I repeat: THE LEAVES ARE CHANGING COLORS.
Why is this a big deal? The leaves changing from green, to yellow, to dead on the ground can be seen as an identifier of the passage of time. Hearing the leaves crunch under my feet reminds me that my time here is not limited and that I, in fact, have to leave mi querida Argentina, and that time is going faster than I would like it to.
Since we last talked, dear reader, I have spent too much time in Potrerillos, a city (village?) in the the middle of the precordillera - the last three weekends to be exact. The first trip , which I briefly mentioned in my last blogpost, was a relaxing day next to the lake with wine, potato chips, and white bread sandwiches. Lo pasasmos re bien; we took too many photos and drank just a little bit too much, we swam, laughed, and got a little bit sunburnt.
The following weekend I tagged along on an exchange student camping trip. We were seven in total, representing Colombia, Chile, and the US. After setting up camp and making lunch, we rented kayaks and took off for the other side of the lake where the park rangers couldn't see us. A few of us intentionally flipped our kayaks so we could swim; one of the Colombian girls decided that we looked we were having fun and she wanted to join. She flipped her kayak, hits the water and yells I don't know how to swim... let me remind you that I am a lifeguard. I swim over to her to help, eventually get her back into her kayak and calm her down. Being the daughter of Poseidon that I am, I continued swimming. A few minutes later, I look back and la maldita columbiana intentionally flipped her kayak again. I swim over, help her back in and calm her down. Repeat this another six or seven times and you'd describe my lake portion of the camping trip. Day two was a lazy morning making oatmeal followed by a easy hike up Cerro Cocodrillo. If you look closely at the pictures from this weekend, you'll see a picture of me flexing with the mountains in the background - what is less obvious is the tattoo of those exact mountains on my biceps... sorry Mom.
My third, and most likely no final trip, to Potrerillos took place yesterday! We met up early to go hiking then have an asado. Unfortunately, due to time restraints, we only made it halfway up the mountain before having to turn back. But the endless amount of choripan from the asado we had and La Pen not winning the French election made up for it! Overall, three great trips but perhaps I should mix up my weekend destinations soon.
What else have I done in the last few weeks? Hmmmm... played frisbee, drank mate, attended a handful of parties, created some artwork, intentionally showed up late for class only to be told there wasn't class (shoutout to you Leah), and learned a boatload about Argentina!
This is your warning: if you have no interest in American politics (American meaning both continents), scroll to the pictures and have a nice day!
I want to take some time to explain Neoliberalism in Argentina.
First, the concept of Neoliberalism; once explained to me as colonization without guns, Neoliberalism is a set of economic reforms designed by the global north to remove countries from crisis. However, it also acts as a way to maintain power and hegemony in the global north.
In 1976, Argentina entered into a dictatorship which halted any form of industrialization and began the accumulation of large sums of debt. When the dictatorship ended in 1983, the country was left impoverished with very few sustaining industries. To pull themselves out of this rut, Argentina took a loan of 10 billion USD from the IMF and World Bank. In 2003, Argentina repaid this debt in full, however, due to interest, the accumulated sum was now now 125 billion USD - an amount that is unattainable for any country. Today, Argentina continues to be indebted to the global north and the interest is still accruing.
With the loans taken from the IMF and World Bank, Argentina has to comply with the policies set up by these international organizations, meaning the money given to them can only go to building infrastructure and working on the economy but not to the well being of the people. The current president, Mauricio Macri (whose policies and administrations are comparable to Trump's) is building 20.000 kilometers worth of roads and focusing on urban renovation instead of paying teachers, bus drivers, police officers, or any other agent of the state, a livable wage, or working on the extreme disparities of the education system. This is a direct result of Neoliberalism and an example of the North American hegemony at work.
Anyways, besitos mis amores.
No comments:
Post a Comment