My favorites were probably La gran tentacion and Manifestacion by Antonio Berni, Autorretrato con chango y loro de Frida Kahlo, Accidente en la mina by David Alfaro Siqueiros, y The disasters of mysticism by Roberto Matta.
Sadly, the third floor was closed, so I'm gonna have to explore that another day.What's really exciting is that they do movie screenings Thursday-Sundays, so I'll be hitting that up soon too.
I guess I should add as a sidenote that, even with pretty ridiculous prices and strange looking people, my neighborhood is pretty close to "the action". There is lots of stuff happening around here, and if I'm willing to walk for a while I can get to the city's downtown by foot. It's pretty centric, there are very nice parks, but I guess I just need a dose of down-to-earth every once in a while, no?
Anyway, I think I'm gonna spend more time elsewhere now. Today, for example, I went to Parque Centenario in Caballito. On my way there I ran across this mural. The left side of it says stuff like "Is the right to private property worth more than the right to shelter?" and "Isn't it violence to leave people on the street?" and "Are evictions for the benefit of the people of of the housing businesses?" and "Property deprives us".
The other side of the mural reads "If evictions are law, occupations are justice".
And this is Parque Centenario. I sat here and wrote and read for a couple of hours. It was nice, except the wind is starting to get chilly now..
So, to the point of my story: today, as I was leaving my apt and passing by a school, the kids were getting out of classes. I love this part of the day because I get to see the parents or siblings coming to pick up the children, everyone holding hands and telling each other stories about their days. Today it wasn't so pleasant. There was a group of about 6 to 8 boys, and one of them saw a pretty girl across the street. His reaction? "Let's yell at her!" So they did. They all started yelling at her that she was "hot" and other much more explicit, rude, and ridiculous things. The girl ended up just leaving where she was. I almost turned around and unleashed my inner mother on them, telling them they were rude and out of place, and that they should not be doing that. But I didn't. Myabe I should have. But the point is that, beyond making me very angry, it really disappointed me that kids are seeing this kind of thing and following the very bad example. It's sad that habits like that are so ingrained in the culture because kids just end up repeating what they see adults around them do. In the end, it isn't their fault at all, but the irresponsible adults that set such horrible examples, and make boys believe that girls are objects to yell at on the streets.
End of rant.
Eventually I just put some music on, headed for the sun, and basked in it until sunset.I think I've found a place to watch sunsets.
I even like the skyline there
Last night there was a full moon. A friend of mine had told me about some drum circle she was invited to last full moon, and I was super curious. So I looked it up online, and apparently there's a group of people that meet up right behind the planetarium and build a fire and play drums. Clearly I was determined to go, even though none of the people I usually hang out with seemed like they were interested. So I went by myself, and I was gonna meet someone else there. Well, this friend took like an hour and a half longer than me to get there, so meanwhile I got to talking to a group of colombians.
The guys that set the drum circle up had beer, too, so you could buy a whole liter of beer for A$6, which is less than US$2. At some point everyone got up and started dancing. I had so much fun. The coolest part were the random instruments that would join in, like a xylophone and a cool andean-sounding flute. (Pardon the total lack of knowledge about these instruments)
Even more exciting, with the outbreak of Dengue in Bolivia and Paraguay, it has been drifting into Argentina. There is currently an outbreak in the northern provinces, so they thought all the cases in Buenos Aires had been imported from other parts of the country. The latest? Apparently two cases in Buenos Aires, in Palermo, which I live next to, did not begin elsewhere. Meaning, there are disease carrying mosquitoes in this city.
Here's proof that the dengue is after me.
Hopefully with the colder temperatures they will go away..
For example, us study abroad kids have our days here counted. We know that no matter how great or horrible our experience is, it is just that, an experience. An adventure. Something ephemeral. Maybe it's for this reason that a lot of kids seem to not put much value on creating lasting friendships with locals. It's like, "Well I'm going back to the US, so if I'm friends with people here I'm not really gonna see them again, so why step out of my comfort zone?" I've noticed that kids usually only hang out with other study abroad kids, so their spanish improves, but not enough to blend in. When they go back, they'll have great friends from the US, but probably not be as connected to this place. It's interesting to talk to expats and other foreigners that live here and that don't really see their time here as counted. They realize that since they are gonna be stuck here, they better make bonds and strong ties. They don't have the opportunity to just take off after six months, so they invest themselves here in very different ways. They make this place their home, rather than just a place to pass the time.
Maybe I'm being a little harsh. Maybe it's not really like that. But this is what I've noticed.
Hola chicos: Por suerte no pasó nada, pero Diana Parra sufrió un incidente de "secuestro virtual". Eso lo habíamos explicado en la orientación, y es cuando una persona nos llama para decir que tienen secuestrado a un amigo o pariente y piden dinero para rescatarlo. En el nerviosismo de la conversación ellos nos hacen decir datos del presunto secuestrado y nos confunden muy fácilmente. Al finalizar la conversación telefónica estamos más confundidos aún porque los delincuentes son muy hábiles en esto. Anoche lo que pasó, creo, es que Diana no perdió el celular sino que se lo robaron sin que ella se diera cuenta. Entonces usaron el celular para llamar a la gente que estaba en la lista de teléfonos del celular y a todos les decían que Diana estaba secuestrada y otras amenazas horribles. Bueno, la cuestión es que Diana estaba en su casa durmiendo y cuando se despertó se dio cuenta de que no tenía el celular. Les escribo para que estén atentos y no hagan caso de ningún llamado de alguien que llama sobre Diana. Cuando reciban el llamado, digan que la policía está rastreando la llamada y corten inmediatamente. También luego manden un email a todos contando el incidente. Saludos, Mario
So sad.So if you get a call from my phone, don't answer. Or tell the dbag to grow up. What the hell, Argentina?
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