Hola y Buen Día a todos,
I hope this blog finds you well, enjoying springtime and the wonderful rain and rainbows it tends to bring. It is currently dumping buckets in Buenos Aires, which is what brings me to this computer, and thus to your screen. Sorry - that sounded a bit creepy. *Cue evil laugh*
It's been about a month and a half since my last blog post, and I apologize for that (*cough cough* hey Dad). While it's been a while and many things have happened, living somewhere makes each day feel slightly more normal than the craziness and instability of backpacking. Here I have a family, school, and routine, which has both enriched and normalized my experience in Argentina. Regardless of normalcy, this past month and a half brought a wild blend of accents and empanadas into my world that I will cherish forever.
To start, I'll discuss the people. Argentina boasts a population with more European immigrants than any other South American country, namely of Italian and Spanish descent. Thus, they speak a very different Spanish here than I was used to upon arriving. It is best explained as Castillian Spanish with an Italian accent. In Buenos Aires, the people speak loudly over each other, using rapid hand movements and random words/phrases that render google translate useless. What I thought I knew about Spanish was put to the test, but today, after a month and a half of blank stares, I can understand what game show hosts and cab drivers say most of the time. I consider that an enormous success. I do worry about speaking Spanish using an Argentine accent when when I leave the country, and sounding like a dumbass, but I'll let future me worry about that.
My host family is lovely. However, I began my time with them unsure of my role in the family dynamic, and wishing I lived independently like I did last semester in SF and while traveling. It's both wonderful and agonizing to be a guest in someone else's home for an extended period of time. When there is someone else making coffee for you in the morning, texting you if you are out past a certain time, and encouraging you bring a jacket to class (even if you are VISIBLY sweating), it's nice but your strong independent woman side takes a serious blow. I was irritable two weeks into the program. Despite this, it has been an irreplacable treasure to live with this family. I became a part of their everyday life, and they became a part of mine. Family takes on a completely different meaning here, and it is beautiful to see how close families are both geographically and emotionally well into adulthood. I am extremely close to my family at home emotionally, but not as much in terms of proximity. I have two host brothers on the other hand that still live at home, even though one is 24 and the other in his mid 30s. It is very common here to live at home while attending university. They do so with ease, and live independent lives outside of the home, but all come back together for dinner every night. It is the best kind of smothering and a part of me loves it, like I do when I come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Still, I am very excited for the return of independent living. Also, my host mom taught me how to make badass empanadas, and I will make them for you if you ask me nicely.
My classes are relevant and hell and absolutely wonderful. The cohort sticks pretty close together which leaves less room to branch out with local people our age, but I've developed some pretty sweet friendships to continue nurturing in the states. We have been on many excursions both within and outside of Buenos Aires, taking one week in the southern region and another week in the northern region of Argentina. Both were amazing, and incredibly distinct from one another. However, the people indigenous to both regions had similar stories of battling extractivism and defending their natural resources from government entities and massive money-grubbing corporations, (sound familiar?????????) We met with many NGOs during both trips and discussed the current state of affairs outside of the capital. It was a wonderful priviledge to meet these organizations, and to explore the natural beauty of both regions. While in the south, we had a free day and a few of my gal pals and I went on a boat tour of two lakes, Nahuel Wapi and Lagos Frias, which were both incredibly beautiful. In the north, we spent a day talking to a salt mining cooperative and taking touristy forced-perspective flicks at the Salinas Grandes salt flats. In Buenos Aires, we have visited many social movements and human rights organizations, connecting them to the material covered in our classes. From this point on, we have two more weeks of class. After that, we will each conduct an independent research project based on our personal interests, and whatever perspective we feel is missing in the general Argentine human rights discussion. I am researching and writing about the lawyers that defend indigenous peoples in an occidental court setting against the aformentioned government entities and corporations. I also have to write it in Spanish, so we shall see how it goes and how much junk food I eat to numb the process.
Despite the cultural differences and lack of spicy food, I will definitely return to Argentina at another point in my life. I am extremely fortunate to be here and to have the experience that I have had so far, and will continue to have for the two months ahead. My program ends on June 12th, and I will spend one week backpacking back up to La Paz, which is where I flew from to get to Buenos Aires. This way, by the time I get home, I will have successfully backpacked the distance between Quito and Buenos Aires, except I will do it in two chunks instead of all together as I had originally planned. Until I get my shit together to post again, thank you so much for reading this, y te quiero. <3
Best wishes and happy spring,
Lindsay
