Love letters from Rosario

A love letter in the streets of Rosario: "Esteban, I love you."

Well the fearless five (fabulous five? I think I need a better name) - that would be Alana, Amanda, Susanna, Josh and myself - set out for a little adventure to Rosario this weekend. It's a holiday weekend here - in the U.S. we call it Columbus Day - marking Columbus' arrival in the Americas. I suppose down here it's a day for either celebration or more sober commemoration, depending on your preferred version of history.

Besides being the home of South America's largest disco (so say the employees at our hostel, though I have reason to question their sources) Rosario also happens to be the birthplace of Che Guevara. Since this past week marked the anniversary of his death, the buses from BA to Rosario were packed with Argentines ready to pay homage to the revolutionary, or just looking for some time off. The fact that the bus was packed turned out to be lucky for me: There were plenty of people to help me open the bathroom door when I thought I was locked inside and therefore shook vigorously until the entire bottom floor of the bus knew I was having problems opening the door.

We did in fact hit up this famous disco - it's called a boliche here - and were relieved to discover that it is still perfectly acceptable to play "Hit Me Baby One More Time" and "Lady Marmalade" in some parts of the world. If your name is Rachel or Rachel, you can imagine that hearing the Moulin Rouge theme song conjured up the image of a certain Christina Aguilera impersonator circa 2002. Smile.

View from the bus station in Rosario.

Photos from this weekend are here: FOTOS FROM ROSARIO. 

Oh how global we are

Sidewalk art outside a subte entrance.

The financial crisis has sent Argentina into quite a tizzy as well, the only difference being that Argentines are decidedly more adjusted to being in a tizzy about the state of their economy, while we Americans are still new to this. Argentina's economy hit a low in 2001, the peso fell to the floor and an enormous number of people lost of their jobs, so, as the economy goes south around the world, a lot of people in BA are experiencing a bit of dejavu.

Most of the papers here cover the elections closely, and my English students are superinterested in what I think of American politics.  They are fascinated by Obama, and they like to ask me point blank which candidates I'm "for," as if the election is a futbol game with diehard fans and a longstanding rivalry. 

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of expounding on my political beliefs at a recent dinner with a family from the local Chabad. (They asked! I swear I would never bring up politics at a shabbat dinner. Talking about it was certainly against my better judgment). I was rewarded with a lengthy and questionably sourced lecture (err, discussion?) on Obama's terrorist ties and how his election would lead to the triumph of the Arab world and the coming of the Messiah. 

I think "awkward" would be a good way to describe the rest of the evening. 

In other news, I just bought a bus ticket for Rosario, so I'll be spending most the weekend out of town. I know nothing about the town, except that my favorite Colombian pop singer has a an awesome song called "Rosario Tijeras." 

CHAU!

Julie

P.S. Click here to see Kenneth Cole's AWEARNESS blog, which is featuring my Thailand video!

"Uniforms distort man and make him crazy" 

(bueno . . . excuse my horrible translation skills)