Well, we spent another whole day on the bus driving around the Buenos Aires Province, particularly San Isidro and El Tigre with the incomparable tour guide Carrina Correas. We were really taken with how much slower the pace was once we left the city of Buenos Aires, although the towns we went to were really considered suburbs. The feel was quite a bit more comfortable for those of us from smaller towns or cities. Our first stop was to a very old and large cathedral in San Isidro. It was very large and clearly influenced by Spanish colonialism.
Then we went on to El Tigre to the Museo De Artes of El Tigre a beautiful art museum that is for all ages. They had a section where they held classes for yong children. The artist, Lockett, that was on display was super fantastic. He used mixed media with very bright colors and very childlike images of mostly children. He was originally a skateboarder who had created his own line of skate clthes, but eventually discovered his talent for art at around 50 years old and was completely self taught. We also learned about other more classical artists from Argentina. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the museum and they didn't have a gift shop where we could buy reproduction. I will try to find some pictures on google images of some of these artists.
Then we finished up the tour by learning about a famous writer and influential intellectual from El Tigre; Victoria Ocampo. We visited her home which is now a museum. She invited all the most intellectual people to he home and would have literary discussions. She eventually created her own publishing house where she could publish like-minded writers. She was a contemporary of Eva Peron and worked for women's rights as well. At one point she was inmprisoned for her political views by the military Junta but was released after a month due to all the wealthy and inflential people pleading on her behalf.
The next day we visited 2 more important sites in Buenos Aires. First was the Colon Theater. A very old and very famous Opera House. There was a ballet company rehearsing Sleeping Beauty while we were touring. Many of the world's most famous artists have performed at this theater, such as Caruso and Yoyo Ma, to name a few.
The next stop was a visit to the Memory Museum, which is an old navy institution that had been the place that people in the 70's and early 80's were taken to, tortured and killed. Most of the people who "disappeared" during this period in Argentina's history belong to the political party the Malvinistas. They were opposed to the military dictatorhip and working for workers rights. The military junta would go to their homes and take the activists or their family members and they msotly ended up dead after a period of internment that was incredibly abusive. Children who were born in this detention center were kidnapped from their families and given to miltary families who couldn't have children of their own. They are just now beginning to find some of these children who are now between 29-35 years old. The building we visited is also an active crime scene as they are still prosecuting many of the military men and women responsible for these crimes against humanity. This was a very dark period in Argentina's history called the Dirty War. It was not until 1983 or so that democracy returned to Argentina and the Argentine people have a saying "Nunca Mas" (Never Again) that they rally around.
Finally, that evening we went to a professional Tango show, that was mostly put on for tourist. But it was really fun and the dancers were quite good. Two of the young men did a type of folk dance that was maybe similiar to clogging but it also included the bolleaderos, the rope and ball things the gaucho's used to wrangle the cattle with. I have some video of that I will put up on facebook. And that brought a nice closure to our time in Buenos Aires as the next day we headed out to the provinces.
No comments:
Post a Comment