Plaze de Mayo, San Telmo, and La Boca

The guy from Arkansas won American Idol last night.  Good for him.  That's the last I'll say about it.

Today I met up with someone I met earlier this week at the Expats' function.  We both had no plans, so we decided to meet up in an area of town neither of us had explored yet, and go out for a little adventure.  So we did.

We met near the heart of the city (and country, really) at the Plaza de Mayo.  This is the home of the "Casa Rosada" or "Pink House," made famous in the USA by Madonna singing out of one of the windows.  In this country, the real Evita is a goddess (think Jackie Kennedy plus Abe Lincoln and that's how they feel about her), so I won't say anything more about that.  Monday is a national holiday, so there were school children making an art project in front of the Casa Rosada.  It was quite a nice scene, and very cool for a toddler to grow up near such an important cultural landmark.  Think about finger-painting in the front lawn of the White House, and you get the scene.  

From there, we moved over to the historic San Telmo barrio, next to downtown.  This area is known for its Italian influence.  I passed many pizza places, several Italian flags and a lot of other good-smelling stuff.  However, since it was still mid-morning, I decided to wait.  That didn't stop the locals though.  One particular cafe had a young couple sharing a pitcher of Quillmes (the Budweiser of Argentina).  Did I mention that it was 10:45 AM?  My friend mentioned that he should move to this neighborhood.  I just chuckled.  

San Telmo is a very distinct neighborhood.  The European influences are very strong - especially the Italian - but there are also many contrasts.  I have no doubt that the original San Telmo could have been among the most beautiful places in any world city.  However, at some point, people there decided to stop maintaining many of the buildings, and raze others in order to build more modern (roughly 1950s) buildings.  To that end, you have a patchwork of beautiful neo-classical, spanish colonial, and Soviet-inspired buildings.  Its the oddest combination.  But it also proves quite handy for a graffiti artist's canvas.  And I'll give a nod to their graffiti.  Its creative, and much more artistic than most US graffiti.

I saw something that didn't make sense then, and doesn't make sense now.  But here's the picture:

Hopefully you can see that these three women are all wielding samurai swords.  It was honestly like a scene from a bad sci-fi movie.  I have no explanation, I was just an observer.  This was a public park, for clarification.  And they were playing music.  I can say no more.

We then trekked over to the adjoining neighborhood of La Boca "The Mouth," which is appropriately named as it sits at the mouth of the local river as it enters the bay.  This is known as a tourist center and all-around eccentric part of town.  Years ago, neighborhood residents painted their houses in elaborate and bright colors.  Now, its a nationally protected landmark.  Here's a typical street corner in La Boca:

I ended my journey right where I started, in La Plaze de Mayo.  However, every Thursday afternoon - for almost 40 years - a protest has taken place.  "Los Madres de la Plaza de Mayo," or "The Mothers of May Square" have been protesting the disappearance of 30,000-40,000 men and women during the military dictatorship phase in Argentina's history.  Students of political science, suspected socialists/communists, professors, and others were taken under suspicious circumstances.  They are now called "Los Disaparados," or "The Ones who Disappeared."  Every Thursday afternoon, their remaining mothers gather and walk in a circle around the statue in the middle of the Plaza.  It was a sobering moment.  But it also made me respect these women.  I'm not sure exactly what they are now hoping to accomplish, but you must admire their persistence.  And you needed persistence to watch them, too.  I took them a LONG time to make it around the statue.  I only stayed for the original.  I figured the sequel would pretty much be a repeat.

By the way, ignore the banner they are carrying.  It was for agriculture reform, but apparently activists give the women different banners to carry each week.  They don't actually care about agriculture reform, they just carry the sign.  

In an unrelated matter, the Razorback Baseball team WHIPPED the Florida Gators in the SEC baseball tournament yesterday.  Kentucky basketball will have the best recruiting class in the history of college basketball (not good), and I've decided its near impossible to keep up with American sports from over 5,000 miles away.  Although, help me out with that one if you can.