Politics - update

On the day we took the Political Tour (I refer you to the rather wordy post from a few days ago) it appears that a schoolteacher was killed during a protest.

see This Reuters line about it

We did go into town today and didn't notice anything unusual. But maybe we missed the hour that they were all on strike.

It is interesting being in a place where politics is so close to making impact on day-to-day life.

As an aside, I did stumble across a Public Art work in a major (tourist, as well as local) square which was there to commemorate the Falklands War. The thrust of the work seemed to be showing pictures of everyday soldier life - without any real attempt to put it into contemporary political context. It was quite disturbing; of course the actual squaddies putting thier lives on the line couldn't care less about how unpopular their respective govenments were at the time.

Part of the Public Art work

It's not clear if this poster is contemporary of the war or is modern. There is certainly a feeling here that it is still true.

Just a quickie

We are just about to go to the football match. River vs Belgrano.

According to the bookies, this is a walk in the park for the home team (River)

We've been Tango'd

No, it's not a fizzy drink. Nor is it a slap in the face - Tango is a way of life.

It's a dance - that I knew. It's a fashion and a musical style - that I kind of knew. But it's a bit more than that. Or at least, that's what the whole Tango industry would have you believe.

Last night we finally 'did' Tango. There are two basic ways to 'do' Tango. Either go to a show or go to a dance. As the latter involved dancing ourselves, we did the former.

We elected to go to a show that was billed as 'intimate', at Bar Sur (the oldest Tango show in San Telmo - so there). This meant that it was small - and that every time the dancers kicked (which they did alot) everyone had to scramble to grab hold of their wine glasses. (Actually that's not true. The dancers were very good and kicking nothing but the air and the band.)

It all started quite worryingly, as we arrived at 8 prompt. Clearly the performers were not expecting punctuality and so we were treated to the oldest pianist in the world, plonking away for a while. Then the scariest woman in the world (who was so scary I didn't dare take a picture) started belting out songs in Spanish.

The oldest pianist in the world

After about an hour of this, other people started to arrive. T visibly relaxed, now that we were not alone.

At this point, the demonstration dancing started. They were very good. Lots of sultry looks, kicking and that sort of thing. It then turned into "The Generation Game" (sorry to those who don't recall Bruce-y "nice to see you, to see you ..." Forsyth) As they dragged people up from their tables to try to copy their moves. We steadfastly refused (T is shy, no really) and spent the rest of the night avoiding eye contact - just in case we were forced to participate (we escaped unscathed). One interesting side-show was watching the waiting staff dodging in and out of the dancers and dancer-copiers, whilst trying to serve food and drinks - most amusing.

Dancing

Aside from scary people singing, lithe people dancing and the near dead playing piano; we were treated to other people playing in a band and other (not quite so scary) people singing.

Singing

O.K. he looks scary - but at least he looked like he wouldn't kill you for ruining his concentration with a flash photograph.

All in all, the whole thing was most entertaining, the second set of dancers were probably better than the first - but the fellow did scowl rather too much.

At about 11:30 pm (yes 3 and 1/2 hours) we all got issued with some fizz and toasted the restaurant, the owner, the dancers, the singers, the band, the audience and pretty much everything, before people started skulking off (before the really scary woman got back on).

We left after midnight. It was still going strong.

Politics

We'd decided to do a 'political tour' of Buenos Aires. As a country that has had so much upheaval in fairly recent times, it seemed like an interesting way to find out more about where we were and what had gone on.

We were met by a driver and a guide at our apartment and taken on a tour of some of the more important, historically speaking, parts of the city.

According to our guide, Argentina's recent history falls into four eras. (Forgive my lack of exactness in the dates and my paraphrasing of her titling)

1. 1880 - 1930: The halcyon days
   
2. 1930 - 1980: The military days
   
3. 1980 - 2001: Head in the sand days
   
4. 2001 - present day: Renewal
   

So, Argentina was a Spanish colony and all that, but the real fun starts in the 1930's when the world recession starts to bite exports and there is a real downtrun in the economy that causes the military (and, for periods, weak elected governments) to take over.

This period inculdes the Eva Peron (Evita) days, popularised by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and includes the creation of the Peronist movement, which seems to be something of a mix of National Socialism, Pragmatism, Union manipulation and out and out corruption. The movement is named after her manipulative husband (she was wife two of three) and not her - just for the record.

Things seemed to get pretty hairy every now and then, with the military bombing the president's palace; people being arrested left-right and centre and mass demonstrations seeming to be de-riguer.

By far the most sinister of the things that happened was the whole 'disappearing' thing. Where thousands of people were dissappeared; usually killed; without trial or, indeed, any records being made. Also, pregnant women were incarcerated and, once they had given birth, 'dissappeared' whilst their children were given to high-ranking officals and their wives. All pretty scary stuff.

Once this had all come to and en, there proceeded to be a period of 'let's just forget about it'. Which didn't really help to heal the wounds. Laws were passed that limited culpability ("I was just following orders") and some ex-military types, after being arrested, were simply released.

After moves by various human rights groups, including the graffiti-ing of former illicit detention centres and political lobbying - the current government has started to make moves to acknowledge the state terrorism that went on and preserve buildings 'lest we forget' and create monuments in public spaces to the dissappeared. All quite moving, as this is clearly a very sore, open wound that a society is trying to deal with.

On a more parochial note, it was quite interesting to see the 'Englishman's Tower' (as it is known) - a present from the British goverment in 1910 (a centannial of something) as bearing logos of the various British countries. President Menem (who, according to our guide was a manipulative Peronist) had built the memorial to the dead of the Falklands war directly facing the tower. A big - "screw you". The whole issue of the Falklands (Islas Malvinas) war is still very topical. Last Monday (2nd) was the first Veteran's day holiday - a public holiday created to commemorate the Falklands war. There seems to be a populist feeling that the islands rightfully belong to Argentina and that they will again some day.

Kosher Kapers

OK, OK I've stretched the alliteration thing way past any "funny by" date, but humour me please. I promise I will stop.

We were in a shopping mall yesterday, looking for some suitable clothing to go and visit Patagonia in. We went up to the food court to obtain some calories and fat and spotted a "McDonald's Kosher" restaurant. It was closed, but looked like it might be open some of the time.

I half-assumed that there were hundreds of these around the world and that I'd just been walking around with my eyes shut. I reckon there must be one in Prestwich (the mainly Jewish bit of Manchester) - but, according to Wikipedia this is the only one outside Israel. Curious.

Argentina, although an ex-Spanish colony, only seems to nod towards Catholicism; which suprised me a little. According to our "Political Tour" guide today, Presidents had to be Catholic until about 17 years ago (when an ex Muslim, turned Catholic president got the law changed).

We have seen quite a representation of Jewish culture here. A couple of weekends ago there was a "Jewish Festival" in a local park. (We walked past lots of Matzo bread and other typical fare before realising what was going on - mainly by the music!).

Posh Ports

No modern city can hold its head up high in a world competition of cities without having a rejuvinated dock area. Buenos Aires is no different.

Last night we went to the Puerto Madero area of Buenos Aires. We came within a whisker of blowing four months insect-repellent budget on one night in an amazingly posh hotel - but decided against it in the end.

It was a pleasant enough place to stroll around. The pizza place we decided to eat in seemed to have the surliest staff in Argentina - but the food was OK.

Anyway - the signature architectural item is the bridge of the women.

Pretty enough I suppose.

Oh, and there is a building (unphotographed - as it wasn't lit up) that looks like a very small Sydney Opera House. Strange but true.

Planning Patagonia

Alliteration, what a great way to title a post. Anyway ...

Today was planning day. After lots of thinking and mulling over the options, we decide what we are going to do next. We actually decided yesterday, but it was a bank holiday - so we did all the booking today.

We are going to Patagonia.

T has decided that a few things need to change with respect to the planning process. Namely:

1. There is one
   
2. We decide how we are getting from A to B rather than just turn up at A wondering where B might be (geddit?)
   
3. We pre-book accomodation
   
4. Pre-booked accomodation has to proportionally good to the coldness of the expected weather. (I think she just made this one up)
   
5. Umm - that's all I can figure out at the moment - but I think there may be new ones popping up.
   

So, we are going to fly to Ushuaia (at the bottom of S.America - how cool is that?); stay there for four nights and do some trips; fly up to El Calafate (where there are glaciers and stuff); stay there for three nights; get a bus to Puerto Natales; Get on a ferry for four nights through the Chilean coast up to Puerto Montt; get a bus to Puerto Varas; Take a two day bus and boat journey back across the Andes to Bariloche.

Wish us luck. We are going to spend the next week in BsAs sight-seeing and buying warm clothes.

Mini-break

Like any sensible Helen Fielding reading bloke (if that isn't an oxymoron) I realise the importance of the mini-break. So, notwithstanding the fact that we are on holiday, on holiday already, we booked a couple of days out of town at an Estancia (Argentinian ranch). We chose one based solely on the looks of the pictures. This one looked like a castle.

Sort of looks like a French castle

Sadly, we didn't actually stay in the castle-y bit, which was OK as it was both hot and a good 500 yard dash through mosquito infested bog to the dining room. Given that it persisted itself down for about 80% of the time we were there - the closer, cooler, quiet and perfectly pleasant room we were allocated was just fine.

The place was very nice though. There was a long drive ...

A Drive - long

And there were horses that we could have ridden on, but T is scared and I wasn't willing to get that wet or that bitten by mossies to find out if I was scared or not.

Horses - for riding

The food was very nice. Here is half a cow, on a stick. That was a mid-morning snackette.

Half a cow - on a stick

Our main aim was to get peace and quiet. As we were the only guests on Thursday night and two of four guests on Friday night - that aim was met quite fully. The thunderstorm that nature laid on for us on Thursday night was something to behold.

Given the rain and mosquito count - we spent alot of the time that we were not eating or sleeping, watching TV. US sitcoms. It was great.

Our apartment

So, we have an apartment for a month in Argentina. In the Palermo Viejo district of Buenos Aires. It is described as a 'loft'. However, as it is on the ground floor, that seems a little of a misnomer.

On the plus side, it is quite large and airy and is wonderful for just having a place to stop for a good period of time. We are here for 30 days.

On the minus side, it is quite noisy sometimes and the wall full of windows does seem to light up at strange times as people come and go at all times.

The picture above shows T planning. The sink in the middle of the floor is somewhat idiosyncratic. But there you go. The table is nice and big and good for playing backgammon, eating breakfast and planning trips upon.

Here we can see the living area (below) and the sleeping area (above). Along with some towels drying and other rubbish littered about. The spiral staircase is a little noisy in the dead of night.

Finally, you can see the kitchen and the wall of windows. It is actually quite dark in the apartment - this is partially due to the windows all being in one wall and partially due to the fact that it is quite gloomy in Argentina.

On the table you can see some post-it notes that are part of my planning process. I am introducing T to the concept of planning throught the mediumof sticky pieces of yellow paper:-)

On the whole, the apartment fulfils its major requirements, but we'd probably have preferred something a little quieter.