Drizzly Demonstration

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Geo: -26.9468, -65.2857

The sound of rain drumming on rooftops was drowned out this afternoon by the drumming of the Trabajadores de Augustin Tosco--the workers of Augustin Tosco marching slowly down the grey street below us. Soggy banners drooped above the soaked crowd as they moved peacefully through the sloppy afternoon.

Tucuman is a city built on sugarcane and sugar makes for fabulous wealth while exploiting the poor, so we weren't surprised to see the march, but sad to know there's so much unrest in a country we love.

We no sooner got into our room at the Gran Premier hotel in Tucuman than we heard loud drumming in the street below. The socialist party of Argentina was marching, A socialist party anyway--there's more than one. There wasn't a lot of passion displayed--they all looked wet and bored except for the occasional hollering out to friends they'd meet.

The police were ready though--we saw several in full riot gear standing on the sidewalks, or following, watching participants pass by.

We saw them from our room on the 5th floor, then again at lunch when they marched right by our window where we got a good look at the bored faces, broken umbrellas, torn ponchos, wet sneakers... This is a worker's town and these people, like the ones blocking the highway near Neuquen, want a decent wage.

The people we've talked to say there are a lot of political demonstrations going on, and in our short time here we've certainly seen evidence of that. The country's peaceful, but there's enough inequities for many of these non-violent demonstrations to sprout here and there. This is a different Argentina than we've seen before.

Poorer, more strident, more expensive--bad combination.

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