Fuerza Cristina

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The weekend was very welcome by the time it arrived. On a beautifully sunny, if chilly, Saturday we had a walk in on of the many parks in the city before stopping in quite a fancy looking place for lunch - at least they offered us a free glass of champagne! H had great food but sadly mine didn't quite live up to it's setting - my fault for not having another piece of cow I suppose. From lunch I went back into the park to meander round a small art museum with a few interesting pieces by local artists while H set off for a very cold afternoon of sport....I'll let him tell more:

I headed off for the stadium at Vélez Sársfield to see the Argentina (Los Pumas) against Scotland in the second of 2 rugby union matches that the two countries were playing. Los Pumas won the first game but this turned out to be a different affair. I had quite a wait for the bus, along with quite a few other people, and was relieved that it was empty when it arrived. At the very next stop, where the bus line crosses the metro line was a huge queue of people so the bus was then packed like sardines for the hour long journey to the stadium. When I arrived I was surprised to find officials with breathalyser type devices by the entrances, ready to test anyone who appeared to be drunk. After this I was not so surprised to find no alcohol for sale inside the ground. I could certainly have done with something to keep out the icy cold wind which was blowing.

Before the game there was lots of loud music, they showed highlights of the Pumas World Cup campaign, but there was very little talking amongst the fans. Scotland started well and continued to accumulate points and at times the Argentinians were a little naive in their play (like the guy who tried a run from behind his own goal line with 2 Scots players only 5m ahead of him). Still, after 60 minutes the score of 15-0 was not a true reflection of how the 2 teams were playing. Then the Argentinians scored and the whole stadium came to life, everyone was on their feet jumping up and down like pogo dancers - it made me think it was a shame that the game hadn't been closer all the way through. The final score of 26-14 was a much better reflection of how the two teams played.

All in all a great experience.

Back to S:

I also squeezed in another massage and generally had a relaxing afternoon.

Sunday we had plans to go out of the city to a traditional gaucho town but it turned out that the buses were all full. We had to organise some other bus tickets for when we leave BA so we headed to the bus station anyway which was crowded with people who had been prevented from travelling the day before due to roadblocks all over the country. The political situation had been getting more difficult all week although we thought the farmers had agreed to stop their strike for a few days in order to have talks with the government. However, in protest over the fact that they have no work to do as there are no products coming out of the farms, the transport unions were striking and putting up roadblocks. While I can't quite understand what happened it appears that some of the important farmer's union people were arrested at a roadblock sometime on Saturday which brought all their supporters out in protest and upped the anti so that most of the country ground to a halt. A great time to be buying long distance bus tickets then......

We finally sorted out tickets and then went for plan B which was to catch a train out to one of the posh suburbs. Nice enough but probably more pleasant when it's a bit warmer. There was an interesting craft market and great ice-cream and we also nosed around some very expensive looking houses which could have been in one of the posh London suburbs - quite a strange sensation really.

And we rounded the day off with a trip to the cinema for Sex and the City, which I am embarrassed to say is the first film we have seen at the cinema since we left the UK, but I loved it!

Back in BA there was a gathering of people in the main square headed by Nestor Kirchner, the ex-president (& husband of the current president - yes, another family dynasty!) to try to drum up support for his wife against the farmers. This resulted in even larger groups of people coming out all over the city and elsewhere in the country the following night in support of the farmers. They call some of these events cacerolazas because they use kitchen implements to bang cacerolas - cooking pots - and even in our street their were people passing by pounding on pans and tin lids. On Tuesday night while sitting in the apartment we could hear the sound somebody giving a speech coming from outside in the street somewhere which we eventually realised was somebody broadcasting their radio or television loudly into the street. We found Cristina on the local news channel calling for a return to freedom of movement for the people of Argentina and for the people to respect the democratically elected government. She talked of redistribution of some of the wealth of the landowners etc. and seemed to have a lot of support. Can't ever really imagine any of Gordon's speeches being broadcast from houses into the street?!

That day, the Monday, was a holiday here - the day of the flag - can't quite work out the full history but it's all linked into the Argentine independence. So, instead of school we had a day to ourselves on which we did almost nothing - I know we're on permanent holiday to all of you but we don't seem to get a lot of time to do nothing!

Due to the holiday we only had 4 days for lessons but they had to cram in all our hours so we had 5 hours a day instead of 4 - exhausting! Having become utterly fed up with by all forms of public transport at rush hour we walked most mornings and H took some piccies of the city. You will see in one of the pictures a huge number of dogs tied to a fence. This is a typical scene in the small parks and plazas around where the dogwalkers - sometimes with up to 10 different dogs ranging in size from a Great Dane to a Yorkshire Terrier - stop for a rest. The noise is deafening!

On Wed we were told to arrive half an hour early so that we could finish early due to an event planned in the main plaza, only a couple of hundred yards away from the school. Originally there was intended to be a manifestacion in support of the farmers at one end of one of the main streets in the city and one in support of the president in the plaza at the other end. We're not quite sure what happened to the farmers but their one didn't happen. Instead, by the time we left school, the plaza was filling up with parades of people carrying banners and chanting in support of Cristina Fernandez (Kirchner). It was quite a surreal sight - I can't think of another country where thousands of people would come out like that, some from huge distances with only a days notice, to demonstrate their support for the elected government. Even more amazing to me is that this all relates to a new law to increase taxes, albeit in one specific area. There were many workers groups, unions and community organisations as well as political groups and a great atmosphere with singing, drumming and huge firecrackers. As the plaza began to fill up we retreated to the edges and gradually made our way against the tide of parades before we got trapped.

Interestingly, since then various people have suggested to us that some of the people in the square were almost under obligation to be there due to the support their communities get from the authorities and that some were even paid to be there. It's so hard to really know what's going on but when I went volunteering on Thursday, there was a blackboard propped up in the comedor which had obviously been put up the day before the march and essentially said that there was a march to support the government the following day and that they would be taking a list of names......not exactly an obligation but not far off!

And just to top off a chaotic week the sound of car horns outside school, even more persistent than usual, caught our attention and there were rows of yellow taxis protesting about proposals to introduce multiple occupancy lanes in the city which they say will cripple their business as it will make it difficult for them to pick up passengers. ¡Esta cuidad es loca!

Lots of love

S + H xx

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Comments

[marcha]

Demonstration
La gente iba por el pancho y la coca. Well, seriously, they were paid to go there, and those who work in some government offices were forced to go. Other people that receive poverty subsidies where force to go to. sad