Argentina 6

We took a commercial tour today of BsAs. It was amazing to see the 48 or so barrios—each with its own character. The city is huge, and, I think, wonderful for students to explore. T he general public is very accommodating to tourists. We haven’t met a grouch yet. Tomorrow it´s on to Santiago, where we have to pay a $100US visa fee in cash, as a retaliation to whatever the US government imposed on entering Chileans. The flight is at 8:30 am, and that means we have to be there at 6:30, and leave the hotel at 5:40, and get up at…well, you get the picture. Not a pretty thought for a couple of night owls. Monday at 11 we have an appointment with the UChile Office of International Programs. On Tuesday we will go to the COINED facility in Santiago. We return to BsAs Thursday.

This evening there was a street Tango Fiesta on the Calle de Mayo, which leads to the Plaza de Mayo. The Plaza de Mayo is surrounded by the Casa Rosada, their White House (even though the president doesn’t actually live there—he, and now she, lives out in one of the barrios.) The inauguration of Cristina Fernández de Kirschner takes place on Monday at the Casa Rosada. Many people are optimistic that she will continue the economic turn-around. Around the Plaza de Mayo are the Cabildo (the Spanish colonial headquarters for Argentina), and the cathedral, which is built in Neo-Classic style. It the Cathedral there is a chapel where José de San Martín, Argentina´s national heroe is buried. It was very moving and emotional for me to see the two simple Honor Guards at the entrance to the chapel…also in the chapel was a very small crypt of the unknown Argentine soldier. Everything was understated in the demeanor of both the guards and the public. It was so accessible and real, unlike the deification of US historical figures. Here was a man who lacked the ambition that could have made him a huge figure in South American history, but at the only meeting he had with Simón Bolívar, just simply handed over the reins to him, and went into exile to France, where he died. There were so many thoughts of “what if…”

The tour also included passing by the Riachuelo River, that converges with the Río de Plata further down…The tour guide said it was very important for Argentina because, after the Ganges, it is the most polluted river in the world. It is 90% polluted, whatever that means.

Later we went to the street Tango Fiesta. Every block there was a bandstand and a dance floor, where couples from the general public got up and danced. Tango is the city´s biggest obsession, after fútbol. During the military dictatorship, tango was virtually eliminated and supplanted by rock and specifically US music. With the demise of the dictatorship, and the re-establishment of democracy, tango experienced a resurgence. The city itself owns and operates the tango radio station, 2 por 4, about which I wrote earlier. And it´s not just old folks who like tango. There are the “Typical Orchestras” populated by young musicians who fuse traditional tango with pop or rock and create their own version of the idiom.

Speech—all y´s and ll´s are pronounced either sh or zh. The difference between these two sounds is in the social strata. Sh is lower class and zh is not. Add this to the Napolitano phonology and Lunfardo, you have an interesting dialect. I just love to hear it, and find it fascinatingly easy to imitate.

More later