This might be the last time that I write this. On the other hand, it might not! I am certainly down to my last few hours in Buenos Aires. I'm now quite glad - I'm really tired, covered in bleeding and itchy mosquito bites and I want to get home. I'm not much looking forward to the flight, though - 11 hours from here to Frankfurt, an hour stopover, then 2 more hours to Edinburgh. I am so excited about getting on the plane to Edinburgh. One of the times I flew back from Spain or France, having been away for several weeks, I flew back over the Forth Bridge, which was all lit up. It was a good feeling!
Well, after much fanfare and excitement, Sile and I didn't make it to Uruguay. I'm annoyed that I didn't get another random South American stamp on my passport, but it was going to end up being too complicated. When we got to the port, we queued at 2 different places that looked like ticket desks, only to be moved to another desk. When we finally got to the real ticket queue, there was a man who must have been booking 100 different trips as he was there for ages. By the time we got up to the desk, we had missed the 11.15 sailing to Colonia and the next one wasn't until 2. We then tried to book that, but we told that we would have to wait until 8pm to come back. I have heard that Colonia is beautful, but I think it´s probably about the size of Dalkeith and I'm not sure if we could amuse ourselves there for that length of time. We decided just to leave it, and went for a walk around the Plaza de Mayo instead.
Sile was pretty tired, though (we were both tempted to have a little nap on a bench down at the waterfront, even though we would have probably looked like well-dressed vagrants), so she headed back to her hostel for a siesta. I decided to check out a couple of places I still wanted to see - the Manzana de las Luces and a couple of the Cathedrals. I saw them both, but didn't really enjoy walking around today the way that I did on Saturday.
The reason I didn't really enjoy it is also one of the reasons I'm looking forward to getting home - the annoying attitude of the men here! They all stare quite openly and if they are feeling particularly ribald, they will hiss at you or make a comment. I thought it would be quite warm today so I wore a skirt, sandals and leggings (obviously I was also suitably dressed from the waist up. I'm not going to give them ammunition!). This seemed to be an invitation for men to stare and generally harrass me, and I wasn't in the mood for it! At one point I was hissed at and received 2 brazen comments in the space of 5 minutes. The last one was about my eyes being pretty (standard fare, it would seem), which wasn't so bad, but just after that, when I had decided to cut my losses and go back to the hotel to change into trousers, some guy was so busy staring at my legs that he walked into a scaffolding pole. All his friends laughed, and I did too, but I still felt really self-conscious and scuttled off as quickly as I could.
I find all this unsettling and not in the least bit flattereing. I had asked Pepe about it last night, him being a local. He said that if women look pretty, the men here like to show their appreciation - Sile and I argued that it was actually quite threatening and sometimes a bit scary. He claimed this wasn't what the men were doing, which made me feel a bit better, but when you have to walk past someone who is going "ch ch ch" at you or muttering something about you under their breath, you can't help but feel embarrassed and a bit scared. I don't like it! The hissing is the worst - I feel like saying "is that the best you can do?". Apparently there were 12 women for every man in Posadas, and with that kind of technique I imagine the men still struggled to get the ladies to be interested!
My psuedo-sociology aside, it's almost time to sign off. I fly out of Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport at 14.40 tomorrow. I get into Edinburgh at 12.45 local time... I can't wait! Did I mention that?
If this is my last entry, thanks to everyone who has been reading it, leaving comments, Facebooking, texting and emailing me. It has been great to hear from you all and I can't wait to see you in person. I have one reader who says he is miffed that I'm coming home as he won't be able to read my blog anymore. I am thinking about falsifying some entries detailing wild escapades just for him.
Hope you've enjoyed it. I will miss writing this as it has become something of an obsession. What will I do with my time?
I may be back. Watch this space.
¡Hasta nos vemos!
Monday, 8 October 2007
Sunday, 7 October 2007
Little Match Girl
Things just keep getting stranger and stranger. What a day I've had! If you had told me a year ago that today I would do what I've done, I would have wondered who you were talking about. Yet, here I am!
Sile and I didn't end up going out for long last night. We were both knackered (and I was a bit sunburnt, as I discovered later) and ended up just going for a lovely meal and then heading home. I ended up getting a random, free impromptu tour of the Palermo and San Telmo districts by my taxi driver, who was keen to show me a bit more of the city. It was fascinating. The city never stops, and at 2 in the morning it was still hoaching with people and traffic. I was just sorry that I wasn't able to make the most (or disfrutar, as the Argentines say) of what the city had to offer as I was so tired.
I had to get up early, though, as Sile and I had arranged to meet at her hostel at 10.15 the next day. She had talked me in to going on her hostel's pre-arranged trip to the Buenos Aires football derby. Now, as many of you will know, I had never been to a football match and was nervous about the idea of going. I had a preconceived notion of what it would be like and wasn't sure I wanted to be part of it. However, the temptation to go to such a prestigious match was too much... the idea of going to a River-Boca Derby as my first football match? Well, how cool is that?
So, this morning I found myself at the stadium of Club Atlético River Plate, section WD, in the second from top row. I had an amazing view of the stadium and enjoyed how high up we were. I had decided a few weeks earlier that I favoured underdogs River, with their white, red and occasionally black strip, to Boca's navy and yellow ubiquity. I was so pleased that we were in the River stadium in the home end, and the atmosphere of the home fans was amazing.
While we had been waiting at the hostel for the transfer bus to the stadium, I thought I heard a Scottish accent, and right enough, there was a Scottish guy waitng to go to the game too. He was Andrew, from Dundee, and we were both glad to have finally met a Scottish person after a month in Argentina. We were both particularly pleased about the prospect of the Scotland vs Argentina rugby match, which was due to take place immediately after the football.
The theatrics of the River fans was quite something. Before the game started, they unrolled banners from the edge of the top deck that displayed the colours of River - a red stripe between 2 white ones. Then they all suddenly had white or red balloons, according to the section they were in, to make up the red stripe on the white background. When the players came on, they released thousands of squares of newspaper into the wind and strips of paper at half time. It was all made even more breathtaking by the low flying planes that kept appearing just over the stadium, heading into the landing strip at the airport just beyond.
The game was highly entertaining, with a penalty, an injury resulting in a substitution, 2 goals (River!), some stunning footwork and a sending-off. Being in the thick of a host of River fans cheering and jumping when River scored was brilliant, and at several points I thought about the complete randomness of the situation I was in - and yet how much I loved it.
The game ended at 5 past 4, which was just after the kick-off of the rugby. In a very cool move, the stadium put the match on the big screen. This turned my situation into something even more random - here I was, watching Scotland play Argentina at rugby in a football stadium in Buenos Aires. I was gutted that I missed "O Flower of Scotland", though, as that would have been a classic moment to enjoy in the situation.
I got told to shut up when I cheered when Scotland scored first, but I didn't have to worry much as before long our fortunes had turned. Annoyingly, we had to leave the stadium just before the end of the first half and we were still on the bus home at the final whistle, which was broadcast over the radio. Andrew and I were both gutted. I'm sure if I had been watching, we would have won!
Back at Sile's hostel, Pepe, the guy who was in charge of the football trip, bought us some beers to commiserate Scotland's loss. Sile and I met Pippa, a girl who had just arrived in BA. She is here for 11 months, and it was a real privilege to help her settle in on the first night. When Pepe learned that it was my 2nd last night in Argentina, he suggested that we have a "celebration" at the hostel tomorrow night (which seems a bit strange seeing as I'm not even staying there, but I'm going to go with it) so that should be fun.
We ended up staying in the hostel until about an hour ago, watching the highlights of the River-Boca game on the TV. The highlights were very poor, showing more of the fans' reactions to the goals than any shots of the goals themselves.
Tomorrow there has been something of a change of plans - instead of going to Montevideo as planned, Sile and I are going to go to Colonia, which is much closer and it won't take up as much of the day to travel there. We will still get the Uruguay stamps on our passports, though!
Will tell all tomorrow. One more full day left. I can' t believe it.
Sile and I didn't end up going out for long last night. We were both knackered (and I was a bit sunburnt, as I discovered later) and ended up just going for a lovely meal and then heading home. I ended up getting a random, free impromptu tour of the Palermo and San Telmo districts by my taxi driver, who was keen to show me a bit more of the city. It was fascinating. The city never stops, and at 2 in the morning it was still hoaching with people and traffic. I was just sorry that I wasn't able to make the most (or disfrutar, as the Argentines say) of what the city had to offer as I was so tired.
I had to get up early, though, as Sile and I had arranged to meet at her hostel at 10.15 the next day. She had talked me in to going on her hostel's pre-arranged trip to the Buenos Aires football derby. Now, as many of you will know, I had never been to a football match and was nervous about the idea of going. I had a preconceived notion of what it would be like and wasn't sure I wanted to be part of it. However, the temptation to go to such a prestigious match was too much... the idea of going to a River-Boca Derby as my first football match? Well, how cool is that?
So, this morning I found myself at the stadium of Club Atlético River Plate, section WD, in the second from top row. I had an amazing view of the stadium and enjoyed how high up we were. I had decided a few weeks earlier that I favoured underdogs River, with their white, red and occasionally black strip, to Boca's navy and yellow ubiquity. I was so pleased that we were in the River stadium in the home end, and the atmosphere of the home fans was amazing.
While we had been waiting at the hostel for the transfer bus to the stadium, I thought I heard a Scottish accent, and right enough, there was a Scottish guy waitng to go to the game too. He was Andrew, from Dundee, and we were both glad to have finally met a Scottish person after a month in Argentina. We were both particularly pleased about the prospect of the Scotland vs Argentina rugby match, which was due to take place immediately after the football.
The theatrics of the River fans was quite something. Before the game started, they unrolled banners from the edge of the top deck that displayed the colours of River - a red stripe between 2 white ones. Then they all suddenly had white or red balloons, according to the section they were in, to make up the red stripe on the white background. When the players came on, they released thousands of squares of newspaper into the wind and strips of paper at half time. It was all made even more breathtaking by the low flying planes that kept appearing just over the stadium, heading into the landing strip at the airport just beyond.
The game was highly entertaining, with a penalty, an injury resulting in a substitution, 2 goals (River!), some stunning footwork and a sending-off. Being in the thick of a host of River fans cheering and jumping when River scored was brilliant, and at several points I thought about the complete randomness of the situation I was in - and yet how much I loved it.
The game ended at 5 past 4, which was just after the kick-off of the rugby. In a very cool move, the stadium put the match on the big screen. This turned my situation into something even more random - here I was, watching Scotland play Argentina at rugby in a football stadium in Buenos Aires. I was gutted that I missed "O Flower of Scotland", though, as that would have been a classic moment to enjoy in the situation.
I got told to shut up when I cheered when Scotland scored first, but I didn't have to worry much as before long our fortunes had turned. Annoyingly, we had to leave the stadium just before the end of the first half and we were still on the bus home at the final whistle, which was broadcast over the radio. Andrew and I were both gutted. I'm sure if I had been watching, we would have won!
Back at Sile's hostel, Pepe, the guy who was in charge of the football trip, bought us some beers to commiserate Scotland's loss. Sile and I met Pippa, a girl who had just arrived in BA. She is here for 11 months, and it was a real privilege to help her settle in on the first night. When Pepe learned that it was my 2nd last night in Argentina, he suggested that we have a "celebration" at the hostel tomorrow night (which seems a bit strange seeing as I'm not even staying there, but I'm going to go with it) so that should be fun.
We ended up staying in the hostel until about an hour ago, watching the highlights of the River-Boca game on the TV. The highlights were very poor, showing more of the fans' reactions to the goals than any shots of the goals themselves.
Tomorrow there has been something of a change of plans - instead of going to Montevideo as planned, Sile and I are going to go to Colonia, which is much closer and it won't take up as much of the day to travel there. We will still get the Uruguay stamps on our passports, though!
Will tell all tomorrow. One more full day left. I can' t believe it.
Saturday, 6 October 2007
Buen Día en Buenos Aires
It's been a couple of days since I last wrote this, but it seems like ages. I'm back in Buenos Aires now, and so glad I still have a couple of days here.
On Thurdsay, I had a really great last night in Posadas - I couldn't have asked for better, actually. We all went round to Marcelo and Veronica's for what was my last asado in Posadas! Marcelo cooked up tons of meat - probably more than a whole cow - and it was delicious. We sat outside on the terrace, even though it was about 25 degrees (in the dark!) and the air conditioning in the house was much more pleasant. We talked and played stupid games until about 1 in the morning - and (thankfully, I have to admit - I must be getting past it), we just went home afterwards. I was really grateful that everyone else was a tired as me and wasn't fussed about hitting the clubs. Phew!
I got bitten to pieces by mosquitos, though - they don't seem the least bit bothered by my insect repellent, and I have been bitten much worse than anyone else. I have ripped my poor legs to shreds scratching the bites - they are so much worse than midgey bites. Luckily, I have discovered that the antiseptic gel I bought for cleaning my hands with after a day in the Refugio dulls the itch. It has been a godsend all round!
Speaking of insects, or bichas as the kids call them, I was horrified on Thursday (so horrified that I forgot to mention it) to discover that I am now playing host to a rancid bunch of headlice. Charming! I had been getting Sile to check my head all the time and we had been congratulting ourselves on being bicha-free, but when Analia from Arcoiris checked me, she found a massive LIVE one - I saw it right there in her hand, squirming its foul little legs. Don't worry, I will quarantine myself once I am home until I have had a chance to cover them in shoe polish, or turpentine or whatever it is gets rid of then parasitic little swines. The shame of it!
On Friday morning, I had a bit of a lie-in and then finished the rest of my packing. I was really surprised that I managed to fit in my snowboarding jacket. That jacket has been over the Atlantic 4 times so far, and I have only worn it twice. I have no intention of wearing it on the plane back, though (it's so bulky!), so although I have now unpacked it again in my hotel here, I'll need to make sure it fits back in the case for flying home. I hope I don't have to leave behind any of the shoes I bought here...!
I went into town for a last look round and to get some last-minute bits and pieces. Sile and I bought a huge bunch of flowers for Cuca - they won't last, but apparently she loves flowers and she has already started using the tartan teatowels that mum and dad bought for her, so she will have a lasting Scottish influence of some kind! She has bought me a t-shirt with a picture of the Iguazu Falls too, so we have made a good swap!
The gang had one last reunion for luch before I left, which was really nice. Hannah had swapped her work for the day to help Jenny at Arcoiris, and it sounds like the kids are still in one piece there, anyway!
Then I did my goodbyes and headed off. I wonder if I will see them again - I hope so, anyway. Especially considering that I only got 2 weeks with the new lot - there still seemed so much fun to be had.
My flight from Posadas to BA was delayed by 4 hours, which was really annoying as I could have had longer in town with my friends and going shopping. Marcelo and Carolina took me to the airport as they were meeting the next raft of volunteers - I wondered if they would be feeling as lost and nervous as I was on my first day in Posadas.
Finally we left - the flight to BA was uneventful, apart from the landing, which was shaky and a bit scary, considering how close to the buildings we were. We landed with all the lights of the city around us, and I couldn't help but fall in love with the place all over again.
My taxi driver to the hotel was another friendly sort, and we spoke (in Spanish) all about how many Scottish and Irish people there are living in BA, the nightclubs and the difference between taxi drivers here, London and Edinburgh. Random, but very satisfying! My hotel turned out to be a bit of a rustic dream - the bathroom is the same size as the bedroom (although it is a single room and I do have to turn sideways and walk like a crab to get round the end of the bed) and - wonder of wonders - has a balcony. I spent a while standing out there last night, just feeling the breeze on my face and watching the cars go by on nearby Avenida de 9 Julio (at 16 lanes, apparently it's the widest street in the world). I was pleased to find that there is a minibar, and was half-tempted to tuck into the champagne, as it was only about 14 pesos or suchlike (2 pound eighty?). Instead I opted for a Quilmes, the local beer, but managed to pull out a Coke instead... and I'd opened it before I had realised - it was too late, so I had to drink it!
I woke up this morning all excited about the things I could do today. I had another good look at the city from the balcony and thought about how lucky I am - if you have the chance, you MUST come here. It's so amazing. I love it.
I braved the restaurant alone for breakfast, then headed back up to the balcony to plan my itinerary. I had actually already seen a lot of the city from when I first arrived in Argentina, but there are a few more of the smaller things to see. I first of all headed out up Avda de 9 Julio to the Obelisk, as I didn't get any pictures of that the first time around. From there I walked to Plaza de San Martín, which, according to my guidebook, used to be a slave market. It was hard to imagine that as I sat on a bench there in the sunshine, looking at all the gleaming skyscrapers all around me.
I then went to see the Torre de los Ingleses, which was a gift from the city's British contingent many years ago. It is now covered with "Malvinas Argentinas" ("The Falklands are Argentine") graffiti, but on one side it also has the British coat of arms with "Dieu et Mon Droit" on it, which surprised me with its incongruousness to its surroundings.
I was pleased with myself after that, because I plucked up the courage to go up what looked like a bit of a dodgy street to find the Museum of Immigration. What a reward! It was sited in what used to be the immigrant' hotel, where new arrivals to the country could stay for 5-15 days while they got settled in and found work and homes. It was really interesting seeing where the immigrants to Argentina had come from - they were encouraged to come from all over Europe. Some of the first families, apparently, were Scottish.
There were great photos of the new immigrants stepping off the boats to their new lives - it was impossible to see from their faces what they were thinking, but I would love to know what was going through their heads at that time.
I keep seeing planes taking off from the nearby international airport, and part of me longs to be on one, coming home. But in the meantime, there is still so much to see and do. Sile should be here in a few hours and then it's time to hit the town. It should be good.
Will try and write some more tomorrow, but now my fingers (and no doubt your eyes!) hurt.
¡Ciao!
On Thurdsay, I had a really great last night in Posadas - I couldn't have asked for better, actually. We all went round to Marcelo and Veronica's for what was my last asado in Posadas! Marcelo cooked up tons of meat - probably more than a whole cow - and it was delicious. We sat outside on the terrace, even though it was about 25 degrees (in the dark!) and the air conditioning in the house was much more pleasant. We talked and played stupid games until about 1 in the morning - and (thankfully, I have to admit - I must be getting past it), we just went home afterwards. I was really grateful that everyone else was a tired as me and wasn't fussed about hitting the clubs. Phew!
I got bitten to pieces by mosquitos, though - they don't seem the least bit bothered by my insect repellent, and I have been bitten much worse than anyone else. I have ripped my poor legs to shreds scratching the bites - they are so much worse than midgey bites. Luckily, I have discovered that the antiseptic gel I bought for cleaning my hands with after a day in the Refugio dulls the itch. It has been a godsend all round!
Speaking of insects, or bichas as the kids call them, I was horrified on Thursday (so horrified that I forgot to mention it) to discover that I am now playing host to a rancid bunch of headlice. Charming! I had been getting Sile to check my head all the time and we had been congratulting ourselves on being bicha-free, but when Analia from Arcoiris checked me, she found a massive LIVE one - I saw it right there in her hand, squirming its foul little legs. Don't worry, I will quarantine myself once I am home until I have had a chance to cover them in shoe polish, or turpentine or whatever it is gets rid of then parasitic little swines. The shame of it!
On Friday morning, I had a bit of a lie-in and then finished the rest of my packing. I was really surprised that I managed to fit in my snowboarding jacket. That jacket has been over the Atlantic 4 times so far, and I have only worn it twice. I have no intention of wearing it on the plane back, though (it's so bulky!), so although I have now unpacked it again in my hotel here, I'll need to make sure it fits back in the case for flying home. I hope I don't have to leave behind any of the shoes I bought here...!
I went into town for a last look round and to get some last-minute bits and pieces. Sile and I bought a huge bunch of flowers for Cuca - they won't last, but apparently she loves flowers and she has already started using the tartan teatowels that mum and dad bought for her, so she will have a lasting Scottish influence of some kind! She has bought me a t-shirt with a picture of the Iguazu Falls too, so we have made a good swap!
The gang had one last reunion for luch before I left, which was really nice. Hannah had swapped her work for the day to help Jenny at Arcoiris, and it sounds like the kids are still in one piece there, anyway!
Then I did my goodbyes and headed off. I wonder if I will see them again - I hope so, anyway. Especially considering that I only got 2 weeks with the new lot - there still seemed so much fun to be had.
My flight from Posadas to BA was delayed by 4 hours, which was really annoying as I could have had longer in town with my friends and going shopping. Marcelo and Carolina took me to the airport as they were meeting the next raft of volunteers - I wondered if they would be feeling as lost and nervous as I was on my first day in Posadas.
Finally we left - the flight to BA was uneventful, apart from the landing, which was shaky and a bit scary, considering how close to the buildings we were. We landed with all the lights of the city around us, and I couldn't help but fall in love with the place all over again.
My taxi driver to the hotel was another friendly sort, and we spoke (in Spanish) all about how many Scottish and Irish people there are living in BA, the nightclubs and the difference between taxi drivers here, London and Edinburgh. Random, but very satisfying! My hotel turned out to be a bit of a rustic dream - the bathroom is the same size as the bedroom (although it is a single room and I do have to turn sideways and walk like a crab to get round the end of the bed) and - wonder of wonders - has a balcony. I spent a while standing out there last night, just feeling the breeze on my face and watching the cars go by on nearby Avenida de 9 Julio (at 16 lanes, apparently it's the widest street in the world). I was pleased to find that there is a minibar, and was half-tempted to tuck into the champagne, as it was only about 14 pesos or suchlike (2 pound eighty?). Instead I opted for a Quilmes, the local beer, but managed to pull out a Coke instead... and I'd opened it before I had realised - it was too late, so I had to drink it!
I woke up this morning all excited about the things I could do today. I had another good look at the city from the balcony and thought about how lucky I am - if you have the chance, you MUST come here. It's so amazing. I love it.
I braved the restaurant alone for breakfast, then headed back up to the balcony to plan my itinerary. I had actually already seen a lot of the city from when I first arrived in Argentina, but there are a few more of the smaller things to see. I first of all headed out up Avda de 9 Julio to the Obelisk, as I didn't get any pictures of that the first time around. From there I walked to Plaza de San Martín, which, according to my guidebook, used to be a slave market. It was hard to imagine that as I sat on a bench there in the sunshine, looking at all the gleaming skyscrapers all around me.
I then went to see the Torre de los Ingleses, which was a gift from the city's British contingent many years ago. It is now covered with "Malvinas Argentinas" ("The Falklands are Argentine") graffiti, but on one side it also has the British coat of arms with "Dieu et Mon Droit" on it, which surprised me with its incongruousness to its surroundings.
I was pleased with myself after that, because I plucked up the courage to go up what looked like a bit of a dodgy street to find the Museum of Immigration. What a reward! It was sited in what used to be the immigrant' hotel, where new arrivals to the country could stay for 5-15 days while they got settled in and found work and homes. It was really interesting seeing where the immigrants to Argentina had come from - they were encouraged to come from all over Europe. Some of the first families, apparently, were Scottish.
There were great photos of the new immigrants stepping off the boats to their new lives - it was impossible to see from their faces what they were thinking, but I would love to know what was going through their heads at that time.
I keep seeing planes taking off from the nearby international airport, and part of me longs to be on one, coming home. But in the meantime, there is still so much to see and do. Sile should be here in a few hours and then it's time to hit the town. It should be good.
Will try and write some more tomorrow, but now my fingers (and no doubt your eyes!) hurt.
¡Ciao!
Thursday, 4 October 2007
Walkaways
A bit of a tough day today all round, not least because it was a struggle to get up this morning. We went to the restaurant my guidebook recommended, and it was lovely. I had this amazing steak, Bife de Chorizo al Canibal (not as gruesome as it sounds, but it was very bloody in the middle - just the way I like it!). The waiter even said "excellent choice, Sir" to Jonny (in Spanish) when he ordered the wine (the 2004 Malbec, if you're interested), but apparently the desserts were rubbish.
Afterwards I tried hard to resist the peer pressure to go out (I am 26, after all, and past such things), but ended up being press-ganged into going to Mentecato, and, even worse, the thoroughly vile Tauro. My pool skills had improved a bit, though. Being the "mum" of the group, I bailed out early again, and still felt as though I needed another 12 hours' sleep when the alarm went off this morning. My throat is now really hurting, and I would curse Tauro if I could get the words out.
Sile and I endured our last ever wait for the catorce (the no 14 bus) this morning, amid the general gawping and stares of Posadas drivers. One guy was practically hanging out his car. I don't get it - we are dressed in our work clothes, which are covered in paint, flour, mud and worse from the day before, we have no makeup on, we look half-dead from tiredness... what is it they find so fascinating? There is also this really funny thing that men do here when they are trying to get your attention as you walk past - they make this "ch ch ch" sound. For ages I just thought it was crickets in the grass! They really need to sort it out!
Arcoiris was lovely this morning. Zacarías read me a bit of a play he had been doing at school about the destruction of the Aboriginal peoples' lifestyle and habitat since the Conquistadores "discovered" South America. The play was done in the form of a story told to children by their grandfather, and the end of the story was yet to come - the grandad said that it was the kids' responsibility to make sure that the ending was a happy one. Zaca and I talked about what this meant and I explained that it didn't end with his generation, but would go on for ever, and everyone had the responsibility. I can't believe I managed to do this in Spanish and he understood - it was quite a moving moment for me. I had a great time too with Salomon, teaching him Scots phrases. He picks things up really fast. He spoke Doric at one point, when he greeted me with a "Fit like, min" and later on he said "he's totally radge". Brilliant!
We finished making the magnets, and 2 of the kids gave me theirs as a memento of them. They were meant to be mementos of us, but I like fridge magnets and it would have been rude to refuse. At one point Lorena called all the kids to the office and when they came back out, they had made posters for both of us that had drawings of all the children on it and messages from the ones that could write. Mine was written in Spanish, but Sile's one was in English, which said a lot for them - they don't really speak any English. It said something along the lines of "we may not share the same language, but we can still understand each other". Reading that made me cry. Sile hardly dried up all morning! At the end, we went round all of them and I said good luck for their lives to each of them. At one point I was struck by how fragile their lives are and I was really sad to think that their lives may not always be so secure and happy as they are now. I wonder what will become of them. I hope to keep in touch with them by email, though, and Lorena wants our photos to make a website for the home.
Eventually, after much crying and lots of goodbyes, we left. We had a very greasy lunch in the foodcourt - all 3 of us were up for some serious comfort-eating. Afterwards it was Refugio time - I was quite dreading it, but I ended up having some great moments with the kids. We had all the new puzzles out, and they all proved very popular. It was amazing the difference they have made - the kids used to run around madly all the time, making weapons to hurt each other or destroy things out of anything they could find. It was really nice at one point to step back and see a group of about 15 kids from the age of 4 to 14 all absorbed in some activity or another. Also, I had a bit of a watershed with Alejandrito, who I was beginning to wonder might be autistic as he didn't respond to anyone and used to cry a lot of the time. Somehow today I won him over and he couldn't stop giving me hugs. Last week he kept destroying things and hitting people, but today he tidied up all the bricks on his own initiative, and when I praised him he ran into my arms for a hug. Little things like that have made this trip worthwhile.
I was glad to get away at 5.45 because the kids had started to go a bit radge again, and I didn't want to spoil the nice afternoon that we had just had. I wonder what will become of all the kids there. I do feel, though, that what I've done has made a difference, even if it's just the tiniest bit. Now it's up to other people - I just hope that they care about the kids as much as I did. I think, though, that what I have seen and done here won't really sink in until I get home.
It's my last night in Posadas tonight. It's gone so fast. I will be glad of the change, though, and I'm excited about going to Buenos Aires again. Most of all, I'm excited about getting home - I miss it.
I better go off and pack now - I have to be out of my room by 10 tomorrow morning as there is a new person coming (another lamb to the slaughter!), so I want to be all organised. No late night for me, tonight, either!
The next installment will probably be in BA, if I can get to a computer. Until then... ¡ciao!
Afterwards I tried hard to resist the peer pressure to go out (I am 26, after all, and past such things), but ended up being press-ganged into going to Mentecato, and, even worse, the thoroughly vile Tauro. My pool skills had improved a bit, though. Being the "mum" of the group, I bailed out early again, and still felt as though I needed another 12 hours' sleep when the alarm went off this morning. My throat is now really hurting, and I would curse Tauro if I could get the words out.
Sile and I endured our last ever wait for the catorce (the no 14 bus) this morning, amid the general gawping and stares of Posadas drivers. One guy was practically hanging out his car. I don't get it - we are dressed in our work clothes, which are covered in paint, flour, mud and worse from the day before, we have no makeup on, we look half-dead from tiredness... what is it they find so fascinating? There is also this really funny thing that men do here when they are trying to get your attention as you walk past - they make this "ch ch ch" sound. For ages I just thought it was crickets in the grass! They really need to sort it out!
Arcoiris was lovely this morning. Zacarías read me a bit of a play he had been doing at school about the destruction of the Aboriginal peoples' lifestyle and habitat since the Conquistadores "discovered" South America. The play was done in the form of a story told to children by their grandfather, and the end of the story was yet to come - the grandad said that it was the kids' responsibility to make sure that the ending was a happy one. Zaca and I talked about what this meant and I explained that it didn't end with his generation, but would go on for ever, and everyone had the responsibility. I can't believe I managed to do this in Spanish and he understood - it was quite a moving moment for me. I had a great time too with Salomon, teaching him Scots phrases. He picks things up really fast. He spoke Doric at one point, when he greeted me with a "Fit like, min" and later on he said "he's totally radge". Brilliant!
We finished making the magnets, and 2 of the kids gave me theirs as a memento of them. They were meant to be mementos of us, but I like fridge magnets and it would have been rude to refuse. At one point Lorena called all the kids to the office and when they came back out, they had made posters for both of us that had drawings of all the children on it and messages from the ones that could write. Mine was written in Spanish, but Sile's one was in English, which said a lot for them - they don't really speak any English. It said something along the lines of "we may not share the same language, but we can still understand each other". Reading that made me cry. Sile hardly dried up all morning! At the end, we went round all of them and I said good luck for their lives to each of them. At one point I was struck by how fragile their lives are and I was really sad to think that their lives may not always be so secure and happy as they are now. I wonder what will become of them. I hope to keep in touch with them by email, though, and Lorena wants our photos to make a website for the home.
Eventually, after much crying and lots of goodbyes, we left. We had a very greasy lunch in the foodcourt - all 3 of us were up for some serious comfort-eating. Afterwards it was Refugio time - I was quite dreading it, but I ended up having some great moments with the kids. We had all the new puzzles out, and they all proved very popular. It was amazing the difference they have made - the kids used to run around madly all the time, making weapons to hurt each other or destroy things out of anything they could find. It was really nice at one point to step back and see a group of about 15 kids from the age of 4 to 14 all absorbed in some activity or another. Also, I had a bit of a watershed with Alejandrito, who I was beginning to wonder might be autistic as he didn't respond to anyone and used to cry a lot of the time. Somehow today I won him over and he couldn't stop giving me hugs. Last week he kept destroying things and hitting people, but today he tidied up all the bricks on his own initiative, and when I praised him he ran into my arms for a hug. Little things like that have made this trip worthwhile.
I was glad to get away at 5.45 because the kids had started to go a bit radge again, and I didn't want to spoil the nice afternoon that we had just had. I wonder what will become of all the kids there. I do feel, though, that what I've done has made a difference, even if it's just the tiniest bit. Now it's up to other people - I just hope that they care about the kids as much as I did. I think, though, that what I have seen and done here won't really sink in until I get home.
It's my last night in Posadas tonight. It's gone so fast. I will be glad of the change, though, and I'm excited about going to Buenos Aires again. Most of all, I'm excited about getting home - I miss it.
I better go off and pack now - I have to be out of my room by 10 tomorrow morning as there is a new person coming (another lamb to the slaughter!), so I want to be all organised. No late night for me, tonight, either!
The next installment will probably be in BA, if I can get to a computer. Until then... ¡ciao!
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
South American Homesick Blues
OK, so I'm not really homesick. And I don't have the blues. I was trying to be a bit clever with the title there... and I am now starting to really look forward to going home, and I had a blues incident earlier on, so it seemed apt. Read on.
Bowling was shut last night for refurbishment, apparently, so we ended up back in good old Mentecato. This will probably be my last time there, as we seem to be going to Cristobal (workplace of the nefarious Sergio. Hmm!) tonight and to Pan y Manteca on Thursday, as we haven't been there yet and supposedly it's good.
I rotted my teeth with my last Caipirinha and a Licuado, then we all bailed out. It was still too hot to think at midnight. Damn the tropics!
We were in Arcoiris early again this morning, having figured out the buses at long last. We started off with a treat for them - we started the first part of a magnet-making set, putting the plaster into moulds. The kids really enjoyed it and managed not to make too much mess - after my P7 last year and all their art antics, I could hardly beleive how little there was to clear up afterwards. Just as we were finishing, Rosi, a lady who has been in to visit before, came in with her guitar. She sang some nursery rhymes and Singing Kettle-style stuff to the kids, and it was lovely watching them sing along. They all had a go of the guitar, which they loved. Rosi passed me the guitar as I had said I played, and she asked me to sing for them. I was really nervous, but sang "Ye Banks and Braes" as I thought the more traditional Scottish, the better! They didn't have the first clue what I was saying (I'm not sure if Sile or Jenny did either!) but they all listened all the way through and gave me a round of applause, which was more than my class did on Burn's Day last year! It made me feel just the tiniest bit homesick. After that, Rosi played a sad traditional Argentine song, and it was blues all round!
It was lunch in the park again today and as early a start as we could manage at Refugio. We are doing loads better now with the games that we bought, and there was a moment today when about 10 of the kids were gainfully engaged in one or other of the things that we brought with us. Even Sara and Itatí, who normally spend all their time cooking up spiteful ploys to annoy us (yesterday we are sure they pinched a whole load of the jigsaw pieces, but today Itatí had miraculously and conveniently found them in the kitchen) joined in and were really sweet all afternoon. We were so impressed that we went into town afterwards to get a few more jigsaws and things for them. It can be a leaving present from Sile and me too as, after tomorrow, I doubt we will ever see those kids again.
We are going out for a meal tonight with the gang, so I'm off to get ready. I'm sad that after tomorrow I won't be able to see the kids again or be able to help them anymore, but I have worn myself out and I'm glad that I am passing on the torch to someone else. I think I deserve a break!
Mañana...
Bowling was shut last night for refurbishment, apparently, so we ended up back in good old Mentecato. This will probably be my last time there, as we seem to be going to Cristobal (workplace of the nefarious Sergio. Hmm!) tonight and to Pan y Manteca on Thursday, as we haven't been there yet and supposedly it's good.
I rotted my teeth with my last Caipirinha and a Licuado, then we all bailed out. It was still too hot to think at midnight. Damn the tropics!
We were in Arcoiris early again this morning, having figured out the buses at long last. We started off with a treat for them - we started the first part of a magnet-making set, putting the plaster into moulds. The kids really enjoyed it and managed not to make too much mess - after my P7 last year and all their art antics, I could hardly beleive how little there was to clear up afterwards. Just as we were finishing, Rosi, a lady who has been in to visit before, came in with her guitar. She sang some nursery rhymes and Singing Kettle-style stuff to the kids, and it was lovely watching them sing along. They all had a go of the guitar, which they loved. Rosi passed me the guitar as I had said I played, and she asked me to sing for them. I was really nervous, but sang "Ye Banks and Braes" as I thought the more traditional Scottish, the better! They didn't have the first clue what I was saying (I'm not sure if Sile or Jenny did either!) but they all listened all the way through and gave me a round of applause, which was more than my class did on Burn's Day last year! It made me feel just the tiniest bit homesick. After that, Rosi played a sad traditional Argentine song, and it was blues all round!
It was lunch in the park again today and as early a start as we could manage at Refugio. We are doing loads better now with the games that we bought, and there was a moment today when about 10 of the kids were gainfully engaged in one or other of the things that we brought with us. Even Sara and Itatí, who normally spend all their time cooking up spiteful ploys to annoy us (yesterday we are sure they pinched a whole load of the jigsaw pieces, but today Itatí had miraculously and conveniently found them in the kitchen) joined in and were really sweet all afternoon. We were so impressed that we went into town afterwards to get a few more jigsaws and things for them. It can be a leaving present from Sile and me too as, after tomorrow, I doubt we will ever see those kids again.
We are going out for a meal tonight with the gang, so I'm off to get ready. I'm sad that after tomorrow I won't be able to see the kids again or be able to help them anymore, but I have worn myself out and I'm glad that I am passing on the torch to someone else. I think I deserve a break!
Mañana...
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Hot in the City
I can barely bring myself to do anything today. It's so hot that it hurts to move. I don't get it - this time last week, I was wrapped up in my snowboarding jacket, gloves and hat. Today I just want to be lying in a very cold pool sipping cold juice. Or maybe an iced Dr Lemon.
Last night was totally uneventful - we were thinking of all going to the cinema, but as usual it fell to me to find out times, and I had to phone the cinema. I didn't fully understand what the woman said, which was just as well as I have since found out that the film we wanted to see isn't actually on. I must have heard her say something else. In the end we all ended up having a night off and I fell asleep really early. I woke up really early too because of the heat, but then the fan kept me awake, so I turned it off and stayed hot - and awake. I still feel like I have had no rest at all.
I managed to drag myself into work, but it was unbearable, even inside. I spent most of the morning with Mile, which was nice as she is starting to walk. It's a real shame she doesn't have a mum around to see her growing. Jenny and I had a lovely picnic in the park again. The park is called Plaza de las Malvinas and there is a sign with a big picture of the Falklands coloured in with the Argentine flag. People do keep wanting to discuss the Falklands with us, but I think it's best avoided and pretend that Scotland had nothing to do with it. It usually works.
Refugio was a bit better today, but I couldn't believe it when I saw the broken bench is in fact back and worse than ever (rusty nails sticking out all over the place) and has been joined by 2 others. The kids were doing clay modelling with German, an 18 year old who volunteers there every Tuesday. Of course, the modelling descended into rioting and the clay got thrown everywhere. German went around trying to pick it up and I commented that he was very brave to try doing stuff like that with them as it is bound to end in chaos. He agreed, but said he knew exactly what would happen. We ended up having a long and interesting conversation (in Spanish, ¡desde luego!) about the problems there are in the home and what he thinks are the causes. I'm not about to risk libel by repeating here what he said, but it was a very interesting insight into why things are the way they are.
Later on, Stefania, the girl who allegedly threw the puppy, appeared. I was so annoyed with her that I didn't kon what to do, but eventually I asked her what had happened with the pup. She pretended she didn't understand me, then later claimed that one of the other children had thrown it. Later still, I took her to one side and asked her if she knew how we should treat animals. She replied that we should care for them. I said to her that dogs can't fly and she shouldn't make them. I asked her if she understood and if she would remember that, and she said she would. I felt a little bit better about the situation, as she seemed to be sorry, but I suppose that's just a drop in the ocean. Bullying in the Refugio is probably endemic, with everyone able to find someone weaker than themselves to pick on - even if the person themselves is tiny and they pick on a dog.
Nothing much else of note happened today, unless you count my trip to the laundrette. I am so hot and tired and want a shower and a sleep! There is some talk of going bowling tonight - at least it will be airconditioned in there.
Tomorrow!
Last night was totally uneventful - we were thinking of all going to the cinema, but as usual it fell to me to find out times, and I had to phone the cinema. I didn't fully understand what the woman said, which was just as well as I have since found out that the film we wanted to see isn't actually on. I must have heard her say something else. In the end we all ended up having a night off and I fell asleep really early. I woke up really early too because of the heat, but then the fan kept me awake, so I turned it off and stayed hot - and awake. I still feel like I have had no rest at all.
I managed to drag myself into work, but it was unbearable, even inside. I spent most of the morning with Mile, which was nice as she is starting to walk. It's a real shame she doesn't have a mum around to see her growing. Jenny and I had a lovely picnic in the park again. The park is called Plaza de las Malvinas and there is a sign with a big picture of the Falklands coloured in with the Argentine flag. People do keep wanting to discuss the Falklands with us, but I think it's best avoided and pretend that Scotland had nothing to do with it. It usually works.
Refugio was a bit better today, but I couldn't believe it when I saw the broken bench is in fact back and worse than ever (rusty nails sticking out all over the place) and has been joined by 2 others. The kids were doing clay modelling with German, an 18 year old who volunteers there every Tuesday. Of course, the modelling descended into rioting and the clay got thrown everywhere. German went around trying to pick it up and I commented that he was very brave to try doing stuff like that with them as it is bound to end in chaos. He agreed, but said he knew exactly what would happen. We ended up having a long and interesting conversation (in Spanish, ¡desde luego!) about the problems there are in the home and what he thinks are the causes. I'm not about to risk libel by repeating here what he said, but it was a very interesting insight into why things are the way they are.
Later on, Stefania, the girl who allegedly threw the puppy, appeared. I was so annoyed with her that I didn't kon what to do, but eventually I asked her what had happened with the pup. She pretended she didn't understand me, then later claimed that one of the other children had thrown it. Later still, I took her to one side and asked her if she knew how we should treat animals. She replied that we should care for them. I said to her that dogs can't fly and she shouldn't make them. I asked her if she understood and if she would remember that, and she said she would. I felt a little bit better about the situation, as she seemed to be sorry, but I suppose that's just a drop in the ocean. Bullying in the Refugio is probably endemic, with everyone able to find someone weaker than themselves to pick on - even if the person themselves is tiny and they pick on a dog.
Nothing much else of note happened today, unless you count my trip to the laundrette. I am so hot and tired and want a shower and a sleep! There is some talk of going bowling tonight - at least it will be airconditioned in there.
Tomorrow!
Monday, 1 October 2007
VIPs and RIP
It's Monday again, and all of a sudden I only have 4 days left in Posadas. It's gone so fast, but in many ways I am ready to come home. I think that's a good thing, though! I had a great time on Saturday night. Sile and I were lucky enough to be invited to a family barbecue at Cuca's daughter's house - I get the feeling that it's a real honour to be invited. Tim and Jonny went along too, but while we were picked up at 6.45, the boys didn't arrive until nearer 9 and we didn't eat until after 11. I had stopped being hungry by then. The dichotomy between Cuca's timekeeping and the lax approach taken by everyone else is stark - I arrived home at 6.40 by my watch and got a ticking off for being late, even though I wasn't... It seems Cuca sets her clocks 10 minutes early. Very frustrating! We were getting picked up at 6.45, but then no one else turned up until 9ish and we didn't finish eating and get back home until half one in the morning. It made me wonder what the fuss was all about, especially as I have checked and my watch is in sync with others around the city, including the one in the locutorio I am in right now!
It was such a lovely night, though. We sat around and drank wine in the garden of Cuca's daughter (Anna Maria)'s house and listened to the jokes told by José Luis. He is a right old joker, and was working the assembled crowd, who were rapt by his jokes! I could barely understand a word, but we all found ourselves cracking up at whatever punchline it was, as the the tone he delivered it in and everyone else's hysterical laughter was infectious. José Luis is the boyfriend of Emilse, who is Cuca's late son's wife. Cuca's son died in a motor accident 15 years ago, and it's nice for Emilse to have a new partner. Emilse is also Jonny and Tim's homestay mum and she speaks a bit of English.
When we finally got round to eating, I wasn't all that hungry. I had a bit of steak, some chorizo sausage (the Argentine stuff tastes very different from the chorizo you get in Spain or at home, but is still delicious) and the tiniest bit of morcilla, which is Argentine blood sausage. It's a national delicacy and I wanted to try some, but I have to admit I'm not a fan. It was like slimy, smooth black pudding. Urk!
Much hilarity ensued including Jonny narrowly escaping a dance with Anna Maria, who knows how to enjoy herself! We were dropped off home at half one, with each of us wondering if we could manage to stay awake another few hours to go out.
We made it out at half 2, which sounds obscene in the cold light of a Monday evening. But that's how things work here - Power (the legendary and massive Saturday club) doesn't open until 2 am. We went back to the VIP section - no VIPs were in there, sadly - but we did manage to share a bottle of champagne, which cost the equivalent of 5 pounds. Stranger-to-romance Sergio promptly informed me that he was working and would not be in Power, which was no piel off my nariz! I was very excited as they started playing some retro classics in the VIP, and at one point I could have sworn I was in the Egg all over again. They played "My Sharona" by the Knack and some Erasure and Depeche Mode. It was all so incongruous with the surroundings and Tim and I had a good dance off in honour of the randomness.
It all got a bit too much for us around 4, though, and we retired to the seating area. Tim decided earlier that he is very excited by the notion that there might be someone out there called Peter Bread (I might google this later) and we decided to see how many names we could come up with that were also foods (this may have been a result of food deprivation earlier in the evening). We came up with Victoria Sponge, Di Gestive (I threw in Rich Tea at this point) and Sam On. Any others would no doubt please Tim endlessly, so do leave them as comments at the end of this, presuming you are as sad as us.
I was really glad to get home to my bed. One thing I will say is that I hadn't appreciated before how much the smoking ban has improved the smell of my clothes after a night out. Every time I wake up after a going out anywhere here (even after just 1 drink in a bar), my clothes reek of smoke. I had forgotten how unpleasant it is, and won't miss this aspect of Argentina, although I will mourn the loss of the cheap prices of everything here!
I was up sharpish (for me) on Sunday morning, as Jenny, Hannah and I had arranged to go to San Ignacio. We had been tipped off that there was a lovely beach close by, so I duly packed my bikini and tiny travelling towel. The bus only took an hour, but it was incredibly hot as soon as we got away from the air conditioning.
San Ignacio is one of many sites of the former Jesuit compounds that were set up in the 17th century, where the Jesuit immigrants established colonies of the local indigenous people, the Guaraní. The Jesuits came over from Europe to set up religious colonies that "civilised" the Guaraní, while encouraging them to move away from their subsistent lifestyle, to farm and trade, and the Jesuits protected the tribes from the invasions of slavers from Brazil and other areas. From what I can gather, the colonies became almost Utopian societies, although they did have a house in the compound in which (according to the translation), women were shut away if they were widowed, had an absent husband, or were "dissolute", which doesn't sound very modern or socialist to me!
The Jesuits were all forced to leave the colonies by decree decades after their founding, and the buildings were destroyed by weather and various wars. All that is left of San Ignacio is some very grandly carved stone walls and the outline of the various rooms and divisions of the compound. If it hadn't been for the deep red colour of the stone, the blistering sunshine and the huge cactus growing by the ruins, it could have been a Historic Scotland site, which was funny!
The heat was almost too much to bear, as it often is here. We left and decided to try to find a taxi to take us to the beach, as we had been advised to do by Carolina. We also checked with the man at the front gate of the ruins where we should get the bus home from - as I think I said, bus stops are few and far between, and hard to discern if you're not local! We walked down the street, but there were no cars, never mind those with the white and yellow that shows they are taxis. I went into a shop to ask where we could get a taxi from, and the woman said "oh, these boys' uncle is a taxi driver. Just go round to his house and he'll take you". We followed the kids round the corner to the house, but they came back out and said he was asleep. His wife came out and said she would take us to the archway, where she said there was a taxi company. We felt very uncomfortable about this, and I was very stressed as I couldn't really understand her thick accent, and Jenny and Hannah don't speak much Spanish so couldn't help me out. In the end, she totally overcharged us for a 5 minute journey that did not result in us finding a taxi company at the archway, so who knows what she was on about. We ended up walking back into town and going into the casino, which appeared to have the only cafe that was open. We felt better after a coke and some air conditioning, and decided to abandon the trip to the beach, as if we couldn't get a taxi there, there was little chance of getting one back.
According to the timetable, the next bus home wasn't until 10 past 10, so we watched the sun going down (like switching off a light!) and then went for steaks in a restaurant near the ruins. I am quite used to things being set up for tourists, if not exactly touristy, and although it had been a bit stressful, it was really good to be doing something and seeing somewhere that is not at all touristy. The way things are going, Argentina in a few years' time may be a lot more built up and tacky and I'm glad I'm getting to see it now.
The bus didn't turn up where the man at the gate said it would be and eventually we realised that we had to go back to the Archway, after missing the second last bus home. Luckily we were able to get on the last one, but it was totally full and we ended up sitting on the floor of the top deck for a while. One thing they do here on long bus journeys is serve you a shot of black, very sweet coffee and a little boiled sweetie, and both were very welcome by the time the guy came along with the trays.
I felt like I had only been asleep for a minute when I woke up this morning, so it's just as well that I have had quite an easy day. I'm glad, though, as Friday was almost more than I could take. We made it really early to Arcoiris - for some reason the buses were being quite kind today. The kids were mostly really chilled and I had a couple of lovely moments with Mile, the youngest baby. We had brought a foam jigsaw map of Argentina, which proved very exciting to the kids but almost impossible to do. Each piece of the jigsaw was a province of Argentina (including territories in Antarctica and the Falklands, which are featured on all national maps) and I was ashamed to realise that I hardly knew any of the geography of the country that is hosting me. It was ok, though, as none of the kids did either. We pieced it back together eventually and managed not to lose any of the bits.
Sile went off to the locutorio after work, but Jenny and I bought cheese and bread from the local shop and had a wee picnic in the park. It's stupidly hot, though, and I was in danger of falling asleep. That feeling continued at the Refugio, but hardly any of the kids seemed to be there today so we spent the afternoon taking photos and chatting to 3 of the older kids, who normally don't really get much one-to-one attention.
One thing that is really sad about El Refugio is the state that some of the kids are left in. Daniel, who has stunted growth and severe learning difficulties, is constantly in wet and dirty nappies. He is 7 and although he doesn't seem to be aware of it himself, the other children notice that he smells very badly and it is very hard to be near him. It seems to be to be tragic and unfair that he is forced to smell like a dirty toilet all the time, and that is his life. He is already very psychologically damaged by what happened to him when he was wee, but I wonder what further stress that puts him under.
I also made the mistake of asking about the puppy. I am very upset but not at all surprised about what I found out - the puppy died last week. Apparently one of the younger girls threw him across the room to see if he could fly. This sums up the way the children live there. They are not looked after properly and have no guidance or discipline, therefore they have no idea how to look after a tiny creature like a puppy, and I suspect they had no empathy for it or any caring feelings. I am so sad that the puppy had to die, but deep down I knew it would only be a matter of time. It was the possibility of situations like that that made me think very seriously about not coming here, as I knew that in places like orphanages there was bound to be a degree of heartbreaking situations. I did not, however, expect to feel this over a puppy.
On a brighter note, the broken bench covered in rusty nails and the huge piece of wire that have been littering the patio for a week or more have finally been removed, and Jonathan, who was being really cheeky and annoying on Friday, was really cute and spent ages going through the dictionary, learning English words. Their Scottish accents are so cute. I now have Luis greeting me every day with a handshake and "awright, min" and Salomón in Arcoiris saying "stoap it" whenever someone does something naughty!
I know that in light of what I have just written about the puppy that the paragraph above seems totally inappropriate and facile, but I have to look for silver linings around the very dark cloud of Refugio and any achievement is still something to be celebrated in a place where there is not much to feel happy about.
I also know that some readers are worrying about me as things seem so bad. I have to reassure you that the Refugio is only one part of what I'm experiencing here, I have become desensitised to things a bit (however tragic that may seem, it's the only way to survive) and I am still having the time of my life. So don't worry - and anyway, I will be home in 9 days.
I'm going to go now and have a wee sleep before tea. Drop me any of those food names, it would make Tim's day!
¡Hasta martes!
It was such a lovely night, though. We sat around and drank wine in the garden of Cuca's daughter (Anna Maria)'s house and listened to the jokes told by José Luis. He is a right old joker, and was working the assembled crowd, who were rapt by his jokes! I could barely understand a word, but we all found ourselves cracking up at whatever punchline it was, as the the tone he delivered it in and everyone else's hysterical laughter was infectious. José Luis is the boyfriend of Emilse, who is Cuca's late son's wife. Cuca's son died in a motor accident 15 years ago, and it's nice for Emilse to have a new partner. Emilse is also Jonny and Tim's homestay mum and she speaks a bit of English.
When we finally got round to eating, I wasn't all that hungry. I had a bit of steak, some chorizo sausage (the Argentine stuff tastes very different from the chorizo you get in Spain or at home, but is still delicious) and the tiniest bit of morcilla, which is Argentine blood sausage. It's a national delicacy and I wanted to try some, but I have to admit I'm not a fan. It was like slimy, smooth black pudding. Urk!
Much hilarity ensued including Jonny narrowly escaping a dance with Anna Maria, who knows how to enjoy herself! We were dropped off home at half one, with each of us wondering if we could manage to stay awake another few hours to go out.
We made it out at half 2, which sounds obscene in the cold light of a Monday evening. But that's how things work here - Power (the legendary and massive Saturday club) doesn't open until 2 am. We went back to the VIP section - no VIPs were in there, sadly - but we did manage to share a bottle of champagne, which cost the equivalent of 5 pounds. Stranger-to-romance Sergio promptly informed me that he was working and would not be in Power, which was no piel off my nariz! I was very excited as they started playing some retro classics in the VIP, and at one point I could have sworn I was in the Egg all over again. They played "My Sharona" by the Knack and some Erasure and Depeche Mode. It was all so incongruous with the surroundings and Tim and I had a good dance off in honour of the randomness.
It all got a bit too much for us around 4, though, and we retired to the seating area. Tim decided earlier that he is very excited by the notion that there might be someone out there called Peter Bread (I might google this later) and we decided to see how many names we could come up with that were also foods (this may have been a result of food deprivation earlier in the evening). We came up with Victoria Sponge, Di Gestive (I threw in Rich Tea at this point) and Sam On. Any others would no doubt please Tim endlessly, so do leave them as comments at the end of this, presuming you are as sad as us.
I was really glad to get home to my bed. One thing I will say is that I hadn't appreciated before how much the smoking ban has improved the smell of my clothes after a night out. Every time I wake up after a going out anywhere here (even after just 1 drink in a bar), my clothes reek of smoke. I had forgotten how unpleasant it is, and won't miss this aspect of Argentina, although I will mourn the loss of the cheap prices of everything here!
I was up sharpish (for me) on Sunday morning, as Jenny, Hannah and I had arranged to go to San Ignacio. We had been tipped off that there was a lovely beach close by, so I duly packed my bikini and tiny travelling towel. The bus only took an hour, but it was incredibly hot as soon as we got away from the air conditioning.
San Ignacio is one of many sites of the former Jesuit compounds that were set up in the 17th century, where the Jesuit immigrants established colonies of the local indigenous people, the Guaraní. The Jesuits came over from Europe to set up religious colonies that "civilised" the Guaraní, while encouraging them to move away from their subsistent lifestyle, to farm and trade, and the Jesuits protected the tribes from the invasions of slavers from Brazil and other areas. From what I can gather, the colonies became almost Utopian societies, although they did have a house in the compound in which (according to the translation), women were shut away if they were widowed, had an absent husband, or were "dissolute", which doesn't sound very modern or socialist to me!
The Jesuits were all forced to leave the colonies by decree decades after their founding, and the buildings were destroyed by weather and various wars. All that is left of San Ignacio is some very grandly carved stone walls and the outline of the various rooms and divisions of the compound. If it hadn't been for the deep red colour of the stone, the blistering sunshine and the huge cactus growing by the ruins, it could have been a Historic Scotland site, which was funny!
The heat was almost too much to bear, as it often is here. We left and decided to try to find a taxi to take us to the beach, as we had been advised to do by Carolina. We also checked with the man at the front gate of the ruins where we should get the bus home from - as I think I said, bus stops are few and far between, and hard to discern if you're not local! We walked down the street, but there were no cars, never mind those with the white and yellow that shows they are taxis. I went into a shop to ask where we could get a taxi from, and the woman said "oh, these boys' uncle is a taxi driver. Just go round to his house and he'll take you". We followed the kids round the corner to the house, but they came back out and said he was asleep. His wife came out and said she would take us to the archway, where she said there was a taxi company. We felt very uncomfortable about this, and I was very stressed as I couldn't really understand her thick accent, and Jenny and Hannah don't speak much Spanish so couldn't help me out. In the end, she totally overcharged us for a 5 minute journey that did not result in us finding a taxi company at the archway, so who knows what she was on about. We ended up walking back into town and going into the casino, which appeared to have the only cafe that was open. We felt better after a coke and some air conditioning, and decided to abandon the trip to the beach, as if we couldn't get a taxi there, there was little chance of getting one back.
According to the timetable, the next bus home wasn't until 10 past 10, so we watched the sun going down (like switching off a light!) and then went for steaks in a restaurant near the ruins. I am quite used to things being set up for tourists, if not exactly touristy, and although it had been a bit stressful, it was really good to be doing something and seeing somewhere that is not at all touristy. The way things are going, Argentina in a few years' time may be a lot more built up and tacky and I'm glad I'm getting to see it now.
The bus didn't turn up where the man at the gate said it would be and eventually we realised that we had to go back to the Archway, after missing the second last bus home. Luckily we were able to get on the last one, but it was totally full and we ended up sitting on the floor of the top deck for a while. One thing they do here on long bus journeys is serve you a shot of black, very sweet coffee and a little boiled sweetie, and both were very welcome by the time the guy came along with the trays.
I felt like I had only been asleep for a minute when I woke up this morning, so it's just as well that I have had quite an easy day. I'm glad, though, as Friday was almost more than I could take. We made it really early to Arcoiris - for some reason the buses were being quite kind today. The kids were mostly really chilled and I had a couple of lovely moments with Mile, the youngest baby. We had brought a foam jigsaw map of Argentina, which proved very exciting to the kids but almost impossible to do. Each piece of the jigsaw was a province of Argentina (including territories in Antarctica and the Falklands, which are featured on all national maps) and I was ashamed to realise that I hardly knew any of the geography of the country that is hosting me. It was ok, though, as none of the kids did either. We pieced it back together eventually and managed not to lose any of the bits.
Sile went off to the locutorio after work, but Jenny and I bought cheese and bread from the local shop and had a wee picnic in the park. It's stupidly hot, though, and I was in danger of falling asleep. That feeling continued at the Refugio, but hardly any of the kids seemed to be there today so we spent the afternoon taking photos and chatting to 3 of the older kids, who normally don't really get much one-to-one attention.
One thing that is really sad about El Refugio is the state that some of the kids are left in. Daniel, who has stunted growth and severe learning difficulties, is constantly in wet and dirty nappies. He is 7 and although he doesn't seem to be aware of it himself, the other children notice that he smells very badly and it is very hard to be near him. It seems to be to be tragic and unfair that he is forced to smell like a dirty toilet all the time, and that is his life. He is already very psychologically damaged by what happened to him when he was wee, but I wonder what further stress that puts him under.
I also made the mistake of asking about the puppy. I am very upset but not at all surprised about what I found out - the puppy died last week. Apparently one of the younger girls threw him across the room to see if he could fly. This sums up the way the children live there. They are not looked after properly and have no guidance or discipline, therefore they have no idea how to look after a tiny creature like a puppy, and I suspect they had no empathy for it or any caring feelings. I am so sad that the puppy had to die, but deep down I knew it would only be a matter of time. It was the possibility of situations like that that made me think very seriously about not coming here, as I knew that in places like orphanages there was bound to be a degree of heartbreaking situations. I did not, however, expect to feel this over a puppy.
On a brighter note, the broken bench covered in rusty nails and the huge piece of wire that have been littering the patio for a week or more have finally been removed, and Jonathan, who was being really cheeky and annoying on Friday, was really cute and spent ages going through the dictionary, learning English words. Their Scottish accents are so cute. I now have Luis greeting me every day with a handshake and "awright, min" and Salomón in Arcoiris saying "stoap it" whenever someone does something naughty!
I know that in light of what I have just written about the puppy that the paragraph above seems totally inappropriate and facile, but I have to look for silver linings around the very dark cloud of Refugio and any achievement is still something to be celebrated in a place where there is not much to feel happy about.
I also know that some readers are worrying about me as things seem so bad. I have to reassure you that the Refugio is only one part of what I'm experiencing here, I have become desensitised to things a bit (however tragic that may seem, it's the only way to survive) and I am still having the time of my life. So don't worry - and anyway, I will be home in 9 days.
I'm going to go now and have a wee sleep before tea. Drop me any of those food names, it would make Tim's day!
¡Hasta martes!
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