1. 2 years ago 

   AVENIDA 9 DE JULIO DEMONSTRATION (pics click here)

   There is something truly magical about this city, something which has made life as a traveler, or maybe just as a foreigner, or maybe even as well just for any local porteno quite the spectacle: there is always something happening, always something going on in this city. Granted the limits of this conjecture have been tested the past few weeks as I’ve began to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the end to my extended journeys abroad, but I would still maintain it’s legitimacy.

   In the end though, regardless of the reality of the matter, it remains my job to communicate such a fact through this medium, so I’m just gonna go ahead and do so. It was another sunny Buenos Aires afternoon that I found myself walking through Monserrat, the old district just south of Centro and across the bridge from Puerto Madero. In the neighborhood are both the Playa de Mayo and with it the Avenida de Mayo, representing some of the most important hallmarks of the city as the old center of government - and of course with government comes the collision of civil protest.

   Apparently, as I discovered, it is traditional for regular protests and marches to start across from the Pink Palace and head down the Av de Mayo into the heart of the city, banging drums and all, so as I walked down Av de Mayo, observing the people in force on the streets, I thought that was it. However once I reached Av 9 de Julio - the widest avenue in the world no less - I saw what was really going on. Thousands of people were out and about in their different factions, singing, dancing, drumming, shouting, holding banners and marching down the street. What a blessing it is that I happened to have my camera.

   I’m still not quite sure as to what exactly the purpose of the demonstration was, even after I had asked a few people - and as tragic as my Spanish is, I just don’t think there is much of a coherent idea, these people just love a good protest. There seemed to be a lot of banners having something to do with Eva Peron (wikipedia link), but as much beloved as she is down here I’m not quite sure what there is to get all riled up about some 50 years after her death.

   However people were having a great time and all were really friendly, particularly when it came to me and my camera so that I very much appreciated. All in all it was really quite the hoot, and a very interesting look at this facet of Argentinean culture. The link to the slideshow is in blue above.

2. Notes

So I, Sean Kesluk, left Los Angeles for a 6 month adventure abroad in Europe and South America. After a few weeks studying the Deutsch in Freiburg, Germany, it's two months up north in Hamburg working for the city's Jewish community center. After a brief foray into Sweden, I'll head South to Buenos Aires for some Spanish classes and volunteer work in a La Boca soup kitchen. After that it's back home to the States and national service with AmeriCorps NCCC. With a month of training at the VA medical campus in Perry Point, MD, it 's off to Baltimore for my first project, two months working for The Samaritan Women, a non-profit renovating a hundred-year-old mansion to use as a transitional home for women in recovery from heroin addiction and human trafficking, in addition to expanding a farm/urban garden to distribute produce to soup kitchens, shelters, and those in nutritional poverty. The second project will see us down in New Orleans, LA doing post-Katrina work with The Phoenix of New Orleans, a non-profit which renovates homes for Lower Mid-City homeowners who can't afford to do so.

Following

Tumblr