from Suramérica to Norteamérica

Once we arrived back in Buenos Aires, a group of us went to get empanadas. I decided somewhere along this trip that I could live the rest of my life eating empanadas of different varieties for every meal. By the end of the trip, I knew that was not true. You can eventually get sick of even the most delicious things. A few of us met to go to the MALBA that afternoon. Because there were five of us, we took two taxis. Our taxi was weaving in and out of traffic, seemingly racing the other taxi. It was all okay in the end, though, because our taxi won.

The first exhibit was all by an artist named Marta Minujin; she looked like a seventy-year-old Lady GaGa and her art reminded me of a female Argentine version of Andy Warhol. I loved her pieces. One of my favorite pieces of art in the whole museum was the first I saw. It was called “Música acuática de Haendel.” It was an incredible blend of two of my favorite modes of art. She used the form of art which she knew (painting) to express her reaction to music. Much of her art was very abstract and exciting. Picasso said that “art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth,” and as I looked into these grand expanses of seemingly random brightly colored designs, I couldn’t help but agree. Just outside of her exhibit, there was a bench whose wooden slats twisted and twirled until they met a bench the floor down. It was really quite interesting. On the next floor, the piece that stood out to me the most was called “Manifestación,” which showed an overwhelming crowd of unemployed in shabby clothes looking hopeless. Some of the workers were looking up and pleading to God, while it felt as though others were looking straight at me. Overall, I really enjoyed that museum. For our merienda, I had my last submarino of Argentina.

That evening, we went to see Dracula, the musical. Once we were inside, we were excited by the elegance and extravagance of the theatre. There were these curtains that were incredible and the biggest chandelier I have ever seen outside of a museum. Once the show started, it was clear that I was not going to understand much of what was going on, but I accepted that. We decided that it was more like a plopera (play opera) than a play. I didn’t mind not understanding the words very often because it was wonderful. The voices were soaring and it was visually stunning. The actor who played Dracula amazed me each time he opened his mouth to sing. The play ended three hours after it started. We were all quite hungry as it was nearly midnight, so we hurried to Puerto Madero to go to the Italian restaurant that had been so delicious before. Unfortunately, we were dropped off at the wrong “La Parolaccia.” We walked painfully to the restaurant that was in our original plans. As luck would have it, our beloved restaurant was closed for remodeling. We adjusted our plans and ate closer to the hotel at around 1AM.

The next day, a big group of us went back to La Boca. We couldn’t resist its vivid colors and cobblestone streets. After wandering around for a few hours, some of us went to the famed Café Tortoni for lunch. The term café should never be used to describe something of this grandeur. It was wonderful. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement. Had Roberto Arlt written “Los lanzallamas” from this chair? Probably not, but it was still exciting to ponder. We headed back to Florida to do some shopping and wander the city for a bit longer. Bridgette and I stayed out a bit longer and got our fill of Buenos Aires to the brink. We even went back by Plaza de Mayo and saw a protest!

Getting on the plane, I had mixed feelings. There were certainly some things I was going to miss about Argentina. I was ready to go home, but I was not quite ready to leave. Some of that may have been due to the knowledge that there would be a seventy degree temperature difference between my summer in Buenos Aires and my winter in Dallas. I believe that in the few weeks I was there I accomplished many of my goals. I am reading the first Harry Potter book in Spanish; though it is a challenge, it’s a doable challenge. Despite my wishes, I only sang Evita a few times a day. I believe that was mostly to maintain the sanity of my friends. I had a wonderful trip where I learned to really appreciate some things from home. More than anything else, what I learned to appreciate were mufflers. If I had been suddenly endowed with a great deal of money whilst in Rawson, I likely would have bought the whole town mufflers. In all seriousness, I learned about how my perspective can cloud my vision of other countries and of my own. I hope in small ways that I have been developing a more open perspective, so that I can see the world with wide and freed eyes. As T.S. Eliot said, "we shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."