Argentina, 3rd and last week

I still can't believe that it has already been a little less than three weeks since I arrived in Cordoba. Certainly this has been my best experience abroad but unfortunately I have to cut it short because of school. I really wish that high schools had study abroad programs during the year like colleges. Oh well.

Anyway, it's been another busy and interesting week for me. But first I need to take a look at where I left off.

Ok, so I last wrote about the economy in Argentina and how it collapsed in 2001. After asking around for personal opinions about the economy, the general conclusion is that it is currently neither improving or worsening. They are just stuck. But that didn't turn out to be the only surprising thing that I learned.

One day, I decided to take a walk alone through what they call "El Centro," which obviously means "The Center." This area consists of walkways filled with outdoor shops (Paseo de las Flores) and Plaza de San Martin. In the plaza is also a large church simply called "La Catedral" (The Cathedral).

Along side of this church is an alleyway, where there is a memorial site for all of the "desparecidos", those who were kidnapped and/or tortured and/or killed from 1969-1983. I had passed through this alleyway once before, but this time there were hundreds of photos hanging from wires above the walkway, photos of all those who went missing. The more shocking thing was that they were only the ones from the Province of Cordoba who went missing. In total, up to about 40,000 people went missing across country during this time period (The number has never been confirmed, however). I had seen all of the names before on a list, but to see all of the faces really felt like a punch in the stomach.

The general age for the standard victim seemed to be in the high teens or low 20s, which would place them at a college level when they were receiving a higher education. After doing some research, it turns out that most of the recorded victims were workers, with students at a close second followed by employees, then professionals, and more.

Starting in 1976, a group of high-ranking members of the Argentine military ovethrew the Democratic government under President Peron. The new government became known as the Junta Militar, which created a police-state in which basic civil liberties were dissolved along with any judicial or legislative structure.

To bring even more chills, the tactics used to control the state were similar to those of the Nazis (i.e. there were concentration camps). Furthermore, some of the main constructors of the Junta Militar were graduates of La Escuela de Las Americas (School of the Americas), which was created by the U.S. government. I suggest that the reader does some further research on the subject, especially about La Escuela de Las Americas, since I believe it is a subject many are not familar with.

On a much brighter note, I managed to get out of Cordoba during the past weekend. This was possible because Monday was a holiday and thus I did not have class. So, I chose to go to Mendoza, a city to the west which borders Los Andes. After a 10-hour overnight bus ride, I arrived Saturday morning and immediately went to my hostel where I met up with some of my classmates from Cordoba as planned.

On the first day, we went to a winery owned by the Zuccardi family, obviously of Italian heritage. I learned two things (besides how wine is made) here: 1) The winery is one of the few in Argentina still owned by the original founding family and 2) the wine is famous for being young, not old like most Americans drink it.

While there, we went on a brief tour of the factory which was followed by another brief wine-tasting session. I saw this as an opportunity to enhance my taste buds, so I had a few sips. After a few sips, I came to the conclusion that I need a few more years to get used to the taste. I believe at this point I am used to drinks with A LOT of sugar (sodas, gatorade, etc.), and wine doesn't exactly offer the same taste for me.

After the wine-tasting, we had an excellent lunch, although slightly pricey. However, the service and the quality of the food definitely made up for the bill and more. This restaurant worked off of a fixed menu which started with a carrot soup followed by various servings of every meat in existence topped off with a well presented dessert. It is located on the Zuccardi fields, and thus is a part of the company.

That night, we went to yet another winery for dinner (nothing to drink this time), although it didn't come close to the quality of the first earlier that day. Nevertheless, the seafood pasta was very good. Afterwards, we called it quits.

Back at the hostel, I stayed up until about 1am playing pool/billiards with a friendly group of Argentines. Somehow, my partner and I managed to beat them easily, but the second game didn't go so well.

The next day, Monday, was a holiday honoring General San Martin, who essentially liberated Argentina from Spain in the early 1800s. We weren't able to find an open museum to visit since nobody was working that day. So, we decided to walk to Parque Central/Central Park and have lunch. This park was HUGE. I'm not sure how it would compare to Central Park in New York City, but I'm sure that it would compete in terms of size at least. So, we essentially spent the rest of the morning and half of the afternoon at this park and ate lunch at a small restaurant outside.

After visiting the park, I returned to the hostel on my own to read some more of my book for school. Also, by this point I had misplaced my digital camera. I was a little frustrated, but thankfully I backed up the photos on a computer before I left for the weekend. Anyway, my friends returned to the hostel at about 7:45pm at which point we began to cook our own supper. We made pasta with a mushroom sauce which was also mixed with some arregano. It didn't turn out EXACTLY the way we wanted (slightly gooey pasta, sauce a little runny), but it was still very good.

Immediately following the dinner, I had to leave to catch my bus for the return trip (overnight) to Cordoba. Although I was not able to do everything that I wanted to do in Mendoza, I still had a great time and I hope I can return someday. I would recommend this trip to absolutely anyone. As soon as I get some photos of Mendoza from my classmates, I'll post them on my flickr site or I will paste a link to them.

Again, feel free to e-mail me with questions about Argentina or aviation, and please don't hesitate to leave a comment or two. Lastly, be sure to check out my latest photos on my flickr site through the link on the right side of this page.