Day 68 - 71 (May 22 - 25) Viva la Patria, Viva Argentina!

Day 68 - 71 (May 22 - 25) Viva la Patria, Viva Argentina!
This weekend is being billed as the Bicentenario of Argentina (its not exactly - its more like the 200 anniversary of the Boston Tea party as the May 25 Revolution was the first act that helped to build the momentum and drive for the revolution... details...). So basically we were in for 4 days of parties and craziness. Its not every day that a country celebrates it 200th.

Wow... where to start. Friday night I stayed in the casita with the other students as they were all leaving. In the morning I packed up and returned to the hostel in San Telmo where I spent my first week. It was cool going back there, its closer to the city, closer to class and I know several people there (and cheaper!).


Anyway the fiesta was starting saturday with various desfiles (parades... FYI some spanish might start showing up in my blogs as it starts to permeate my general thinking...). The first parade was a big military parade. All kinds of units from all over the country. Some were wearing moderns uniforms, some in historical uniforms and some were just plain crazy looking. But there was everything from mountain rescue, special forces, mounted units and well everything you could think of, with the last group some veterans from the Malvinas (Falklands) war back in 1982 against the UK.





The next part of the parade were groups of people representing each province of Argentina. These were really cool and varied greatly. There were Carnival dancers from Corrientes (me encanta...), llamas and alpacas from Jujuy and all manner of other floats, music and dancers from the other various provinces.








After several hours out in the crowds (massive crowds, the newspapers said the crowds were in the millions all weekend and I believe it!) it was time to take a break and head back to the hostel. Met up with more people (spent the day walking around with some that I met that day) and eventually most of us went out to a club. amongst those that worked at the hostel or were living there long term there were two birthdays so there was some celebrating to do!



Sunday was a tough beginning. I went down to the San Telmo markets. These markets are HUGE! It covers the Plaza Dorrego and the entire of Calle Defensa and some of the side streets. There are loads of antiques stores around but then there are hundreds of stalls set up along with people performing tango and ther street performers. There was everything from fresh food to antiques, silver, leather goods and just junk there. You name it, you can find it at the markets. After a long walk down Defensa all the way to Plaza de Mayo (serously like a mile of stuff) I popped into the fiesta again for the parade.

The parade today was a parade of all the countries that are represented in Argentina. There were more than I could think of or expected (not surprisingly I don't recall a US group...) and they were all dressed in traditional clothes, dancing and/or playing music. There were all of the countries in South America, then places like Palestine, Serbia, Croatia, China, Korea, Ireland, England, Denmark, Switzerland, Bulgaria, and just about anywhere else you could think of. There was an awesome mix of things when China, Scotland, Ireland and Spain were all staning near each other playing their respective music. Also, the air around the whole place was full of smoke from all of the impromptu street vendors grilling sausages (choripan, empanadas...) and burgers.

Sunday night it rained. Really rained. Which made it a good excuse to stay in and not have too big of a night (think I went to sleep about 3 or 4, fairly early). Unfortunately the fiesta had music and shows every night so the rain cancelled the big tango show...

The next day was yet another day of parades and exhibits. All weekend there were exhibits about each of the regions of Argentina and various other things (trains and stuff). Monday there was an antique car / motorcycle show as well as some current racecars and fire engines and similar things. Monday night was crazy. I went out to hear some of the Symphonic Orcheastra as well as to see the reopening of the Teatro Colon. There had a short show outside the Teatro and then broadcast the inside on big screens outside. It was really cool but absolutely packed with people. Back to the hostel for food (dinner time is about 9ish..).

I went out later that night , say about 11, with some of the guys to go hear the music. We got a few drinks for a the road (bottles of wine in the street - classy)and went to the street. There were some interesting acts and some cool tunes. At midnight there were some fireworks and and the crowd sang their national anthem. The whole weekend had to be one of the most patriotic things I have ever seen.

Tuesday there were more parades and more people. I wandered around some and went to have a coffee with some of the others, but away from the crowds for a bit. Eventually I went through and saw some more of the fiesta, some ballet and more music. But the crowds today were absolutely crazy, biggest things I have ever seen. Tuesday night there were some big acts from Argentine music and loads of craziness. People everywhere. I actually got tired of it fairly quickly (after 4 days...) and gave up on dealing with the crowds. Ther were huge fireworks later in the night... All in all an absolutely massive, crazy time.