Hello! It's been a great week in Buenos Aires. Not super eventfull due to the 12-page research paper (in Spanish) I had to turn in on Tuesday, but still did some cool stuff...
On Thursday, I went to the Plaza de Mayo to watch the Madres del Plaza Mayo march. It was a beautiful but very hot and humid day. I grabbed a sandwich and found a spot on the grass near the Casa Rosada to watch. The Madres started marching in the 1970s in protest of the military dictatorship. They were formed as a group of mothers of disappeared people and wore white hankerchiefs and carried signs as they marched. They continue to march today in rememberance, as part of their support for the tribunals against the military leaders that are still going on, and in a more general support of human rights in Argentina. There were two groups... one was the larger original Madres del Plaza Mayo, and the other was the smaller splinter group Madres del Plaza Mayo Linea Fundadora (they split in the 80s over political differences). The women marched slowly through the heat, helping each other out with umbrellas to block the sun and engaging in lively discussion. Many held photos of their disappeared children, brothers and sisters. The whole experience was extremely moving.
This past Saturday was Halloween, an event that still hasn't quite caught on here yet. We went and got costumes at a little shop that was filled almost exclusively with Americans. I dressed as Cleopatra. We had a little party and watched the World Series in costume and then went out to a Halloween party at a club. It was a very fun and throughly un-Argentine experience.
Now that I have my camera back, I`m on a mission to take pictures of the inside of the UBA. It's a little intimidating... I don't think the students would love for an American to come in and take pictures of all their Che pictures, so I try to sneak my camera out whenever I happen to be in a hallway by myself. Look for random pictures over the next couple of weeks.
It's seems like the time has flown by, and I only have about a month and a half left here in Argentina. Classes all finish the first week of December, so life is about to get very hectic. Within the next month I have a test on service learning, a final paper on Argentine fiction, a final portfolio of my volunteering at Help Argentina, a research paper on water privitazation in Bolivia in Argentina, and an oral presentation on the history of Cuba, Bolivia and Chile (all in Spanish). Also, there are a ton of things I`m still hoping to do in Buenos Aires. I've loved the city the whole time I've been here, but the spring (southern hemisphere is opposite seasons) here is really incredible. I'm taking a little trip to the Uruguayan beaches this weekend as a final hurrah before school gets super tough. I'm also planning to spend a couple weeks in Patagonia in December between the end of school and my flight home on Dec 21. I'll try to keep posting pictures though!
Hope you`re all very well and would love any news of how you're all doing!
Love, Melanie
MADRES, etc.
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