Another week in brief

Week of May 28 to June 2

What did I do this week? Among other things:

Visited the Eva Perón museum in Palermo:

Explored the Recoleta Cemetery, where Eva Perón is buried. A cemetery packed full with mausoleums. Weird, but very interesting:

Buenos Aires 6^th Annual Jazz Festival. It was cool – both in temperature and quality:

Got a hair cut.

Roundtable discussion with Esteban Bullrich, a member of Congress in Argentina. He is probably in his late thirties or early forties. A former businessman, after the Argentine collapse of 2001 Esteban decided he wanted to serve his country and ran for office. He is a very intelligent, ethical, upstanding person who deeply wants to see his country do better. He was understated and serious. I was impressed. Later, toured the Congress building.

Tango classes.

Visit to a hotel that was closed down by its original owners, and then taken over by a workers collective. It is presently operated by this collective, with decision-making power vested in an assembly of the hotel’s 200ish employees. Interesting arrangement. We met with one of the managers of the hotel in a conference room adorned with posters of Hugo Chavez and Castro. I certainly don’t agree with their politics, and in theory I don’t think the hotel will last – a point I have made repeatedly to my friends. But every day that Hotel Bauen stays open, these workers are proving me wrong. Check back in ten years and we’ll see.

Cooked lasagna for my host family.

Went to a milonga – a venue where people go to dance tango.

Marched with the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo. This is an interesting and tough topic that I’ve been wrestling with; look for a follow-up post on this blog soon.

Dicussion with Alan Clutterbuck of Red de Acción Política. More later.

Saw Spiderman 3. Piratas del Caribe was sold out.

Explored Puerto Madero. This barrio used to be the gritty docklands, but now it’s one of the chicest and most expensive zones of the city. The middle photo is of the Fragata Sarmiento (Sarmiento Frigate), built in 1897. The last photo is of Puente de la Mujer, a walking bridge designed by famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

Visited MALBA, a museum of contemporary Latin American art, and then wandered through Palermo Chico. That giant sculpture in the first photo below is a piece of art. It’s a metal flower that closes at night and reopens to the sun every morning.

Saw a play called Fulgor Argentina.

And ate a lot of ice cream.