My OperaThis is not a love song
Monday, November 16, 2009 5:22:45 PM
Never before has the sun cried golden tears
Thursday, October 29, 2009 4:19:44 PM
I don't know where to start. The past two months have been amazing experience, and I truly love this country but there are days that the emotional roller-coaster I'm on is too hard to take. The desire to pack my bags and go home, to Australia, where life is comparably easy, relaxed and above all safe is at times difficult to resist. This is mostly for personal reasons because the country has treated me well. I came here with money, I have family scattered around the country, I haven't been robbed and can get around the city on my own - I'm fortunate enough to not experience the double standard that most tourists deal with - I haven't been ripped off at every turn like most of them (I have been ripped off though). I'm also able to experience a different Argentina than your average tourist that only gets to see select areas of Buenos Aires capital.
It is a beautiful country with so many natural resources, gorgeous landscapes, diverse ecosystems and yet today there are only four words that come to mind - injustice, poverty, exploitation and drug abuse. It's a beautiful day here in Buenos Aires, 34 degrees and I should be lying in Parque Palermo soaking in the sun and watching the beautiful people wile away the afternoon. Yet here I am sitting in a darkened kitchen watching the news and football struggling to find the words to encapsulate all the different things I've seen.
Last night I went out early - it was only 9.30 pm but already too late for me to walk the two and a half blocks to the bus stop on my own - and I decided to be sensible and order a 'remis'. Remises are private cars that compliment/compete with the nation's taxis. The drivers are mostly older men that have been left unemployed and are unable to find anything better - no one drives a remis for the love of it. Surprisingly my driver was a lady I've travelled with before. She is in her late 40's and has a brand new van - most remises, particularly in Gran Buenos Aires, are falling apart. As she arrived early, we took our time and went through all the back streets and chatted. As we swerved across the roads to avoid pot holes and cars that clearly thought they had the right way I asked her if she was ever afraid to drive at night.
"All the time" she responded, "but what else am I going to do. Sit in my kitchen and complain about the money I don't have - this is the worst job in the world but at least I survive. I'm over 40, no one else will hire me now, despite my experience. I'm lucky really - there are people starving to death in this country."
Buenos Aires is a dangerous city at the best of times, but more so at night. Back in 2001, just before the economic crisis several drivers showed me their guns - they didn't dare drive at night without one. No one has showed me one this visit - but I don't doubt that most of them are armed. This resilient woman starts her shift every night not knowing how much money she'll earn or if she'll make it home.
She went on to tell me that she'd only started driving a remis 3 months ago, despite the danger of driving at night she prefers it to the day shifts that she started off with. They make a little more money at night. For most of her life, she owned her own shops. At first in Capital and later on, after the 2001 economic crisis a clothing store in La Ferrer. La Ferrer isn't a nice part of Gran Buenos Aires, certainly not a place I'd feel comfortable going on my own even in the middle of the day. For 4 years, she managed to earn a relatively comfortable wage with the shop and pay her 3 employees. Over the last 12 months, business declined - "3 out of every 4 shops in the area are closed" and she was forced to let go her employees one by one. At the start of this year, she handed the shop over to her daughter, who had been looking for work for a long time. Sales plummeted and she refused an offer to sell in March, hoping that things might improve and at least her daughter would have some money coming in. The store was sold in July and she bares no one any ill will - she hopes the young men that bought the store will have better luck "and I'm too tired to struggle any more."
We spoke of the overwhelming poverty in the poverty in the provinces of Argentina. There are villages where children are literally starving to death. There is no employment - no hope. Many children in the provinces only eat what they receive at school. Yesterday there was a news item about a group of parents that raided some government stores in El Chaco, as they had stopped providing meals for the school children. Milk, bread and biscuits stock-piled and the parents were punished. These weren't delinquents or drug addicts, just simple humble people that can't feed their own children. The story was plastered all over the news yesterday, today it is all but forgotten - the heat is the news of the day.
There is a very popular tv show, "The musical of your dreams" were celebrities sing and dance and compete on behalf of a nominated charity or cause. Several weeks ago they showed one of the celebs causes. A school, sadly I don't remember where, where the school only wanted the money for a well. A previous government, years ago had once started construction, but the children were still drinking water out of a hole in the ground. This current government had donated some solar panels as the school has no electricity but they didn't have the money to install them. The show bought the students to Buenos Aires, promised to fund all the projects and a nation cried. Now no one remembers where the school is.
It is not uncommon to be robbed in the street - it is expected. The first thing I was told when I arrived two months ago was never take too much money anywhere, always separate what you have - if you get robbed just hand it over. Since then 3 people I know have been robbed at knife point - 2 others were robbed by the police for having a small amount of marijuana on them - which has recently been decriminalised. There is at least 1 drug related death on the news everyday - a few weeks ago there was an outcry for a young man who was murdered in his own home in Tigre. His family home had been robbed last year and the thieves had murdered his father. As Santiago was entering his home one night when he was accosted by two men and forced to enter the house. The family co-operated and handed over all the cash in the house. Santiago was murdered in his sister's bedroom. One of the murderers handed himself in this past week. It is suspected that both of them were 'paco' addicts.
I can't even begin to explain the problem of drug abuse here - paco. A lot of people take drugs here - it is cheap and easy to find. When I first arrived I thought that the infamous paco was the 'ice' that we have in the west. But it's much worse. It is the left over garbage of the garbage, of the garbage of cocaine paste. It is highly addictive, and addicts are left resembling something sub-human. It is also the cheapest drug available, a single hit costing as little as 2 pesos (50 US cents). 'Paceros' will steal and kill for 2 pesos. It is a national tradegy and at the moment the situation can only get worse. I've seen paceros walking the streets with no control of their own limbs, they stumble around oblivious in a drug induced haze, people have told me that they've seen paceros defecate in crowded streets in Capital, totally unaware of their surroundings, during peak hours.
This morning I caught another remis home - it was 5am and the streets were calm and deserted. A few whores on street corners, young men waiting for buses on their way to work, no trouble in sight. An hour later the house was surrounded with helicopters and armed police invaded the large villa, Santo Vego, 5 blocks from my aunt's house. They removed over 200 000 hits of paco and detonated an old Spanish land mine that was guarding the stock pile.
None of these events are unique in Argentina and I still can't understand why a nation with so much to offer has declined into this 3rd world economy where the value of human life decreases everyday. As I got out of the remis last night - she asked me if I was a writer and I said no. "Shame - the rest of the world needs to know what it's really like here. It's not the cosmopolitan paradise that every one believes it is."
It is a beautiful country with so many natural resources, gorgeous landscapes, diverse ecosystems and yet today there are only four words that come to mind - injustice, poverty, exploitation and drug abuse. It's a beautiful day here in Buenos Aires, 34 degrees and I should be lying in Parque Palermo soaking in the sun and watching the beautiful people wile away the afternoon. Yet here I am sitting in a darkened kitchen watching the news and football struggling to find the words to encapsulate all the different things I've seen.
Last night I went out early - it was only 9.30 pm but already too late for me to walk the two and a half blocks to the bus stop on my own - and I decided to be sensible and order a 'remis'. Remises are private cars that compliment/compete with the nation's taxis. The drivers are mostly older men that have been left unemployed and are unable to find anything better - no one drives a remis for the love of it. Surprisingly my driver was a lady I've travelled with before. She is in her late 40's and has a brand new van - most remises, particularly in Gran Buenos Aires, are falling apart. As she arrived early, we took our time and went through all the back streets and chatted. As we swerved across the roads to avoid pot holes and cars that clearly thought they had the right way I asked her if she was ever afraid to drive at night.
"All the time" she responded, "but what else am I going to do. Sit in my kitchen and complain about the money I don't have - this is the worst job in the world but at least I survive. I'm over 40, no one else will hire me now, despite my experience. I'm lucky really - there are people starving to death in this country."
Buenos Aires is a dangerous city at the best of times, but more so at night. Back in 2001, just before the economic crisis several drivers showed me their guns - they didn't dare drive at night without one. No one has showed me one this visit - but I don't doubt that most of them are armed. This resilient woman starts her shift every night not knowing how much money she'll earn or if she'll make it home.
She went on to tell me that she'd only started driving a remis 3 months ago, despite the danger of driving at night she prefers it to the day shifts that she started off with. They make a little more money at night. For most of her life, she owned her own shops. At first in Capital and later on, after the 2001 economic crisis a clothing store in La Ferrer. La Ferrer isn't a nice part of Gran Buenos Aires, certainly not a place I'd feel comfortable going on my own even in the middle of the day. For 4 years, she managed to earn a relatively comfortable wage with the shop and pay her 3 employees. Over the last 12 months, business declined - "3 out of every 4 shops in the area are closed" and she was forced to let go her employees one by one. At the start of this year, she handed the shop over to her daughter, who had been looking for work for a long time. Sales plummeted and she refused an offer to sell in March, hoping that things might improve and at least her daughter would have some money coming in. The store was sold in July and she bares no one any ill will - she hopes the young men that bought the store will have better luck "and I'm too tired to struggle any more."
We spoke of the overwhelming poverty in the poverty in the provinces of Argentina. There are villages where children are literally starving to death. There is no employment - no hope. Many children in the provinces only eat what they receive at school. Yesterday there was a news item about a group of parents that raided some government stores in El Chaco, as they had stopped providing meals for the school children. Milk, bread and biscuits stock-piled and the parents were punished. These weren't delinquents or drug addicts, just simple humble people that can't feed their own children. The story was plastered all over the news yesterday, today it is all but forgotten - the heat is the news of the day.
There is a very popular tv show, "The musical of your dreams" were celebrities sing and dance and compete on behalf of a nominated charity or cause. Several weeks ago they showed one of the celebs causes. A school, sadly I don't remember where, where the school only wanted the money for a well. A previous government, years ago had once started construction, but the children were still drinking water out of a hole in the ground. This current government had donated some solar panels as the school has no electricity but they didn't have the money to install them. The show bought the students to Buenos Aires, promised to fund all the projects and a nation cried. Now no one remembers where the school is.
It is not uncommon to be robbed in the street - it is expected. The first thing I was told when I arrived two months ago was never take too much money anywhere, always separate what you have - if you get robbed just hand it over. Since then 3 people I know have been robbed at knife point - 2 others were robbed by the police for having a small amount of marijuana on them - which has recently been decriminalised. There is at least 1 drug related death on the news everyday - a few weeks ago there was an outcry for a young man who was murdered in his own home in Tigre. His family home had been robbed last year and the thieves had murdered his father. As Santiago was entering his home one night when he was accosted by two men and forced to enter the house. The family co-operated and handed over all the cash in the house. Santiago was murdered in his sister's bedroom. One of the murderers handed himself in this past week. It is suspected that both of them were 'paco' addicts.
I can't even begin to explain the problem of drug abuse here - paco. A lot of people take drugs here - it is cheap and easy to find. When I first arrived I thought that the infamous paco was the 'ice' that we have in the west. But it's much worse. It is the left over garbage of the garbage, of the garbage of cocaine paste. It is highly addictive, and addicts are left resembling something sub-human. It is also the cheapest drug available, a single hit costing as little as 2 pesos (50 US cents). 'Paceros' will steal and kill for 2 pesos. It is a national tradegy and at the moment the situation can only get worse. I've seen paceros walking the streets with no control of their own limbs, they stumble around oblivious in a drug induced haze, people have told me that they've seen paceros defecate in crowded streets in Capital, totally unaware of their surroundings, during peak hours.
This morning I caught another remis home - it was 5am and the streets were calm and deserted. A few whores on street corners, young men waiting for buses on their way to work, no trouble in sight. An hour later the house was surrounded with helicopters and armed police invaded the large villa, Santo Vego, 5 blocks from my aunt's house. They removed over 200 000 hits of paco and detonated an old Spanish land mine that was guarding the stock pile.
None of these events are unique in Argentina and I still can't understand why a nation with so much to offer has declined into this 3rd world economy where the value of human life decreases everyday. As I got out of the remis last night - she asked me if I was a writer and I said no. "Shame - the rest of the world needs to know what it's really like here. It's not the cosmopolitan paradise that every one believes it is."
My Claro USB modem is a cunt
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:50:21 PM
Rainy day here in BA. Decided to play online in between beers and films.
This has not been too successful due to said cunt-ish modem.
Enjoy Jarvis.
This has not been too successful due to said cunt-ish modem.
Enjoy Jarvis.
Gracias a la vida
Thursday, October 8, 2009 1:12:57 PM
There's so much I want to tell you - but I don't really know where to begin and time is ticking and I feel as though I'll miss out on something by sitting here...
I want to tell you about the electric vibe Buenos Aires (Capital) has when you just walk around the city, the decaying facades, the harried workers - about how obscene the immense gated 'country' communities are, the disparity of wealth - about the thrill of having be inside a dangerous villa (slum) - about how sad I feel when I see paco (cocaine paste) junkies in the street - about how beautiful the sierras of Cordoba are - about how in a country with so much insecurity there is a little village lost in the sierras of Cordoba that has no police station, as it's mainly a hippie colony there hasn't been a crime committed in over 30 years - about how a shared smile can wipe away stolen years and reinforce long forgotten childhood bonds - about how amazing it was to see a country united mourn the loss of an iconic figure - about how delicious the cheeses are - about the graciousness and kindness of some truly humble people I've met - and so much more...
La Negra said it best (English translation of the lyrics can be found here)
I want to tell you about the electric vibe Buenos Aires (Capital) has when you just walk around the city, the decaying facades, the harried workers - about how obscene the immense gated 'country' communities are, the disparity of wealth - about the thrill of having be inside a dangerous villa (slum) - about how sad I feel when I see paco (cocaine paste) junkies in the street - about how beautiful the sierras of Cordoba are - about how in a country with so much insecurity there is a little village lost in the sierras of Cordoba that has no police station, as it's mainly a hippie colony there hasn't been a crime committed in over 30 years - about how a shared smile can wipe away stolen years and reinforce long forgotten childhood bonds - about how amazing it was to see a country united mourn the loss of an iconic figure - about how delicious the cheeses are - about the graciousness and kindness of some truly humble people I've met - and so much more...
La Negra said it best (English translation of the lyrics can be found here)
Sumo
Saturday, September 5, 2009 10:22:11 PM
Have been listening to a lot of ´Rock Nacional´over the past week.
hmm I meant to write about Sumo, who were SUPER famous during the 80s and 90s (and still are huge) but you know Argentina is about to play Brazil in a few hours and I can´t really be arsed at the moment.
Shall make up for it later - so instead I offer you a video of my favourite Sumo song.
Fingers crossed for the match!
hmm I meant to write about Sumo, who were SUPER famous during the 80s and 90s (and still are huge) but you know Argentina is about to play Brazil in a few hours and I can´t really be arsed at the moment.
Shall make up for it later - so instead I offer you a video of my favourite Sumo song.
Fingers crossed for the match!
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