Argentina 1

The flight from Atlanta to Buenos Aires went almost directly southeasterly. We passed over Cuba, Colombia (narrowly skirting its border with Venezuela), Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina (also nearly touching Uruguay). Over the Amazon Basin the ride was slightly bumpy. I blocked out the reflection of the cabin lights in the window so that I could see the clouds go by. We were flying at 35,000 ft., so some of those clouds were well above that altitude. A student of mine this term said that when he was in the Air Force, they flew him over Brazil, and the Brazilian government officials said that they were not allowed to see out the window at night because the Rain Forest was ablaze. I wanted to see that, but all I saw was clouds.

When we were approaching Buenos Aires, I had expected to see the vast, open Pampas, but what I did see was a lot of land divided into parcels, most of which looked like fields of ripening wheat. I also saw A LOT of water…rivers here seem to have a lot of parallel tributaries. Everything looks well irrigated and richly healthy. Our arrival (a perfect three-point landing!) was to an airport the size of Madrid’s years ago. One of the first things I observed while we were waiting for a tow to the gate, was something I had heard about, but had never seen. To male workers greeted each other with pecks on the cheek. Nothing homosexual in this act, mind you, but not exactly an anglo take on things. The airport was better organized than Madrid’s. There were sufficient personnel to accommodate all the arriving travelers, so, after getting our baggage, we were waved quickly through customs. I went directly to a cajero automático (an ATM), then on to Aerolíneas Argentinas to confirm our reservations from BsAs to Santiago next Sunday.

I did notice, however, that argentinos, like all Latins, do not have a concept of waiting “on” line, as they say in NY,NY. It´s everyone for him/herself, but without a lot of pushing and shoving. The noise level at the airport is 1% of that of Madrid. As opposed to tourism in Europe, there were few US travelers. We did hear French, Dutch, German, and Italian—or was it español with the porteño accent? (Twice as many Italians migrated to Argentina as those who went to the US at the end of the XIXth Cent., so the Spanish here is Italian light…I LOVE IT!…their phonology has more in common with Napolitano that with Spanish in the rest of America.)

We were handed a flyer that said NOT to go with a taxi driver who approaches you, but rather, go to the kiosk where you pay the fixed fare. We did so, and got a personable taxista from Uruguay—remember José Vinelli’s accent? Same thing. We had a rather long ride from the airport to the hotel, during which we talked about BsAs, its barrios (there are 50 or so of them!), the economy, and, believe it or not, sustainability. There is a campaign in Argentina to save their rain forest, not only because of the loss of habitat for animals, but that of certain indigenous groups who inhabit it. Their appeal is for the maintenance of land for the people.

BsAs looks generally run down. It has had a major economic crisis that it is just now beginning to overcome. Like the lure of easy money for home mortgages in the US that is the motive for our recent economic crisis, Argentina succumbed to that of easy IMF loans—not unlike the rest of America. To think that this is the most “civilized” country in America, and it’s having so many problems, what must the rest of America be like? Well, if you think that “civilized” means like Europe, that is what Argentina is. There are very few people of color here. Those who are come from somewhere else, and generally do menial tasks. Menial jobs are as few and far between as other jobs, so even the argentinos want them. Here is a curious observation that I had heard about before coming here. Stores close around 9:30 or so, and they put all the garbage and trash on the streets. Before the garbage trucks come to pick it up, the strange practice of legalized garbage picking takes place. These people are called the cartoneros. They search through the garbage for all recyclable goods, pick them up, and then go back to their living situations, whatever that may be, on the Subte (the local name for the subway) for free. The city provides that to them because, in fact, they are doing the city a favor by lightening the load for its waste disposal system.

Our hotel is near COINED, the language institute we are negotiating with. It is called Gran Hotel Argentino, but it is anything but. It reminds me of the Spain of my early years there, before europeización. After recuperating from a sleepless night on the plane, we went out to find the street where the institute is located, so we´d be oriented in the morning. The side streets are dark, and the population, in spite of the warm late spring weather, does not stay out as do madrileños. Their meal schedule is not unlike that of the US…breakfast, fast lunch, and the major meal of the day is after the work day. Restaurants appear to be abundant, and the food choices are European and Argentinean. Pasta and cow. I haven´t yet seen the first US fast food restaurant, but I HAVE seen some very beautiful women , and very handsome men. Plastic surgery is practiced here at the scale of that in Brazil. All sorts of beauty products, and ads for them are around, as well as ads for financial services. The medical system here is socialized, so everyone has access.

There is tango everywhere, there is TV, theatre, film. But most of all, there is fútbol. And the local stadium, where Boca FC plays, is called the Bonbonera, the candy box. If it were a candy box for real, Argentina would be 100% diabetic! This is more than an obsession, it´s oxygen, it’s water, it’s life itself. My biggest surprise, though, is the fact that I never knew how laid back the porteños (people from BsAs) are. There is a lot of animated speech, and it´s passionate, but I haven´t seen the explosive Caribbean demeanor. But then, it´s only my first day here!

Nestor Kirschner, the president, spoke on TV tonight not about Hugo Chávez’s failure to change the Venezuelan constitution, but to make mention of Chavez’s arrogant response to the election results. Thank God the Venezuelans didn´t allow themselves to be steamrolled.

More later.