I’m gonna talk about my time in Argentina the last few days. I didn’t really spend any time writing because I haven’t really done much. The only excitement that happened was 25th of may, which is an Argentinian holiday. On this holiday, they celebrate their independence. I went and had Locro with Anna, and it was wonderful. It’s interesting in Argentina, I told you last time I did a journal entry, Argentina does not have a culture of a lot of fruits and vegetables. It’s mostly “carne” or meat, so with all the meat that is happening in Argentina, you would think that their main dish for 25th May would be meat based and it’s not. I was so surprised by this.
Let me say this, I have been walking around the city in the last few days. It’s actually really cool. I’ve taken time out after work instead of hurry home while the sun is obviously out. The sun a little bit earlier than New York, I wanted to make sure that I go to some of these places around Palermo, the places around the city. I just changed locations, so I wanted to see what else the neighborhood has to offer. What I did was, I took a walk, I went to see a Dominican barber. I went to the Evita Perón building. This building it was really cool, even hearing about the building was an interesting experience. I don’t know where or when exactly the time was I’d have to look that up, but it was that she was a wonderful, wonderful woman. She came in, revolutionized what Argentina image was in the world.
Even to this day a lot of the parties and a lot of the people will call themselves “peronistas” because they believe in the ideals that she had for the government, the direction she was leading it. One lasting monument to her is this building that one side see her very large and beautiful, the other side is a different style or seems unfinished. Don’t quote me on that, it could also be the way it is supposed to be. It was just so interesting to hear about the culture. In that way, to see that just like every other country—they have their heroes, and they have their diehard fans. Even after their death, and they pass on from office, from political relevancy they are not actually irrelevant because there’s a whole group of people that will call themselves “peronistas”.
It was just so cool to see that, and then I got to hang out with some locals. I was made aware of the “abort legal” movement. Now that the holidays are coming up, a lot of people are actually interested in doing some actions. You can see this on the streets, when I was out walking, I was given a flyer. I see these flyers posted all over the place, by the way, but I was given one as well. I can read it a little bit, so let me give you the gist. Right now, in Argentina, the women do not have the right to an abortion. Similar to America, where people fighting for their abortion rights. A lot of people aren’t able to get the care that they need, and obviously hospital structure needs adjustments. We aren’t there yet in America. It’s very interesting to see that similarities from one country to another.
All in all, I didn’t do anything much, just walked around and enjoyed being in a new, unfamiliar place. I went to the new bridge, just walked around and had lunch. Well, had dinner, but in Argentina is it really dinner if it’s before 10 PM?
What I really want to mention in this journal entry is my time with Ana for 25th of may. What is really wonderful about being here and being accepted into the office community. I told you before we had to gone out to bars because she’s the same LGBTQ community. She wanted to be show me around and showed me what’s happening here and there. I was invited to her house for Venticinco de mayo. Ana cooks, and she wanted to cook “locro” for me.
Locro is a soup that is a collection of meat, vegetables like corn, celery, carrots. It tasted so good. She introduced me to her girlfriend, which she is very beautiful, tall woman. She was very friendly as well. I got to meet their cat, got to sit, and we chat for a while. We had a nice meal. It was so wonderful being in the home environment. I got to practice some of my Spanish in a very familiar setting instead of just being in the office. Keeping up with a language, you don’t realize how you pretty much use the same words over and over. You become habitual, well, you know why. I learned a few new words and a few words I was not so familiar with. Some we never use in the office, so it doesn’t really come up as much. She translated some of the English, like me calling her a cat lady for her girlfriend. The meaning seems to be like an old lady. Could be an old lady, but a cat lady isn’t necessarily old, just someone who choose cats over people. She had a girlfriend, though, so she got the joke. It was so cool hanging out with them to spend some more time with them.
I can’t wait until the next 25th of May to hang out with them again, or maybe spend some time with the family or different people. I know Glenda was kind of busy with her boyfriend, things were happening. Furthermore, I really appreciate it. If Ana listening or is reading this, I will say this: I am so grateful for this experience and her hospitality. This was very special, being taken into the community by your guys. It was wonderful to be invited and accepted into her home. Tallblacknomad signing off, until next time, Argentina.
-TallBlackNomad