A visit to the pampas and protests in Rosario

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Last weekend we hopped on the bus and crossed the Rio Parana into the province of Santa Fe to get a glimpse of the gaucho life on an estancia called Entre Rios. It was a nice breath of fresh air to get out of the city and see some of the countryside. They fed us a huge asado BBQ lunch, with about three different entrees of meat and a couple vegetables and lots of bread, followed by three very sweet desserts. We even got to see some traditional folk dancing and did a little horseback riding, (on some very tame old horses) but nevertheless it was a much needed change of pace from the craziness that is Rosario.

For the past several days, there has been a growing manifestacion of the local indigenous population in Plaza San Martin, protesting the government´s response to poverty in front of the governernment building that controls the region of Santa Fe. The building is across the street from school, so we´ve been watching to see what will happen. The first day children marched barefooted through the streets, carrying signs about pobreza and banging on metal garbage cans and buckets as drums. The horse drawn carriages and carts that pull recycling through the streets are now lined up in front of the building, with police blockades closing off traffic through the area. Entire families have set up tents and are cooking in the plaza, with kids playing in the blocked off streets and kicking soccer balls at the building. Yesterday, I got off the bus heading for school and saw black smoke billowing from the plaza. I thought they may have set the building or statue in the middle of the square on fire, because apparently it´s been burned down before, but instead it was a pile of burning rubber tires on the steps of the building. They seem to be trying to smoke the government out, but so far, we haven´t seen any response. So far, it´s been a fairly peaceful demonstration, but we were warned to stay out of the plaza, especially with our cameras. The first day of the demonstrations we walked through the plaza, and I definitely felt some hostility, as we obviously weren´t there to protest poverty. I took some pictures from the corners near school, and we snuck into an apartment building across the street from the plaza in hopes of getting a view of the plaza out a window. We made it to the top floor, but the door to the roof was locked. Too bad. But poverty seems to be a huge problem here, not so much in the city center, but on the outskirts of town where we drove through on our way to Buenos Aires was a whole other story. The train tracks are lined with shantys made from discarded boards and scraps of tin they use as roofs, and we often have children ask us for money in restaurants and in the streets.

Unfortunately we won´t be around to see what will happen with the protest in the next several days as we are heading to Mendoza for the weekend.

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Comments

[Kevin Blackmore]

Wow
I just read all your blogs and check out all your pictures...Buenos Aires looks and sounds amazing...so jealous.