Meat and Movies

One of the first things that most people told me when I would tell them that I was going to be studying abroad in Buenos Aires was that I had better prepare myself to eat a ton of delicious steak. And up until a few weeks ago, I was eating lots of delicious carne. My host mom would make meat for dinner at least three times a week and ordering a steak at a restaurant, a delicious steak, would really only run you about 5 dollars. No such luck anymore. The President, Cristina, who is also the former First Lady (her husband Nestor Kirchner, was President before her), has run into big problems in her first 100 days in office. I’m not very good at all of this economy, importing, exporting, etc. stuff, but I will try my best to explain what is going on. Argentina has a huge export economy, supplying soybeans and other crops to many countries around the world. To protect the economy, supposedly, Cristina raised the export tax to 45%, which significantly cuts into the profits of the farmers. Clearly, they are not happy about this. And so, they decided to stop delivering meat and some other food items, but mostly meat, to Buenos Aires.  Since this was probably a less than satisfactory explanation, I will direct you to some more reputable news sources in case you want to learn more. Check out the New York Times and the BBC.

Within days the meat counters at grocery stores and carnicerias were empty save for some chicken, restaurants posted signs that informing customers that certain items were unavailable, due to the situation that everyone is aware of, and what meat could be found was much more expensive than usual. Cristina refused to negotiate with the farmers under such conditions. There were huge demonstrations at the Plaza de Mayo in front of the Casa Rosada, the Argentina White House, and for the first time in what have been many years, the people took to the streets in cazerolazas, a particular type of protest where everyone bangs pots and pans from the balconies, in their cars, out the window, etc. I really wasn’t sure what was going on that first night, but it was crazy. 

One of the most interesting things about this particular issue was that that middle class of the urban areas was siding with the agrarian, working class of the interior. Everyone I spoke to was definitely against Cristina’s crazy idea. However, after a few weeks, even though the Economist predicted it could be two months, the farmers agreed to stop the paro of carne for thirty days to negotiate with the President and see if they couldn’t come up with a better agreement. The meat counters are slowly filling up again, but people are also stocking up, worried that Cristina and the farmers won’t come to any agreement and there won’t be meat again soon. It's a very interesting time to be here!

In other news, I told my mom on the phone yesterday that I’m afraid Buenos Aires is making me soft. I used to be able to just go and go and go. A normal day in New York usually included babysitting and/or interning, going to one or two classes, going to the gym, and then of course doing a few hours of homework. As I’m sure you have been gathering just one of those activities would probably be enough to fill up a day here in BsAs, and I am afraid that when I get back to New York I will have been spoiled by this leisurely schedule and not be able to do all the things I used to. For example, just so you truly understand how lazy it has become, yesterday I went to one class in the morning, my afternoon class was canceled, and so I took a three-hour nap. I know, I hate me too. You aren’t alone. It’s actually sort of driving me crazy. I am trying to get myself to relax and tell myself that I deserve a break, but I definitely wish I had more to do sometimes. Maybe once I have been in classes longer I will have more to do. In the meantime I am trying to find other activities to fill the days so I can at least say I made the most of my free time and didn’t just sit in the apartment watching reruns of old Hugh Grant movies… which to be honest is sometimes fairly tempting.

Luckily, starting today, I can sit around and watch movies and still consider myself to be culturally active. It is the first day of BAFICI, the Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente. I think that is what the acronym stands for anyway. We are going to see a movie at the festival for my Nuevo Cine Argentino class. When I’m in New York, I never have the time or energy (I guess because my schedule is so busy) to find out when and where the movies are at the festivals and then actually go get tickets, and then actually go see them. I am taking advantage of the fact that I can while I am here, and so between now and April 20^th, I will be seeing 12 movies! Now some of you might say that is a bit overboard, but I am very excited. I love movies and I am super excited about the ones I am going to see. Some of them have already come out in the US and I just never got around to seeing them, and then some of them I have never heard of, but have been recommended via some well-directed Google searches. I will be going to see:

Mister Lonely

Glastonbury

Cao Sem Dono

Le Voyage de Ballon Rouge

El Cielo, La Tierra, y La Lluvia

Night and Day

Paranoid Park

Una Semana Solos

Boarding Gate

I’m Not There

Historias Extraordinarias

Go Go Tales

It is going to be BAFICI madness here in Buenos Aires. I’ve never done the film festival thing, so I’m not even sure what to expect. I am guessing it will just be like going to see a regular film, but with that warm and fuzzy feeling that comes with being in the know and part of a hip, cultural event. A little like Sundance with a whole lot less snow, schwag, and famous people. All of which frankly, I can do without. My first film is tonight, right after my Borges class at UBA. I am preparing myself already for the craziness.

I am actually fairly excited for this class, because I’ve read all the material and feel like I know what is going on material-wise a bit more than last time. Which I guess isn’t that hard because I hadn’t read anything before the last class. This time, I have read all the stories at least once, and then even done a little extra online research, just to make sure I understand all the ideas Borges throws in there, assuming the reader already knows what he is talking about. This weekend I even went to go see a theatrical production of one of the stories, “La Biblioteca de Babel.” I wasn’t really sure how they were going to stage it, because it is really just a description of a Library, which “some also call the Universe.” It was a short, staged reading, with three actors. One gave a brief biographical introduction on Borges, the other recited the descriptive parts of the story, while a third actor spoke the parts of the story that are more personal, the parts where Borges’ voice and opinions seem to seep into the writing. It was very good show, taking a lighter approach to the text, and as a girl who I went with noted, this made the canonical text (as far as Borges goes) a bit more approachable.

Afterwards my theatergoing companions and I had to good fortune to have found the information of a little Cuban restaurant called Paladar Doña Fela. I use the term restaurant a bit loosely, and mainly because it was a building, where we ate dinner. That’s about where the similarities end however. It is actually what is called a puerta cerrada, or closed door. They are small “restaurants” hosted at the chef’s house for a small ground of reservation-only guests, usually on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s a bit strange, in some ways more formal that a restaurant, and in many ways less formal. We were welcomed into the chef’s house, and sat in the living room, eating some fresh plantain chips, chatting with the other guests of the evening while we watched fresh mojito’s made right in front of us, mint courtesy of their own plants. We were then showed around the house, onto the patio, and the gorgeous rooftop. Afterwards we all sat down for salad and bread, and then afterwards our dinner of Chicken and Moros Cristianos (black beans and rice). It was really great, but the night was only beginning! One of the waitresses turned out to also be the entertainment for the night. So in between dinner and dessert, we were treated to singing and dancing, with everyone joining in after a few songs. Very fun if you ask me, it should be a required part of all meals, if you ask me. The dessert was a delicious combination of flan and tiramisu and followed by a champagne toast. The meal, which began at 10:00, was not over until 1:30 and cost a whopping 30 dollars, including a nicely paired bottle of white wine, shared between my two dinner companions and me. It was really a “dining experience” more than anything else. I can’t wait to try the other ones around the city.

One of these days I promise I am going to have something to write about that doesn’t make it sound like I am on the world’s longest vacation. I promise. Until then, estoy disfrutando de todo,  or, I’m just enjoying it all.