Una mezcla

I've learned about myself that when so many amazing things happen and I don't write/tell about them, I freeze and shut down and don't want to tell anything to anyone... and I can't do that! So I'm going to do highlights... you can choose!

1) Perfect Argentine Weekend.
2) Political unrest in Argentina.
3) My new name: Rose.
4) Walnuts and the Country

--PERFECT ARGENTINE WEEKEND. I just had the most amazing weekend. It was Argentine to the max. Friday I was invited out tango dancing!! At TWO real milongas until 6am! And I tango'd! Funny detail: The guy I went with has been dancing for ten years. Last year he was casted as Romeo in a tango-styled Romeo and Juliet. Sooo... I went out dancing with the Romeo of tango! haha. (Too bad I'm just NOT attracted to the guy.)
Saturday I woke after two hours of sleep to ride bikes with the class of my 7 year old sister. Then I made eight tortas with my mom, and that night, we had over 50 people to our house for her 40th birthday. Incredible. There was a DJ in our living room, my mom had been practicing salsa for weeks and put on this espectáculo of salsa (like flipping in the air...), there was coffee and wine and tortas of fruit and chocolate... we danced until 430am. So fun.
I woke Sunday at 3pm and went directly to a bar in my neighborhood to watch the BOCA/RIVER game. I was one of three women in the packed out bar --guys leaned through the windows to see the small TV, and Niko (my cousin here) and I stood in the back, drank beer, and watched the game. It was the game of all games, and people were shouting/jumping/cheering/hitting tables/singing fútbol songs... I loved it.

--POLITICAL UNREST. Last Monday was a "paro" = all the universities/schools, public AND private, didn't hold classes; the public transportation didn't run, and 30,000 people marched through BsAs. Why? The Thursday before, the police shot and killed a professor in another providence during a protest. The country's people were are in an uproar for two reasons: it raised the education issue here (education is free in Arg. at any level, but money is not allocated as it should be), but also raised the issue of the corruption in the police and government. This has been an issue historically, and the police still use violence and torture to enforce power in some areas; a lot of the mindset is still from the dictatorship in the 70s. So to be here during all the politics is so interesting (yeah, sociology!). Google: Argentina dictatorship or go to BBC.com to see what's happening in Arg.

--MY NEW NAME: ROSE. Two weeks ago today, Katie and I visited La Boca. As were were purusing the Caminito of artensans and painters, we started talking with Guillermo Alio. He and his wife are world reknown for their art: they dance tango on a canvas, with paint on their feet. It's beautiful. He is in his fifties, the bridge in La Boca is named after his grandfather, he was invited to Jay Leno, and he wore a tango hat when we went out for pizza. From 3pm-10pm, we hung out with Guillermo and his friend Miguel, who is a world-traveled tango guitarist. They gave us names that only they can call us (Katie-Maria and I-Rose, haha). We drank mate together, conversed about life and beauty and living well, laughed, and they took us out for wine and pizza. If Buenos Aires was in a movie, THIS would be the scene. Things to google: La Boca Caminito, Guillermo Alio.

--WALNUTS IN THE COUNTRY: for Easter I spent the weekend in the country house of my family (el campo). It was amazing. When the Spanish controlled Arg. in the late 1700s, rich Spanish families had their vacation homes in the country... and the tradition continues today: people that can afford it own homes in the country. It was so interesting to be on a farm, collect walnuts from trees, eat asados, and ride a horse...(!) Most of all I loved being barefoot, playing fútbol with my older cousins and being in the country. :)

Sooo... that's my life. haha. Fun, no?