Since Jeremy's birthday was oh so exciting we needed a night off to sleep. So we waited until Thursday to do some more sightseeing. I met Jeremy at his school at 2:00 so that we would have enough time to walk down the Avenida de Mayo to the Plaza de Mayo to see the Madres of the Plaza de Mayo. I was so excited to see the Madres march because I had written a paper on them in my history of Latin America class at GW. So we waited in the Plaza de Mayo on a bench for a little while and then all of a sudden an enormous white van drove up with all of the Madres sitting in it who were all wearing matching white bonnets. The bonnets had all of the names of those who had disappeared during the Dirty War who were family members, close friends, etc. The Madres originally started marching in the Plaza de Mayo 30 years ago to protest the basic human rights that were being violated by the military junta that was governing Argentina at the time. They used the Plaza de Mayo which is still today a popular place to have political displays in order to form a peaceful resistance movement that is now known all over the world today. So every Thursday at 3:30 the Madres still march around the Plaza de Mayo carrying pictures of their loved ones that have disappeared. Jeremy and I were fortunate enough to be early enough to see the Linea Fundadora which is the first Madres who marched 30 years ago. It is amazing to imagine that they have been marching every Thursday for three decades. Then after the Linea Fundadora we saw the Madres who joined the movement later on. Both groups marched around the Plaza de Mayo for about 30 minutes and then sang a traditional song and left. I was so excited to have seen that movement because it is a very well known and respected womens movement throughout the world.
After we saw the Madres, Jeremy walked me over to Puerto Madero which is the very wealthy part of the city. I have to say this place tripped me out so much because it felt as if I was walking in Dubai but yet I was in Latin America. Puerto Madero is home to tons of beautifully designed buildings, trendy fusion restaurants, and designer stores. And the sidewalks were actually even and paved! My feet did not know how to react since they are now used to the streets of Buenos Aires. Another funny thing about Puerto Madero is that since the buildings are comprable in price to US prices, they are all empty because not many Argentines can afford that bracket of real estate pricing. And they continue to build more buildings which Jeremy and I just laughed at. The other interesting thing about Puerto Madero is that it is not far from the Villa where 30,000 impoverished people live without running water or electricity. Puerto Madero also only has three bridges of access because the Argentine government figures that limited access will keep the poverty out. But Puerto Madero really did symbolize to me of what Latin America could potentially achieve many years down the road. I feel as if the Argentine government built this area as a symbolic representation of what they hope to get out of their country someday because the place was truly spectacular.
After Puerto Madero, Jeremy and I walked home which was about the equivalent of 8 miles I would say. We walked through the theater district of Buenos Aires which was beautiful and then walked to the back part of Palermo from 9 de Julio. We got a little bit lost on the way home in Palermo but that made it more of an adventure. I saw a lot of the city that day which made me very happy that I walked that long distance.
On Friday, I met Jeremy at 1 to go to lunch with his friend Jeremy from his program at this insanely cheap steak place near the Retiro Bus Station which is near the entrance to the Villa which is the most impoverished part of the city. I paid only 10 pesos for a juicy glorious steak that came with bread and a coca light. (That is about 2.50 USD). After we enjoyed the steak, we took the 50 minute local train to Tigre. Tigre was a quaint little suburb that was out of the Buenos Aires province. There was not much to do in Tigre but there was a beautiful river to look at and relax near by, so that is what we did. We bought a massive bottle of Coca-light and relaxed near the river. After the river, we went to a Casino and tried our luck at the slot machines but we did not win anything too exciting. Tigre was a nice escape from the city but we decided to go home to get ready for Uruguay!
On the train ride home, we had the sudden urge to buy a 13 peso bottle of Vodka and some mixers to party before traveling since that seems to be a tradition started by originally Jeremy, Alex, and I. Our decision to carry on that tradition was probably not the best idea, but it was the most fun idea. Jeremy and I invited his housemate Kyle to pregame with us in my room. Kyle learned the hard way that night that I am a strong pourer because I filed 3/4 of his glass with vodka, I doubt he will ever have me pour him a drink again haha. The three of us ended up finishing the bottle of vodka (mostly Jeremy and I of course) and then going to a bar in Palermo. This is the evening when I came to the hilarious realization that I could drink the majority of people in Jeremy's program under the table. After the bottle of vodka, Jeremy tried to get them to drink more while he ordered a Long Island Iced Tea and none of them could do it. So there we were messed up when we had to leave on a boat to Uruguay in 2 hours. So what did we do? We passed out for two hours and then somehow woke up still drunk and got ourselves to the port.
The second we got on the boat we passed out again on the 3 hour ferry ride to Uruguay and when we got there felt as good as new. We took a bus into the old part of Colonia del Sacramento which was a beautiful old Spanish influenced city! I loved it there. There were beautiful old buildings, nice views of the river, and cute shops. We decided to eat lunch at one of the most romantic restaurants that I have ever been to. The restaurant was situated inside someones actual house and it had artifacts, amazing cuisine, and each room of the house only had a couple of tables, while old Tango like music was playing. I ordered an amazing Ensalada Caprece that I was not able to finish and Jeremy ordered Calamari. It was one of the best lunches I have ever had!
After lunch we took the tour of the city in Spanish and the guide had a lot of wonderful historical facts to share with us about Colonia del Sacramento during the days of Spanish occupation. After the tour we walked up to the top of the lighthouse and hung out there for a long time and watched the sunset on the harbor.
After that I went and quickly grabbed a cool souvenir for my apartment next year. I got a ceramic spoon rest for my kitchen that says Colonia del Sacramento because I am going to try to cook for people next year back in D.C.
Then sadly, it was time to go back to Argentina and once again, Jeremy was almost held hostage at the Uruguayan border since he forgot his student visa haha. That was a great one! But finally he was allowed to board the boat, otherwise, we could still be in Uruguay today. Our problems with border entry were far from over when we were docking in the port in Buenos Aires they made an announcement that they were going to take everyones temperature because of swine flu. While this normally would not have worried me, I had an awful cold that I caught in Buenos Aires and I knew that if I made one noise that resembled a symptom of sickness that I was going to be quarantined. Thankfully, the temperature was a heat sensor and not an actual thermometer that is used at a doctors office. So I held my coughing in and ran through customs and then went into a massive coughing fit outside the boat terminal. Jeremy and I were very relieved that I did not get sent for Swine Flu testing.
After the boat, we went out to dinner at an awesome buffet place called Grant's in Recoleta with other Jeremy, Cory's friend Julia (from home not Randall haha), and a few other kids from Jeremy's program. I really liked this group of people, they were a lot more real and chill than some of the others that I have met. The dinner was a blast and then we went home and passed out since we were still hungover and hadn't slept in a long time.
I rested most of the day Sunday because Jeremy's mom and sister are in town. But when I finally woke up, I ventured out to see the Sunday market in San Telmo. This was the biggest market that I have ever seen. Thank god I did not bring any cash with me. I browsed around the vendors for hours and I watched several live Tango performances. It was a very fun Sunday afternoon. Then, when I got home, Christina my host mom invited me to an outdoor Milonga. A Milonga is where people dance Tango. Now, I will say this first off, I am a very experienced dancer, but nothing could have prepared me for the Tango. This cute old man asked me to dance so I said what the hell and went for it. There were no American's at this place and I was the least experienced Tango dancer there. I learned that my Salsa background had no validity in the land of Tango that I was dancing in but the fact remains, that I went for it and learned how to Tango somewhat out of the experience. This week I am going to begin Tango classes because I know that with my previous dance background that once I get the steps I will be great at it. So this week has been yet another, crazy and wonderful experience.
Until next time!
<3 Jacque