¡Nos vemos muchachos. Gracias por todo!

After almost a month of getting back into the swing of Portland life I finally made it down to Portland Creative Science School to meet with Eric Scheuering and his classroom of 6th, 7th and 8th graders. It was a long and cold bus ride that brought me over from my new home in the Northeast but it was worth it to spend a bit of the afternoon with such agreeable company.

I want to start by thanking the entire class for letting me come and speak with you because I had a great time sharing my photos and experiences with you in the class!

After the presentation we had a lovely Q&A session with some very intelligent questions. You were all very fun and astute and I really appreciate all the questions you asked. I was especially impressed with questions and comments about the American stereotypes and currency exchange. Also, I love the fact you just read Omnivores Dilemma because it’s one of my favorite books. (I love the part where he forages for mushrooms.) I think it’s amazing you all know so much about food at your age and had no doubts about the corn content of our snack.

I hope you all enjoyed the dulce de leche treat as well. Like I said in class, I think I’ve had enough of it for the rest of my life but it was a pleasure to see you all enjoy it so much. (Don’t let my pessimism over sweets for breakfast stop you from trying your hand at introducing it at home.)

I just looked back at three months of blog posts and comments and I’m overwhelmed with appreciation for your part in this project. I really enjoyed our interactions through the blog and hope you all enjoyed reading and seeing Argentina through my eyes.
Ciao!!!!!!!

Chile

Hi everyone. Glad to see you all again! I’m on the road with a couple friends right now going from hostel to hostel along the coast of Chile. This is a puppy that was staying at our last hostel in Vina del Mar. We’re in a town called Valparaiso right now. It’s amazing. The entire town is build up giant hills and the housing is just built right into it.

The internet is Chile seems to be incredibly bad because I can’t seem to get online very often. Sorry if my replies come a little slow!

Luciana!

Whew.

Where to start? So in the last week I finished up all my classes in Argentina. I got all A’s! I even got an A+ in my Argentine History class. Great right? Now that I’m done with classes I’ll be traveling all over with some other students from the program. We just left Mendoza to cross the Andes into Chile. Any minute now we’re going to have to disembark and deal with customs for what will probably be several hours. Going through customs is about as fun as going to the dentist on Christmas. Speaking of holidays, I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving. Believe it or not they don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving in Argentina. Go figure.

This is my friend Anne and her host sister Luciana. I interview her last week and an ice cream shop so that I can share with you all what it’s like to be your age in Argentina.

First off Luciana is 13 years old and just finished what is the roughly the equivalent of 8^th grade.  Luciana plans to go to college after high school to study to teach PE, which is her favorite class.  Outside of school she likes to play soccer (of course) and volleyball at the local sports club.

Besides school and sports Luciana likes hanging out with her friends, going dancing and watching Tv. She told me that in Rosario there are dance clubs that are all ages that will let anyone in over 14 but that her and her friends have no trouble getting in at 13.  Her and her friends like to hang out at Luciana’s favorite restaurant McDonalds. Yep. McDonalds because it’s burgers are better than Burger King.

Luciana’s favorite type of music is reggaton. Here’s one of the groups she likes:

You all probably know way more about reggaton than I do. Is this popular music back home right now??

Luciana told me that strictness of parents varies a lot amongst her friends but that she is allowed a lot of freedom. She says she has an allowance of about 30 pesos a week (which is like 12 dollars or so). Her parents allow her to go out with her friends on the weekends to dance club and that she only has a curfew on week days when she pretty much needs to be home (9ish) by dinner and stay home after. And yes, as an Argentine she loves the food here (which is, as you might remember, pretty gross.)

Okay, I just rolled in to Santiago and have had the unbelievable bad luck of being incredibly sick for the last two days. Right when I start traveling I got sick! It’s actually really common to get a bit sick when traveling because you aren’t accustomed to the food or water. In fact, the water in many parts of Argentina hasn’t been safe to drink. I’m hoping it’s better I’m going to find a taxi, a hostel and a bed to hide in while this passes. Ok, wish me luck.

Also, if you have any questions for Luciana I have her email and would love to pass them on.

Fútbol Argentina

This is Lionel Messi the (since 2009 when he surpassed David Beckham) highest paid soccer player in the world.  In 2009 he was making $44,000,000 a year! He is basically the national hero of Argentine and particularly in Rosario, where he was born. While he left (abandoned if you ask the wrong person) Argentina for Barcelona he has won gold medals for the Argentine Olympic team. He’s also only 24th.

Soccer, or fútbol, is HUGE here.  Although, it’s really not the same as sports in the states. The level of fan devotion is just incredible. In Rosario there are two teams Newell’s Old Boys (the name is in English because it was founded by an Brit back when England was investing heavily in Argentine infrastructure.) and Rosario Central. They each have a stadium on opposite sides of the city and each has it’s own group of tattoo clad fanatics who show up to every game. Each stadium has it’s own ‘pit’ where the hardcore fans bang drums, set off flares and scream at the top of their lungs. And there are plenty of opportunities to scream because every team has it’s own set of songs that all the fans know and sing when the team is doing well.

And the other team’s fans are just as crazy:

Thank Google images for these gems. Besides boisterous antics, tattoos and religious like devotion to their teams, Argentines are known for rioting after games.

This is from a game in Buenos Aires a few months ago. The team that lost literally starting rioting in the streets! The video states that there have been a number of deaths due to rioting at soccer games in Argentina. Because of this event security at these games has been increased. I went to my first game last week and saw a line of police officers in riot gear waiting along every exit to keep the peace. There are also numerous restrictions when trying to enter the stadium. You pretty much can’t bring anything into the stadium that could be thrown at the players or used to start a fight. I found out that this includes pretty much anything in your pockets. Security took my water bottle, pocket knife and an apple I brought with me. An apple! What was I going to do with an apple?

Remember our Argentine president Cristina Fernandez? She’s known for policies that favor the lower classes in Argentina. One program that she initiated is “Fútbol para todos,” or Football for Everyone in English. This program subsidizes football games so that they are played on public television instead of just cable networks, making it possibly for anyone with a TV to watch soccer pretty much all day.
Aside from going to games or faithfully observing the free tv schedule of local and national soccer games, locals also enjoy playing soccer (believe it or not.) A very common social event in Rosario is to get 10 of your friends together and rent a small field at one of the stadiums and play a friendly game of soccer before having a barbecue. Our group of students recently played against a group of Argentine students at the Newells Old Boy’s stadium. We learned a funny lesson when we one of us tried to enter wearing the opposing teams shirt and was turned away.  Apparently, they’re real serious about representing team colors. If you’re wonder, we certainly lost this game.

What about all you back home? Do you like Soccer or other sports? Do any of you play on a team?

Okay, today is day one of finals for me so I need to get back to studying before I find myself watching soccer vids on YouTube all day. Ciao!

Los Simpsons

This is real, and yes it tastes terrible.

Relaciónes

While Argentina certainly has a distinct culture, which I have tried to share with you, the cultural exports of the US are quite abundant.  People here love our music, television and movies.  Cafés and clubs play almost exclusively American music, of which 80’s rock is probably the most popular. The Simpson is at times playing on three different channels at once (with some pretty hilarious dubbing). Without fail, every time I tell someone that I’m studying Criminology they ask me if I like CSI more than Law & Order.

It seems that because the people here have such a favorable opinion about our culture they acquire from this a favorable opinion of the people. I find this to be pretty silly. I wouldn’t say that our television or music (Especially 80’s rock) is particularly representative of our people or culture. I think one could draw some pretty strange conclusions about the US based the fast food and the abundance of crime related TV shows.

“Muy Amable, muy abierta.”

This is Estrella on the right. (The girl on the left is Yen, another student who helps me with my interviews). Estrella is from southern Argentina but moved to north to go to school. Yen and I asked her about what she knew about American and it’s people. She told me that her and her friends love to meet people from other cultures. She told me that people from Argentina are generally very open to foreigners for this reason. Estrella has never been to the US but she has met students from the US and thinks they’re very open and conversational. She also mentioned that she loves McDonalds Weird right? Apparently it’s considered to be international and therefor exotic.

On a political level things are going well between the US and Argentina. That’s Cristina and Obama who recently met in France during an international economics conference. Things have in the past gone through some turbulent periods as the US has supported, or not supported different leaders with varying degrees of respect for human rights. This was especially prevalent in times when the US supported the Argentine dictators solely because they harbored anti-communist sentiments. People were (understandably) unhappy that the US would support a dictator who did not respect the rights of his people just because he was against communism. Thankfully, things have progressed in both countries to the point that human rights have taken a priority.

Más Iguazú

This is Maria, our tour guide for our trip through Iguazú. She told us a little bit about the effect of the waterfalls on the indigenous people. The indigenous people of the far north of Argentina are called the Guaraníes. The indigenous people of Argentina have, at time had similar experiences to the Native Americans of the US. Especially in the southern parts of the Argentina where expansion in the late 19th century led to many battles over the land as the government of Argentina claimed the native people land. In the north, this effect was less severe and perhaps because of this there are still pockets of indigenous people. Some of these people do not consider themselves part of the Argentine society and therefore don’t accept the socialized services such as free medical clinics, free education or financial services. As you can imagine they are a very poor people and often make their money by producing and selling crafts.

Bead crafts and wood carved animals are particularly popular however other crafts made and sold by the indigenous people include Mate gourds, toy bow and arrows, wind chimes, drums, jewelry and small leather goods. I wanted to buy this giant wood alligator but decided that the two weeks of traveling I’m doing after the program would surely be it’s demise.

I tried to take a few pictures of the Guaraníes but they all politely declined to be photographed. I asked Maria about this and apparently some believe that having one’s photo taken is undesirable. She didn’t elaborate much but I got that idea that for a people without much technology it is perhaps strange, invasive and  perhaps a bit offense. Some people feel that having their photo taken is like making a spectacle out of them, which could be highly disrespectful. Needless to say, I just put my camera away.

I did get the idea however that the Guaraníes I talked to considered the tourism to be a positive thing because it gave them a way to make money for themselves in  a way they consider to be acceptable (instead of just being given money by a government they feel does not represent them.) Keep in mind that many of the tourists to Iguazú Falls are Argentines, not people from other countries. I think this makes it much more palatable for the indigenous people because Argentines know more about them and sometimes share ancestry with them.

Bueno. I hope everything is going well back in Portland! I only have one more week of classes here! After finals I’ll be traveling around Argentina a bit with some friends before returning to “normal” life back home. Ciao!

Cataratas del Iguazú

I got back from Misiones at 3:30 this morning after another 18 hour bus ride. As you know my program and I travelled northwest to the province of Misiones. At the very tip where the Paraná and Iguazú rivers meet there are some of the most amazing Waterfalls named Cataracas del Iguazú.

The Iguazú waterfalls are naturally seperated into hundreds of smaller falls instead of having one large blanket of falls. This is the actual Iguazú Falls, although it is not the largest, it has the most water flow. Can you see that little boat in the water down by the base of the falls? Neat right? We all took a boat ride that led us directly to the base of these falls. It was amazing. So much water was pounding down on us you could hardly look up. We went from sweat covered and humid to cold and wet in a matter of seconds.

Here’s a really short video of the waterfall. I know, it’s just water falling, but it’s sooo much water falling.

This was, thankfully, not the only place we got to get wet. This is Union Falls:

which is the largest of the waterfalls. It drains into this giant long chasm called the Garganta del Diablo which means the Throat of the Devil. Can you see that mist rising up to the right? As all the water pours into the chasm the mist builds up and erupts out slowing drenching all the sightseers.

As you can probably tell this area of Argentina is much different than the place where I live. The climate and greenery is more tropical as the province is actually partially jungle! Luckily we were able to see some of the wildlife that this climate supports:

Coatí

Toucan

Águila Viuda

As you can see the country is quite diverse. As you go further norther you encounter a great deal of tropical animals that don’t exist in the southern parts. Okay, I was lucky enough not to get sick until I came back from our trip so I’m going to take advantage of my day by going back to bed. Ciao.

Iguazu Falls

Hola todos. This week we’re all headed to see some of the most amazing waterfalls, Iguazu Falls. We actually just stepped off the bus (AFTER 18 HOURS) in Misiones. Misiones’ (the province in green there) northern border is formed by the Iguazu and Parana Rivers. See that point at the top where the two rivers meet? That’s where I’m at right now. Okay, so after 18 hours on a bus I’m going to take a shower, nap and eat dinner but I’ll be back in a few days to upload some photos and tell you all more about this area of Argentina. Ciao.

 

 

Villa Alto Bariloche

“Esta es Mi Villa” is a TV show here in which the host goes to different villas around the country and interviews people. This is a clip from the episode that takes place in the province of Chubut outside of the popular vacation town Bariloche. (I’m all the way up in Santa Fe if you’ve forgotten.) Argentina’s size and spread gives it a diverse selection of climates. As you travel north towards the equator you of course get warmer, and as you head south (to Bariloche for example) you end up in the snow. If you get bored of not knowing what the narrater is saying just skip the first minute or so until he walks into the house of a woman named Rosa. Take a look at her house, especially her makeshift door and outdoor bathroom.