Awaiting Argentina

So I’m on post #150 and I’m trying to think of how I want to wrap up my project.  It’d be easy to just leave it where is it and walk away.  But, honestly, I’ve learned a lot through looking for stuff to put on here, so that might be a little hard.  I’m thinking that my plan is to use this as my travel journal to communicate with people back home.  I’d want my boyfriend to be able to see where I went zip-lining or have some sort of information about what I was doing.  It’d be a neat little way for me to communicate with my siblings, parents, and whoever else wants to know how my study abroad trip is going. 

On the whole, I’m glad that I used this as my topic for my weblogs and wiki’s class, because I would have been spending my time researching the country anyway, so I might as well have gotten credit for it.  Even though it meant spending a lot more time on a computer than I ever would have thought initially. 

Train Link.  Know this.  It will help in the getting around the city without having to bust out the cash all the time for a taxi. 

I linked a site to this picture that tells a lot of safety tips about the city, about demonstrations, taxi etiquette, ect… It seems a little dated, but it looks like it still has some good tips.

Alice In Wonderland was still #1 at the box office in Argentina last weekend.  Lame. I never wanted to watch it.  I always prefer the book.

Although it is not as popular is Football, Pato is known as the official sport of Argentina Wikipedia defines is as:

Pato is a game played on horseback that combines elements from polo and basketball. It is the national game of Argentina.

Pato is Spanish for “duck”, as early games used a live duck inside a basket instead of a ball. Accounts of early versions of pato have been written since 1610. The playing field would often stretch the distance between neighboring estancias(ranches). The first team to reach its own casco (ranch house) with the duck would be declared the winner.

Pato was banned several times during its history due to the violence—not only to the duck; many gauchoswere trampled underfoot, and many more lost their lives in knife fights started in the heat of the game. In 1796, a Catholic priest insisted that pato players who die in such a way should be denied Christian burial. Government ordinances forbidding the practice of pato were common throughout the 19th century.

During the 1930s, pato was regulated through the efforts of ranch owner Alberto del Castillo Posse, who drafted a set of rules inspired by modern polo. The game gained legitimacy, to the point that President Juan Peron declared pato to be Argentina’s national game in 1953.

In modern pato, two four-member teams riding on horses fight for possession of a ball which has six conveniently-sized handles, and score by throwing the ball through a vertically positioned ring (as opposed to the horizontal rim used in basketball). The rings have a 100 cm (3.3 ft) diameter, and are located atop 240 cm (7.9 ft) high poles. A closed net, extending for 140 cm (4.6 ft), holds the ball after goals are scored.

The winner is the team with most goals scored after regulation time (six 8-minute “periods”).

The dimensions of the field are: length 180 to 220 m (196.9 to 240.6 yd), width 80 to 90 m (87 to 98 yd). The ball is made of leather, with an inflated rubber chamber and six leather handles. Its diameter is 40 cm (15.7 in) handle-to-handle and its weight is 1050 to 1250 g (2.3 to 2.8 lbs).

The player that has control of the pato (i.e. holds the ball by a handle) must ride with his right arm outstretched, offering the pato so rival players have a chance of tugging the pato and stealing it. Not extending the arm while riding with the pato is an offense called negada (refusal).

During the tug itself, or cinchada, both players must stand on the stirrups and avoid sitting on the saddle while the hand not involved in the tugging must hold the reins. The tug is usually the most exciting part of the game.

Pato is played competitively and also by amateurs, mostly in weekend fairs which usually include doma (Argentine rodeo).

Dirty War Criminals Put on Trial

In Dec. 1999, Fernando de la Rua became president. Despite the introduction of several tough economic austerity plans, by 2001 the recession had slid into its third year. The IMF gave Argentina $13.7 billion in emergency aid in Jan. 2001 and $8 billion in Aug. 2001. The international help was not enough, however, and by the end of 2001, Argentina was on the verge of economic collapse. Rioters protesting government austerity measures forced De la Rua to resign in Dec. 2001. Argentina then defaulted on its $155 billion foreign debt payments, the largest such default in history.

After more instability, Congress named Eduardo Duhalde president on Jan. 1, 2002. Duhalde soon announced an economic plan devaluing the Argentine peso, which had been pegged to the dollar for a decade. The devaluation plunged the banking industry into crisis and wiped out much of the savings of the middle class, plunging millions of Argentinians into poverty.

In July 2002, former junta leader Galtieri and 42 other military officers were arrested and charged with the torture and execution of 22 leftist guerrillas during Argentina’s 7-year military dictatorship. In recent years, judges have found legal loopholes allowing them to circumvent the blanket amnesty laws passed in 1986 and 1987, which allowed many accused of atrocities during the dirty war to walk free. In June 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that these amnesty laws were unconstitutional and in 2006, numerous military and police officials went on trial.

The Dirty War Begins

The military began the “dirty war” to restore order and eradicate its opponents. The Argentine Commission for Human Rights, in Geneva, has charged the junta with 2,300 political murders, over 10,000 political arrests, and the disappearance of 20,000 to 30,000 people. The economy remained in chaos. In March 1981, Videla was deposed by Field Marshal Roberto Viola, who in turn was succeeded by Lt. Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri.

On April 2, 1982, Galtieri invaded the British-held Falkland Islands, known as Las Islas Malvinas in Spanish, in what was seen as an attempt to increase his popularity. Great Britain, however, won a decisive victory, and Galtieri resigned in disgrace three days after Argentina’s surrender. Maj. Gen. Reynaldo Bignone took over June 14, amid increasing pro-democratic public sentiment. As the 1983 elections approached, inflation hit 900% and Argentina’s crippling foreign debt reached unprecedented levels.

In the presidential election of Oct. 1983, Raul Alfonsin, leader of the Radical Civic Union, handed the Peronist Party its first defeat since its founding. Growing unemployment and quadruple-digit inflation, however, led to a Peronist victory in the elections of May 1989. Alfonsin resigned a month later in the wake of riots over high food prices, in favor of the new Peronist president, Carlos Menem. In 1991, Menem promoted economic austerity measures that deregulated businesses and privatized state-owned industries. But beginning in Sept. 1998, eight years into Menem’s two-term presidency, Argentina entered its worst recession in a decade. Menem’s economic policies, tolerance of corruption, and pardoning of military leaders involved in the dirty war eventually lost him the support of the poor and the working class who had elected him.

The source is linked through the picture.

Illicit Drugs: This is what the CIA has to say about Argentina in regards to them: a transshipment country for cocaine headed for Europe, heroin headed for the US, and ephedrine and pseudoephedrine headed for Mexico; some money-laundering activity, especially in the Tri-Border Area; law enforcement corruption; a source for precursor chemicals; increasing domestic consumption of drugs in urban centers, especially cocaine base and synthetic drugs (2008)

Trafficking in Persons:current situation: Argentina is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor; most victims are trafficked within the country, from rural to urban areas; child sex tourism is a problem; foreign women and children, primarily from Paraguay, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic, are trafficked to Argentina for commercial sexual exploitation; Argentine women and girls are also trafficked to neighboring countries, Mexico, and Western Europe for sexual exploitation; a significant number of Bolivians, Peruvians, and Paraguayans are trafficked into the country for forced labor in sweatshops, agriculture, and as domestic servantstier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - despite some progress, Argentina remains on the Tier 2 Watch List for the third consecutive year for its failure to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly in terms of providing adequate assistance to victims and curbing official complicity with trafficking activity, especially on the provincial and local levels; the Argentine Congress has demonstrated progress by enacting much-needed and first-ever federal anti-trafficking legislation This came from the CIA World Factbook, the link is through the picure.

Tips to drink Yerba Mate like a pro:

• When your turn comes, drink it until you completely drain the mate (gourd). You will hear a gurgling sound as you hit the bottom
• Don’t move the bombilla (metal straw) around.
  That’s a terrible thing to do.
  It’s what identifies beginners more than anything else
• Pass the mate to the designed brewer (cebador)
• Usually, the cebador passes it on in a clockwise order, so you will give it to him/her as soon as you are done, in order to be filled and passed again
• If you say Gracias (thank you) to the cebador, it will be taken as a sign that you don’t want anymore.
  So go easy about thanking if you’re not quite ready yet
• You will enjoy the ceremony and will notice a subtle lift, due to the caffeine (mateine) contained in it

Yerba Mate: Uber popular in Argentina.

The name mate comes from the Quechua language “mati”, that names the gourd use to drink the infusion.
“Yerba” is a corruption of the Spanish “hierba”, which means herb.
It’s either cultivated or exploited from native forests.

The first ones to cultivate yerba mate were Jesuit missionaries, who, around 1670, already have plantations.

It’s brewed from the dried leaves and stemlets of the perennial tree Ilex Paraguariensis.
The process to prepare and drink it it’s very simple.
Dried leaves (yerba, erba, mate tea) are steeped into the gourd (mate) and hot water is added, the resulting mate tea is sucked through a metal straw - bombilla.

The best way to brew it is similar to brewing a loose tea.
If you add real hot water it will “burn the yerba” (quemar la yerba).

The traditional way of drinking yerba mate is called “mate amargo” - without adding any sugar or sweetener to the actual herb.
When adding any of the above mentioned, it’s called “mate dulce”.

It’s also very common to add aromatic herbs or milk.
Yerba mate can also be consumed as “mate cocido” - prepared with tea cups like any tea.

• Capital:  Buenos Aires  (Ciudad Autónoma with 13,349,000 inhabitants)
• Climate: From tropical climates in the North to tundra in the far South. Practically every climate imaginable can be found in some part of the country
• Currency: Argentine Peso (ARS). 1.00 USD=3.72850 ARS 
• Electricity: 220v, 50Hz. Bring an European-style adapter and a transformer if you plan to use any small appliance
• Language: Spanish, but also Italian, English, French and German
• Religion: Roman Catholic (92%), Protestant (2%), Jewish (2%), other (2%)
• Population: 40,913,584 (July 2009 estimate). Ethnic groups are composed by white (97%) mestizo (3%)
• Time zone: GMT-3

The city of Mendoza.  It looks like I’ll probably like this place more than Buenos Aires…