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Published: February 15th 2009
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Happy Valentine´s Day everyone!
I can´t believe it´s been 11 days since my last entry. The time in Mendoza has just flown by. I´ve been taking intensive Spanish classes 5 days a week at the Intercultural school here (which I highly recommend) so the routine of early-morning classes, group activities in the afternoon and homework (argh!) has made the time fly by.
My favourite part of Mendoza is the Plaza Independencia, a beautiful, large plaza just steps from my hostel which has a huge decorative fountain, several other fountains, lots of tall trees and a slew of benches facing inwards for people-watching. It is safe to hang out in the Plaza until late at night because it is lit up, and there is always a flurry of activity there: actors performing clown and acrobatic shows for the kids (who, I might add, stay up till well past 1:00 am most of the time!); samba bands busking for the public; artists painting and selling works of art; and dozens of artisan stalls. There are 4 other plazas in this city, equidistant and forming a square in the neighbourhoods surrounding Plaza Independencia. They are smaller, but also beautiful with fountains and
tall trees - some of them palm trees! It is very cheering to walk through the plazas and see people of all ages chatting on benches, kids playing in the sprinklers in the heat of the early evening, couples making out on benches (a very common sight here! Very un-Canadian...) I was surprised to learn that the plazas were created in order to evacuate Mendocinos to a safe place in the event of an earthquake (there was a devastating quake here in the mid-1800s which killed many people and destroyed most of the city.)
I´ve had a few interesting excursions here: last week I went to the hot springs at Cacheuta, a mountain range about 45 minutes south. The hot springs have been converted into a massive attraction for tourists and locals: a little tacky, a little packed, a little chlorinated but in a beautiful setting. It was a bit of an adventure getting back into town: the bus company had oversold the tickets so we had to stand most of the way (a typically Argentinian turn of events...)
The other night I finally got to see some THEATRE here which was very satifsying. I´ve been dying to
see a play in Spanish, and just to see a piece of theatre in general. There is something so soothing about sitting down in a theatre and waiting for the lights to come on: I guess I am reminded of how important theatre is to me. Well, I didn´t understand much of the play, but I enjoyed it nonetheless! It was an Argentinian play called "Ruido Blanco" (White Noise) and from what I could gather, it was a little post-modern. There was lots of yelling, people shouting over one another. Not sure if that is typical of plays here or if it just happened to be part of this play´s style! Hope to see some more theatre later in the trip.
To all my actor friends: it was interesting to see how different the theatre world is here. After the play, the actors came forward and thanked the audience for coming, and gave a long speech about dates- times of future performances of the play, and asked us if we could kindly recommend our friends and family to come see them, etc etc. I get the feeling that actors are expected to do a lot of PR as part
of their contract! Also, the ¨start time¨of the play was very ¨loose¨. It was supposed to start at 10pm, but the audience had to wait until 10:20 to get into the theatre. Around that time, there was an announcement welcoming us, then we filtered in. The actors were dancing around the stage to music, warming up (not part of the play) and then a few minutes later, the lights dimmed and the play began.
Last weekend I met up with the Eli and Ana Maria- respectively, the sister and mother of one of my dad´s coworkers. They have been very kind and welcoming to me over the past week. Saturday I slept over at Eli´s house in Lujan de Cuyo, and suburb 30 minutes south of Mendoza (in the wine region) and I had a well-needed sound sleep. (It´s hard to sleep deeply in a dorm-style room at a hostel with 5 others in the room!) On Sunday, we spent the day eating, relaxing, and enjoying the view of the mountains and river near Cacheute, at the home of Daniel, Eli´s boyfriend. Daniel has been building this house (with the help of others) over the past few years and
it is a beautiful, simple, rustic place and when you look out at the mountains and river, it feels as though there is no civilization for miles around. He has an organic vegetable garden with tomatoes, peaches, even corn! I especially enjoyed his large CD collection - he has a fondness for folky-type music from Canada and the US and it was very uplifting to hear some Joni Mitchell in his car...
Today I finally went to some of the wineries ("bodegas") which is the main attraction of this region (aside from the Aconcagua mountain, which is about 1.5 hours from here on the way to Chile - and the highest mountain in the Americas!) I did a bike tour of the wineries with a few others from my hostel. We sampled wines at 2 different wineries and then sampled specialty liquors and chocolates at another location on the way. The bikes were old, the roads were more pot-hole than pavement, but it was a good day. I am starting to identify what kinds of Malbecs I like best!
I think most interesting over the past few weeks have been the conversations I´ve had with Argentinians about their
country, and the way of life here. The other day I was doing my homework on a park bench and an old man struck up a conversation with me. Seeing me with my notebook, he assumed I was a writer, and he being a writer himself was interested in speaking with me. He was a librarian in one of the local universities, now retired, and currently spends his time writing and publishing little booklets which contain his own suggestions (in bullet-point form) on how to find happiness and make the most of life. We talked at length - or rather, he talked to me - about how times have been difficult for the people here, but how it is important to keep finding ways to be content.
Other people I´ve met here have had similar things to say. They often take on an air of sadness when they talk about their country, about the poverty, the inability to travel abroad due to the low value of the peso, the problems with crime, traffic accidents (drivers here = crazy) and general corruption and instability. It is somewhat sad to see bright, educated people talking in this way. Things are diffcult here: you can´t necessarily rely on the police, the postal service, the phone company, the internet connection when you need them. There is a sense of powerlessness, and yet, there is so much to love about this country and it is clear that many people here love Argentina despite these difficulties.
Monday Feb. 16th I head for Valparaiso, Chile. Another country! More to come...
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