City of Mendoza

Yesterday we had planned on visiting several parks throughout Mendoza, Argentina.  However, in the morning, we dropped off our laundry and found out that there was a "paro" or strike for all long distance omnibuses throughout Argentina.  This was concerning because we were booked on one of those buses at 7:30 p.m. from Mendoza to Buenos Aires.

The night before we had been out looking for a place to eat and were able to snap a couple of pictures of the beautiful fountains at Plaza Independencia near our hotel.

Throughout the day there are also street vendors in this park.  I tried to take a picture of the vendors, but one of them took that opportunity to offer me some marijuana.  I politely declined...

Inside of Plaza Independencia there is also this huge sign that reminds you that, in fact, you are in the Ciudad de Mendoza.

The day of the strike we still wandered around and were able to visit a couple of parks between checking the newspapers and e-mailing the travel agent.

This is a gazebo in Plaza Bellegrini that I am sure looks better in the summer time.  This isn't a great picture, but it looked like a cozy place to sit.

Fountain in Plaza Espana

We referred to Plaza Espana as "Tile Park" because there was so much detailed tile work.

This is one of the only public water fountains I have seen during my stay in Argentina.

We ended up getting a little lost en route back to the hotel to check for updates on the travel situation and stumbled upon another park, but I can't remember the name.

Unknown statue is unknown park... I don't get lost very often and was frustrated.

As we walked around the city we saw the intricate canal system.  Our tour guide told us during our mountain tour that the runoff from the Andes fuels the entire aquatic system of Mendoza.

This is one of the canals.  These lined the roads, parks and sidewalks.  In the summer apparently they flow with the water from the melting snow.

Long story short... we ended up making our bus and it left on time for Buenos Aires, which was quite a surprise to everyone.  We took a CATA Internacional bus back to Buenos Aires - which I plan to review in my next blog.

Ciao,

Tim

Let the city take the lead...

Today my Spanish courses were cancelled because of planned protests in the city.  Public transportation was running when I woke up so I decided to go out for the day.  This blog post is a little all over the place, because that's exactly how my day went.

I started off by leaving the house and heading South down Santa Fe.  I knew that I wanted to eat somewhere new and probably needed WIFI if I was going to have any chance of figuring out the rest of my day.  I stopped a nice little cafe and it wasn't anything special, but it was new and different.

Cafe con leche y tres medialunas.

I remembered that one of our professors recommended that we go to "barrio once" to see some of the things there and look at the shopping.  We are studying the Jewish immigrant population in Buenos Aires and Argentina in general and this was one of the first established Jewish communities.

I had a plan, paid my "cuenta" (bill) and headed on my way.  I needed to get over to the subte (subway) and so I walked down Callao to get over to Cordoba to catch the subte.  Little did I know, Buenos Aires had a little surprise for me...

Sarmiento Palace

In an early blog I wrote about going to Sarmiento's home and the school he built in the Delta, but I stumbled upon this palace in his name on my walk to the subway.  

Turns out... I also got a view of the Parish del Carmen on my walk also... and it was a beautiful day.

Parroquia del Carmen

I made it to the subway and got off on my stop near Once.  With no better plan, I just figured I would wander around and see what seemed interesting.

Plaza Miserere

I walked around the Plaza Miserere and was able to take a photo of the monument that stands there as a tribute to the first President of Argentina - Bernardino Rivadavia.

Bernardino Rivadavia - Monument

Near the Plaza Miserere I found a small area that is dedicated to missing/dead children of some sort.  To be completely honest I am not really sure what it was all saying, but I have added it to my list of things that I need to research.  I took some pictures of the memorial...

I can only assume that these shoes tied to the string are the shoes of the missing/dead.

Justice

A view of the memorial area

After walking around and looking at some of the pictures of the missing/dead children I continued my journey of finding new things...

I walked along the building above until it opened up into a shopping center and subway station.  I was immediately greeted by some of the protesters that were en route to the Plaza de Mayo for the demonstrations that were to take place.

This is the protesters as they were leaving the inside of the building - where they were drumming and setting of fireworks that sounded like gunshots.  They are carrying a large Argentine flag and were going to march the plaza.

The shopping was decent and cheap as promised by our professor.  I didn't carry a lot of pesos on me, but I believe that I will be returning to purchase some new shoes.  I found a great pair for under $40 USD.

I decided that one of the other things on my Argentine bucket list was the take one of the original subway cars that run on the A line here.  I decided to figure out how to get home from one of the stops or just transfer to my regular subway.

Original Subway Car - still in operation

I didn't have to decide which station to get off at or whether or not I was going to use the transfer because the rail line shut down at one of the stations and the workers made everyone get off the subway.  They weren't going any farther because of the demonstrations.

I arrived on the street from the subway platform to the following:

This road was basically cleared of all automotive traffic...

because these protesters had the other side of this intersection completely blocked...

and three helicopters like this were flying over the situation.

So, I started to walk in the other direction and wouldn't you know it... I got another surprise from the city.  I came across the national congressional building here in Buenos Aires.

Plaza in front of the national congressional building and the congressional building in the background on the left.

I walked around for a bit and had lunch at a nice cafe near by.  I decided to get in a taxi and go home as I watched a large police vehicle traveling the direction of the demonstrations...

Police vehicle traveling down a street in Buenos Aires littered with protest fliers.

It was an interesting day and I truly enjoyed it...

Ciao,

Tim

National Strike - Class is Cancelled

We received notification that class will be cancelled on Wednesday June 27th due to the potential risks associated with the national strike that is to occur here in Argentina.  I figured this would be a good time to relay information that I have understood up until this point.

Background
About a week ago Hugo Moyano called for a strike of fuel truckers.  President Cristina sent in military police and launched a criminal complaint over the strike.  These individuals blocked fuel depots and refineries, but then Moyano called off the strike when they were able to reach an agreement for a pay increase of 25.5% for the workers.  This may seem like a lot to workers in the United States, but the inflation here is about (depending on who you believe) 25% annually if I take the median of both the extremes I have been hearing.  The Economist has an article from February that has some interesting information and quotes inflation at about this, but I have heard statistics on the television news sources here that quote it as high as 1.8% every week.

Moyano and President Cristina

It should be noted that the President Cristina Fernandez-Kirchner has generally been seen as a supporter of unions and Moyano and Cristina were allies during her first term and his support did help her in achieving victory for her second term.

There have been many people who have questioned the motives of Moyano as political showmanship or a vendetta against Cristina and so the strike has not gained sweeping support throughout all sections of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) here.  Moyano is the Secretary General of the CGT, which is an umbrella that covers various groups.  A U.S. comparison would be like the AFL-CIO, but it's my interpretation that the CGT as a national organization has a little more influence over its member unions than the AFL-CIO in the United States.  The other large labor organization that covers mostly agricultural workers as opposed to industrial is the CTA here.

Planned Strike
Even though it appeared the Moyano received the pay increases that he was requesting for the oil workers he still called for a national strike of workers on Wednesday June 27th.  The CTA has announced that it will not be requesting that its workers participate is this strike and the leader of that union even stated in a release that one of the reasons for the lack of participation is that Moyano was against him during the 2008 farm crisis... so clearly there is history here.

We have been told that the subway and bus workers union will not be striking so it is likely that public transit will not be effected, but historically these things have a tendency to unfold the day of the protest.  In Buenos Aires, the workers may not be striking on your morning commute, but by lunch time they may join in and everything will just unexpectedly stop.  It does, however, appear that the airline workers will participate and thus flights intra/inter-country here will be effected and the university workers union (covering everyone but professors) will also be participating.

This strike will include workers throughout the city and provinces here, but it is really hard to tell how wide spread it will be.  We do know that Moyano has requested the workers organize a massive protest march to the Plaza de Mayo which is on my daily commute to class.  Local accounts have been estimating that this should take place around 2 or 3 p.m. but everyone agrees that the situation is unpredictable.

I am enrolled in the State Department's SMART traveler program and received the following official notification from them:


Security Message for U.S. Citizens - Call for National Strike
U.S. Embassy Buenos Aires, Argentina
June 26, 2012
Dear U.S. citizen,
The Argentine umbrella labor organization CGT has called for a national strike and demonstration march in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, June 27, and other labor groups are expected to join the strike.  The situation remains fluid, and the eventual dimension and details of the strike and demonstration remain uncertain at this time.
Some but not all elements of public transportation are expected to be affected, along with partial or complete work interruptions in
potentially many other sectors.
U.S. citizens are advised to exercise caution and maintain awareness of their surroundings.  As mentioned in the State Department's country specific information page for Argentina, demonstrations are common in metropolitan Buenos Aires and occur in other major cities as well.
Protesters on occasion block streets, highways, and major intersections, causing traffic jams and delaying travel. While demonstrations are
usually nonviolent, some individuals break from larger groups and sometimes seek confrontation with the police and vandalize private
property.  U.S. citizens should take common-sense precautions and avoid gatherings or any other event where crowds have congregated to protest; in this case, one can expect much of the "Microcentro" of Buenos Aires to be significantly affected.  Information about the location and other details of possible strike and/or demonstration activity is available from a variety of sources, including the local media.  Passengers on buses, trains, and the subway should also be aware that these forms of transport are sometimes interrupted by strikes or work stoppages. U.S. citizens living or traveling in Argentina are encouraged to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).  

We'll see how today goes and I will keep you updated on the situation,

Tim