Friday the 13th

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I´m not too worried about bad luck today here. That´s because in Argentina, it´s Tuesday the 13th that´s supposed to be horrible. So I escaped, and hope that all of you did as well.

I decided to spend my time in between school and Friday night services visiting museums of two notorious Argentines. I started off to what my Lonely Planet guide to the city listed as an "unofficial" museum of Che Guevarra. He was born in Argentina (Rosario), but officially is not really embraced here (for obvious reasons). That being said, you can´t walk into a souvenir shop without seeing his image on everything. Anyhow, the museum was a bit off the beaten path in a barrio called Caballito. It was only one block of the subte line, so I figured that was easy.

Boy was I in for a surprise. That subte looked like something from another epoch. I ride the tube every day to school, in a very modern, clean subway car. Certainly nicer than the ones I´ve seen in New York, and also nicer than Muni-Metro. Except, you know, when it´s wall to wall bodies. Anyhow, this looked like a 1940´s train, with chandeleirs and wood paneling. I asked my friend who told me that all the subte lines to the strictly residential areas use trains like that. Personally I think they should switch them- the older trains have more character, and fit with the Gaucho history of Argentina.

But I digress.

Anyhow, turns out the Museo de Che closed down about 5 years ago. In it´s site is now a tzotzke store (same owner). Anyhow, when I asked him about it, he was thrilled that somebody cared and proceeded to pull out all these old photo albums from the days of the museum. While I looked at the photos, he went on and on espousing his beliefs that Guevarra was misunderstood, and only wanted to cure lepers and stuff. I don´t consider myself suficiently educated on Guevarra to form an opinon one way or the other.

After that, I went to Belgrano (home of my new favorite Temple) and where the museum of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento is located. I don´t know if I spoke of him before, but he was the third president of Argentina and was responsible for creating the public school system, as well as the public library system. He´s basically the political equivalent of a Patron Saint of Education. Anyhow, the museum is a replica of his childhood home, but only one room was open (the whole country seems to be undergoing renovations now- the list of places I can´t see on this visit continues to grow). Anyhow, it wasn´t that interesting.

So tonight, I went to Shabbat services at Communidad Emanu-El (is it just me, or does every city in the world have a reform temple called Emanu-El?) and wow. The building wasn´t much to look at, but the service itself was amazing. The melodies are the same, but with a much more energetic rhythm. This one had a flautist, which I´ve never experienced in a a service before. And it was much more participatory. Plus, the Rabbi (who looks exactly like Jesus) spoke very clearly and I understood 100% of the spanish parts. Pretty cool.

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Photos

Fundación Judaica
Where I went to services last week

Congregación Emanu-El
Because EVERY city has a Reform Temple called Emanu-El

Belgrano
This little girl saw me photographing the fruit and asked me to take a photo of her.

The D-Line Subte
From Plaza de Mayo through the microcenter, Recoleta, Palermo, and Belgrano. AKA the touristy areas

Comments

[Sham Rao]

Subte Lines
I think they probably replaced the busy lines with newer cheaper and more wear resistant cars. The neighborhood lines probably get less use, and are further down the list to get replaced. Too bad, the wooden paneling really adds character.

[nick]

haaaa
"strictly residential" vs "happening areas" spoken like a true suburbia-bred girl ;)

[awass]

I disagree- most tourists don´t take the subte.