Pigeons and Los Desaparecidos

Two days ago, some friends and I met a man in a café who lived in New York for 20 years and has now lived in Buenos Aires for 20 years. He started speaking to us in English right away because while one of us individually might be able to go unnoticed as a foreigner, as a group we are unmistakably from the States. Yesterday I ran into the same man on the street when I was with a different group of people. We exchanged glances of recognition, and then he kissed me on the cheek, as Argentines do to greet one another. He then proceeded to give my friends kisses, too. It was amusing to watch their faces of utter confusion, having no idea why a seemingly random man was showing them such a great deal of affection. After a few pleasantries, he went on his way and I chuckled heartily while explaining the situation to my bewildered friends.

Don't go to places with too many tourists. Don't go to places with too few tourists. Don't trust cab drivers. Don't trust policemen. Don't trust anyone ever. Don't walk alone at night. Don't walk around during the day on Sundays. If someone stops you on the street and squirts mustard/pours ice cream on you and then tells you about it, keep walking because they are just aiming to steal your purse while you are distracted. Or as our director Mario says, tell them "Good, I like ice cream" and then continue on your way. Be careful near train stations and subway stops. Don't take money out of the ATMs at night. Beware of receiving counterfeit pesos from taxi drivers. I hear an overwhelming amount of security advice daily and it's really starting to freak me out. Especially after what happened Sunday. I skyped with my parents last night and I think my dad is really worried about me being here. It will get better.

In the States, everything is so fast-paced that the slowness of certain things is taking a while to get used to. I had to wait 45 minutes in a line at the bank today just to change some of my pesos into smaller bills. I had to wait an hour at the phone store today to tell them my text messages weren't working just for them to tell me that a lot of people's Claro phones aren't functioning properly and there's nothing they can do about it. There is an ambiguous problem with the network and don't know when it will be fixed. So helpful :) There is a librería (book shop) near my apartment that I want to check out sometime soon. I would like to buy some books in Spanish for bedtime reading! There are so many lovely trees in Buenos Aires, but I found out in orientation today that none of them originated here. This city didn't have trees until they were brought here in the 15th century. ¡Qué interesante! Another thought.. There is lots of grafitti here, but it's more commonly known as street art and has a positive reputation. It is beautifully stylistic and is more often than not a political commentary.

During an extensive break between orientation classes this afternoon, some friends and I walked to Plaza de Mayo. The plazas here remind me so much of ones in Italy with their obelisks, stone statues and fountains. And even moreso because there are lots of pigeons! I paid 1 peso for a small bag of maíz (corn) that I was able to feed to the birds. They surrounded me immediately and ate from my hand. It was a fun experience and reminded me a lot of my family trip to Rome, Florence and Venice. It also made me feel like Snow White! Because she sings to animals and they all like her and cuddle with her. It is annoying to not be able to document my adventures through photographs, but I am using pictures from my friends until I get a new camera. Every Thursday at 3:30, the "madres" (mothers) "de la Plaza de Mayo" come out onto the square and parade around with signs and chant together. These women were mothers of "los desaparecidos" (the disappeared), young left-wing political activists who were abducted by authorities during la Guerra Sucia (the Dirty War) in Argentina in 1976-1983. It is estimated that 30,000 people "disappeared" during this war. People were tortured and murdered under the military dictatorship of Videla, and this continued until 1983 when the citizens regained power. Even after the Dirty War was over, the origins of thousands of people were and are still unknown. As a protest to this horrible reality and a constant reminder to everyone in Argentina, the mothers of these disappeared youth still march around the Plaza de Mayo every Thursday. They are getting pretty old and it was hard to hear what they were chanting, but I saw their posters which read things like "Where are our children?" It made me so sad to see pictures of their innocent faces on posters, and think about how painful it is to lose a loved one. I am so proud of these mothers for continuing to commemorate them and continuing to stand strong regardless of their old age and the effort that it takes to protest every week. They wear white bandanas on their heads with their children's names embroidered into them. These bandanas represent the blankets of their lost children.

Happy Thoughts:

*A cute Argentine boy gave me his seat on the bus today!

*It was another beautiful day today. Despite occasional negativity, the weather is one thing that is not letting me down.

*I am drinking a mug of peach and passion fruit tea! There is an organic/natural food store two streets down from my apartment. It has dried fruit, almonds, cereal, and lots of tea.

*I wore my rainbow peace sign dress today with my tie-dye shirt and colorful Converse. Generally I am trying not to draw attention to myself while in a foreign country, but it felt good to be a rainbow again.

*I am going to Mendoza this week-end with 6 other people since we have 4 days off! There are mountains there, rivers, and lots of vineyards. We are going to try and go on a bike and wine tour and we will be staying in a hostel. It is a 16 hour bus ride to get there - oh boy! Hopefully the buses are comfortable. I'm excited; It will be fun to take a break from this crazy city for a few days.