A Love Affair with Evita

This blog post is dedicated entirely to the beloved Evita. Everyone has heard of Eva Peron and vaguely knows who she is, but it’s impossible to know the extent to which she permeates Argentinian culture and infiltrates the hearts of the masses until you experience it for yourself.  Evita is not a simply a politician who was loved by her people – Evita was the mother, voice, savior, hope and protector of the Argentinian people. Eva Peron was, is, and always will be loved. Evita is literally the center and heart of Argentina as a giant portrait of Eva marks the exact center of Buenos Aires (all street addresses, boulevards, and barrios start in the heart of the city at 0,0,0). 

The picture below is La Casa Rosa (The Pink House) which is the Argentinian equivalent to The White House.  The balcony shown in the second picture is where Evita gave the famous speech that made her known and loved around the world: the passionate and chilling speech where she rejects the vice presidency due to her severe health condition. Eva was incredibly moved that her people elected her for the role of vice president, but she also had to make the hardest decision of her life to reject the role. According to legend and lore, Evita was aware that she would die soon and thus wanted a candidate that could give the people more stability in next couple years. Evita eventually ended the speech because she was overcome with emotion and her tears of love, passion, and sadness were shown in pictures all around the world.  This dramatic goodbye to her people also spurred the great Andrew Lloyd Weber to make this moment eternal with his famous song “Don’t Cry for me Argentina”. 

La Casa Rosa

The Balcony of Eva's speech

To this day, the people of Argentina still commemorate Evita and travel thousands of miles to the heart of Buenos Aires to leave flowers at her resting place.  

             

 

The colors of Argentina

One of my favorite characteristics or Argentina so far is their appreciation of color. Whether its street art, painted houses, or beautiful handmade Italian tiling, Argentinians try to cover up the ugliness of brick and concrete with vibrant colors and vegetation. 

I’ll start with the tiling. Due to the heavy Italian influences in Argentina, a huge sector of the local population has made a living by studying the dying art of hand-painted and hand-cut ceramic tiles. You can see these beautiful works of art on sidewalks, in houses and churches, benches in the parks, and also walls and ceilings of homes and restaurants. The intricate detail of the tiles is absolutely mind boggling when you consider the years it would take to accomplish such a task. The first picture below is a small square (6in. x 6in.) of the floor in one of the oldest churches in Buenos Aires. Keep in mind, this is only a 6x6in square and the ENTIRE church floor was made of this ornate tiling. If that’s not impressive enough, this church was built was before the invention of modern pigments and paint so each tile was made by mixing  natural pigments (such as blood, powdered flowers, and traded pigments like indigo) into the ceramic while mixing. Then, each tile had to be dried in the sun for many days until it was ready to use. 

6x6in square of tiling in one of the oldest churches in  Buenos Aires

Tiled fountain in one of the plazas

Tiled base of church pillars 

Tiled mural outside of a random house

Street art is also very popular here, but it’s nothing like in the states.  Here, street art is a legitimate form of expression instead of the vandalism we see in the US. Street art in Argentina is not illegal, is not used to claim territories by gangs, and is actually appreciated by the general public.  Examples are below. 

Commemoration of Steve Jobs

Portraits of Kennedy & Guevara

                                          

 

As if the tiling and street art weren’t enough, the Argentinians also made it a tradition to paint their houses in attempt to make them match the vibrancy and vitality of their culture.  Today, unfortunately, the modern sections of the city look very similar to urban areas of the US but the old city still retains this beautiful tradition.  I will say however, that even though the modern sections have lost the beautiful colors of the old traditions, they still have plenty of green space. There are dozens of plazas, trees lining every street and avenue, parks in the middle of the city, etc. New York could learn a lot from Buenos Aires about aesthetics and the importance of greenery.    

                     

 

                     

 

Beware of the gringo traps!

Everyone, this is a called a gringo trap.  When the city was founded these canals were used as a form of irrigation, however today they simply serve to injure and trap unsuspecting gringos who drunkenly stumble through the streets or are trying to get out of a taxi.  Lesson number one for the gringos: don’t try to keep up with the Mendocinos.  Here, drinking is a marathon; in the states, drinking is a sprint.  It’s better for your health if you accept this fact now and not let pride lead you to challenge a Mendocino to a drinking contest.  You will lose.  Lesson number two for the gringos: always look down when you’re walking on the sidewalk intoxicated so you don’t end up in the bottom of a gringo trap for your friends to find in the morning. 

Gringo trap outside Graciela's house - most are deeper than this

Characteristics of Argentinians: the good, the bad, and the "what the hell?!"

Friday night, we decided to go out to a boliche (nightclub) in Buenos Aires because boliches are as much a part of Argentinian culture as bars are in Wisconsin.  EVERYONE goes to the boliches at night, regardless of what day of the week it is; Monday through Sunday you will find the clubs packed with people and young adults (my age) are considered really weird and anti-social if they don’t go to boliches at least 2 times a week.  And here’s the kicker… people don’t go to the boliches until 2am!! A typical night schedule is as follows: nap for a couple hours before dinner, then dinner from 10pm-midnight, going to a bar from midnight-2am, dancing in a boliche from 2am-6am, having a second dinner from 6am-9am, and then you finally return home at 9am to go to sleep. In short, everyone here is nocturnal or they just don’t sleep, I haven’t figured out which yet. 

Unfortunately for us, we are still trying to adjust to Argentinian time so we woke up at 7am Saturday morning even though we didn’t return from the boliche until about 4am which is considered extremely early to leave a club.  Rodrigo, the Argentinian that we sat next to on the plane, recommended a club in Bario Norte that was holding an electronic music festival which turned out to be more like trance music. Matt Pitts you would’ve loved it. 

Clubs in Argentina are very, very, VERY different than clubs in America; here, you don’t see the normal “bumping and grinding” that you do in the U.S.  Instead, the dancing is much more elegant, and the men actually have to work for a chance to dance with a girl. A man would never ever just walk up to a woman and start dancing with her.  Instead, he is expected to give the woman a kiss on the hand, introduce himself, compliment the woman, and then politely ask if she would like to dance. Then the woman can decide if she wants to say yes or no. The men in Argentina respect women much more than anywhere else I’ve lived or travelled, and it’s a refreshing change!  You can’t help but feel cherished and beautiful everywhere you go.  Anyway, the dancing is much more like salsa dancing than anything else; it’s considered impolite to have full body contact, usually the man only puts his arms around the woman and you sashay from side to side like salsa dancing. I have no idea how they move their hips so fast, it’s like I’m watching people dance in double time!

Along the same note, PDA is not only accepted but encouraged here.  For example, the youth here will go to one of the many parks and sit for HOURS kissing their significant other.  It’s also common to see couples kissing during classes. The same goes for clubs – when a man and woman are dancing usually they kiss the entire time.  Kissing is much more casual here and not seen as intimate or romantic; it’s perfectly ok to make out with a random stranger in a club for hours at a time. Needless to say, it was quite shocking when we walked in to the Salon Real (the club in Buenos Aries that we went to) and saw everyone kissing. 

I met my Argentinian mom last night; she’s a divorced señora and has two daughters.  One is studying to be an opera singer and the other is a nuclear engineer in France.  She’s extremely upbeat and has about three times as much energy as me – she’s always happy and smiling and ready to do anything and everything.  She has two jobs; the first is a german professor and the second is a building administrator for flats, houses, and apartments en Mendoza.  Last night, Graciela took me out for sushi with her mom and OMG SUSHI IS AS CHEAP AS DIRT HERE.  Well, all restaurants are cheap here.  50 pieces of sushi plus and a ceviche appetizer and a bottle of wine only cost 150$AR pesos which is about $30 US dollars!!! It’s so ridiculously cheap it’s unbelievable. 

Also, wine is cheaper than water here in Mendoza.  Let me say that again for you guys…..WINE IS CHEAPER THAN WATER here in Mendoza.  How ridiculous is that?  These people drink wine with every meal.  

I also discovered that Graciela is what Argentinians call “vegetariano,” or vegetarian, but it doesn't hold the same significance as it does in the U.S. Here, being a vegetarian means you don’t eat beef but you eat every other type of meat.  For those of you who don’t know, Argentina has a lot of beef cows and Argentinians eat beef every day, all day.  I have had a steak at least once every day, if not twice a day, since coming here.  I felt like a carnivore in Buenos Aires – if you ordered beef in a restaurant they would give you a giant steak with 2 or 3 pieces of spinach and tomato on the side. It’s crazy.  Anyway, since Graciela is vegetarian we don’t eat beef at the house, but she does have a lot of fish in the freezer thank goodness.  I couldn't live without fish for 5 months, I would probably go through symptoms of withdrawal. 

I also learned what a tomato is supposed to taste like. I have no idea how tomatoes in America got so shitty - they're so different that they should be given a different name.  There are a lot of influences from Italy here, especially in the food.  We're eating a lot of pasta, basil, tomatoes, garlic, pizza, etc. The desserts are heavily influenced by the French however, and we're eating flan, gelato, tiramisu, and bread pudding all the time.  Not only are Argentinians addicted to beef, but they're also crazy about their ice cream.  Apparently it's normal to walk from ice cream parlor to ice cream parlor until you're so full you can barely walk.   

I know earlier I said the driving was bad in Buenos Aires…but it’s WAY worse in Mendoza. Mendocinos (people from Mendoza) cannot drive worth shit.  There is no such thing as a speed limit, no one follows signs or traffic lights, people park on the sidewalks, and people randomly stop their cars in the middle of the street to pull out a map and look at it.  I’m surprised there aren’t more accidents. Oh, and pedestrians think they own the street; they will actually casually walk down the street between cars, in front of cars, etc.  It’s terrifying! 

The weather here in Mendoza is beautiful – usually it’s in the 80s or 90s during the day and 60s or 70s at night.  It’s dry heat unlike the insane humidity of Buenos Aires, which makes it that much better in my opinion.  I don’t have any pictures yet, but asap I’ll post some pictures of the city, it’s absolutely gorgeous with the Andes Mountains in the background. 

Graciela has a maid to cook and clean and apparently that’s really common here which means the maid does my laundry for me twice a week!  I feel so lazy because I don’t have to cook or clean anything. 

The best part about living with Graciela is that she’s a language teacher, so she knows how to speak with students learning a second language – it makes learning Spanish so much easier for me.  So far, this blog is the only English that I’ve spoken or written since coming to Mendoza and, actually, I started writing the blog in Spanish!! I take that as a good sign :D 

Well, I’m going to take a siesta because that’s the only way I can keep up with this nocturnal lifestyle.  Chao! 

¡Bienvenidas!

Hello everyone! This is Erin’s blog about aspiring to be an Argentinian while studying abroad, so if you’re not here to read all about the trials and adventures of my semester in Mendoza, Argentina…go away because you’re in the wrong place.  For those who do want to hear my thoughts and stories, read on! I will try to post regularly, but I’m not making any promises. Let’s begin.

Well, after numerous delays, cancellations, drug searches, and concerns over missing people, we’re finally safe in Buenos Aires! Well, most of us are – a few unfortunate souls got caught in snow storms before they had a chance to leave the state. José, our program advisor, was thankfully waiting just outside customs, saving us from the horrifying possibility of finding our own way to the Hotel de las Americanas. An American trying to navigate the streets of Buenos Aires doesn’t sound too horrifying until you realize that your two choices are playing human frogger with the traffic or entering a never-ending labyrinth of complicated bus routes. Neither option is appealing.  Argentinians drive with obvious carelessness, obliviousness, road rage, and little- to-no regard for the few traffic laws that actually exist.  Road signs and stop lights are definitely more like guidelines than actual rules and, because of this, crossing streets or hailing cabs can sometimes turn into a deadly mating dance with luck.  As for the labyrinths, José told us not to even attempt to figure them out.  Argentinians who have lived in Buenos Aires their whole lives get lost in that tangled web of buses…I can only imagine what would happen to a clueless American. 

So, once we were safely on a hired coach bus, we began our journey to the heart of Buenos Aires.  For those of you who don’t know, Buenos Aires boasts a population of over 12 million people.  I kid you not when I say that after passing the outskirts of the city we drove for AN ENTIRE HOUR through skyscrapers, apartment complexes, and businesses to get to the center of this massive city (which is noted by what looks like an exact replica of the Washington Monument and a giant portrait of Eva Peron). It is impossible to comprehend the size of this city without experiencing it for yourself. 

By this time, most of us have been introduced thanks to our block seating on the plane ride down to Buenos Aires, and the awkward stages of “I don’t know anyone here” are over.  We even had the great fortune of sitting next to Rodrigo, a 26 year old Argentinian returning from a vacation in America.  He provided countless hours of amusement by telling us all of the “do’s” and “don’ts” and “definitely do not’s” about city life.  He even offered to escort our group to one of his favorite bodichas (clubs) or discotecas (dance clubs) after our jet lag goes away. 

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Argentinians today, it’s that everyone does what they want, when they want. And they can be quite demanding as well.  For example, while standing in an outrageously long line for customs (well, really it was more of a mob), all of the Argentinians started clapping loudly, in sync, which is a sign of annoyance and displeasure. Rodrigo explained that clapping hands, in this scenario, meant “let us through that damn gate before we get really angry”.  Here’s another example: if an appointment is set at say…15:30 (they use military time), it is entirely possible that one or more parties participating in this meeting would not show up until 16:30 or 17:00.  Time means nothing to Argentinians.  The word “late” holds no significance here, and Argentinians simply cannot understand Americans obsession with time.  

After having an unfortunate run-in with a bidet (I swear the poor girl in the next room sounded like she accidentally gave herself an enema), we headed out towards my favorite part of the evening: dinner.  As most of you know, the Latin culture holds a later schedule than most which is why we didn’t walk the few blocks to a famous pizzeria until 9pm, which is still considered early for dinner.  For those of you who don’t know, Argentina is full of influences from the Italians and Spaniards – mostly the Italians – which explains why this was THE BEST PIZZA OF MY LIFE! If there was some way I could share that experience with you, I would, because no one in this world should die before eating pizza this magnificent.  Oh, and one of the pizzas actually had hard boiled eggs on it (how cool is that?!?!?). 

José gave us a free pass on not speaking Spanish today as we were all so jetlagged and overstimulated that we could barely hold a conversation in English, let alone Spanish.  However, starting with tomorrow only Castellano (Spanish) will be will be allowed.  Wish me luck; I’m going to need it. 

Until next time!  More adventures of Buenos Aires to come.