbol (soccer) match on sunday. I just had some new friends arrive in town that morning, whom I'll make mention of in my next entry, and it was Fred and Emily's last day in town. Futbol is absolutely massive here and there are about twenty clubs within the region that is Buenos Aires. Really, however, there are only two: Boca Juniors and River Plate. The English element in their names actually stems from the turn of the century as they were initially founded by English teams/owners. These teams, however, divide the city. I'm told when tey play that they actually have to re-route traffic so that the fans never cross paths. I'd believe it too. We went to a River Plate vs. Velez game and it was absolutely nuts. We sat in the nice seats, which meant that the only thing keeping us from making our way onto the field was barbed wire and something that appeared to be a moat. The general section (with the crazy fans) was impeded by a 30 ft. fence and police in riot gear. I understand why, it gets absolutely crazy. The fans never stopped singing or jumping up and down, the entire game, and I'm really hoping you are able to access my videos to see only a small part of this enthusiasm. I'm also pretty sure that not a single minute passed where curse words weren't beeing slung at the refs and players. In addition to the experience, the game was also quite exciting. It's much faster live and it helps that my team, River, won.

A few final notes:
-Embarazada here doesn't mean embarrassed, it means pregant. I'm sure you can imagine that quite a few girls have made that mistake before, leading to even more embarrassment.
-"Happy Easter" here is Felices Pascuas. I've asked several and nobody can seem to tell me why it's pluralized. I'm really just upset that I haven't been able to find a word that sounds like Pascuas but actually means derier.

Happy Keyster :)

This is Argentina

also known as "Welcome to Argentina." This is the phrase uttered whenever something goes wrong, like a power outage, slow service, etc. Wouldn't you know the blog that I saved got deleted, this is argentina. Post will be up tomorrow.

I Love the Rainy Nights (not really)

Apparently six consecutive days of rain in Buenos Aires is quite unusual, especially during this season. As with any city, the locals here have a general knack for talking up their city, or in this case excusing it. Despite trying to filter and interpret these comments as “local bias” I’d have to say most of what I’ve been told has held true, the rain included. The city is not setup to handle massive amounts of rain, which has become more than evident through the flooding in the streets, closure of subte (subway) stations, power outages, and various other fun things.

*Fun side note: the original settlement of Buenos Aires did not take due to flooding. I wonder if they’re starting to re-think their position now?

On the bright side the rain has not been consistent, but on the downside the rain has not been consistent. My definition of fun is pretty broad and incorporates a wide array of activities, but getting stuck in a flash flood with all of my visa documents and without slightest shred of gear does not make the list. Compounding the problem is the dilapidated state of the sidewalks, which I think speaks more to the problem of bloated bureaucracy than economic fallibility. All of the major utilities (gas, water, etc.) run underneath the sidewalk and when there’s a problem, they have to break the sidewalk to fix the problem underneath. Apparently the gas company has no problem breaking through the patch work concrete, but when it comes to fixing the problem it’s someone else’s problem. Sometimes they’ll mark off areas with bags of rocks suggesting they’re going to fix the problem, or wood pallets to cover one eyesore with another. Sometimes they’ll even manage to salvage the tiles and put them back loosely, creating a bit of a wobble when you step on. The aforementioned is hardly ever problematic, except when it rains. The rain collects underneath the tiles and stepping on an end displaces the subterranean water, slinging it perfectly up your leg, sometimes making it is far as your shorts.

ACADEMIC NEWS

I’ve spent the better part of the week collecting my documents for a student visa and arranging my schedule with la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). I’m never one to count my chickens before they hatch, especially with all the road blocks thus far, but everything seems to be falling in place. It’s actually been so smooth that I’m catching on to this “contagious optimism” that, according to Salmon Rushdie, can be oh so dangerous. Monday is my first day of classes and although I retain a bit of angst, I’m also quite excited. Not so much about the classes, but about my chance to be “that foreign student.” Just imagine any exchange student you’ve ever come across and I could be that guy: died hair, Velcro shoes, and a notebook/folder with something I think is superhip like the Power Rangers. Can’t wait.

SOCIAL NEWS

Some of the rotary scholars are leaving this week for their respective locations around the country while new ones specific to Buenos Aires have arrived. I’m starting to worry a bit about surrounding myself with mostly Americans but those fears have been somewhat belayed this weekend in what I call “the week of the argentine.” I met my first real argentine friend a few weeks ago and we finally got to hang out Thursday and I got to see some of the real local spots, though it was tough cause we didn’t start heading back (at my request) until 4AM. Friday my roommate and I headed to Palermo Hollywood (one of the barrios) and ended up meeting a large group of South Americans (name any country) working for a consulting group. We spent the majority of the night hanging out with them and I think my roommate, Patrick, might be applying for a job. That night we also met Pablo, a rugby playing drummer who made us promise to come to his bands’ live music Saturday night at a bar/club. A little afraid of him, we complied. We also thought this was going to be a little rinky-dink dive bar with a few local bands showcasing their skills…wrong. The bar was massive and Pablo arranged it so we didn’t have to pay the $30 peso cover (about as expensive as it gets). They were the only band and were amazing, Pablo especially. Afterwards he gave me a band t-shirt and told Patrick and I he was going to bring us to a Rugby practice, as well as a bbq (Parilla being the local term). He also asked for our female friend’s phone number for any of you who might be thinking about this in the context of my flight attendant story.

That’s all for now, check for new pictures. There’s a few captions this time and more to come next week, especially of the new place.

Again, Sorry

I've moved in and am setup but we don't get wireless internet until Tuesday. I guess it's one of those "it has to get worse before it gets better" sort of scenarios. My post will be up by wednesday and I should be able to consistantly add on mondays.

AT LONG LAST

So BsAs has had an unusual amount of rain (that being two days worth) and actually probably copes with it worse than Los Angeles. Power outages and flooding are common, leaving my update at the whim of this internet cafe computer with a faulty ´a´ button. I´d like to think of it as going back to the old school cause I´m an old fool (Tag Team anybody?) but am hoping many of these problems will be resolved when I move into my apartment with wireless this weekend. Many of you may be thinking, ¨but Daniel, how does that affect the weather?¨ Well if you follow my detailed plan below you wouldn´t have to ask such silly questions.
MY PLAN
Step 1) Move into an apartment with wireless
Step 2) Build machine that controls the weather

For those of you whose brains hurt from trying to comprehend such idiocracy, let me reiterate the big news: I have an apartment. Its a two bedroom with a common space (for those of you who wish to visit) in a nice area that probably costs a bit too much. Nevertheless, its got good value and a balcony on the 12th floor. Pictures to come.

Apartment shopping occupied most of my free time, but I managed to drag myself out for few social engagements. Tuesday night was Kevin´s last in town and we went to a bar that served indian food. The food wasnt bad though it lacked spice (Im sensing recurring theme here). A pretty casual night really. Wednesday I saw Juno in what was probably the nicest movie theater Ive ever been in, and it only cost $4 US. All the American movies are in English here with Spanish subtitles, which is a nice reprive from my brain pain, but also helpful in that I pick up a few more words here and there. The real winner of the week though was Saturday night, we went to Azucar, which is a Salsa club and danced until 6AM, again being some of the first to leave. I havent attempted Tango yet but think I want to learn Salsa first because it was a ton of fun.

For those of you worried about my cultural learnings I actually tried to go to the Bodies Exhibit on saturday, but it turns out it closed on Friday (who closes an exhibit on the beginning of weekend?) I also pick up about two or three papers a week. The big news here is that beef prices are going up 15%, from about 6.5 pesos per kilo (about $1 per lb) to as high as 8 pesos. This price seems pretty reasonable still, yet sometimes I forget Im not surrounded my American prosperity. You´ll see things like a cd rack in the supermercado that costs 40 pesos (about 13$ US) and they have it on a 12 month payment plan so people can afford it. A bit tragic.

Never one to end on a sad note:

Esposa is the word for wife in Spanish, but also the word for handcuff. Coincidence? I think not.

new post tomorrow

sorry all, its been a crazy week and the rain here has shut down a lot of things. ill have an update by tomorrow (tuesday).

daniel