Today I went to watch the mothers of the disappeared do their weekly walk around the Plaza de Mayo. Apparently there are two factions, one that simply wants an answer as to where their missing children are, and the other that wants justice to be served to those in the military dictatorship. It was a very moving thing to see because these women are now so old. The oldest one is 91 years old. Some of them walked, but many stayed inside a van that drove around the plaza because they were just so old. At the end of the march, one of the women gave a speech on a microphone from inside the van. It was very emotional to watch, and I started to cry a little bit. She talked about the problems in their society today and how they had to fix them by working together and she mentioned Obama but I sort of missed what she had to say about him.
Afterwards I went to Sara's host mom's apartment for a goodbye "merienda," which actually turned out to be quite a feast. She made sandwiches, salad, there were tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, crabmeat, hearts of palm, warm medialunas with
ham and cheese, bread, cheese, wine, and beer. It was so nice. And before we drank, she said a toast to us. She said that she was toasting to our bright futures and that we may find success wherever we go. I almost cried...it made me really sad. She also talked about how hard it was as a host mom to say goodbye to everyone that lived with her. She says its really hard on her. And she's a little bothered by the fact that someone new is moving in just a few days after Sara moves out because she says she will still be grieving. She is so kind.
Unfortuneatly, the area that Sara lives in is kind of dangerous at night. Her friend got mugged three times in the area. So I was all nervous about going back after talking about it, and then just before I left, she got a text that said he almost was mugged again. So then I got REALLY nervous. I got a little bit of a hassle from two guys right as I left her building, but I just ignored them and eventually they went away. It really sucks to constantly be
worried that you're going to be mugged, especially this late in my trip. I hid my debit card in my shirt, just incase, but I wasn't carrying any cash on me. But I made it back safely, as you can see.
Anyway, tomorrow and Saturday are my last two days at LIFE! I'm sad to say goodbye to the kids. It will be a hard thing to do. Saying goodbye to anyone/anything is always hard for me.
vanthe mothers that were too old rode around in this van
scarvesthe backs of their scarves had their children's names on them