starting at the end

Well, the family has come and gone. The going was hard. There were tears, and a few of them were mine. Being far away for a long time isn't so bad when you're not assaulted by the consequences, but when they're right there, in your face, telling you they love you, it gets difficult. It did make me realise that I will be back in Canada someday, sooner rather than later (try and pin that one down, though). For the people, though, not the place.

I'll be writing about some of the things we did and saw and experienced and ate in the coming days (I hope it's just days), from the end back to the beginning. In the meantime, I've updated my photoblog, as has Christine, so you can at least see some things before I get to them. Pictures on flickr will be coming when I can get myself organized. Chao chao!

riot riot upstart

I don't know if you heard, but there was a riot in Buenos Aires yesterday caused by a busted train. Well, caused at that time. It had been a long time in coming, and was not the first time, either.

Basically, what happened was that a train got stuck (mechanical failure) on the one track headed out of the Constitución train station (serving the mostly poorer suburbs, big surprise), effectively blocking any other train from leaving the station. This happened at about 5.00, right at the time that everyone wanted to go home. Apparently, incidents are not that uncommon at the train station, though this one was the worst in 15 years (according to the paper. I wonder what happened 15 years ago?). The people started rioting, attacking the police and throwing stones, destroying stores around and in the station, setting four fires in the station and destroying the ticket booth with one of them, throwing a motorcycle into one of the fires (it exploded), and breaking down doors of the room where police where trying to protect themselves while reinforcements come. Eventually, riot police showed up and had taken control by about 8.30 or so.

Apparently, that train station is one of the largest in South America and serves between 300,000 and 500,000 people a day, depending on your source. From the article above, I found out that all the commuter lines were privatized in the early 90s (though privatized apparently means paying companies large amounts of money to not do anything), and now the government hands out the equivalent of $660,000US a day to the companies. And problems like this still happen. We saw this in Mendoza - the government privatized the train service there (sold it to a Brazilian company), and it was promptly shut down. Nice work.

People have become very frustrated by the company's seeming lack of any upgrades or even basic service on increasingly overcrowded routes over the years. They've protested before, on one occasion even setting 15 train cars and a police car on fire. Also supposedly, the same thing is happening with the subway - fewer trains running, more problems left unfixed or symptoms just patched up. Profit, profit, profit.

Here's another article with a few pictures, if you're really interested.

some blame the fiery latin american personality

Whatever it is, there was another riot last weekend, the second in less than a week. This one was at a football (or soccer, to North America) match - one team lost and its fans rioted. As a consequence, the team was banned from playing at its own stadium for two games. And this is the second time it's happened to them this year.

Banned at your own stadium? Doesn't that just slightly define out of control?

mate and the atypical response

That's mate, pronounced mah-tay - the quintessential Argentine (and, to a lesser-known but more popular extent, Uruguayan and Paraguayan) drink. Mate is a kind of tea made from crushed leaves of a certain tree down here. It is drunk by pouring a large amount of crushed leaves (50 g or so?) into a kind of gourd, also known as the mate, then adding boiling water, usually from a thermos. Hot milk can also be used (I haven't tried it yet, but intend to), as well as sugar (my preferred method of imbibing). In Argentina, it's a communal drink. People sit around and share one gourd, one person after another taking their turn sipping and slurping the strong-tasting mixture until the herb (or 'yerba') is 'washed' and has to be replaced. (In Uruguay, rumour has it it's a very individual drink - everyone has their own. And in Paraguay, it's drunk cold and sweet! What variations!) The gauchos drink mate, it's drunk in offices, there is a list of rules of what to do and what not to do while drinking, and there is even a specific verb to describe the slurping sound when you're draining the water at the bottom of the gourd.

So why is a drink that tastes like wet grass so popular? That may be a bit harsh - many coffee drinkers don't even like the taste of coffee when it comes down to it!

While it is quite the bitter drink, sugar softens the blow, and there are various flavoured yerbas available - orange, mint, lemon, anise, coffee, honey, and so on. I've even heard of people adding their own fresh flavourings - one even said rosemary was their favourite. Rosemary? Alright.

The popularity is due, in part, to the effects on the body. Mate contains mateine, which is similar in effect to caffeine. However, mate contains six times as much mateine as a cup of coffee contains caffeine (no word on if that's a similar size cup washing, or one entire 'washing' of mate). Needless to say, the stuff gets you going. Students often use it to stay awake studying, people use it to get going in the morning at the office - really, it's treated like coffee, it's just much more powerful. Also, it acts as an appetite suppressant, making it especially popular with the young and thin crowd. In fact, it's now being marketed in the U.S. and Canada as a part of a new 'wonder diet' and 'all natural health drink'. Those words alone would normally make me swing wide.

Many foreigners don't taste mate, and fewer like it. The taste is what turns most off, and also the personal nature. You can't get mate in a restaurant (except in a tea bag - tastes similar, but not the same at all) - it's very strange to see people walk in to a place, sit down, and order food, all the while sipping their mate and pouring more (especially common in Uruguay). My family, wackos that they are, all enjoyed it. They went so far as to purchase their own gourds to take home, along with a large collection of yerba (about 5 kgs worth! Might as well, though, it'd be nearly impossible and quite expensive to obtain in Canada) of all different flavours. They did learn to regulate to earlier in the day after my mother sat sipping it all one evening, only to get two hours of sleep the whole night as the rest of us non-mate-drinking individuals slept soundly.

In spite of (or despite) all that I've said, if you're ever down in the area or have the chance to try some of this cultural drink, I'd highly recommend it. It's a window into a common, if not revered, cultural event, and, if nothing else, a great way to make some new friends.

starry-eyed

This game is the reason I haven't done anything useful tonight. I'd write the actual name of it, but it's Japanese. Play. Find some stars. (via the purveyor of all fun wacky things, cardhouse)

Because I'm too lazy to start another entry, I just thought I'd update (for one person who specifically asked about it) the situation following the train riot last week. Contrary to my predictions, the government seized management operations back from the companies who were taking money and doing nothing with it except lining their pockets. Who would've thought they'd be so pro-active? Oh, wait, election year. Explains everything.