The Cachorro Chronicles

One crisp and clear Saturday night, I set out to have a good time with my dear friends Lauren, Gabriel, David and some others. We went to one of the girls' house, started dancing, drinking medicinally bitter Fernet (although I stuck with wine), and generally having fun. But alas! We ran out of Coke to mix with the Fernet-- they typical Argentine tipple, if you will-- so Lauren and Gabriel and I traipsed out to the nearest Kiosko. Mind you, this is at around 3 am and we are still in the previa (pregaming) stage of the night, with big plans to go out dancing later. (Yes, later.)

But the course of the night changed when we heard a pitiful whimpering sound as we walked down the street. Lauren spotted it first- a dirty box filled with a couple of dingy blankets and an even dingier, unbelievably tiny, brown thing. It was shaking and crying pathetically, and it was unclear at first what kind of animal it was, but upon closer inspection we determined it was almost definitely a dog. A dog that looks a lot like a rat, yes, but nevertheless a tiny, lonely, abandoned girl puppy (who could do such a thing?).

You can imagine our dilemma. I tucked the tiny thing (dirty as she was) into my jacket to keep her warm and we stood around for a good five minutes repeating "que hacemos? what do we do?". We certainly couldn't leave her there as it was pretty clear she was not going to survive the rest of the night. Finally we decided on a game plan: buy some milk, feed the cachorrito, attempt to keep her alive through the night, find a vet the next day and then take her to Plaza Italia, where hordes of people gather every weekend to buy, sell, or give away puppies and other animals.

After a night that involved a lot of puppy-feeding and very little sleep, we visited Lauren's host mom's sister, a veterinarian. She gave us her advice and we set off to buy anti-parasitic medicine to give to whoever ended up taking her. Finding a vet's office that was open on a Sunday was no easy task, believe me, but after a very long walk with the box in our arms (and the cachorrita/ratita trying to climb out the entire way) we had success. We had just enough time for a photo shoot, then set off to the plaza, hoping against hope we could find her a home. If not, we weren't really sure what we could do, as none of us could really bring home a tiny, parasite-infested creature.

To our great surprise and greater relief, Gabriel and I didn't have to wait even a minute before a man started asking about her, followed closely by another couple. I guess she was pretty cute despite the resemblance to a bat/rat. We gave her away immediately, along with instructions for the parasite medicine, and left the plaza, happy that our adventure ended well.

To be frank, I still can't decide if she's an adorable or a hideous little thing- perhaps best described with my mamá's term "sexy-ugly." Either way, she certainly had charm. Here are some of her more flattering pictures for your viewing pleasure, so you can decide for yourself. We never did end up going out, but we did have quite an adventure taking care of a poor abandoned puppy.

Frolicking outside, much stronger after a night of warmth and food.

Escape artist.

She's so tiny!!


(And don't worry, I washed my hands in bleach a solid 10 times after handling her, and washed any clothing that had contact. )

Lugares de Memoria: The ex-ESMA and the Mariani-Teruggi House

This week we took two field trips with the Comisión. On Monday, we attended an academic conference at the former ESMA (Navy Mechanics School) which served as a clandestine prison during the entirety of the last dictatorship. We heard a talk from a British professor about the role and evolution of oral history and interviews, which was very interesting. In the afternoon we took a tour of the building where the prisoners were kept. It was obviously very strong. I won't go on about it except to say that after reading so much about what happened there it was certainly very strong to see it. It is also very powerful that the space has been transformed into a museum of memory as well as a cultural center- a very powerful re-appropriation. You can read more about it here. Unfortunately pictures are not allowed because of a court order; since the human rights trials are still going on, the building is considered a potential source of evidence.

On Thursday we visited another lugar de memoria: the house of Chicha Mariani. The house was the site of a secret printing press run by the Montoneros, a militant Peronist group that was targeted ferociously by the military junta. Chicha's son and daughter-in-law ran the clandestine press behind a false wall in the garden and lived there with their 3-month-old daughter, Clara Anahí. On November 24, 1976, security forces attacked the house. The six militants inside were killed and Clara Anahí was kidnapped. Since then, Chicha has been searching for her granddaughter, like many other grandmothers who form the group Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo.

Thursday was the thirty-fourth birthday of Clara Anahí. Several people spoke and read letters expressing their hopes that Clara Anahí would find her true identity soon. There is a theory that the daughter of a major conservative newspaper's owner might be Clara Anahí, although I don't know too much about why they think that. It was incredibly moving to see that this grandmother had never given up hope and is still searching for her lost granddaughter.

We took a tour of the interior of the house, which has been preserved exactly as it was after the attack.

Lauren examines the hole blasted through both the outer and inner wall of the house.

Hole in the inner wall.

Two women greet Chicha Mariani (seated) in the living room. The ceiling was ripped apart by the military forces, searching for hidden weapons, after the attack.

View from the rooftop. The caretakers of the house have constructed a metal structure and glass roof to protect the house from the elements.

The narrow space in the back of the garden where the secret printing press was kept. The press was completely hidden by a false wall.

The only entrance to the printing press was this tiny door, accessed by crawling through the grill.

One of the thousands of bullet holes.




Chicha Mariani (right) talks with a Madre de Plaza de Mayo.



The attendees released balloons with messages for Clara Anahí into the sky.

Capital

Yesterday we took a guided tour of Buenos Aires. Much like DC, the federal capital is autonomous from the surrounding province of Buenos Aires, and it's only about a 40 minute drive from La Plata. Our tour guide for the day was Nacho, a good friend of the program coordinator. Although he's not a tour guide by profession, he had an incredible amount of knowledge about the city and was really interesting and nice. Unfortunately, I forgot my memory card at home so I could only take about 12 pictures on the internal memory of my camera, thus much of our day is undocumented.

First we went to to Boca, a colorful (literally) neighborhood bordering the river. It's a historically working class neighborhood, originally settled by Italian immigrants who brought much of their socialist or communist ideologies with them. Many of the building are original, built out of wood and painted a rainbow of bright colors. The artist Benito Quinquela Martin famously captured the bright colors of the neighborhood, the obrero (worker) residents and the factories across the river in his paintings, like this one:



The neighborhood is historically home to a variation of tango called milonga. Today, it seems more touristy than anything, but is still quite beautiful and colorful.

Next we traveled to the neighborhood of San Telmo and saw a lively artisan's fair as well as a historic church. Then we went downtown to the Plaza de Mayo- the central plaza and home to the executive building and tons of demonstrations, including the famous Madres de la Plaza de Mayo who still march every Thursday in honor of their disappeared sons and daughters.

The main avenida of Buenos Aires is beautiful. It was widened to be in the style of the boulevards of Paris, and although the process involved unceremoniously chopping some buildings in half, the effect today is lovely. Everyone always says that Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America; I didn't really understand the comparison until I saw this street. Many of the building are in the French style and it certainly does remind me of Paris to a certain extent. However, the city overall has a very particular flavor unlike any European city I've visited. The distinct personalities of each of the barrios is remarkable, and everywhere you turn is evidence of political and social activism: the buildings are covered in graffiti that is fascinating to read.

We were lucky and the Casa Rosada (Pink House- the presidential building) was open for tours.

La Casa Rosada

The interior of the building is grand. I was very surprised, however, by the sheer volume of Peronist propaganda that's inside. The lobby was full of posters extolling Perón and Evita's achievements, which struck me as very strange. The current president is Peronist, but wouldn't it be strange if the White House were filled with homages to the current political party? I thought it odd that the Casa Rosada itself seems to be used as a political tool.

In front of one of the many homages to Evita: a massive picture, portraits of Perón, some of her clothes- right in the lobby of the Casa Rosada!

View of the Plaza de Mayo from the balcony where Perón and Evita so famously addressed the crowds gathered below.

After our tour of the Casa Rosada, we went down to the other end of the Avenida de Mayo to the house of Congress. Here, as in many places, the recent economic troubles of the country are very evident: right next to Congress is a huge, beautiful old building in total disrepair. Finally we went to the historically upper-class neighborhood of Palermo and enjoyed a stroll around a beautiful park, followed by some shopping in a hip district. We topped it all off with a delicious dinner of pizza.

All in all, a wonderful day in Capital. I'm looking forward to exploring the city more!