The Most Beautiful thing I've ever seen

San Juan and La Rioja

            I am surrounded by a soothing silence. There is a light breeze, blowing warm air on my face as I lie on a bed of tiny rocks. My shoes are covered with a dark red dirt and a layer of fresh salt. I peacefully lay down, looking off at the mountains that are in front of me. A wide lake circles around me, passively drifting as the wind pushes it towards the coasts of the ice-filled mountains in the distance.

            I take a deep breath, and feel the air fill my lungs. I am 3000 meters (just under 2 miles) above sea level, and so the oxygen is sparse. After looking around at the beautiful view that surrounds me, I close my eyes. I don’t hear a sound.

***

            This was the scene as I sat on the top of the Reserva de Vicuñas in La Rioja, Argentina. It was truly the most beautiful view I’ve seen in my entire life. It was just two days earlier that I left the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires for a plane at 5:00 in the morning.

            Two hours and a whole lot of exhaustion later, I was at the San Juan airport. San Juan is a region in Northwest Argentina that is just north of Mendoza. The first thing I noticed when I walked out of the airport doors was that there was a wall of mountains in every single direction I looked.

            After a few photos, I then joined the rest of my program in a van to head to our next location. After a three-hour car ride, full of talk about the NBA Finals and The Wire, we reached Valle de La Luna. This beautiful valley had towering red rocks that pointed in peculiar shapes and sizes. It had momentous boulders stacked in inexplicably random ways. It had remarkable spherical balls of pressurized minerals that formed naturally below the surface of the earth before popping up above ground and prints of leaves from hundreds of thousands of years in the past. And most importantly, it had cactuses, one of which I hugged for the first time. As we drove away from the valley, and headed for our hotel in La Rioja, I found myself waiting for a road-runner to come by.

            It was a long and tiring day, and so after eating, we all ventured back to our rooms. The Heat won the championship that night, and although it was depressing, the great experience of San Juan almost blocked it out… Almost.

            The next morning, I was up, and was already late for breakfast. Luckily we were running on the exceptionally tardy Argentine time, so it didn’t really matter. Just as the day before, we all piled into the van, before driving an hour to the Talampaya Cannon.  For five hours, we trekked through the beautiful wilderness, full of towering red walls of rock, and miles of large hills of sediment. I’ve been using one word to describe this cannon when my friends have been asking: Unreal. I have never seen anything like it in my life.

            At one point, after marching for a couple of hours, our tour leader, Fabian stopped us and we all sat down at the end of the large valley. We looked across the wide landscape, and I realized that I might be one of 30 people in miles of where I was sitting. We were in the center of a valley, disconnected from society and anything associated to it. We all yelled “Che” at the same time, and it bounced from wall to wall, for a good 4 seconds, before coming to a stop and filling our ears with silence.

            Four hours later, we were back at the hotel, eating empanadas and talking basketball. After breaking into a wild argument about which gangster was better in “the Wire” and watching “Live Free or Die Hard” in Spanish, my room once again went silent and I drifted off to sleep.

            For the record, Marlo Stanfield is a better crime boss than Avon Barksdale, Kieran.

            I woke up late, and I was last shower just like the day before. Luckily, we were still in Argentina, so timeliness was more of an idealistic impossibility than a real expectation. I ate some medialunas and then jumped back into the van to go on our biggest and most exciting voyage.

            And that brings me back to where I started with this blog. I sat on top of this mountain, thousands of meters above ground, and felt at peace like I hadn’t felt in a long time. As I lied down on this sliver of land, overlooking the beautiful scenery of mountains and ice, I thought of a quote a great hero of mine, once said. It was none other than Forest Gump.

            “There was always a million sparkles on the water,” he said to Jenny as she sat on her deathbed. “Like that mountain lake. It was so clear… it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn’t tell where heaven stopped and the earth began. It’s so beautiful.” 

            I honestly did think of Forest Gump. I love that movie.

            As I sat there, I wanted to somehow capture the moment so I could return to it when I was back home. Without moving from my position, I pulled my camera out, and snapped a photo. My feet, crossed with a layer of salt and dirt on the soles, calmly pierced the sky ahead. The ice-filled mountains reflected off the lake and the sky was as clear as I’ve ever seen it. Forest Gump was right. It was beautiful.  

Violence, Sex, and Human Conquest: Popular Culture in Buenos Aires

            A graphic flies across the screen, and a woman wearing a little less clothing than she should stands in front of the camera. In a quick Argentine flow, she tells the viewers of the latest tragic event:

A horrible train crash.

A mother, who killed her son.

A series of cars broken into by men in masks.

An explosion downtown.

            This is the local news in Buenos Aires. When I walked into the kitchen on that first week I was here, my host mom sat in front of the screen shaking her head. “¡Qué barbaridad,” she would say as she watched the headline flash across the screen. “¡Este país!”

            Just by watching the news, you would think I was living in a war zone. I learned quite quickly though that this was more a signal of the news quality than the city itself.

            This trend towards dramatization in the news is just one of the many interesting things I’ve found as I’ve watched the TV in B.A. These news broadcasts, along with the city’s advertising, movies and entertainment combine to form a uniquely Argentine popular culture.

Local News: 

            To begin, the local news is as I mentioned, way more negative and terrifying. More than simply the content though, what shocked me the most was the way it was delivered. In the U.S., tragedy is covered with a reporter on the scene, and a few quotes from those involved to add color. Meanwhile, in Argentina, this color is the whole story.

            For example, it is not odd to have a crying woman stand in front of the camera, sobbing as she speaks, for a full five minutes without break. As the camera watches her speak through tears, music that easily could be from Die Hard or the Titanic plays in the background. Clearly, this type of coverage would not pass in the United States. Here though, it is the norm. They want high ratings, and people love violence, personal drama and excitement. The content shows violence, the tears show drama, and the fast-moving cameras and music bring excitement. And while, the United States has a long history of neutral impartial coverage, Argentina does not. So this powerful ratings combination flourishes.

Advertising:

            Freshman year of College, I took a class on American sex scandals. The main thesis I gathered from the course on governmental scandals from JFK, to Lincoln, to Clinton was that Americans are terrified of sex. We live in a country where Michelle Obama get’s critiqued for showing her arms, and sexuality in public makes you a pariah. This is not the case in Argentina.

           

            I was shocked when I first got here by the amount of “nudity” in public advertisements. Obviously, there are no completely naked bodies, but compared to what is deemed appropriate in the U.S., the content is shocking. Victoria Secret posters look like ads for a sweater company compared to the ads for even some of the most innocent of products here in Argentina. I’ve seen commercials saying that a gum will get you action at a club. I’ve seen gigantic ads posted along buildings claiming that a perfume will ensure that you get a night with a shirtless Argentine man in his boxers. And I’ve seen billboards saying Digital TV, will get you attractive nearly naked girls to come and watch soccer games with you. Clearly sex is prevalent.

            With this in mind, it seems clear why cat calling is such a phenomenon here. I’m sure many city dwellers in the United States think that they get these calls a lot, but compared to Buenos Aires, they’ve seen nothing. My girlfriend is coming up to Argentina in a less than a month (Whooo! Excited!!), and I’ve warned her that she might want to wear a full suit of armor if she wants to avoid the calls. Boyfriend at their side or not, women are always targets for relentless Argentine men to scream out sexual calls at nearly every passing.

           

            While this behavior might be reserved for only the most dubious and despicable people in the U.S., it is commonplace amongst Argentine males. Whether they are construction workers, teachers or lawyers, the conduct is typically the same: A whistle, a sexual innuendo and a lingering stare over their shoulder. Oh, Argentines.

Entertainment:

            When people are not watching the news or goggling over women, they are usually looking for some sort of entertainment from the TV or movies. Most of the entertainment is from the U.S. From episodes of House or Law and Order on TV to Hollywood hits like The Hunger Games or Men in Black III in the theaters, it is not too hard to stay up to date with U.S. entertainment. More interesting to me though are the Argentine shows that have a distinct B.A. feel to it.

            There’s no better place to start than with the Soap Operas. A few times a week, my host mom excitedly gathers herself in front of her TV to watch her shows. During these occasions, she watches the screen, sometimes yelling through the phone at her friends about what is happening. “Estúpido,” she’ll sometimes scream at the TV, as a character does some scandalous action, whether it is a woman betraying her best friend, a man sleeping with the mistress, or the politician killing the competition. It is truly spectacular drama, of which I will never understand.

            Then there are the game shows. My favorite of them all follows a fairly simple formula. In this show, contestants attempt difficult activities and if they succeed, they are given a prize. What makes it interesting though is that the tasks are absolutely absurd.

            For example, in one event contestants are asked to drive a car into a bouncy ball to try and knock down ten setup bowling ball pins. In another, if a contestant slides a pitcher of lemonade across a table, without it falling, they get an LCD TV. It is absolutely ridiculous television, but just as with those Japanese game shows on SPIKE, people love it, and the viewers keep coming back.

            So there you have it. The key to Argentine popular culture: Violence in the media, sex everywhere, and human conquest on the television. The combination leads to a fun and interesting display of B.A. identity. 

- Evan Koslof

Cash Rules Everything Around Me

            A group of wise men once said “cash rules everything around me. C.R.E.A.M. Get the money. Dollar Dollar bill y’all. This assessment by the Wu Tang Clan certainly has some truth to it. Whether it’s a dollar, a Euro, a pound, or a peso one thing remains true. The more money you have, the better.

            For this reason, I’ve decided to write a blog on my top five methods for keeping your wallet happy in Buenos Aires. Ironically though, one quick glance at my checking account will show that I don’t listen to my own advice.

1) Dining
            Let’s start where my blog posts typically begin: Food. There are hundreds of restaurants in Buenos Aires, many as famous as they are expensive. When you are a tourist visiting for only a couple weeks, the price is something you can handle, but when you are here every day, it’s best to avoid eating at these fancy restaurants too much. But that doesn’t mean you can’t eat good food. In Puerto Madero, there is a plethora of expensive restaurants. But if you cross the river and walk three blocks towards the Ecological Reserve, you’ll find a paradise for meat eaters. Lining this long walkway, is probably 50 different food stands, all selling Choripan. This Argentine dish is basically a juicy sausage, sliced down the middle and served on a bun. This delicious meal also is very cheap, being sold for as little as 12 pesos. (~3 U.S. dollars).

Also a tip: Sauce selection shows meat quality. When choosing which stand to stop at, always go for the stand with lot’s of sauces. If there are no sauces stay away. 5 sauces, think about it. If it's a table with 15 or more sauces, you found your stand.

2) Clothes and Electronics:

            Where to buy clothes and electronics? Nowhere! While studying abroad here, I’ve talked to plenty of Argentines, and they all tell me the same thing: Don’t buy electronics or clothing in Buenos Aires. These products are unexpectedly high priced, and so I would recommend avoiding buying them. It’s a common practice amongst Argentines to head to Miami to visit family, and to bring an empty suitcase with them. While there, they stock up on the cheap clothing and valuable electronics. You get the point. Don’t buy clothes or electronics in Buenos Aires.

Speaking of Miami, Lebron sucks. Go Celtics! (They are up by 20 as I write by the way).

3) Groceries:

            There are plenty of places to buy groceries in Argentina. The most visual one that I’ve found has been Coto. Although, this place isn’t too expensive, if you really want to get the best deal, you should go to the Chinos. These small stores, which have the best prices, get their name from the people who own and manage them. Chino literally means Chinese in Spanish. Hence by using racial profiling in a way that would make Arizonans proud, one can literally find a cheaper store with a glance.

4) Nightlife:

            Buenos Aires is home to one of the best nightlifes in the world. I haven’t been to many other major cities, but I have seen DC, New York and Boston. And hands down, Buenos Aires beats these cities with ease. Even New York City, which claims to “never sleep” is no match for the B.A. bars and boliches, which can go on until 6 in the morning or later. That being said, these places can be pricey. However, there are plenty of places where your cover goes towards drinks. These are much better buys than those places that charge just to get in. Then again, the nightlife is worth seeing, regardless of its price. When in doubt, drink before leaving, and save money on that. (Drinking age is 18 here). You can get a cheap Malbec (Argentine red wine) for less than 40 pesos. That way you’ll have good wine, and an even better wallet.

5) Travel:

            When I first started organizing my trip to Buenos Aires, I planned out elaborate large trips to far and exotic places. These trips are awesome and necessary for any traveler, but they are also expensive. So, I’ve found that the smaller weekend trips have been similarly as fun and way cheaper. Uruguay for example, is a quick, hour-long boat ride away and is less than 100 pesos if you take the slow boat. You land in the quaint town of Colonia, a place I went to with my parents. It was fun and interesting, but if you are young and with friends, I’d recommend taking an hour-long bus from there to Montevideo This city is way more of a party-location than Colonia, which is more appropriate for a romantic getaway or a family vacation. Another good, cheap place to travel to is Mar del Plata, a beautiful beach town to the south of Buenos Aires. I think Argentines look at Mar del Plata in the same way that Bostonians look at the cape: Close, beautiful, and like home.

So there you have it. The Wu Tang Clan had it right. Cash does rule everything around us. So buy more, spend less, and live like the Wu.