What a week. I really do love this city and there is so much more in Argentina that I would like to see, only time and money impose some limits. This week has been great, mixed with a few different activities and all in all a lot more leisurely than last week...
MONDAY...sight seeing, shopping and history lessons...
Monday was pretty cruisey. I woke up feeling inspired and ready to start some sight-seeing. Tanya had some serious shopping to do so we split up and I went firstly to the large Cathedral on the edge of Plaza de Mayo which was filled with Portenos at mass , paying their respects for John Pope II. Apparently Catholics mourn for three days here after the death of the Pope. A photo of him was hung from the ceiling in the main area above the altar place. The cathedral also contains the tomb of the city´s favourite Saint Martin who helped bring about the city´s independence. After the 20 minutes of touring the cathedral I decided that was enough sight-seeing for one day and somehow landed in the shopping street! Haha, funny that! I actually found myself in a shop a few metres away from Tanya, both with clothes in hand ready to try them on. Talk about sprung!
After looking through a few book shops I found an English translation of a book on the History of Argentina which is a great summary and is really enjoyable. So in the end I rewarded my sight-seeing stamina with lunch and coffee in a cafe where I sat on a lounge for a few hours and read about Argentina´s path to independence. Had an early night in order to make the very early morning on Tuesday.
TUESDAY...Children's hospital
Woke up at 5:30am!!! Yes - that´s before 6. Yes, I´m on holidays. But it was well worth it. We had to meet at the office of a volunteer service called LIFE Argentina at 6:30 where we met another volunteer called Santo who took us (together with a hand-held, very impressive-looking decorated birthday cake) to a Children´s hospital called Hospital del Nino San Justo about an hour and a half from the city. So we had first utilised nearly all popular forms of transport on the way there - first the subway, then a bus, then train and finally a taxi to the hospital. When we stepped off the train we felt like we were far away from the Buenos Aires where we´ve been staying. This was nothing like the big city, more like a little suburb in the outskirts of Sydney.
I wasn´t prepared for the sight I saw when I walked through the front doors at 8am. There were hundreds of women and children waiting in lines, on the floor, benches, filling the corridors and outside areas with sick children in hand, arms, beside them, just everywhere. It really looked like something from a third world refugee centre. The hospital itself looked like a simple country hospital, single-storey, not very big. Just seeing so many poor mothers with sick children waiting there was a real shock and I had to really focus on not crying as we walked through. Fortunately, when we left 5 hours later there was only about a quarter of the number left so the doctors and nurses must be working very efficiently. I wonder what the quality of treatment is other than prescription, but at least the patients were being seen.
At the hospital we visited some children who are awaiting kidney transplants and were on dialysis. The blood cleaning process takes about 5 hours and they come in at least 4 days per week. One of the little boys had a birthday the day before so that was the reason we took a birthday cake and small present. These kids looked pretty poor and are not in the best condition. I wished we could speak more to them in Spanish but at least I was able to make a balloon! Santo is really good at making animals, he just taught me to make a heart (I needed to start with the simple ones!) It was really good too because the mothers, who have only a tiny staff/supplies/coat room where they can sit, had a ball reading through Tanya's lonelyplanet Spanish phrasebook which has a "get to know you section" and they were literally crying laughing at the translations, like kids picking out the naughty words in a dictionary! Nice to see them have some comic relief from the monotony of watching their children in such a difficult situation.
Another tango class in the afternoon on Tuesday which is so much fun. Did I mention I'm in love with our teacher? :) Okay, not quite, but he's just gorgeous!
WEDNESDAY...Teatre Colon and tango
One of my favourite things this week to have seen was the Teatre Colon. Tanya and I went with a few others from the school where we learnt Spanish last week and did an English guided tour once we were there. The theater is beautiful. Its construction was commenced in 1890 and finished in 1908, incorporating 3 architects - the first died from an illness, the second was murdered by the butler who was his wife's lover, and the third completed the process. A few interesting facts... the magnificent chandelier inside the theatre weighs one tonne and has space for 12 people to stand inside the top between the base and the roof so that they can sing the "heavenly chorus" and give the effect of sounds from above. The fire curtain on stage weighs 6 tonnes and the theatre, being a horse-shoe shape and made from a perfect balance of hard (wood, brass, etc) and soft materials (velvet, carpets, etc) apparently has near perfect acoustics. The theatre seats 2000 and has standing room for another 500, with 7 tiers of balconies. After the main theatre we were given a tour of the underground departments which run beneath the massive road Avenida 9 de Julio and include the rehearsal rooms, stage construction workshops, tailors, wig, bootmakers and costume designers. There is a resident orchestra and ballet company and over 400 workers all together who are involved in the production process.
After the tour Tanya and I went for another stroll downtown and ended up seeing the movie "Million Dollar Baby" at a tiny theatre which cost only 5 pesos - talk about a bargain! Went out to a nice bar that evening with some friends from our old hostel and then to another place which was a bit of a dingey club but was okay as more people arrived.
THURSDAY... Tango and cheesy cabaret
Thursday was a very nice sleep in, then a leisurly typical brunch of coffee and three croissants (¨media-lunes¨ - that is, half moons - i like that name best) and then Tanya and I had our last tango lesson. Wow - mum, and anyone else who knows me well enough for that matter, you would never believe it - Miguel was trying to teach me the first, second and third positions in ballet!!! Yes, ballet! I was twirling and so he showed off with some pirrouetes and jumps then tried to teach me the proper pirrouette (I don´t even know how to spell it, yet alone do it!) I wasn´t aware at the time, but Tanya was video-ing for proof, only I accidentally deleted it later. Honestly - completely untintentionally. So I suck at the ballet, but I can tango! Yay!!! And I do have the video to prove that.
On Thursday evening a few of us went to an extremely cheesy cabaret show with scantily-clad Argentine women and thankfully more conservatively-dressed hairy men, sequined bikinis, white suits, imitations of Cher and Tina Turner and quite a lot of Spanish speaking in between. Luckily we could still join in the jokes because although we couldn´t understand the punchlines, the lady behind us had such a hideous and loud laugh, we couldn´t help but catch the effects.
FRIDAY... Sight-seeing and good pizza
Friday was a great day for seeing some historical sights of the city. The sun was shining, just enough to get away with short sleeves. Quite a number of Argentines to be found lazing around the park in their lunch break, catching a few golden rays. Tanya and I ventured down the long Avenida de Mayo that runs into the Plaza de Mayo which is where the May Revolution took place back in 1810 when the Spanish viceroyalty was replaced with a council as BA sought to establish its independence amongst the River Plate. We toured the Casa Rosada (pink house / presidential palace) where the president no longer lives but maintains office and flies by helicopter to and from each day. This is also the place where Eva Peron (and Madonna) entertained the crowds from the front balcony. The inside boasts an interesting mix of Italian and French furnishings, combined with English floor tiles, which juxtapose Argentina´s long struggle to assert independence from the European nations.
On Friday evening I caught up with Gonzo who so kindly took me sailing a few weeks ago and we had a great pizza on his balcony while overlooking the lights of Palermo!
SATURDAY...toy workshop with L.I.F.E. Argentina at Ciudad Luz
Another early morning, not as early as Tuesday thankfully. Tanya and I rushed to get round the subway interruptions and make it across town to the offices of LIFE Argentina by 11am, then had a bit of a wait for the driver to arrive to take us the hour or so to Ciudad Luz. This place is basically a really low-key, basic tin shed standing amidst a number of more dodgy looking shacks in a very poor slum region outside of the main city of BA. This incredible lady who lives in one area of the shack with her seven children runs a soup kitchen for the local children in the mornings, then with a few helpers, has it all cleaned up and hosts a toy workshop in the afternoons. We set out toys from big sacks onto 3 tables - one table of typically girl-looking toys, one for boys and another or board games, then children start arriving from all over the place - even 2 and 3 year olds wander through the backstreets and arrive on their own, and the children are encouraged to play with the toys and to share, care for the toys, cooperate with eachother and pack up their things when they´re finished. It´s a really positive environment and apart from lending them the opportunity to actually be children for a while, it´s good to be able to see them learning how to share those things too. We were there for about 6 hours, and while the last kids were leaving, the host lady finally sat down on a chair to sip her matte, looking absolutely exhausted. How incredible that someone with so little in material resources gives so much with such a wide impact on her immediate community. Though we were pretty exhausted too after the long day, it was really interested to chat with one of the Argentine men who was volunteering his services painting the shed, on the way home as he escorted Tanya and I and gave us a really good history lesson and filled us in on his perspective of political issues, historical and continuing instabilities in Argentina.
All-in-all, it was an action-packed week. Great to see some more of the city, both typical tourist sights and less-trodden territory.
Today (Tuesday) we arrived by ferry in Uruguay - just 3 hours from Buenos Aires. We are currently in Colonia - a tiny old town which is perfect for relaxing for a little while, away from the crazy schedules of Buenos Aires. Our plan is to stay here tomorrow then trip to Montevideo for 2 days, then back to Buenos Aires on Friday. So my next entry will be on Uruguay. Till then...xoxo