Day 81 and 82
Do you remember how I couldn’t go on the long Patagonia trip because my field lab for International Management was on the first day? And that it hadn't really come together and I was really mad? Well, we did have it, but it was pretty lame and not well organized. The lunch helped it a little.
We met at 9 o'clock. We were supposed to meet in the classroom that we have class in but because it is part of the union and the diplomatic briefing was in there they moved us into classroom 2. I had worn my blue, flowered dress that I think is perfectly acceptable as business casual. As soon as I walked into the room she asked me if I thought what I was wearing was appropriate. I said yes, and she said she disagreed, listed the reasons, and then sent me to change. When I came back there were two girls wearing jeans, one wearing a maxi dress that didn’t have much going on up top, and another with the shortest skirt I had ever seen.
What I had been wearing before was way better than what was going on now. I was not pleased.
In this port we had to take a shuttle to the port terminal building where the busses would meet us. We boarded our bus by quarter of 10.
Our professor told us that we needed to think of two questions to ask the guy, which I did not do ahead of time. So Shaleen and I worked together and came up with a bunch:
- How many ships do they see a day?
- How many cruise ships do they get?
- How had your imports/exports changed over time?
- If the port ever changed hands, how did operation change?
- How long does the average container sit for?
It seemed like we basically drove around the block. At one point we were just sitting somewhere for seemingly no reason. Eventually the manager of the port got on the bus. He spoke basically no english.
We drove into the port, exactly where we had just come from, and picked up another lady, Marina, who spoke a little more english.
They told us that due to regulations we would not be allowed to get off of the bus. So we drove around the port while the people in the front, who could hear, asked questions. And the our tour guide lady translated what the guy was saying. That didn’t really help much because even though she was speaking english it was really hard to understand what she was saying. It was like the words were out of order. And it didn’t help that we couldn’t hear very well.
Occasionally she would laugh and say that the guy told a joke but she would never tell us what the joke was. And she really liked to throw in her own opinions about the port, and about politics. It was a strange morning. We even drove right past the ship again.
Here are some things that I managed to learn:
- There are three terminals, one is not fuctional.
- 75% of all goods are imported. They don't do a lot of exporting.
- It is privately owned, which is really rare for a port. Three companies share ownership.
- 2019 is when their lease is up
- They renovate the port every 25 years
- They can stack the containers 7 high
- They had 126 cruise ships this season
- There are 500 permanent employees, 500 temporary employees that work any of three different shifts: 7-3pm,3-11pm, 11pm-7am.
- They work all year long, even holidays
- All containers have to clear customs and have the correct documents
- Empty containers are becoming a problem, they are not being reuse and container graveyards are popping up.
This drive/question and answer session lasted about an hour. And I got almost nothing out of it, except for looking at the containers and determining that there were a lot of them with a lot of different labels and numbers. Some were refrigerated, some clearly were transporting a liquid, like oil. All of that was interesting to observe.
We left the port and walked around the city until it was time to eat lunch. The lunch made up for the terrible morning. The restaurant was called Il Gatto and while the meal was already paid for there was still a menu and we were allowed to choose what we wanted. I had the spinach ravioli. It was absolutely amazing. And the bread that they served us was addicting. It was pita like triangles and were fantastically salty. For dessert I got the dish that the waiter had recommended to us. I am not sure what it was called but it was certainly interesting. It was a cone of white, and it looked like the top of it had been caramelized. I thought it was going to be really fluffy but the consistency was more like a jelly or custard. The good news was that it came with a giant pile of dulce de leche.
Dulce de leche was by far my favorite thing about Argentina. That may be an exaggeration, but it is really high up on the list.
After lunch we went to the United States Embassy. This also made up for the terrible morning.
Security at the embassy was intense. They took all of our electronics and all of our organic products. I had to give up my chapstick. Then your belongings went through the metal detector. They asked this girl in front of me, Susan, what the round things in her bag were. Apparently they looked like capsules. They were coins…
They asked if I had a lighter. It ended up being the extra batteries I carry for my camera.
Intense.
We were escorted into a small theatre. It took about 30 minutes for everyone to go through the security. The best running joke was for us to welcome people to america as they walked in the room.
There were three men that talked to us, Scott, an economic counselor, Tim, the head of the economic section, and Ben, a trade investment counselor. They told us about the operation of the embassy and some of the work they are doing in Argentina.
The embassy is broken into section:
- Public Affairs
- Consular (Passport, Visas, and helping you if you are jailed)
- Political
- Economics
- Management (operates the embassy)
Argentina has the third largest economy in Latin America and is the third largest producer of automobiles. Because of the economic crisis in 2001 they are the second country with the most money circulating in the country and not in the bank. Only Russia is before it. They have a large distrust of their government because of the 2001 crisis. They have an inflation rate of 30%. They have a black market exchange rate of 10 to 1. The official exchange rate is 6 to 1. People will go abroad and buy things at 6 to 1 on their credit cards, and then come back and pay it off at 10 to 1, giving them a 40% discount on everything they buy.
The country has a lot going for it but has not had a government to support it. They have a lot of debt most of which is not in pesos and since they can not print any money besides pesos they struggle with paying it off. I found this fact interesting. The U.S has massive debts but it is all in U.S dollars. Technically they could pay it all off instantly by just printing the money. Of course that would never happen and would cause a lot of things to collapse but it is a small security that many other countries don't have.
In the economic sector of the embassy they divide up portfolios and go out and work with people and talk to people about their frustrations with that specific issue. They then send their finding to the policy makers in Washington D.C.
The people that work in the embassy stay in one location for three years. IF you are in a place that is 'less fun", like the middle east, they let you extend your tour longer and then will try to give you your first choice when you move. When they first join the foreign service they are required to learn a new language in the first 5 years. Ben was first posted in Korea and was given 8 months of language training. When his tour in Argentina ends he will be going to Moscow and will first have 1 year of language training.
The trip to the embassy lasted only an hour but it was very interesting and I enjoyed it a lot more than the morning. When we got back to the ship we all gathered in our classroom and had a debrief. We had a huge argument with our professor about the issue of empty containers. We kept giving solutions to the problem and she just kept yelling at us that it was too expensive, that it was cheaper for companies to just buy new ones and there is nothing to fix it.
Then we talked about the paper I have to write and how there are no guidelines for it and we should wrestle with the questions.
Fantastic. Totally looking forward to that.
In the evening I went to a dinner and tango show. We left at 20:30, which was super late for dinner.
Tango began in Buenos Aires. It is always danced to a sad song of love. It used to only be danced by men because it was thought to be too sensual for women. Carlos Gardel was a famous tango singer and is credited with its popularization. He was the first singer to write lyrics to the tango songs. Most tango songs are sung in a slang called Confargo. Carlos Gardel moved to France at one point and became very famous there as a tango singer, he helped spread the dance to there. He then returned to Argentina and was hired by the U.S for movies. He died in a plane crash in 1935 at 44 years of age.
In the tango show we saw they also danced the Milonga, which is a fast tango danced to happy songs of love, and the Folglove, which was just described as a typical song and dance.
We asked if locals actually go to these shows or if it was more of a tourist thing. Apparently locals do go, but mostly on weekends. So the show we were going to would be mostly tourists.
The show was amazing. We were served dinner first. I had an empanada as an appetizer, a beef dish for my main course, and ice cream covered in fruit for dessert. We were given water and one bottle of wine to share between two people.
The show started right before we were served dessert. Our tour guide that came with us told us that the show would be about the history of tango. It was all in spanish so we basically just believed her.
The dancing was amazing. My favorite wasn't actually the tango. It was when a guy came out with balls on strings and swung them around, hitting them on the floor. He made a beat with them and his feet. It was incredible. It is called Poi. They threw in a little comedy too. There was a band on stage with him and he would move back and get really close to them and they would freak out and tell him to stop, and push him away. I don't know if they were faking it or if they were really scared that he would hit them but it was entertaining.
It was a long show, it didn’t end until 12:30. But it was really cool, I would definitely do it again.
The next morning Molly and I went on the Graffiti Talks tour. It was a walking tour of the street art in Buenos Aires. I signed up for it at the last second because Molly was doing it and when she is busy I feel a little lost in the world. And it sounded really cool.
Graffiti isn't illegal in Buenos Aires, so it is everywhere, and is more like art than just tagging. Of course people do still tag, and write brief statement messages, but there are also huge walls full of beautiful art. They will have sessions where artist just come out and paint together. Our guide was named Lilliana and she worked with the artists, helping them promote themselves and raise awareness of street art.
Side note: on the bus on the way to our first destination we saw a pickup truck with a bunch of jugs in the back. Probably about 100 of them, all lined up and strapped together. Apparently they were jugs of urine and are used for some purpose that she couldn’t remember, possibly research. That was surreal.
Anyway, graffiti in Buenos Aires was started by a mexican man who was running from Mexico. He just saw the city as a good way to express himself. In the 1950s was when the political tagging started and in the 90s came the kids in groups. During the 2001 economical collapse people were upset and went out into the street banging on pans and starting protests. It was then that people started using stencils to make statements. Stencils can be easily copies, so the message could be spread by lots of people around the city very quickly.
But that was also when the non-political art began. Artists took it into their own hands to bring color back to the streets during the riots. The aim was to cover the angriness. Now the street art is famous and there are many unspoken rules that the artists follow, like when to paint over something and when to leave it alone.
It was amazing to see the conversation that some art work started. At almost every site of a huge piece you could look at the building directly across the street and see more graffiti of people responses or reactions to the piece. At one mural the neighbor across the street had seen them painting and asked if they could do something on his house as well. Most of the artwork is on private property. The people in the city liked the artwork and so told artists to just come knock on their door and ask permission. To have a conversation about what they would like painted on their house and then let the artist do it. It became a way of communication. The only art that is removed by the city is the art that is on government buildings and monuments. And even then it takes a while for it to be covered.
At the end of the tour we met some of the artists whose pieces we had just looked at and then got to watch one in the middle of painting. He was just getting started but was building faces out of nothing. He had a paint brush taped to a pole and was using brief strokes of white paint to create faces with incredible emotion even in their raw, unfinished form.
The tour only lasted until 12:30 and after signed out so that we could stay in the city. Our tour guide recommended a burger place right near where the tour had finished an we went there for lunch. The entire inside of the very small restaurant was also covered in graffiti. People would order a burger, sit down, pull out some sharpies, and just start drawing on the walls. It was beautiful in a very chaotic way. And the burgers were delicious and cheap.
After that we caught a cab and went to find a tattoo place. Molly had thought about getting a tattoo for this trip. She wanted one that represented the voyage. She came up with the idea of getting a list of the coordinates of all the places that we went. She really liked it but then decided that it would be too long of a list. She was planning on getting it back in the U.S because after leaving Europe getting a tattoo or piercing didn’t sound like the best idea.
But then Lillian decided to get piercings in Buenos Aires, did a lot of research and discovered that it was actually really modern there and would be fine. Molly also emailed her best friend and had her look up places too and it seemed legitimate. So it reopened the discussion.
She eventually found a painting by Laura Zombie of a whale kissing the bottom of a boat. It is beautiful and colorful. She loved it and hoped that it would transfer over into a tattoo.
We found the place easily. Buenos Aires is known for streets dedicated to just one thing. So you can go down one and it will be all stores with cooking stuff, or books, or tattoos. So it was this giant alleyway of 10 of 12 tattoo places. We went to the one that we had researched, American Tattoo. The guy spoke a little english. Molly showed him the picture of it on her phone and he told her that she needed to have it printed out. So he told us to go two blocks down to some store that we didn’t exactly catch the name of but started with an S or C. Alright then.
So we left and walked and found nothing with the name that we thought he said but we did find an internet café. So we were successfully able to print it out but it was in black and white.
We went back and he looked at it and basically said yes, lets go. Which was weird, Molly had a lot of questions about how the color would look and how big to make it and where to put it on her thigh and the guy didn’t really seem interested in answering them. She asked how much it would be and he said 2500 pesos. Which is 450 dollars. Holy crap, no. That is so expensive. The one she had gotten on her side was only a little smaller and it was only 200 dollars.
So she had to think about it. We sat there for a minute but we both felt really uncomfortable so we walked away. We walked around a bit and tried to find a earring that I could buy, one of my piercings isn't happy and I thought maybe changing the earring would help, but we couldn’t find anything I liked.
At that point we were both really disappointed. Our day was not going well at all, it looked like we were striking out. Molly was just really disappointed with how expensive it would be. It didn’t seem right. And she had been really looking forward to getting it so that she could say that she had gotten it in Argentina.
So we decided to go to Starbucks to get wifi so that she could look up other places. She found an article about the time five tattoo places in Argentina, one was American Tattoo and another was also on the same street called Los Compadres Tattoo Studio. It was very small. There were a few couches, a counter, and three chairs that you sat in when you got tattooed. They were leopard print…I don't know why that’s relevant… but it was something I noticed.
We went there and Molly talked to the guy. He was really nice. When we asked if he spoke english he said a little bit, and it was way more than a little bit. He spoke english a lot better than the people at American Tattoo. He talked to Molly about her tattoo and what she wanted and all the colors in it. They discussed it in depth, he was a lot more thorough than the other guys were. It didn’t feel like he was rushing her into the chair like the other place was. And their price was only 1200-1500 peso, which
at max would be 250 dollars. Much better.
She made an appointment for Friday at noon, he said it would take about 3 hours, and we left. She wanted to get it that day but she wasn't wearing the right clothes. I was really sad that I wasn't going to be with her when she got it. We walked around in that area a bit more. I found pins, which happened at a moment right when I said, "Hey I haven't seen any pins."
I also bought postcards and stamps, although they didn’t actually look like stamps and that made me nervous, but the ship didn’t have postage service in this port so I was on my own.
We went to the bank, then to an all Barbie store, and then back to the ship.
Molly had plans to go out with Marie and meet Marie's family friend who is going to school in Buenos Aires. I was planning on going with them but by the time we got back I was so worn out, and I still needed to pack for my overnight, and I needed to get up early, so I decided not to go.
We watched Game of Thrones until 8:30 when they left. Then I went to my room and watched a movie as I packed. Then, at about 11:15 I decided to watch an episode of Game of Thrones without Molly. And then I decided that I needed to leave her a sticky note about it like I did in Ghana.
And then I went on a crazy sticky note writing spree. I left her 23 sticky notes, all stuck to her door. Here is what they all said: (all the ones with names are Game of Thrones references)
11:20pm
I am watching Game of Thrones episode without you and I feel like a terrible person but there is nothing else I want to watch and I'm not tired. #awkward
11:24pm
I have both your camera and my camera #evenmoreawkward
11:27pm
My plan is to leave my camera at the pursers desk for you
11:28pm
Thoughts keep running through my head of things to tell you but as soon as I go to write them I forget. #Imwatchinggameofthronesatthesametime
11:30pm
I wish I had gotten a new earring for my struggle
11:31pm
I forgot to get cleaning stuff. Ear cleaning stuff. Damn
11:32pm
I washed it with soap. It didn’t feel affective. Effective? Affective.
11:34pm
This is a lot of sticky notes
11:35pm
I have to go put all of these on your door and I'm not wearing pants.
11:35pm
I need to go to bed.
11:36pm
I miss you already
11:35pm
I wrote 11:36 on that last one and looked up and saw it was still 11:35
11:36pm
Now it's 11:36
11:37pm
I wish I was going to be with you on Friday. So sad. :(
11:37pm
*picture of a sheep*
11:39pm
*picture of me and molly with a computer and popcorn and nerds rope*
11:40pm
I want to punch Theon
11:41pm
*picture of her tattoo*
11:43pm
The girl with Jon Snow is not nice. Can I punch her?
11:45pm
Oh no. Jon Snow's gunna die.
11:47pm
*picture of a cow*
11:50pm
I have been writing sticky notes for 30 minutes. #thatssad
11:51pm
It might be time for bed
Yeah. I was really bored once I had finished packing…
