Adventures in South America

random thoughts

well, its been awhile in between posts i thought i would just throw together a list of random things.

sundays in buenos aires:) they are truly special in the sense that it is a real day of rest (not necessarily in the religious sense) but the fact is most people take the day to relax. the usual activities are eat a big lunch get together with family or friends, watch futbol and of course sleep in from saturday nights activies... i love the tranquility and lack of activity on a sunday where the city really recharges and takes a break.

futbol locura. this year is the world cup and in addition to it being just general hype and craziness they have now floated the idea of closing schools on the day argentina plays! there is absolutely nothing to compare to the importance of futbol here as a sport. when the two biggest local teams are playing (boca jrs, or river plate) you can usually here screams after gooooooooools from all over and if they happen to be playing each other in a super-clasico (twice a yr) everybody in the city pays attention. its hard to put into words the level of craziness the fans have here for futbol.

24 de marzo. that is the day that was declared a holiday this year in memory of the start of the military dictatorship here on march 24th, 1976, which lasted 7 years. there were countelss articles, tv shows, street marches etc... in advance of this day and on the day. i think it is good that the country is facing its past and demons and teaching its children about what happened so that they can truly live up to the 'nunca mas' slogans. the other day kathy and i went to a museum dedicated to this era. it had many chilling photos, satire and information unfortunately the good ole u.s.a was involved. i wonder how many people in the u.s. know our involvement in destabilizing latin american countries during this era (chile, brasil, el salvador, panama, nicaragua etc.....) and our role in providing tactictal military advice and not to mention infusing us$$ - it would be nice if we were taught our history in our schools:)

and lastly for now how bout it for the 2006 ncaa mens national champs, Florida Gators!! :) it was fun watching here with commentary in spanish.
thats it for now i will try and check in more this last month.

posted by sethnem @ 11:14 AM