Greetings once again from Buenos Aires. I figured I'd take this opportunity to write now as later tonight I am leaving for Puerto Iguaza in the north to visit the world famous Iguazu Falls at the Argentinian and Brazilian border. My guess is that by the time I return on Saturday night, I' have way too much to drone on about, so here' a quick check in.
I spent the last 5 days in La Plata, the capital city of Buenos Aires Province and about 30 minutes south of Buenos Aires city. I was hosted there by the amazing afforementioned Carlos Burre. Carlos is an amazing host. He ensured that one way or another there was always food to be had, he opened and closed car doors for me, took me on a walking tour of downtown LaPlata, visted the Cathedral of La Plata with me - twice! -, showed me the confines of his beloved local football team Gimnasi y Esgrima, introduced me to several friends of his within the Meher Baba communtiy, took me to listen to his band practice music, pretty much never let me pay for anything, helped me book my tickets to Iguazu, arranged with the bus driver to drop me specially in Buenos Aires on my way back, and did about a million other things that aren´t coming to mind. But other than all that, he didn´t do much. ;-). Quite simply the most thoughtful and generous host (for that amount of time, that is. Billy and Janet, you`re in a whole other league all together!) I have ever had. People should pay for the opportunity to stay with Carlos. Any of you out there wishing to come to Argentina one day, you are so advised to befriend Carlos. Jai Baba Carlos!
La Plata is medium sized city with a population of about half a million people. The main city area is circumscribed by 4 roads, making it square with rounded corners. Within it runs streets and avenues, all numbered. The one hitch - it' also loaded with diagonal streets, such that the map looks like a compilation of triangles, several of which merge at various plazas and parks. It makes for quicker getting from A to B, and it also makes for migraine headaches if you'e not familiar with the city. Turn a corner and you may be easily turned around, loosing track of East, West and diagonal. Luckily, Carlos is a big user of taxis, so I didn't have to worry too much about it.
On my second night in La Plata I had the great fortune of meeting, through Carlos, Victoriano Rodriguez and his younger brother Francisco. Argentinians - at least the ones I have met - have been so great with me about speaking English. Even when their accent is heavy, it has always been better English than my Spanish. I feel humbled by this, being from a society where multilingualism is more or less not valued. In fact, I have heard one author argue that multilingualism is a social detriment more than an asset in the US. But I digress. The point is that people have gone out of their linguistic way to be accomodating, to be helpful, to be loving. Victoriano and Francisco were no exception. They all took me out to dinner, shared stories of their family and spiritual lives, and shared a very warm and enthusiastic Argentinian spirit with me. Victoriano also had visiting from Spain his friend Natalie. We sang songs together, joked together, and relaxed together. Highly enjoyable, highly memorable. Joia and Martìn came to La Plata for a visit with other friends of theirs on Saturday. We enjoyed a relaxing day at a campo, a recreational site with swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts, and lots of grass space for relaxing and stretching out.
The Cathedral de La Plata is by far the grandest architectural structure in the city. It sits right in the city center, for all to see from near and far. Its towers rise 367 feet, making it the tallest cathedral in all the Americas and the second largest overall to NY's St. Patrick's Cathedral. Built in the late 18oo's, with the towers completed in the late 1990's, it's a neo-gothic cathedral made almost entirely of exposed brick, making it unique amongst it's European counterparts. Not having ever visited a grand cathedral of Europe, this was my first experience in one of these things. There truly are no limits to humanity's imagination when it comes to building sky-high temples in the name of God. Whatever your thoughts and feelings about Catholicism, it was moving to be in such a space. And to finally get a look at flying butresses made me feel that my ancient and European historical art classes were finally paying off. In one of the towers is an elevator taking visitors high above the building skyline for a panoramic view of the city. In the other, a 25 bell carillon. Again, far too many photos to be found on facebook.
I´ll post all pics with descriptions of who's who and what's what on facebook. That more or less brings us up to speed once again. One more thought, from an email exchange with a friend this morning. She made mention of the economic downturn and it's effects on the general mood at home. I'm right there with you - I lost about 25% in my retirement account and opted to cut my losses and get out for the time being, but that's another story. The US economy is of interest to Argentinians as well. From my email to my friend this morning - "It's been great to get some perspective on the economic downturn. In 2000 the Argentinian peso, which had been way overblown for years, crashed. There was a run on the banks, banks didn't give people their money, and the peso became more or less worthless for a time. Since then it's been up and down ever since, with a slow but steady climb. Many Argetinians have said to me that they go through something like this every six months or so, and don't really understand the desperation in the US." Just some perspective that can only really be garnered when you`re away.That`s it for now. Next check in will be of Iguazu Falls and hopefully a brief sojourn nextdoor over in Uruguay.
Much love.
Jonathan
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