Argentina Tour, "Fulbright" style: Stop I La Plata

After getting my parents to the airport and on their way home, I spent an additonal day and a half more in Buenos Aires. I spent most of Sunday in the San Telmo neighborhood with a new friend from my hostel, Vicky, who is from England and had been traveling around South America the last 6 weeks with two other friends. We went first to the infamous weekly market in Plaza Dorrego and a tango show at a small restaurant called El Balcón. The singing was actually quite good; I don't think the tango dancing was quite as impressive but the show also included some folklore dancing and singing with which I was already familiar and definitely enjoyed. Vicky and I took a walk after the show in Buenos Aires' costanera and nature reserve just outside of Puerto Madero. There we were accompanied by a group of 4 Argentine gentlemen who were, to put it lightly, super eager to talk to us. They could be described as... very typical, rather aggressive, blatantly frank Argentine young men. For example, at the end of our walk before parting ways, one of the guys requested with sincerity that I give him a quick kiss; I'm not talking about the standard kiss on the cheek either that we obvious exchange ... you get the picture. Anyways, it was nice to have company during our walk through the park. Sunday evening's dinner was some excellent Peruvian food and Monday morning I successfully collected my monthly check from the ministry of education.

Vicky and I with one of our new crazy acquaintances from Buenos Aires.

Which brings me to what I've titled thus far: my Argentina Tour, "Fulbright" style. With a couple more weeks of vacation left on my calendar, I have ambitions of visiting many of the Fulbright teaching assistants in their individual cities and towns. I hope to see a bit more of Argentina as well as understand my own placement better as I can compare and contrast my experiences with those of my colleagues around the country. Thus, I boarded the General Roca train line at the Constitución station on Monday and was officially on my way to my first stop, La Plata, where ETA Samantha Kalish lives. Sam was busy moving into a new housing arrangement on Monday so I perused the city with another British acquaintance, Miranda, from my hostel who spent just the afternoon there in La Plata. We visited the monstrous neo-Gothic cathedral on the central plaza and a small house museum honoring the city's designer, Dr. Dardo Rocha. We also made a short visit inside the province's Senate house, a stop at cafe Bolivar (with clear activist overtones in the photos and other propaganda lining the walls that aligned with the life and work of Simon Bolivar) for lunch, and a short walk through part of the city's most popular park, Paseo del Bosque before Miranda boarded a bus back to Buenos Aires.

Photos from inside and outside La Plata's cathedral

Time capsule unearthed at the city's 100 year anniversary, replaced by another time capsule to be unearthed at the city's 200 year anniversary in 2083. The painting is a recreation of an actual photo of the ceremony of the original time capsule's burial.

Monday I met up with Sam and we started off with a scenic, more extended walk through the city's Bosque, skipping the city's most famous museum (as Sam advised that I would probably be bored within 10 minutes of entering). In lieu of the paleontological/zoological/general science museum, we hit up a food stand on the plaza in front of the cathedral where I ate this delicious choripan sandwich:

After lunch we made 3 primary stops. Our first visit was to the university where Sam works: University of La Plata, the largest in the country. This visit highlighted one of the primary personal reasons that I've decided to make visits to multiple Fulbrighters' cities across the country. I've recently wondered quite a bit about how a city's culture is reflected in the university/educational culture and vice versa here in Argentina. I hope that by spending some time in various cities, I might gain some insight as to where I might start answering these questions of cultural comparisons. Sam works specifically in the building that houses the humanities at UNLP and I could tell from my first steps into the institution that its culture is one rooted in a long tradition of education and political activism. There were posters draped from nearly every inch of the wall and ceiling and colorful murals of strong political opinions that adorned the walls. Although rather outdated in many ways (which can probably be said for any institution where Argentine Fulbrighters are working), it was clear from the information pinned everywhere, the students' activity in the facility, and what Sam had told me about the international students' presence that this educational institution is alive. Sam also mentioned to me that they're thinking about moving the humanities building very soon as it is so old and in some ways, to her, resembles the inside of a prison with its catwalk on each floor (see photos below).

 Our second stop was to the city cultural center which houses a few temporary art exhibits in its front galleries. The first contemporary art exhibition (I'm kicking myself right now for forgetting to photograph the name of the artist....can't remember her name.) was an interesting collection of shapes, free-standing objects and wooden frames of .... tiny plastic babies, trucks and cars, broken mirror pieces, and small metal tubes. Definitely open to some interpretation, I'll let you decide what you think of this very original artwork...

One of the artist's pieces

A close-up photo of a smaller section of this larger piece.

A very close-up shot of the plastic baby dolls on another piece of her artwork.

In the second and third galleries, we found art by Gerardo Fagot (paper maché pieces) and Carlos Tartarini (paintings)

Finally in the larger atrium area, we looked out over a temporary dinosaur exhibit that had been to the museum, mostly for youth education purposes. One of the rather life-like stations featured a tyrannosaurus-rex standing over its prey, a gash in the prey's side. Not only did the T-rex roar as if rejoicing over its recent catch, but the unfortunate prey also periodically emitted a sort of groan. The real topper here though was that the prey's injured side would rise and lower as if it were still breathing (you know, just like those fake dogs that you can buy in the US that look like they're sleeping and breathing). A bit graphic for a children's exhibit if you ask me. I guess life is harsh sometimes. ;)

Our final stop for the day was a small memory museum in honor of those who were victims of Argentina's military dictatorship in the late 70's and early 80's. There was obviously much to digest historically, culturally, intellectually in this place but I'm going to refrain from going into an extended commentary in this entry. Instead, I'd like to share the one image that I decided to photograph while in the museum. This penciled drawing made me think a lot about not only Argentina's history but also many other historic situations as well as many situations that we face in our daily lives.

Innocent goes through the funnel and emerges guilty.

I basically finished off the events of my visit to La Plata that evening at a dinner shared with Sam, Dan (a Fulbright research assistant), Maialen (a new acquaintance from Spain who was staying in the same hostel as I) and Laureano (an acquaintance who I had met some months ago while traveling in Salta). Yes, I realize I've already written a lot about La Plata but I have just a couple final thoughts. I really enjoy this city for a few reasons: first, the wider national and international presence of students with the city's huge university. This diversity identifiable in the university and city's culture is obviously something I treasure from my own undergraduate education and something I was reassured to see in my visit to this institution. Second, along with the university's strong presence, I seemed to observe a wider societal conscience that values ongoing education. Sam shared with me that although people she knows might not have a lot of extra money, they will still spend their hard-earned pesos on a class to learn something new simply because they have a strong personal interest in that language, subject, artistic ability, etc. 

Crazy traffic, a beautiful park, impossible-to-miss student presence, and a mini-Buenos Aires feel (at least to me in some ways) made La Plata a great first stop on my Fulbright tour. On to see Maja Petersen and Mar del Plata!

Top 10 Parental Surprises in Argentina

My parents and I in front of a lake on our way to Alta Gracia.

 

*Written Saturday, July 30th

As I write this, my parents are well on their way back to the US after spending a week in Argentina with me. I struggle with what I should write in this second sentence because there is so much to retell, describe and reflect upon. Thus, I suppose I’ll do a quick run-down of our week’s travels and then include a cultural feature with input from this entry’s “special guests.”

My parents arrived two Fridays ago, the 22^nd, after an all-night flight from Dallas, tired but excited to see me. We swiftly boarded the Manuel Tienda Leon bus that would take us into the city; this is where our collective Argentine adventures begin. My mom wanted to bring her seat to a fully upright position as it had been left reclined by a previous passenger. However, when she pulled up on the seat lever (that apparently was rather supposed to be pushed in), it snapped back down on her finger. HARD. So hard in fact that my mom literally almost chopped off the top of her finger with this minor mishap. This split second dictated the rest of the afternoon’s “activities” as I accompanied her to a hospital where her wound was cleaned, examined and stitched up by a doctor. For anyone reading this who doesn’t know, my mom is a nurse, and thus, this experience was quite an ordeal in and of itself. She had quite a unique opportunity to see an Argentine hospital facility and supplies (or lack thereof). It is certainly true that Argentina’s public healthcare system allows for some great treatment opportunities for people who otherwise could not afford them. However, as my mom so keenly observed in the hospital where she was treated, “Yeah, I was taken care of and the doctor did a good job, but I felt like I could have been in a hospital from the 1950’s!” Later she told me that she should have taken pictures of the emergency room where she was attended to as she said that no one from her workplace would actually believe what she saw and experienced if she only told them. The hospital visit and dinner were the extent of our Buenos Aires exploration on Friday; which was certainly enough for me, not to mention my parents’ exhaustion after a restless overnight flight.

My mom's finger a couple days after she received her stitches. Huge slice through her finger, nail and all.

Saturday we did a tour of the city with highlights walking around la Recoleta, La Boca, and Puerto Madero. In the evening, we headed to Retiro where we boarded our overnight bus to Córdoba and transferred in the morning to Villa General Belgrano. Villa General Belgrano is quite an anomaly in Argentina. A tiny German village at the seat of the Sierras Chicas in Córdoba, it is rumored that individuals who were involved in Nazi activity fled here after WWII. I could certainly see how this might be true as the town is very secluded, and thus, very quaint for a vacation such as ours. We enjoyed a couple of days of short hikes, German food with an Argentine flair, and a day excursion to Alta Gracia. In Alta Gracia about an hour away from VGB, we went to museums honoring Manuel de Falla (infamous Spanish composer) and Gabriel Dubois (infamous French artisit), the UNESCO recognized Jesuit mission built in the 17^th century and the infamous revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s boyhood home. This area of the sierras is widely recognized for its therapeutic effects for people who have respiratory ailments; for these same reasons, Che and de Falla moved to the regions with their families at distinct points in their lives.

View out from Cerro Mirador just outside Villa General Belgrano

Jesuit mission cathedral in Alta Gracia

Wednesday, we traveled to the (if-you-can-believe-it) even more secluded town of La Cumbrecita. This all-pedestrian village is a featured vacation spot for its hiking trails as it sits at the foot of the Sierras Grandes mountain range. Here, we spent a couple of days doing some short hikes, horseback riding and just enjoying life.  Unfortunately our vacation in the tranquil villages of Córdoba had to come to an end and we headed back to Buenos Aires on Friday. Arriving very early on Saturday morning, we made the most of our last day together in the city, visiting the fine arts museum, the Recoleta weekend market and La Casa Rosada (Argentina’s White House equivalent) where we had an excellent tour.  Finally it was time for me to drop off my parents at the airport where we exchanged goodbyes (tearful goodbyes between my mom and I; not surprising for anyone who knows us both) and they began their safe journeys home.

View up from a rock where I relaxed to take in La Cascada after a morning hike

My parents on our horses!

View out over the sierras

 

I asked my parents to share with me the top 10 things that surprised them about Argentina. Here you have those 10 things, ordered by me (and supplemented in some cases with some corresponding things that surprised me about their “conduct/reactions” during their visit):

1.       Dinner hours, which means that my dad almost died when restaurants didn’t open for dinner until, at the earliest, 8:00 pm and, more commonly, 9:00 pm. (This was probably the most challenging part of their visit as there wasn’t anything I could do to make this part of the experience more “accommodating”)

2.       The scarcity of toilet paper in public bathrooms and paper products in general [mostly at restaurants].   (I was pretty prepared for this one, carrying lots of extra pañelos)

3.       The abundant number of stray dogs to be found in the streets of any city that you visit. (At this point, I’m essentially immune to recognizing this)

4.       How comfortable the overnight bus seats actually were! A pleasant surprise for them.

5.       The lack of central heat in the country. Contrasted with…

6.       How warm it can be, even in winter. It was probably in the 50’s [around 13 celcius] every day while they visited. (That said, it has gotten rather cold here this week and definitely feels more like winter)

7.       House roofs. Shingles don’t exactly exist here like in the US; most roofs are made of something called chapa, a type of ceramic tile.

8.       Reasonable/cheap prices for a bottle of wine (Obviously we’re all a fan of this one)

9.       How motorcycles seem to have no traffic laws to follow as they zoom in and out of traffic and through intersections.

10.   Lack of facilities, both public and private, as compared to what they are usually accustomed to. This example mostly comes from my mom’s visit to the emergency room.

So there you have it. A week in Argentina with (almost all) the Young family. I’m so glad my parents were able to visit here, and even though we didn’t visit my home in northern Argentina, I know my parents experienced a good piece of Argentina.