Life in Argentina
Not Taking
Into Account The Devaluation Or Political Situation
By Jaime
Russell
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| My mother-in-law just
called to see if I want to go to the “centro” to go shopping because she
has to pick up some things for her husband. I say OK and she says
she’ll pick me up in 10 minutes. So I sit down and read for a while,
clean up the apartment a bit or in this case start this article because
I know she won’t get here for at least another 45 minutes, but it’ll probably
be an hour. That’s just how it is with her, and pretty much everyone
here.
My name is Jaime Russell and this
is the first glimpse I’m giving you into my life. I’m 25 years old
and I have lived in Argentina for the past seven. But this whole
story really started when I was sixteen and a semester exchange program
to Argentina sealed my fate. That’s when I met my future husband
in the northern most province, Jujuy (pronounced who-WHOey) and when my
“adventure in life” (as my dad likes to call it) started.
I feel obliged to first clear up
something: the capital city of Buenos Aires is almost a world apart
from the rest of Argentina. It’s much more connected to the outside
world and therefore is a player in the globalized game. The interior
of the country is much more laid-back and for a most part it has more of
a small town feel. We currently live in the city of Tucuman and it
still surprises me how in a city of about a million and a quarter people,
you can still play connect the dots and link yourself (through marriage,
cousins, long-lost childhood friends) to just about anyone. One of
our doctors is married to a cousin of my husband’s uncle’s wife.
Did you get that? I just found out the other day, after the doctor
visit of course. But I really find all those connections nice.
If you need a doctor, dentist, architect, teacher, banker, mechanic or
lawyer (in my case there are plenty of these on my husband’s side) surely
some cousin is one of those. And of for some strange reason they
aren’t, they have a close friend that is. I’m originally from the
Washington, D.C. area and as I was growing up if we needed something we
usually looked in the phone book. That’s what you do down here AFTER
you’ve talked to people first. |
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| Jujuy and
Salta were the first centers of power for the Spanish when they arrived
in what is today Argentina. Argentina before 1776 was tied to Peru and
all goods leaving Argentina by mule train went north over the Andes and
then on to the port of Lima. From Lima gold and silver from Bolivia and
Argentina traveled north to Panama City, then across the Camino Real to
the town of Portobelo which is located on Panama's Carribean Coast and
then to its final destination, Cadiz, Spain. Buenos Aires only gained importance
after 1776 when a viceroyalty was established. From then on goods shipped
straight from Argentina to Europe. |
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We lived in Jujuy for a couple of
years and that was even slightly different from Tucuman, especially north
of the city. In Buenos Aires I do not stick out at all because of
the large population of European descent. But in Jujuy my almost
Nordic skin tone and 5’8 frame do stick out a bit from the dense indigenous
population. Thank god at least I have brown hair and do not have
an accent (I have my parents to thank for that because they started me
off with private Spanish classes very young. They constantly said
“you’ll thank us later on” and even though I don’t like to admit it, they
were right. Who would have guessed that parents sometimes really
know what they’re talking about?).
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| Founded
in 1593 San Salvador is the capital of the province of Jujuy. The city
is situated in a valley along the Andes mountains and both the Grande river
and Xibi Xibi river pass through the town. The town was the birthplace
of the Argentinian flag. Manuel Belgrano who helped lead the Argentinian
liberation movement designed the national flag in San Salvador. Belgrano
was a military man and saw his first combat when the British unsuccessfully
tried to capture what is today Buenos Aires in 1805-1806. After Argentina
gained independence from Spain in 1810, Belgrano became one of the leaders
in the ruling junta. He later tried to overthrow the great Argentinian
caudillo Juan Manuel Rosas. Belgrano died in 1841. |
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Anyway, back to life
in Argentina. I like the way they live life in Argentina because
it is much more family oriented, and now being able to compare two different
life-styles (the one I grew up with and the one I’m currently living) in
Argentina they are much more family oriented and in my opinion family is
the basis of everything. People here “come home” twice a day. Here
is an example of the typical day: everyone wakes up and goes off
to school or work about 8:00. They come home about 1:00 and eat lunch
which is the main meal of the day. I’m talking steaks, pasta, maybe
a glass of wine. You know, real food. Then they have their
siesta. I have learned that siestas should be sacred and I believe
in a past life I must have lived in Spain or something because they are
like second nature to me now. A lot of people do not sleep during
siesta (the crazy ones) but they might just lay down and watch TV or read.
You know, something relaxing. Then about 5 pm they have a quick tea
time where a lot of people drink “mate” which is a bitter tea. You
can get it in bags but usually they put the shredded leaves directly into
the mug and fill it up with hot water and then drink it through a metal
straw with a closed inferior tip perforated with a bunch of little holes.
I have come to the conclusion you have to be raised on it, but it is SO
typical here you have to try it at least once. Then they are out
again by about 5:30. The adults go back to work and the kids usually
have P.E. or they are part of some sort of sports club (soccer for boys
and field hockey for girls). Then everyone comes home again about
9 or 9:30 and has dinner, which is lighter than lunch. Usually sandwiches
or pizza, or leftovers from lunch. By about 12 everyone is getting
ready for bed. |
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The weekends are unique too.
The younger crowds usually hang out on Fridays but on Saturdays they go
dancing. A typical (Friday) hang out evening lasts until 5 or 6 in
the morning. Friends get together about 12 midnight and have pizza
or something. Then they whip out the guitars and the wine, beer or
Fernet. Fernet is a harder drink that they mix with Coke or Pepsi
and there is really nothing that I know to compare it to. It’s not
like whisky, gin nor vodka, but it almost has a sort of a vegetable base
to it. They drink it in Italy too (to which about 40% of argentines can
trace their inheritance back to, but that is a whole other article) .
They hang out playing music (usually more acoustic, folk-type music that
is native to these parts) and just talk until about 6 or so. Then
they go home and sleep it off and get ready for Saturday night. I must
clarify that the legal drinking age is 18 but most parents don’t have a
problem with under-age drinking because it’s done inside the home, and
most close friends live around the same area so they usually just walk
home (there are hardly any drunk driving accidents). And since most
families have one car, if friends live farther away they usually just take
a taxi.
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| Saturday night is dancing
night. The young people get to the clubs about 12 or 1 and dance the night
away until dawn. Literally. Many times we would come home after
sunrise. ALL the kids go dancing. And the parents are OK with it
because the older siblings (or cousins or kids from the block) are there
to look after each other. Even though my husband used to fight with
his sisters (he is the oldest of 6, 4 girls and 1 other boy) he’d look
after them a bit in the clubs. I like how siblings hang out here.
A lot of them have the same group of friends if they are around the same
age. And if there is more of an age difference they don’t kick and scream
when their parents ask them to take their brother or sister along when
there is a birthday party or some social event like a soccer match or float
parade or something. In August, Jujuy hosts the Fiesta Nacional de
los Estudiantes where there is a float competition and it is broadcasted
nationally. But I’ll leave that for a later date because it is a
whole other article in itself.
Sunday is the day for the “asado”
(what Americans would call a barbecue) and believe me, the beef here has
no comparison. I was not much of a beef-eater in the States but now
when I smell the smoke from the coals, my mouth waters. And the best way
to eat it is just plain, so you get the full flavor of the meat. Nothing
to interfere with the true taste. I would probably venture to say that
if you put onions and peppers, or mushrooms or anything else on it (like
what is common in the restaurants in the US) you’d be ruining a perfectly
perfect slab of meat. The asado is usually accompanied by a salad (once
again very simple and not swimming in heavy dressing but oil and vinegar
or lemon juice instead) and for appetizers they usually have “empanadas”
which are like meat pockets. They fit in the palm of your hand and are
filled with beef (surprise surprise), chicken, cheese, creamed corn or
sometimes tuna. |
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| Citrus
fruits, sugarcane, vegtables, cattle and precious metals like zinc and
lead are all produced or extracted from the region around San Salvador. |
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The whole (immediate) family gets
together for the Sunday asado. Grandparents and maybe aunts and uncles
come too (depending on their marital status because you have to give each
side of the family equal time). Everyone eats lunch, the siesta-ers
do their thing, the others maybe will just sit around and chat, the kids
will start a little game of soccer, the grandparents might take a walk,
or everyone might go to the park and have some ice-cream. It is definitely
a family day. And if for some reason you don’t have family near you (like
the kids that go off to college) then you get together and do the same
thing but with your friends. At night you go to bed with a warm fuzzy feeling.
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| San Salvador
at night from the mountains above the town. |
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Everyone is friendly.
The day I arrived as an exchange student the people from the block would
come up to me and say hi because they already knew who I was before I even
got there. The mom and pop corner stores (which there are a lot of because
in the city there isn’t much room for big supermarkets) are like community
centers where you find out what’s going on: when Cecilia’s baby was born,
when Alberto is getting married, when Ana is graduating etc. But they also
know the bad stuff so be careful! And like I stated at the beginning, somehow
everyone is in someway related to everyone else so people tend to know
stuff about other people. Even though some people may not like that at
first, in the end it is really comforting because you know you have support
and you will never be without friends. Not to mention going to the
corner store and not bringing enough money, but the owner saying there’s
no problem, you can get it to him tomorrow. Or needing to rush out in a
hurry and being able to ask the widow next door to look after your kids
and not worrying about them because after all, she has 4 of her own, maybe
10 grandkids, and probably even a grandkid too. |
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To finish off, you’ve probably heard
a lot about Argentina lately in the news because of the devaluation, the
consequent riots and the rising poverty level. That is a separate
part of life here that regrettably is becoming more and more common because
of the less than truthful politics that are being played (US politics don’t
even begin to compare). The common (middle-class) people are very
aware of their situation but have decided not to let those things change
their way of life. Their hearts are SO big and their willingness
to accept someone for who they are is amazing. That is how I want
people to see Argentina because those are the things that are passed on
throughout generations independent of the political situation and those
are the things that should count when describing a whole nation.
Here is some tourist info on Jujuy:
Great web site to get you started:
www.jujuy.com
There you will find a bunch of pictures (some of which I included here)
and tourist info. The hotels I would personally recommend are Jujuy
Palace (www.imagine.com.ar/jujuy.palace/
) because it is smack dab downtown and gives you the ability to just leave
the hotel and start walking around. And other one which is nice is
Hotel Alto La Vina (www.hotelaltosdelavina.com.ar). It is up on a
small mountain so it is about 10 minutes outside of town, which has its
advantages and disadvantages. But the view of the city is spectacular.
That is where we had our Argentine wedding reception (that latest until
about 6 am of course!).
A good web site for Tucuman is www.turismoentucuman.com
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Two good downtown hotels are Swiss Hotel Metropol and Tucuman Center Hotel.
Just to clarify some terms:
The city of Tucuman is technically San Miguel de Tucuman (but everyone
just calls it Tucuman) and the city of Jujuy is San Salvador de Jujuy (and
they just call it Jujuy) in case there is any confusion when you’re looking
at websites or anything.
Money stuff: one US
dollar will get you 3 argentine pesos. So a hotel that is 90 pesos a night
is roughly 30 US dollars. But a lot of places are trying to get tricky
and charge foreigners in US dollars (90 dollars a night instead of 30)
so it’s a good idea to go with a tourist agency that arranges everything
for you in pesos. The only thing that cannot be done in pesos is the airfare.
To get to Jujuy or Tucuman from Buenos Aires it’s about 250 dollars round
trip (the flight is 2 hours to Tucuman and 2 ½ hours to Jujuy).
To contact Jaime Click
Here
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