The Paris of the South
After some hectic delays at JFK, we’ve finally made it to Buenos Aires. After a night’s rest in a hotel, and some initial exploring of the city, if was off to meet our homestays. For the next four weeks, I’ll be staying with my gracious hosts Susana and Andres, an older married couple, funny, sharp, and (luckily) pretty good with English. My Spanish leaves much to be desired, but I am learning.
The program has wasted no time in diving right into the complexities of urbanization in Argentina’s capital and largest city. Buenos Aires is a sprawling metropolis, a divided city of extreme wealth and staggering poverty. It is a highly literate city, the center of Argentina’s social, political, and artistic movements. Nicknamed the “Paris of the South” for it’s beautiful broadways and walkable streets, the title seems particularly ironic given large levels of social protest stemming from both cities in the past few years.
This week we’ve been privileged to meet with two historians, a sociologist/economist, and two architects. They’ve provided a broad overview of the history of development in the city, including significant factors of immigration, social equity, and political changes. We also had an intense session where we viewed the film “The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo,” which tells the heartbreaking story of the mothers whose children were “disappeared” during the military dictatorship and went on to form a political movement, asking for truth, bonding together in their common grief. Today we went to the Plaza de Mayo, the city’s central square, where still after 25 years, the mothers march. They’re one question, still unanswered: “What happened to our children?”
My initial impression of the city is certainly positive, though I do feel a bit isolated by the bubble of the wealthy neighborhood I’m staying in. Next week will include a visit to the Riachuelo, the one of the world’s most polluted rivers, as well some of the informal housing around the city. I’ll have more thoughts on this experience soon.
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