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Published: November 21st 2006
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Biking in the ecological reserve
yep, there i am, biking with my friend Leah in the Reserva Ecologica, which is a park along the river in Buenos Aires, that was actually a landfill before, but somehow transformed into this lush park once the government prohibited any more dumping. At the request of Uncle Allen, here are some more observations and photos of the everyday life here in Buenos Aires:
1. There aren’t really many stop signs, let alone yield signs, in Buenos Aires. The rule at intersections of two one-way streets with no stop lights (the majority) is that the cars on the “main” street get priority. If the cars stop at the intersection, its not the car furthest to the right that gets to go first, the rule is that the street with the most cars lined-up gets to go first. Basically, the majority gets priority, no matter who arrives first…not always so functional, but you can see the logic.
2. Gas stations - gasoline here is called “nafta” - which has nothing to do with the North American Free Trade agreement, I already asked.... The gas stations also have natural (vapor) gas pumps, which is what they call “gasolina” here. Most cars can run on either nafta or gas. Natural gas is cheaper but, someone told me it breaks down the engine faster.
3. Monedas - change here is really hard to come by. To the point where there are signs in the subway that say
Quinciñera
my host sister Rosario had her fifteenth birthday on Friday. Apparently the quinciñera is called fiesta de quince here, as Rosario corrected me, and her party was in no way over the top. just 7 of her closest girlfriends, some pizza, cake and an instant messaging gossip fest. “use your monedas, don’t save them” and every kiosko stand has some version of that sign. Asking a salesclerk to break a bill for you is definitely an art.
4. Chivalry is alive and well in Buenos Aires. This means that any woman within range is allowed to be the first to get on the bus, and if a seat opens up on the subway or bus, every woman in range will be offered it before a man takes it. To take that a step further, if there are no open seats, and an elderly woman, pregnant woman, or woman with small children gets on, the person closest to her is obligated to give up their seat. Generally, the chivalry is sort of nice, however machista it is, but I definitely hated it in the moment that a man on the subway asked me if I was pregnant, so he could offer me his seat. Big mistake. So maybe I was wearing an empire-waist shirt that day and kind of standing with bad posture, due to a heavy backpack, while reading the free daily newspaper, but did I really look PREGNANT? The funny part was all the women around him
woah, christmas
apparently the no-christmas-trees-before-thanksgiving rule doesnt apply in argentina. seeing as they dont have thanksgiving here, and this tree went up about two weeks ago. caught on to his mistake, and we all laughed to ourselves in disbelief.
5. Another thing about the subways is there is a definite subway culture here. A little girl will run around and place a packet of stickers, hair ties, or Jesus prayer cards on everyones’ lap for you to buy, and then sprint around collecting all of them when the subway arrives at the next stop. Or a man will step on the subway and explain that he is blind or handicapped or unable to support his family and walk around asking for any spare change. Or a little boy will play the accordion or juggle and then walk around asking for change once we arrive at the next stop.
6. Ice cream - there are “helado” stores on every block here. The ice cream has a consistency somewhere between gelato and American ice cream. There are always at least 4 choices of dulce de leche (caramel) flavored ice cream, which is usually what I go for.
As far as new news in my life, I really just have one more week of real class work where I have to turn in a couple papers. My Social
cartoneros
heres a typical sight in the city - cartoneros. people who come into the city from the poor villas and collect cardboard, plastic, glass and paper from the trashbags along the sidewalks. sometimes their carts are pulled by horses, or they will fill a truck bed 10 feet high with burlap sacks of all the odds and ends they collect. oftentimes the whole family collects together. im not really clear who they sell the scraps to, but i think its to warehouses or people in the villas who process the scraps. Geography class ended last week (but we have a final oral exam on Dec 7), my Collective Actions class ends on Nov 27, and my only other class is Service Learning with HelpArgentina that will continue til December 7. Oh, and I got an 8 on my last midterm in Social Geography (that’s out of 10 points)! Its crazy because I understand the readings and the lectures, but I never really know if I truly “get it” in comparison to argentine students, let alone if I will be able to explain that I do indeed “get it,” in Spanish, when the test rolls around. So I was happy about that.
Since my classes end on December 7, I am planning to travel before my flight home on December 22. My plan so far is to fly to Bariloche and then spend a week in El Bolson (a granola-crunchy hippie town 2 hours south of Bariloche) and work/live on an organic farm called Chacra del Cielo, doing some hiking and exploring in my spare time. Then I want to return to Bariloche for a few days to hike some more, explore the town, and maybe visit my friend Dyego who is moving back home to Bariloche right around that time. Bariloche is a town/city in the upper Patagonia, in an area with a lot of lakes and mountains. Because a lot of my friends have classes that don’t end until later in December, it wouldn’t work out to travel together. At first I was a little nervous about making the decision to travel alone, but at this point I am really excited about it, and I feel confident enough from my other travel experiences to be able to find my way around and have some amazing adventures.
Some other interesting-random things I’ve done/learned about lately… I went to a lecture on Practical Philosophy, because a British woman who I met from lacrosse practices (which unfortunately ended last month) runs a Practical Philosophy school here with her husband. What I got from the lecture and staying for dinner afterwards with the speaker, was that practical philosophy is philosophy for everyday life, and the central idea is that there is only one “self” that we are all a part of, and life is about trying to be at peace with that “self” through having a clear mind, and not getting wrapped up in all the inevitable ups and downs of life. Practical Philosophy started in the UK, but apparently there are some big schools in New York and Boston. Another thing is I went out to dinner in the Barrio Chino (Buenos Aires’ China town), which is no more than 6 Chinese restaurants on the same cobblestone street block. But what was interesting was that a classmate of my friend Lindsey came with us, and explained that in the 90s Argentina had a really liberal immigration policy, so much so that it was easier for the Chinese to immigrate here, become legal Argentine citizens, and then emigrate to the U.S. - which became a very popular trend until the economic crisis in 2001, when many of them returned to China. Hence, the Barrio Chino is what it is today - small.
This coming Saturday I am going to visit the PH15 photography program in Ciudad Oculta (literally, hidden city, a very poor neighborhood on the outskirts of BA). I’ll get to participate in their weekly lesson/meeting and show some of my photos and the photos from the orphans who I taught in Puebla, Mexico. I contacted the director of the program after I did a dinner with my friends in support of the org for the HelpArgentina night in September. It was really great to meet and chat with him about the program and my experiences. I actually went to an opening of a gallery showing of the PH15 students’ work on Friday. Can’t wait to go meet them all on Saturday!
On Sunday our program is having our version of thanksgiving - an asado (barbecue) at an estancia (ranch) outside the city. It will be fun to take in some fresh air on Sunday and eat some good food with friends, but I will definitely be missing the stuffing and mashed potatoes on Thursday - hope everyone has a wonderful Turkey Day!
Chao,
Maggie
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Mom
non-member comment
Thanks on Thanksgiving
Hi Maggie, Later this week as we all sit down the to groaning table of turkey and all the fixings, I will say thanks for having a daughter who is a global citizen, making connections in each community she travels through. Very proud of you, Miss Margie Moo!