Poverty in Argentina

This is Maria and her son Luciano. Maria and several other mothers were sitting outside the art museum begging for pesos.  I decided that, since it was almost impossible to walk by this woman and her child without giving them something, I would talk to them for a little bit.

Maria told me that they live in one of the villas outside of the city. These villas or villas miserias (which means miserable villages) are what they call the slums here in Argentina. Depending on the distance from the main city many of these villas are more like shantytowns than anything else. Maria and Luciano live in a very small brick house which has neither water or electricity. She told me that it was a busy weekend for tourists to come to Buenos Aires so she hitchhiked in with another mother. They came together to beg and  planned on staying the night in the city. I asked her where she was going to sleep and she just pointed to the street. Talking to them made me feel grateful for what I have, the hotel I was sleeping in that night, the warm meal I would inevitably eat, my safety net of friends and family.

This is one of the largest villas in Argentina, Itatí, which lies just outside of Buenos Aires. As you can see a lot of this housing is thrown together with whatever materials are available. There is no electricity, running water or bathrooms in any of the houses. Villages like this are often situated in the least desirable parts of the country, near the run off and waste of the large cities.

This is Villa 31, which has existed since 1930 and is supposedly undergoing urbanization to deal with the rising number of multistoried buildings being built. These buildings are incredibly dangerous because they are constructed with found, stolen or inexpensive materials without regard for safety or construction regulations.

This is a common ‘job’ for the unemployed. There is an organization here called the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights which pays for recyclable goods. People like these two ride bikes or horses around the cities going through the public dumpsters to collect material that can be sold to the EMHR.

I think the most interesting aspect of the poverty here is not the extent. In comparison with other countries, the unemployment and population living under the poverty line is not incredibly high. However, the disparity that exists between those with money and those without is quite startling. It’s a caliber of disparity that I’ve never seen before. Large expensive cities are surrounded by slums filled with people literally walking around in rags. You see children covered in soot begging around the nice restaurants and people sleeping on the sidewalk in front of condo buildings.

The poverty in Argentina has forced many people to desperation in their attempt to take care of themselves and their families. Some have resorted to the production, sale or use of Paco. Paco is a highly addictive and inexpensive drug that has been gaining popularity for the last few years. It has had a detrimental effect on the population here. The Argentine Reporter (another English language news source here) recently did a piece on the effects of Paco:

“Users are witheringly referred to as the muertos vivientes – the living dead – of Buenos Aires. Addictive after one or two hits, the drug systematically destroys the nervous system. Users quickly become skeletal and ravaged, resorting to crime and violence … Enormous numbers die in short order.”

The Paco problem has led to a steady increase in robberies in the cities as users run out of money and resort to stealing to pay for their addiction. In speaking with locals, it is apparent that this rise in crime and proliferation of Paco has had a noticeable effect on the city. Several of the older people that I’ve met have recalled to me the cleaner and safer city that Rosario used to be.

This video is 6 minutes long and in Spanish so feel free to skip around a bit, the first few minutes are probably the most important. It’s a story on a 15 year old in one of the villas of Cordoba, the second largest city in Argentina. Take a look at the conditions of the village he lives in. In the video he talks about his family who collect cardboard to sell to the recycling center. He says his dream is to be the president in Argentina and change the current system to help the many people that live in the villages or in the streets without money or work.

The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Hola Amigos!

More Spanish lessons!

I bet a lot of you have pets at home. Like I said I have two cats at my house in Portland and my host mother here has a dog. In Spanish a cat is called a Gato and a dog is a Perro. In Spanish the last letter of many words changes with gender. For instance, my host mother’s dog, Tina, is a Perra (not a perro). So I’m sure some of you have perros and gatos, but do any of you have Monos (Monkeys) or Patos (Ducks) or Dinosaurios (Dinosaurs) at home? Me either.

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The program that I am in here in Rosario includes several trips and events around Argentina. My favorite so far was our trip to Buenos Aires, the largest city in Argentina. Buenos Aires has always been the commercial center of the country, and therefore the most wealthy. Almost 3 million people live in the city of Buenos Aires, about six times as many people as Portland! Buenos Aires has a very large port which is one its main sources of income. Have you ever been called an Oregonian? Well people in Buenos Aires are called Porteños, which is like saying they are people of the port. Buenos Aires is also a huge tourist destination. After not hearing much English for the last month it was really surprising to hear people complaining about the heat as I walked down the street. Buenos Aires is also quite dangerous! The prosperous cities of Argentina are surrounded by villages of poor people who sometimes travel to the city in search of work, legitimate or otherwise.

Here’s a run down of our trip:

We all arrived in BsAs at 10 am and went to a part of the city called La Boca. La Boca (which means The Mouth) is a very old, beautiful part of the city. It was originally settled by italian immigrants and their influence is very clear in the style of architecture, the accents and the food in the area. This area is also known for it’s brightly painted buildings:

After lunch we went on a tour of an art museum where they forbid me from taking photos. They museum had a really wonderful collection including a piece from both the mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Then we took a tour of The Recoleta Cemetery. The cemetery is massive. Our tour guide made us walk in a tight group because she swears she’s lost students here before. It’s a very unique place where the families of wealthy and/or famous people have erected ornate tombs to commemorate their lives. Residence include several past presidents and historical figures include Eva Peron, a famous argentine and first lady.

It’s a little city of tombs.

All of the buildings have large underground tombs where several generations of the family are buried,  the largest can hold up to 60 people.

After the cemetery we were all exhausted and decided to go back to the hotel for a siesta before heading out to a tango show and dinner. Tango is a type of music and dance that has originated in this area. In Argentina there are still many traditional Tango groups, but even the modern bands show signs of the influence of Tango in their music. La Cumparsita is one of the most recognizable Tango songs. It was written in 1916 in Uruguay, which is Argentina’s neighbor to the east. It was originally written on piano but had been adapted to several different instruments and arrangements. Here’s one I like:

Again, they asked us not to take pictures at the Tango. Fortunately they didn’t inform anyone of this policy until after the intermission so I snapped off just a few:

After a four hour bus trip, a museum, a cemetery, and siesta, we were all ready for some sleep after this tango performance. We all piled into the bus and made our way to the hotel for a good night sleep.

Sunday morning we got going early after a quick breakfast at the hotel we took a short trip to a famous bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava:

After which we took a stroll over to the Casa Rosada which translates as Pink House. The Pink House is basically the Argentine version of the White House. The president doesn’t actually live there but it’s the political center of Buenos Aires.

This second ay was much more relaxing, we mostly just strolled around the city’s many popular neighborhoods before eating a late lunch in the park and getting on the bus back to Rosario.

Okay next week I’m going to tell you a little bit about the trip I took to Uruguay this weekend and then tell you all about some of the foods that are popular here in Argentina. Ciao!

A brief intro to Argentina’s history

Hola!

I hope everything is going well back home in Portland. Things here in Rosario are great. We just moved into spring so the days are getting longer, warmer and MUCH more humid. I’ve never lived in a humid place before so this is quite the change for me. This time of the year is also when the mosquitos start to come out. I also happened upon this health advisory the other day: “Outbreaks of dengue fever are on the increase, and visitors are advised to avoid getting mosquito bites as there is no effective treatment for it.” Dengue Fever!? So I’m starting to wish I had invested in some inoculations before leaving the states.

This last week has been really uneventful for most of the students because we’re all getting ready for midterms, already. Most students, myself included, are taking 4 classes. With this blog on top of that, I’ve been buried pretty deep in homework. I did however have a chance to take a boat tour of the Paraná river that runs along Rosario. This is the bridge that crosses it and connects Rosario to its neighbor to the east, Victory.

Maybe you’d like to hear a little bit about the classes I’m taking. All the students must take a Spanish conversation class and a grammar class. We’re divided up into four levels based on our ability to speak and write. On top of those two classes I’m also taking History of Argentina class and Translating Argentina. The translating class is really interesting. Last week we worked on translating advertisements with idiomatic expressions in them. (Idiomatic expressions are like figures of speech like “It’s raining cats and dogs,” or “To kick the bucket.”)

Okay, I want to take a moment and share some Spanish with all of you.

First off: Hola (You never pronounce the H in Spanish so it sounds like O-la) is how we say ‘Hello’ and Ciao (pronounced chow) is how we say goodbye.

Hola. Ciao.

I think it’s a lot of fun to use them back home, try it for a few days! Okay here are a couple more easy ones. I’m sure you’ve all heard Amigo (male) and Amiga (female) before? Well if you haven’t, it’s how to say friend. So when you see your friends around town you can say “Hola amigo/a!”

So as I mentioned I’m studying the history of this country right now, I’d like give you all a little information about how this country came to exist. The first thing you need to know is that most of the area that Argentina now encompasses was originally a Spanish colony. Think about just like the original 13 American colonies. In the same way that the original colonies wanted to be independent from Britain, the territories that existed in Argentina at the time wanted to be independent from Spain.

At the time, the Spanish crown appointed people to govern its South American provinces. The people here had varying degrees of acceptance of their power. Those that had come over from Spain had more loyalty, whereas those who were born here (second generation settlers) had less. In 1808 France, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, successfully invaded Spain and replaced the king. The people here were suddenly in a very confusing spot. If the Spanish throne appointed these governors, then what power did they have without the king?
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The people of the provinces at the time decided that no external power had the right to rule them. In a series of events between May 22-25, 1810 the people rebelled against their Spanish rulers, forcing their governors out of power. This event is known as the Revolución de Mayo (or May Revolution in English.) This obelisk to the right faces La Casa Rosada (Or The Pink House in English, which is the capital building here.) and commemorates this event.

This was of course only the beginning. This act was the start of years of war on the continent as many of the independent colonies (lands that would eventually be known as Argentina, Peru, Bolivia and Chile) fought for their own independence, at times evening combining forces to aid each other.

José de San Martin

The War of Independence has several heroes, but none more famous than José de San Martin. José de San Martin was the leader of the South American army during the War of Independence. He famously ‘snuck’ his army over the Andes (which divide Chile and Argentina) to surprise the Spanish forces. This maneuver was successful in not only defeating a Spanish stronghold but also in liberating Chile. He’s highly revered in Argentina. He has a plaza in many of the big cities, including Rosario. He has a street named after him in practically ever city and the highest military award (the Argentine equivalent of the Medal of Honor) is named after him. Take a look at his tomb:

It’s no Lincoln Memorial, but it gets the point across.

Winning the War of Independence left the provinces with the task of deciding what type of nation they wanted to form. This was a very difficult problem for the provinces, and took many years to fully resolve. The issues arose from the conflicting interests of those in control of the individual provinces, an incredibly wealthy elite called Caudillos (pronounced Ca-dee-show). These elites had huge ranches where they raised cattle to be slaughtered, salted and shipped to England. This demand for beef shaped Argentina’s economy for many years to come. Argentina is still famous for its beef, and from first hand experience, I can tell you that it’s delicious. So here were these wealthy people with all this cattle to export, yet only one port, in Buenos Aires. At the time Buenos Aires, which is now the capital of Argentina, had absolute control of its port and therefore collected taxes on all the imports and exports. This issues of the sharing of wealthy and power lasted for thirty years until concessions by Buenos Aires led to the formation of the Argentine Republic in 1862.

Okay, that’s enough history for now. Next week we’re going to talk about a trip I just took to Buenos Aires, the largest and most fascinating place in Argentina.