I have arrived. There is too much to say. Here is some of the stimuli:
- On the trains, people try to sell everything from chocolate bars to alarm clocks to mix CDs of your favorite 90s ballads (including Richard Marx, Celine Dion, and Bryan Adams). They call out their goods: ¨Un reloj, solo tres pesos...Un reloj...Chocolates, tres por un peso.¨ They pass through once, twice, sometimes leaving the chocoloate bar in the empty seat next to me. Trying to tempt me.
- In 2001, Argentina experienced an economic collapse equal to the crash that led to our Great Depression. I am seeing a nation four years into the worst economic period in its history.
- One cannot properly greet or meet with a guest in Argentina without providing tea, coffee, and snacks to that guest. I average six coffees a day, sometimes a few mates (MAH-tays), and many, many cookies and pastries. No visit is brief. Our days are remarkably busy without causing any real haste.
More entries and pictures soon.
1 comment:
Oooh. I'll take one of those Richard Marx CDs.
"No visit is brief. Our days are remarkably busy without causing any real haste." -- Well said. That really captures Latin American fatalismo.
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