Week 4 & 5

This post was written on Saturday, the 4th of July, in a bit of a hurry..

I am now officially done with classes in Buenos Aires. And pretty good timing too, as two days before my last day of classes, most of the universities in Buenos Aires decided to shut early for winter break because of swine flu. We thus had to have our final day presentations in the IFSA butler office, rather than our usual classrooms in the University of Buenos Aires. We even had to have our last AIESEC meeting in a park, since the universities are closed. Swine flu has suddenly become common conversation everywhere I go. The number of cases in Argentina shot up a day or two after the elections, as apparently the government had been keeping it quiet before the elections so as not to lose votes. You can see people on the bus and subway wearing face masks pretty often, despite the fact that the virus is actually small enough to go through the pores of the mask.

Now two and a half weeks of traveling in Argentina lie ahead of me. Tonight I head to the Iguazu Falls, by an 18 hour bus ride. Next week I plan on heading to El Calefate, way down south in the province of Santa Cruz, in Patagonia, which is famous for its awesome panoramic views and glaciers. I also plan on going to Mendoza, which is famous for its wine here in Argentina, and time permitting, Salta, in the north of the country.

The last week and a half haven’t been the most exciting of my time here in Buenos Aires. A good part of them was spent trying to research and write my papers for school and my article. My laptop decided to act up just when it was most inconvenient, which made it impossible to research online. Research for my article about student political activism in Argentina on the other hand did not require the internet, but more talking to people. Because of this, I had the opportunity to meet and talk to some very interesting people here. I had meetings with three different professors at UBA, as well as with a few activist students. They were all extremely generous with their time, even though they had nothing to gain from doing so. Luckily for me, they all had a lot to say on the topic as well. Over my time here, and through these interviews, I’ve come to learn that there is a tremendous mistrust and vast ideological differences between economic classes here in Argentina, or at least in Buenos Aires. I believe that it stems from the sense of entitlement that the poorer classes have, which isn’t common in most other poor countries, where the poor have given up hope for bettering their lot. Ever since Peron’s first presidency, as he put his populist rhetoric in play, and made it a point to accord workers with rights they had never before dreamed of, these classes have made it a point to demand from the government and the local elite what they feel they are being deprived of, and to point out perceived injustices. From this stems the culture of strikes, which are an every day sight here. This, in turn, has led to frustration and a feeling of being threatened by factory owners and the upper classes, which has resulted in sustained animosity.

Last Saturday I accompanied my host father as he went to cast his vote for the legislative elections in a local school. To my surprise, no long lines greeted us, probably because there are ample voting centers in the city. The volunteers at the poll station even permitted me to enter the ‘dark room’ with my host father, where he picked the leaflet of the candidate he voted for, and deposited it in a little box outside. That night we heard the results, and they were what most people expected. The party of the Kirchners, the current president and her husband, the ex president, who are of the Peronist progressive left, suffered a major loss. They lost their majority in both houses of the parliament, and will now have to negotiate and compromise with the opposition if they wish to get laws passed. The rightist Pro party expectedly won in Buenos Aires city, though with a lower percentage of votes than last time, as well as the province of Buenos Aires, which was more unexpected. Most people think that these elections have to a large extent sealed the fate of the next presidential elections in two years, with the Peronist right thought to have the best chance of coming to power. Though some people are elated at the prospect of an end to the ‘inward looking’ ‘anti modernization’ left leaning government, others curse the return of neoliberal rightist policies which historically haven’t done the country much good. As you have probably sensed, everyone here is pretty passionate about the subject, and think that their opinion is the right one (leading to much confusion for me).

Day before yesterday I set off for the Sheraton Hotel, where the Indian Embassy was hosting a ‘seminario de negocios’ or business seminar to improve business relations between Latin American and Indian firms. It seemed to be a pretty big event for those interested, with the Indian embassies from Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Chile sending representatives. In the audience, I saw many times more Indians than I have seen in the last 5 weeks here in Buenos Aires. Though of course Indian and Latin American business relations aren’t at the forefront of most people’s minds, there seemed to be a fair amount of Indian businessmen interested in forging ahead in this previously unchartered territory. I had a number of interesting conversations with different people: diplomats and businessmen. Since interest in Latin America isn’t very common among Indians, they were very pleased to meet any one interested in the topic. Among the different people I met, some were particularly interesting. One was the young second secretary of the Indian embassy in Bogota, who was one of the few Indians to give his speech only in Spanish, and crack a few jokes too. He was originally a doctor, and specialized in forensic medicine in India, even publishing a book in the subject. After a few years he decided to learn Spanish, join the Indian Foreign Service, and give speeches about why India and Latin America should expand their trade activities. Another was a businessman with a small start up firm based in Uruguay, who is hoping to initiate agro products trade between India and Conosur countries, as he sees a lot of potential in this. He previously lived in Venezuela and Russia too. At the end of the seminar was an amazing Indian lunch, and having been starved of Indian food for so long, I ate a lot more than was good for my stomach.

In other news:

- I haven´t shaved in over two weeks, and I´ve got quite a bit of scruff going.

- I tried mate, the traditional herb drink here in Argentina a few weeks ago, and I absolutely can´t stand it.

- Since I´ve reached Buenos Aires, I´ve spent about $550.

- I tried my best not to use ´lovely´and ´wonderful´in this blog.

I’ve run out of time now, and need to rush to the bus station, so apologies for the abrupt end.