Weekend Notes

I've taken a few days off. The class I've been teaching has extracted it's pound of flesh. I suppose that's a good thing. No sense coming down here with not enough to do. (the dean should be reading this).

Friday night I went to the movies. I caught "Star Trek" at the "Multiplaza". The movie was fine, actually fun, but I'm not blogging movies here.

Multiplaza is a fairly big and fairly nice (modern, upscale) urban-style mall. Lots of familiar designer and restaurant names. The movie theatre has 10 screens with stadium-style seating. Very similar to the newer theaters in the U.S. Apparently it started with fewer than ten screens, then with expansion came two to three more screens. These were upstairs. Upstairs is where Star Trek was playing. This was also the upscale part of the theatre; a bar serving mixed drinks plus a sushi bar. Not having dinner before the 6:40 show I ordered a "popcorn con mantequilla y una Coca-Cola". For some reason I didn't get the butter. Might be my pronounciation.

By the time we got into our seats it was 6:50. Fortunately just like the states, there are twenty minutes worth of previews. The movie was loud. Spanish subtitles. (I checked this out in advance, had it been dubbed, I wouldn't have gone).

On Saturday I mostly worked in my room, took a bit of a walk, had lunch at Manolos (a diner near my hotel, excellent sandwiches). It rained of course. Quite hard, for about two hours. Late in the afternoon I took a cab out to the "Causeway", a narrow stretch of land (man-made, with dredged material from the construction of the canal's shipping lanes). The Causeway runs a couple of miles out to some small islands. It's a lovely promenade, with bike paths and benches and great views and generally it's just incredibly pleasant. I rented a bike, rode to the end where there are quite a few restaurants and shops. With the trip back it took barely over an hour. Hailed another cab back to my hotel.

(Worthy of note.. .cabs don't have meters. You negotiate the fare in advance. The ride out cost me $5, and this is a 10 minute ride, maybe 5-6 miles. For the return trip when the driver asked how much I paid to go to the causeway and I replied "cinco", he winced. "Six?" he asked. I hopped in the cab quickly. Another buck is no big deal to this gringo.)

Sunday afternoon I spent with three other professors. We went to the other big mall, Allbrook, drove around the old canal zone (some beautiful homes, former U.S. government property), and also went to a Panamanian coffee cafe, Kotowa (similar to Starbucks). Allbrook was very busy on Sunday. I'm going to retract an earlier entry. There were plenty of shorts at the mall yesterday. I'm wondering if this is a function of (a) the weekend as opposed to a weekday and/or (b) it's a surburban mall as opposed to a city neighborhood. Anyway many, not lots, but more than a few, shorts, especially by women. The mall has many U.S. fast food chains (e.g. Burger King, Dairy Queen, Dunkin Donuts, Cinnabon, KFC) but no U.S. retailers. I went to a Target-type store, "Titan". Some of the prices were unbelievably low but the quality was suspect. There are children's outfits for 99 cents, men's shirts (polo-type) for 5.99. In the electronics section there were DVD players for 39.99 and some 32 inch LCD screens for 599. I haven't priced new TVs recently but these looked like very low prices.

Day 4 in Central America. Today's theme: (and it's a quick one) Clothes

Hey, I'm no fashion critic/guru/expert/controlfreak or even fan. But some things you just notice.

Also, by way of introduction, I've been spending a lot of time down here at a university. There are a few U.S. students studying here, but by and large these are local citizens.

At first glance they appear to dress much like their U.S. counterparts. There are quite a few T-shirts, some baseball caps, sneakers, jeans, ladies in capristyle pants. What you notice is that for a place where the temperture gets above 90 most everyday, you very seldom, and I mean very seldom, see anyone in shorts. And if you don't see it on a small university campus, you don't see it much on the streets.

This is one of those things I think is best left at the observation level. Trying to explain it is rather futile. I suppose some possible explanations for this could be there is something more fundamentally conservative about this country (or region), or maybe it's something that is fundamentally... whatever.. about U.S. culture that we think the moment it gets above 70 everyone is entitled to run around in their underwear.

If you can believe it, I didn't even bring a pair of shorts with me, with the exception of the gym shorts I wear in the fitness room. During that mental check-off of occasions I needed to prepare for, workdays, evenings and weekend, from the "sort of nice" look to "very casual" I remembered there was really no benefit to bringing a pair of shorts. Even this weekend if I stroll down to the supermarket or around town I'll probably be wearing a pair of lightweight long pants.

And a heavy metal T-shirt.

Getting around in P.C.

Almost anyone who visits Panama City will comment on the traffic.

Without question, by U.S. standards it is appears "crazy". Though I'm not sure it's any crazier than what I hear about other parts of the developing world (India, Egypt, China, etc.)

It is true the streets are frequently thick with cars and things can move slowly (though in my experience no city is more clogged than Sao Paulo). Traffic signs/signals are sometimes obeyed/sometimes not. I'll give the drivers here credit, at least they slow down for stop signs.

Cars do just pull out into traffic, apparently counting on other drivers' sense of self-preservation not to cause an accident.

But what makes Panama City traffic irksome for most U.S. visitors is how loud it is. This is due principally to: loud vehicles themselves (engines, brakes, etc.) and the frequent use of the horn. The horn is an essential part of every car in Panama and must be used (so it seems) once per block. Reasons to use the horn can vary: 1. for men to alert any woman within 100 meters of their presence 2. to inform other drivers you have no sense of self-preservation 3. for taxis (a common form of transportation) to pick up fares, i.e. all pedestrians are potential customers and are to be informed of a taxi's availibility with a sturdy beep, 4. lacking of these three, as a test to ensure the horn is ready and in working condition.

Those who know me at least semi-well know that back in Towson I live a short distance from the university. My walk is a very pleasant 20 minutes. Here in Panama City my hotel is barely 15 minutes from the university. Do I walk? Sometimes. Here's what discourages people from walking more frequently:

1. it is hot. Ten minutes on the street and you're soaked.
2. crossing the street is an adventure. "Right of way" is something most Panamanian drivers seem to consider a challenge. And what's the point of yielding to a pedestrian?
3. the sidewalks and curbs here are their own special challenge. Many walkways are obstacle courses of cracks, holes and ledges. (for the record, this is how I wrenched my knee here last January.)

In all honesty Panama City is not a beautiful city. It's not particularly ugly, it just isn't beautiful. There are parts that are rather nice, for instance the "Causeway" is a long and lovely promenade with great ocean breezes and a good water view with the city skyline. "Casco Viejo" the old colonial quarter has some real charm. And the "Parque Metropolitano" just inside the city limits on the north side is a jem of a preserved habitat. All that said, there's not nearly enough green space in this city. There are quite a few empty lots that could be, but they are. This is perhaps understandable because this is still a country with considerable needs and relatively meager resources. If I were mayor and could put my money into schools, clinics, public safety, housing or landscaping I think I know which one would receive the lowest priority.

Finally there are the "Diablo Rojas", the privately-owned former school buses that serve as the city's public transportation system. As I understand it they are licensed and give a route of sorts, as indicated by some color system. However drivers, working on incentive systems, may make changes along the way, such as backtracking to find more passengers. There are also a lot of dangerous moves the drivers make to reach the next bus stop before the competition. And of course there are claims that the buses themselves are poorly maintained. I've seen plenty of D.R.'s on the road. They're very colorful too, each one custom painted. But unless I had I guide I'd never ride one.

Maybe it's an experience I should have before I leave.

Now... from Panama

If you can believe it, I've had more than one person ask me if I would continue my blog from Panama.

After considerable, well.. some... actually.. minimal reflection I found myself thinking, "Why not?"

Because I've learned that to be effective, these entries should be short and interesting, I'll try to use several smaller entries rather than cram a bunch of stuff into one hard-t0-digest narrative.

Two items for today's entry.

1. just as background, in case anyone doesn't already know. This is my fourth trip to Panama in the past sixteen months. I came here in January 2008 and January 2009 with study abroad groups from Towson University. I was also here in August 2008 teaching "International Business" to students at our local host university ("Quality Leadership University" - http://www.qlu.ac.pa/html). Now (May 2009) I'm back teaching the locals again, this time it's "Business Society and Ethics". The study abroad gigs are very different from the local program. The former is lighter on the teaching but more of an all-day affair because of excursions and miscellaneous tours. Also I have to be a bit of a chaperone though fortunately both groups (2008 or 2009) were relatively well-behaved (the very high bar set for them was stay out of jail and the hospital).

The local program has Panamanian students taking the equivalent of a U.S. college course. I teach in English (of course), four hours a day, five days a week for two weeks. It is an intense experience, very challenging to keep things interesting from 8:00am to noon every day. Plus in the case of teaching a class like "Business Society and Ethics" I am extremely conscious of cultural differences that may influence how the message is received. It should be interesting.

Ok, item 2. Upon arriving at Tocumen airport yesterday I noticed almost every airport employee wearing a surgical mask. This included the wheelchair people standing the jetway, the cleaning help, many of the store employees, everyone at immigration and customs, police and airport security personnel, even a few of the taxi drivers. Also today I visited my customary lunch spot close to the university, the cafeteria in the Reba Smith grocery store where a plate of rice, beans and chicken (that's about as Central American as you can get) will run you $2.45. All of the employees including the guys running the trays of food, the women serving it on plates and the cashiers were wearing the masks. So Panama has a big case of the flu jitters.

Enough for day 1... more mañana.

About that video (below this entry)

The video in the post below was recorded on June 9 in my Buenos Aires hotel room. It was impossible to upload using the hotel's wi-fi connection and for fun I tried it out when a few days ago. (It still look a long time on Towson's dedicated line).

Even though I thought eight minutes flew by, I understand now that's an eternity in when watching online videos. Next time I'll know better. Still I'm including it in the spirit of sharing as much as I got.

BsAs video

Links to South American pictures

I still owe some pictures, particularly from Argentina. In the meantime I highly recommend the pictures from two other seminar participants:

Katharine Bjork's photo site:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ksbjork/BuenosAiresJune2008?authkey=9jzseSMadk8

John Buck's photo site:
http://ciee2008.site.shutterfly.com/

Chile v. Argentina v. Finland (plus a memorial note)

Something all three countries have in common is that a large percentage of the population (between 20 and 40%) lives in a large capital city.

Buenos Aires clearly reflects its European roots. You can see this in the people (some mestisos, though the vast majority of the people walking down the streets look European), the architecture and the city planning.  As far as the look of the city, Santiago isn’t dramatically different. There are fewer (though some) big squares with facing buildings. Also the structures themselves tend to be less ornate.

The vast majority of cars in Buenos Aires are European: Citröen, Renault and Fiat. In Santiago Toyota is the dominant brand, with a fair representation of Nissan (not that many Hondas interestingly) and a noticeable number of Kias and Hyundai. Some but not a lot of U.S. brands.  Much more of a mix (Euro and Asian) in Finland, maybe slightly skewed toward their EU neighbors.

Argentina exists under the shadow of its large neighbor to the north and the continent’s dominant social and political power, Brazil.  The fate of Argentina to a large extent is influenced by relations with Brazil and their economic agreement, MERCOSUR.  Chile on the other hand puruses a more independent economic (perhaps even political) agenda through the negotiation of multiple bilateral trade treaties.

Finland is a member of the EU and the euro-zone.  It’s a relatively small player on a big stage. Finland’s relatively remote location provides some advantages and challenges.  The country is blessed with natural resources (fishing, timber, arable land), a desireable tourist location (for summer getaways and winter sports).  The strong presence of Nokia gives Finland a bit of a natural advantage when it comes to communications technologies. (I don’t’ want to play this up too far, since I haven’t seen any numbers on what percentages of Nokia’s operations take place in its home country).  Of course Finland is very much “off the beaten path” and you can’t get to main parts of the continent (e..g Germany, France, etc.) without taking boat or plane (ok, you could theoretically take the long way around, through Russia).

Finland is a beautiful country insofar as it’s exceptionally green, there’s an abundance of clean water and shorelines and it’s well-maintained.  There’s very little garbage on the streets (unlike Santiago and BsAs where it seemed like the mountains would never go away).  There have been a few homeless people around the main city parks and streets but considering the size and dynamism of Helsinki these numbers are negligible.

Couple of other observations about Finland: Finns smoke in higher numbers than anywhere else I’ve been recently (including Latin America), the Finnish language seems absolutely impenetrable, even though I’m not supposed to be distracted by the high prices I am- this is an expensive place, and there is a noticeable presence of heavy metal/punk/goth types (don’t ask me to account for the differences). Lots of black leather clothes adorned with shiny hardware, face piercings and bright pink, green and purple hair.   And that’s just the senior citizens.

The high prices in Finland are somewhat mitigated in that tax (at the retail level, and it's 22%) and the tip (for services) are included in the price.  Of course that's a bit of a double-edged sword.  In Latin America many restaurants have a hawker outside trying to get you to come in. In Finland there's none of that, so it feels much more leisurely. Of course when you go into a Finnish restaurant the service tends to be slooooow and indifferent (why should they care? The servers get paid the same either way).

Also, the Finns pretty much invented the cell phone. Maybe that explains why neither of my hotel rooms has a land line.

Finally, RIP George Carlin, the friend I never had a chance to meet. Thanks for the wisdom, and the laughs.

from Finland

ok, whatever I wrote (two weeks ago today as a matter of fact) from Montevideo applies just as equally here.

I just finished attending my annual IABS conference in Tampere (two hours north of here). More info about that available at www.iabs.net

Anyway my hotel here in Helsinki makes internet available free here, but there's a 15 minute limit, so I have enough time to say it's exciting to be here and I'll post again soon. I've already been thinking about a blog on Chile v. Argentina v. Finland. Interesting stuff.

I've also expanded my Finnish vocabulary to two words.. Moi and Kiitos. (hello and thank you respectively).

Back again soon.

Human Rights in Chile: Pedro's Story

For some time I’ve been meaning to record our meeting with Mr. Pedro Matta, a captive of the military dictatorship in Chile during the 1970s. Mr. Matta spent several hours with us; about an hour for a lecture at our hotel and then taking us on a tour of Villa Gramaldi, a torture/detention center just outside of Santiago. Two weeks later, here are my recollections of our time together.
Shortly after the 1973 coup, the military government declared itself to be “at war”. Communists, socialists, trade unions, student leaders were considered as threats and labeled as enemies. Initially the detention activities were conducted in an unsystematic fashion. This changed however in 1975 with the creation of “DINA”, a sort of military intelligence unit. At the peak of its operations DINA operated 850 detention centers throughout Chile. One of them was Villa Grimaldi. As suggested by its name Villa Gramaldi had been a very upscale property. It became the property of the government in the 1960s. The location and configuration of Villa Grimaldi made it well suited as a detention and torture center in the 1970s.

The story from here quickly becomes very grim. Pedro walked us through the grounds, describing the careful, even scientific methods of torture. The interrogators knew how far to take the torture without killing or somehow incapacitating the prisoners. Every few meters we would stop, seen the remnants of a building foundation. We might hear about how this site was used for the application of voltage (applied with various intensities, durations and to body locations) or prisoner containment areas (e.g. four prisoners in dark box about four feet in width and length). Also about twenty percent of the prisoners were women.

A comment came from our group that the personnel that participated in the operations of Villa Grimaldi (and similar torture centers) had to be “sociopathic sadists”. Pedro’s response was very telling. These people had been trained to see the detainees as “less than human” and “the enemy”. Once that thought was successfully implanted (not a difficult thing to do) the captors readily accepted the notion that the prisoners deserved this treatment.

After several hours of hearing about torture center operations in precise detail my revulsion reflux was overworked and I became numb to the vivid descriptions. Plus Pedro’s affect seemed rather flat during much his presentation. Certainly there were moments his outrage and pain came through, but almost always in a controlled way. He described himself following his release from custody as a “zombie”. Makes sense I thought, you’d have to put some major distance between yourself and these events just to survive.

At the final point of our tour, Pedro described the circumstances of his release. When the captors decided a prisoner was of no further use and there was no new information to be learned a decision was made: to release the prisoner back into society or make the “disappearance” more permanent. Fortunately for Pedro he was allowed to return home (though he sought asylum in the US and lived here for fourteen years). Upon release from a torture center most prisoners were transferred to other facilities, so at least some of the worst wounds (physical and mental) might heal.

Pedro told us that shortly after arriving at this facility he was befriended by another prisoner. “What did you tell them skinny?” the prisoner asked while offering Pedro a cigarette. Pedro was immediately suspicious and just repeated what he had already shared. “I told them everything skinny,” the prisoner continued. “When they tortured me, I told them very little. Then they brought in my wife, and tortured her in front of me. I still said nothing. Then they brought in my eight-month old child, and tortured him in front of me. At that point I told them everything. What would you do?”

At this point, Pedro’s eyes had tears. He told us early on he gave up nothing and no one during his imprisonment. “No one was tortured because of what I said. No one followed me and I can look myself in the mirror because of that” he told us. But now Pedro shook his head. “What would I have done? I had a wife; I had a baby at home. What would I have done? That question haunted me.”

This tragic set of circumstances gives us many haunting questions, about then and now. I am very grateful to Mr. Matta for sharing his story.

South American presidents

The CIEE group met with a senator from the Argentine congress. As we discussed the future of Argentina and the South American continent, the profile of the current presidents was discussed. Here’s an overview of the presidents of the twelve nations of South America:
• Two are women
• Only one is over the age of sixty
• One is of African descent
• One is Hindi
• One is a former Catholic bishop
• Four did not wear neckties to the meeting
• Only one has military service (Chavez)
• There is one doctor, one teacher and one steelworker.
• One president had a father killed by a military dictatorship
• One president was born into to such severe poverty that four of six brothers died before the age of five.

Keeping it going

Even though I'm back in the states, some unfinished business remains to be posted.

One, I need to get some more pictures up here.

Also there are a few other stories that have stayed with me and a worthy to share. I hope to get back to those soon.

In the meantime, thanks for all the nice comments, including those posted here and sent to me offline.

Back home, things I'll miss and things I won't.

Back home in the USA, and there's a lot more to continue with. In the meantime I offer up the following look at what I'll miss, and won't miss, about South America.

Things I’ll miss about South America:
1. The food. The meat, the veggies, the fruits seem to be fresher and taste better.
2. The sense of joy, family, community that seems so central to their lives. It’s difficult to explain the difference, since I can easily admit these same elements are very important in the U.S. You’d just have to be here to experience how it all plays out a little differently south of the border.
3. The unique and fascinating history.
4. Art and music are more common features of life on the street.
5. The beautiful buildings, parks and public spaces.

Things I won’t miss:
1. sidewalks. There obviously isn’t enough money to keep up with al l the sidewalk repairs. Walking city streets requires an alert eye and keen sense of balance.
2. Dogs. I love dogs and there are a lot of them here. The problem is there are just too many dogs living on the streets. I found this true practically everywhere I was. I’m somewhat surprised that stray dogs are allowed to populate and roam so freely. They certainly can contribute to the garbage problem, plus they make another type of caution for walking down the sidewalk.
3. Being charged a “set up” fee, or a “bread fee” from the moment you sit down in a restaurant or café.
4. The bathrooms. I’ll put this near the bottom of the list, since overall the experience was not so bad (nothing like that opening scene in “Trainspotting”). Still more than once I went into a sort of sensory shut down just to get through it all. Yeah, we got ‘me beat on plumbing.

Greetings from Uruguay

Ok, I thought it would probably take a thousand lifetimes before I ever write those words. I certainly never would have imagined one year ago I would be in beautiful Montevideo today. Another piece of evidence on the wonderful fluidity of life.

The formal piece of the CIEE program has been over for five days, so it’s back to tourist mode. I spent three more days in BsAs, came across the river to Colonia del Sacramento for a day and yesterday arrived in Montevideo. Tomorrow I begin the long sequence back to the states.

Some impresssions of Uruguay, though again I’m mindful of the limit of my own experiences. Beginning with the obvious, this is a small country wedged between two much larger countries (Brazil and Argentina). Just looking at a map you can easily conclude that Uruguay’s fortunes depend to a large extent on relations with its larger neighbors. Actually being here reinforces this conclusion.

Uruguay has an active tourist industry with many visitors coming from Argentina and Brazil. This place has two main draws: beaches and low prices. Of course today (June 17) is just a few days before the beginning of winter so that part of the economy is in a bit of a lull. Also while I've been generally pleased (from a very selfish point of view) about price levels in Chile and Argentina, we seem to come down just a little bit further when we crossed the River del Plata.

One final note for this morning, then it's time to get out and see more of this city. It has been a little crazy keeping track of money values while being in these three countries. In Chile the about 480-490 pesos equals $1. (so everything is in the thousands, tens of thousands, sometime hundreds of thousands), in Argentina the 3 peso equals a dollar (remember this is after several years when the exchange rate was fixed at 1:1), in Uruguayan peso is about 20 to 1 dollar. This means I've had to adjust to a new mental map on prices/currencies/value/etc every five days. It's been a challenge.

Buenos Aires. A note about soccer

Thanks to the CIEE seminar I am now familiar with a very important bit of recent Argentine history: Diego Maradona and the famous “la Mano de Dias” (“the hand of God”). During the 1986 World Cup match against England Maradona scores during a jump for the ball in front of England’s goal. Replays show that Maradona punched the ball into the goal. Yes, that’s not allowed but the refs didn’t call it. For Argentines “la Mano de Dios” symbolizes something of a national virtue to find success in sneaky ways while not being caught. (Again, so I’ve been told. I don’t want to paint this as a dishonest society, though the acceptable limits of dishonesty are probably more generous than what people are used to in the U.S.).

Later in the same match Maradona scores what is arguably one of the greatest goals ever scored in modern soccer history. The talent shown during this second goal is so impressive, I’m left thinking that a goal like that should be worth an extra score. Therefore, at least in the opinion of this very pedestrian soccer fan, Maradona’s sin for the questionable first goal is redeemed by his fantastic play on the second one.

Argentina won the match over England 2-1. Now, consider the timing. Three years earlier England badly beat the Argentine army in the Falklands war. This soccer victory was a bit of revenge for the Argentines.

Here's the second goal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg3uS4ZBHtM

Buenos Aires: Madres de Plaza de Mayo

• Shortly after the disappearances began (1975/76) mothers would go to police stations and city offices to inquire about the status of their missing children. As these women began to encounter each other more frequently they organized themselves into the “Madres de Plaza de Mayo”.
• The original and ongoing goals for the Madres are “Truth, Memory, Justice”.
• The Madres march every Thursday, 3:30 – 4:00pm on the famous “Plaza de Mayo” in front of the presidential palace. Porteños (“the port people” or the citizens from Buenos Aires) pronounce “Mayo” as “My-zhoa”.
• The Madres have since split into two factions: the Madres de Plaza de Mayo- Linea Fundadora (“the founding line”) and the Madres de Plaza de Mayo. For simplicity let’s call the first group “LF” and the other group “Madres 2”. I’m not sure when the split occurred. The groups divided over tactics and political orientation. LF remains more concerned with honoring their missing children without advancing a particular agenda. Madres #2 are a more explicitly political movement (and not surprisingly, leftist). Madres 2 also aligns itself with organizations such trade unions. Hence, on a given Thursday there tends to be more people marching with Madres 2. For example striking workers will march with Madres 2, giving the mothers a stronger show of support, and for the strikers the support of Madres provides some extra legitimacy.
• Both Madres and Madres LF wear headscarves embroidered with the names of their children. The scarves are intended to represent diapers (and I suppose in some cases might be real cloth diapers and perhaps even in a few cases may be actual diapers worn by their children). The "diapers as scarves" symbol is intended to reinforce the on-going care the mothers provide.
• At the conclusion of every march the mothers (both groups) are usually (perhaps even always, though I hate to be so absolute) approached by journalists (print and television). The mothers are asked their opinions about a range of current affairs. Dedication to their cause has given the Madres a certain moral authority status in Argentine, even worldwide, society.
• I was introduced to one of the mothers at the end of the march. When she heard I am a professor from the US, she asked me in a very animated fashion, “Why haven’t you kicked George Bush’s butt out of your country? He is the biggest terrorist of them all”. (I’m trusting the translation here, though I doubt it’s very far off her intent).
• Just before leaving the Plaza “Tati”, one of the Madres LF leaders gave me a warm embrace, a huge smile and thanks for marching with her group. This was one of the great honors of my life.

trying to get caught up...

Ok. I haven’t done a very good job of keeping up with the blog since coming to BsAs. Part of the reason is that the program really kept us busy (which is a good thing). Also most of my internet time has been “on the clock” so I’ve been limited to keeping up with email and some other basic tasks.

The formal part of the program is now over. I’m staying in BsAs a few more days just as a tourist. Tomorrow my South American tour enters its last stage with a three day swing through Uruguay.

Just like Chile, all the lectures were very good. A quick run-down:
• For the economic side of things we learned about MERCOSUR (the South American customs union with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and factory takeovers by workers. This latter topic also involved a tour of such a factory (printing). During the financial crisis of 01-02 a number of factories were closed. Sometimes the workers would “take over” the factory and try to keep it running. These takeovers illustrate a different way of seeing property rights. Some of the factories certainly could have been sold and the proceeds given to the debtors (in the U.S. this certainly woud be the case). However when the public situation (unemployment, poverty) is teetering on chaotic, the Argentine government was not about to intervene in a circumstance where people are trying to keep their little corner of the economy going.
• There were also presentations on women’s issues, soccer and Argentine film. Given that Argentina is predominately Catholic country, and the church takes a very active role in society, there are clearly points of tension on issues dealing with reproductive choices. “Futbol” is a much-loved sport in Argentina and club affiliation (e.g. River Plate and Boca Juniors) provides an important sense of identity for many fans. Unfortunately one sector of the rabid fan base, “barras bravas” takes the affilation a bit too far; frequently resorting to violence with fans of other clubs. Argentine film is enjoying a bit of resurgence since the 01/02 crisis. We saw selections from two fims, “Los Rubios” and “Opus”. Los Rubios (the Blonds) represents a filmmaker’s attempt (very creative) to resolve the mysteries surrounding her parents’ disappearance during the military dictatorship. “Opus” is a documentary, again with a very creative format, looking at the public school issues in rural Argentina (I know, doesn’t sound so interesting, but this film uses a very unique narrative.).
• Of course there we also learned about the human rights issues involving kidnappings and tortures by the military government during the 76-83 dictatorship. I should devote another blog entry to this topic later. For now I’m going to include a picture of the “Madres de Plaza del Mayo” during their weekly protest march. Yes you’ll see a certain U.S. university professor in their with them.

Late Night from BsAs

Hola (again) from BsAs!

after 4 days in this hotel I have just learned that they sell one hour internet cards for 6 pesos (about $2). So even though it's very late I am taking advantage of this opportunity. Of course I can just post reflections in their most cursory formats.

there are three days worth of experiences here

from Buenos Aires

Hi all...

I've been in Buenos Aires for since Saturday evening and it's been a great experience. Sunday we had a bus tour of the main barrios of the city: Congresso, Monserrat, San Telmo, La Boca, Palermo, Retiro and Recolleta. Some great sites and many wonderful stories.

Today was another day devoted to human rights. We met one of the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. She lost a son to the military dictorship in 1975. What's particularly interesting is how these mothers have come together and organized. Of course they're a bit of an international phenomenon at this point. Still their resolve, their commitment to the memory of their children is moving.

I've recorded some video footage which trys to capture the story a little more directly. Let's see if this works. It's just me doing a narrative, about 9 mins.

(ok... the video posting doesn't seem to work right now, I'll try again soon)

Link to Pictures from Chile (updated)

I have posted some pictures online, please try this link.

I'll be editing these pictures over time; providing descriptions for some, adding and perhaps even deleting a few. Even though some of these pictures aren't the best, when in doubt I'd prefer to include than exclude.