Day of Remembrance

Argentina had its Day of Remembrance on March 24. It is a day to reflect on the past, and, specifically to remember the people who have suffered under actions of the government. Argentines remember well the excesses of their government, especially under the military governments of the late 1970s and are determined to not let it happen again. Eliana invited us to go along with her and Diego to witness the protest first hand, and about half the group came.

We walked about half a mile with a LOT of people, and the crowd stopped in front of a Catholic church near the Flag Monument. Why congregate in front of the church? Because many of the worst atrocities carried out by the government in the late 1970s took place with no opposition from the church. The feeling among the crowd is that the church didn't do enough to stop the government. There were some people with torches, but the protest was peaceful. I actually saw a lot of families with small children in the crowd.

Yes, there were a lot of people carrying banners.

More signs and flags.

This is on a platform right in front of the flag monument. A number of people spoke, and read the names of some of the people who, the government said, had "disappeared," never to be seen again.

As we left the Flag Monument we walked past the church again, and noticed that some paint balls had been thrown at the front door. I walked by this area the following week and the paint was all gone. Life returns to normal once more in Argentina.

JP

A visit to Alta Gracia

A few weeks ago I went with a few of the students to the city of Cordoba. About 30 kilometres outside of Cordoba is the town of Alta Gracia. Nick, Devin and I found the bus station in Cordoba (in the basement of the meat market!) and bought tickets for Alta Gracia.

One of Alta Gracia's most famous residents was Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Che was born in Rosario, but because of his asthma and the humidity of Rosario (it can get humid here because of the Parana River) his family moved to Alta Gracia when he was 4. The house where he lived has been turned into a museum. The house was nice (Che's father was a physician).



Inside the house there is a replica of the kind of motorcycle Che rode when he took his famous motorcycle tour around South America to witness firsthand the poverty that common people were enduring. The film, Motorcyle Diaries, with Gael Garcia Bernal documents Che's trip.
Here are pictures of Che when he was a young man, and when he was a boy.

Oftentimes, people don't know that Che was married and had a family. I didn't see any discussion of his home life in the museum, although since he spent extended periods of time outside of Argentina, I don't know how much time he spent at home. I would think it very difficult to be a revolutionary, a husband and a father all at the same time.

By the time Che wanted to enter Bolivia to work with the resistance movement there, he was a well-known figure. In order to enter the country, he disguised himself as a businessman. Here is a picture of his disguise.

Gracias,

JP

Sunday Asado

Argentina is based on traditions, and one of the most classic traditions is asado. Asado is an assortment of grilled meats and meat products like sausages. I love asado, as it is basically meat grilled, with salt. You NEVER use ketchup on Asado. (that would be like putting salsa on an ear of corn!) And I have not seen a single restaurant with A1 steak sauce. I think if I asked for it I would be escorted out the door! :)

Eliana reserved an area along the river, and we enjoyed a leisurely Sunday afternoon . Here are some of us sitting at a picnic table. There was wine, as well as Pepsi and water for people to choose from.


Here are some more members of the group, along with Rosario, one of our UCEL student ambassadors in the front left of the picture. After the asado she went with some of us to one of the outdoor markets to do some shopping.

Aaah, los hombres. Eliana's husband Diego (he's in the white t-shirt) was so kind to cook for us. It isn't easy grilling meat for 30 people! But he did a fantastic job as an asador (the cook of asado)!!! Here he is with a friend and Eliana's brother on the right. Yup, Sunday was a glorious day.

A morning at La Paz

Poverty in Latin America hits you right between the eyes, in part because income is very unequally distributed, so the contrast is strong. As one of our group activities, Eliana arranged for us to visit the La Paz school, a grade school serving children in an economically depressed area of the city. Many of the students come from very troubled homes. They do outstanding work here.

Here is a class in progress. We visited a few of them during our time there. The children have a LOT of energy! During their recess, the noise was deafening! Some students in our group are volunteering their time at La Paz over the next two months, and I am very proud of them for doing so.

JP

Dinner with an Argentine Family

Nick invited Devin and me over for dinner with his host family to help celebrate Nick's birthday. Here the family is sitting down getting ready to eat. The food was WONDERFUL, and I managed to hold my own in the Spanish department. I'm always amazed at how people will find ways to communicate when they really want to communicate.



Of course, no birthday would be complete without a birthday cake, and we had TWO!

Let's do some dancing! Here, Devin and Nick are "busting some moves." They were both very good dancers, far better than a certain economics professor! :)

Dinner with an Argentine Family

On Saturday night I had dinner with Nick, one of our students, and his host family at their house. It was a wonderful time and the food was fabulous -- chicken cooked on the grill with a lot of chimichurri (a kind of marinade with olive oil, herbs, salt, etc.) and good salads (they made one with only arugula (rucula en Espanol) and a tasty pasta salad. And of course, we had some nice Argentine wine to go along with it. Afterwards, we danced and talked about rock music!

I'll upload some pictures in a bit.

Jim

JP interviews on a local radio station!

I was asked by Ceci Castelli, a local DJ on FM Meridiano here in Rosario, to come on the air and talk about economics. She's a very talented interviewer and asked me some pretty tough questions. It was so much fun! I hope I didn't bore her audience too much. :)

After the interview, I saw a protest in the street outside the radio studio. In the picture below you can see a common protest activity -- burning a tire in the street.