On Sunday, we took a few hours to explore the San Telmo market. We rode the subway to the neighborhood and had time to wander through the twelve block long street market that ended at the Plaza de Mayo.

The street vendors were set up with tables and tents and most of the shops and cafes along the street were open too. The variety of items to purchase that included: flags, paintings, clothes, antiques, and jewelry. Many of us were impressed with the handcrafted items that were on sale and that the prices were generally reasonable. It was a great place to buy gifts for family and friends or a souvenir for yourself.

If you’re not interested in purchasing any of those items, there were of course empanadas, choripan, and fresh orange juice to buy as well. After we ventured through all twelve blocks and finished at the Plaza de Mayo, we headed back to the hotel to drop off our new things.

On Saturday, the group was able to sleep in.  A couple of us went to a quick restaurant and at 2:30 we left for a Racing soccer game.  The bus ride was about 30 minutes and the bus quickly filled with Racing fans wearing light blue.  Upon arriving, we got drinks and choripans and made our way to our section.  The field was surrounded by a mote to prevent fans from running on the field.  As kick off started to approach, the stands started to become very rowdy.  People were passing blue and white plastic bags to blow up and wave around, while others were tearing up newspaper to make confetti.  The atmosphere was lively the entire time as the fans were constantly singing chants and songs throughout the game.  This game was also special because one of the players was retiring and this was their last game.  The retiring of a soccer player is like a death and is a very big deal.  There were many banners hanging around, people were passing out flyers with his name on it, and there was an honorary sign made displayed on the field.  The team received 2 penalty kicks during the game and the retiring player was allowed to take both, and scored on 1 of the penalty kicks.  We left early to avoid the crowds but there was even a ceremony to be held after the game for the player.  Overall, seeing a soccer game is a must if you want to experience the heart and soul of Argentina.  Soccer is essentially a religion here and an extremely important aspect of Argentina’s culture.

In the United States I never knew that we had access to almost any document we could dream of, which is also what is available here. The first thing that struck me about the building was it’s intricate yet simple architecture visible in the inside of the building. Its size was also incredibly impressive, but what was more interesting was how much information the building held. We were fortunate enough to get a tour of a few sections of the archives where we tested out the audio/visual database and learned about the restoration process of the older documents. I think touring this building and getting to see a few of the older documents gave me a better appreciation for the work of historians, since before today I did not know the logistics of the job. Additionally, the fact that centuries of records could fit in a few of the boxes that we were shown was humbling and made me reflect on how little time I have been a part of history. Overall, this excursion was educational in showing us some behind-the-scenes aspects of being a historian and how the documents we see online in databases got there.

We also got the chance to tour the Plaza de Mayo where we saw Las Madres de la Plaza along with other groups protesting. Los desaparecidos are the people who disappeared during the last, and most bloody, dictatorship in Argentina under Jorge Rafael Videlo due to their political alignments. Las Madres have been protesting these disappearances for 39 years, every Thursday in La Plaza de Mayo in order to raise awareness about those who have disappeared, but also with hopes to bring justice to the families of los desaparecidos. There are still families that have not received closure with regards to the family members they lost, and more people still need to be brought to justice for their crimes against these families.

La Plaza de Mayo is an important historical place for many reasons, but these marches of resistance held by Las Madres resonates with me the most. These brave women dared to speak out against the government during the “dirty war” under Videlo even though the chance of being killed or becoming another desaparacido was very high. The passion that the women (and men now) show for their families and justice was and is inspiring to witness. I can only hope that I would show the same bravery and devotion to my family and values as they have, however I also hope I never need to.

Picture one

Picture two

There is a house in San Telmo in which a family and their slaves lived in the early 19^th century.  It was built in the 1830s over a house that was originally built in the 1700s.  There are some original structures to the building from the 18^th century as well as restorations done by the current owner, George.  George originally wanted to tear down the building and create a restaurant in the space, but once he discovered the historical site he decided to create a museum and open it to the public.  He had restorations done and completed an archeological dig.  During the dig, many artifacts were recovered such as ceramics, glass bottles, the framework of a toothbrush (since the bristles had not made it), silverware, and nails.

The house was built over a river and contains tunnels through which the rivers flow (picture  one).  You can still hear the water running through the tunnels and see some of the water under the wells.  The house contains two wells, one big one in the basement and one smaller one where the kitchen would be (picture two).  The water can be a big problem because it can flood the current building in the basement when there is heavy rain.

Fun facts:  People in the 1800s would use frogs as a water filter but this particular family used turtles as theirs!! Also, the walls are pasted together with a “glue” that is made of horse manure, but since it does not smell once it dries it was commonly used to hold bricks together.

Reflection Paper

Comparing Argentina to the USA and Brazil

Before going on this study abroad, the only thing I knew about Buenos Aires, Argentina was that it was the Paris of South America. I have been to many places in the world, including another South American country (Brazil). My main goal for this trip was to compare Buenos Aires, Argentina to the United States, and Brazil since that was an OSU study abroad program I was involved in too.

As soon as I arrived and off the plane I was looking around to make comparisons (as I would do for any new destination). The first thing I realized was that the people really looked European without any mixture. Being from the United States, I think there is an image in my head as to what Latin America looks like and this was different. When I arrived in Brazil everybody seemed mixed and if their dominate phenotype was European you could still tell there was an ancestor who wasn’t European. In the United States there is also a lot of mixing and diversity.

I had a better understanding of what I was seeing in Argentina once we had our morning classes. I learned that there were a not a lot of slaves, and due to a lot of European immigrants the country adopted their ways culture. In Brazil there were a lot of slaves due to sugar cane. There was also a culture of mixing in Brazil unlike Argentina and United States. Another thing I learned from class was that the United States and Argentina had similar scenarios when it came to getting independence. In Argentina there were different provinces and viceroyalties that had their own identities like how the United States had different states with their own identity. For both countries, there was unification when it came to independence.  Even after independence both countries had people who feared a centralized national government. As history goes on there is less similarity because in Argentina there was a lot more political violence and military coup d’états.

One of the cultures I saw copied a lot in Argentina was Italian culture (especially when we went out to eat). One of the restaurants we went to had the menu in Italian. Even in the architecture you can see it came from a European background. In my opinion the United States and Brazil have more of an identity than Argentina because we from the United States do not look back to Europe but look forward in what we can do as Americans. I think Brazil is the same and there is a proud sense of being Brazilian and no need to look back to the Portuguese. In Argentina there is more pride in claiming your ethnicity than nationality. I would conclude that the main reason for this is because there still has not been a long period of political peace.