Argentina 2
- Linda Chen
- Apr 20, 2019
- 6 min read
I did not write about Buenos Aires in my last post because I think if I was going to talk about Buenos Aires, I am basically talking about Argentina since Buenos Aires is the center for politics, finance and histories in Argentina. I think Buenos Aires represents the European dream of South America the best.
There was a period of time in South America when everyone tries to be the Paris on this side of the world. For example, if you visit Rio, you will also see the trace of that time. However, I think Buenos Aires does it to a greater extent, which make sense, since Argentina used to one of the richest countries in the world during the 90s and it was awarded with the title: the Paris of South America. I see the mentality of trying to be Europe still molds the landscape of present days.
Argentina is very idealistic. The government has the most ambitious social program I have ever heard of. In Argentina, they have universal healthcare and education to anyone who steps a foot on this soil.
Just when I thought Denmark was the country with the most benevolent social program, I realized it was not after I learned about Argentina. What happened in reality was that the quality of the health system is not so good that wealthy people mostly go for private health care.
In terms of education, the state university in Buenos Aires is still the best in the country. Though literally everyone can get in, it was extremely hard to graduate. Nonetheless, you can stay as an active student as long as you are taking a course. Therefore, I have heard people doing their undergrads for 12 years while working at the same time...
The history of Buenos Aires started from a port area called la Boca, but because of the yellow fever disease, rich people started to inside the city. And when they moved inside the city, they were very unsatisfied with the simple architectures that were built during the Spanish colonial time. Therefore, they literally knocked down all the buildings inside the city except two, one of them was the church.
They believed they should live like they were in Paris, therefore, all architectures that they rebuilt were all in the luxurious Baroque style. The famous Rocoleta was also rebuilt by removing all the graves from before except one. And the result of the rebuild was Rocoleta is the second most luxurious cemetery in the world, just after the one in Italy. You can see how much effort they put in to be like Europe.
The most well-known grave in Rocleta is probably Evita's, the grave of the woman who sang Don't cry for me Argentina. She is actually a very controversial figure and it was very fun to hear different sides of opinions about her from different ladders of the society.
Maybe it was because of the davesting economic situation in Argentina, people are very actively participating in politics, even among young adults. Here are two most heated topics now in Argentina and you can see how people participate in politics in all kinds of forms.
One is abortion. Though the overwhelming majority of Argentinean are Catholic, I still consider Argentina to be a progressive country. I think on many issues, the gesture of current Pope who was born and raised in Buenos Aires can be one of the convincing evidences. Nonetheless, it is still a religious country.
Currently, the society is debating whether it should legalize abortion. People who support abortion wears a green handkerchief on their bags or somewhere to let other know. To encounter that, people who are anti-abortion wears a blue handkerchief.
This issue is so widely debated that after I started to pay attention to the handkerchief, I can see 1 green handkerchief almost every 2 minutes, mostly young people, standing in the center of Buenos Aires.
I am not sure if such passion for politics is beneficial to a community but it certainly is a very different vibe than in North America. The reason why I am not sure is because I recognized that it seems like the more passionate that people gets in politics, the less likely they will find a common ground. And they just become more divided.
For example, my tour guide, who used to have a friend circle of 5 for over 10 years recently cannot hang out together anymore, because 2 of them friends are progressive while the other 2 are conservatives with him standing in the middle.
I do not know for topics like abortion how can you discuss or debate about it, because personally I think, this is not a fight between logical arguments, and it is not like one side can win over another by having a more constructive argument, but it is an emotional fight, it is a fight between two beliefs of lives. Nonetheless, I know it is dangerous and not helping by just turning back against each other.
Another example is the "Mothers of Plaza Mayor" event. This is an event that started by 3 mothers who lost their children during the Dirty War period in Argentina. The Dirty War period in Argentina is a period of military dictatorship in Argentina and whoever that was opposed to the ruler would disappear. And during 1970 to 1980, 30,000 individuals "disappeared".
The three mothers started to march silently on Plaza Mayor in Buenos Aires every Thursday and this attracted more mothers participate. Because during those days, people were forbidden to make a gathering, therefore, mothers wear a white handkerchief on top of their heads while they march far apart from each others. Therefore, the white handkerchief became the symbol of the event. Even so, the three mothers that started the campaign were captured and tortured to death.
Mothers march on Plaza Mayor EVERY Thursday, rain or shine, since 1977 until 2006. When I heard that, I thought, only mothers would be able to do that.
The last march was done in 2006 because the government officially recognized the event and apologized.
However, people do not want to forget this event and therefore, plazas in many cities were painted to remember this event.
I don't know how to end this post. And it took me forever to finish these two pieces of writings.
Recently, I have been feeling tired, homesick and a bit lost about the future. However, I have been feeling very happy for my friends.
Feifei: quit her job and has decided to do her grad school in HK.
Xiaojun: nailed her summer internship at Bloomberg, UK
Connie: got into the graduate program of H&M
Summer: doing well in her grad school, found an internship that she likes and seems to know what she wants to do for the future.
Anny: Doing great with her job as always. Started gym with a personal trainer and got her dog from China. I knew she quit lots social media including instagram long ago recover. I think she is doing better and better and I am very proud of her.
Pallavi: got her job long ago and has found an apartment in DT toronto. Seems like she's ready to start the next phrase of her life.
And here is me, still not sure where I will be heading after I graduate.
I was literally thinking, if I don't know where to go, I will fly to Africa and do one of those volunteer projects which they don't pay you but they cover your accommodation, meals and tours nearby.
I was talking to a lady in her early 30s, who share a room with me in the hostel of Buenos Aires. I told her she should take up the promotion and become the partner of the firm. And she told me don't worry about the money. She said one day that day will come, when you look at your bank account and you saw: wow, there is a lot left this month. She told me it was such a strange but good feeling.
I chuckled, yea that would have been a good feeling.
We will see what happen next.
I hope you guys will hear updates from me soon.
-- April 20th, 2019
@ worked in several different places but finally finished in my new home in Sao Paulo.
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