Changing Leaves and Blossoming Trees

It is now autumn on the other side of the world...although you would never know it if all you saw were the trees in mid-bloom. There's a mixture of both trees that are loosing all their leaves, and trees that appear to think it's spring and are blossoming loads of bright pink flowers, blanketing the grassy parks with their velvety petals. 

With Easter being this past Sunday and a national holiday on Monday in memory of los desaparecidos, thousands who disappeared during the military dictatorship here, the school year has been slow to start. Fran and I, taking advantage of the few days of vacation, went fishing on the Paraná River in a town called Esquina. 

We arrived Thursday night to the lodge called Los Gringos. One of the owners is Joe, an American married to an Argentine woman and living here in Buenos Aires with their two children. When I asked him where he's from, he gave me the same answer I usually give most people when pestered with the same inquiry, "tough question." Our fishing guide, José Luis Martínez, was a weathered fisherman full of stories to keep us entertained. The first day was slow with Fran having much more luck than I. He caught two sting rays, among other things, which José Luis promptly took and chopped off their tails before throwing them back into the river. Day #2 started off with a downpour of rain which we fended off with bright yellow rainsuits which reminded me of Paddington Bear. Sorry to say no pictures were taken...I had much more luck on the second day, catching a few piranhas (you read correctly), a nicely sized catfish, and a few other fish with untranslateable names. Once the rain stopped, we anchored the boat next to one of the many little floating islands and José Luis whipped up a fire (no idea how...everything was soaking wet after the rain) and fried up some fresh fish caught only a few hours beforehand. It was marinated in his special mixture of spices and lemon juice, delicious. Of this I do have pictures (to be posted later because I forgot my camera in Fran's car). 

A quick sidenote about our fritanga. Dad would have been envious. I thought back to last summer when we went up to Cape Cod and Dad asked for fish cheeks in every restaurant we went to, but his search was unsuccessful and there were no fish cheeks to be found. I, on the other hand, sitting on the banks of the Paraná, reveled not only in not only FRESH fish cheeks, but fresh fish tongue as well, which I must say is a delicous delicacy probably not available in the States. Of all the fish parts I've tried over the years, the tongue was definitely my favourite. For all of you with weak stomachs and unadventorous palates, feel free to send your fish heads my way if ever in need of a place to dispose of them. And Dad, perhaps the idea of fresh fish head will motivate you to do some outdoorsy activities on our next family vacation? 

Easter Sunday was spent at Fran's with a veritable feast of meat (which was probably the last asado I'll experience for a while due to political strife...more on that to come). Plan's were hatched to take all the nephews and niece, 6 in total, to Temaikén, a zoo that lies in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, the following day. That fateful Monday at Temaikén meant Fran had a little competition from a young suitor. 

Tom, his 6 year-old nephew, started off the day refusing to greet me with the customary kiss, calling me fea, and trying to hit me. Within a few hours, he was doing everything within his power to separate Fran and me, physically pulling us apart every time he saw us holding hands and telling us he didn't want us to be boyfriend and girlfriend. He pointed out other options for me, not taking into consideration that most of them were there with their own girlfriends. As the day continued, he saved his phone number in my cell phone telling me to call him whenever I want. By the end of the day, he was holding my hand, hugging me, hanging all over me, and wrapping himself around me when we went to see the sharks and "he got scared". He was also very curious to know what my mom, dad, brother and sister's names were. Apparently he wants to get acquainted with what he views as his future in-laws. 

In other news, I started my internship at HelpArgentina this week. I think it will turn out to be a very positive experience, most of the others are fairly young and all seem really positive and nice, giving the office a really fun atmosphere. Most of the other employees are also females, which is a nice change after being surrounded by mostly guys. The first ten minutes of my second day on the job were spent listening to them talking about sex, which can give you all an idea of the atmosphere at the office. Not much was done my first few days, they're moving this weekend so they were mostly just occupied packing everything up. 

Back to the very important shortage of meat. You may all be asking yourselves how it's possible that there be a shortage of meat in a country known world-wide for its steak. Kristina, the new president and wife of the previous president, raised taxes on all agricultural exports. The most extreme change was the tax on soy, going from 27% up to 40%. Needless to say, the country's farmers (who are a wealthy and powerful group with a lot of respect and clout) are extremely upset. They are now on strike and have set up roadblocks all over the country, heavily halting tourism during Easter. On Tuesday, 7 million liters of milk spoiled due to the strike. Meat is becoming non-existent on grocery store shelves and even butchers only have scarce stocks of chicken. Argentina's middle class, showing strong support for the farmers, took to the streets in protest all over the country banging pots and pans (known here as a cacerolazo, a cacerola is a pot). Hordes of people shut down one of Buenos Aires' main avenues and crowded into the Plaza de Mayo, located directly in front of the presidential palace. Kristina answered back with her heavy-handed thugs, who called in their mafia-like protesters to counter-protest. Things have started to take a turn for the worse, with violent conflict between the two groups starting to take place and neither side showing any signs of letting up. I'm in for my first full-blown Latin American political battle, and it'll be rough one with no steak. Anyone who wants to get a little more information can read the article Dad forwarded to me from The Economist. 

Carter, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!!! Just in case you didn't get my inspiring e-card I emailed you on the day of...

Eddie, hope Cuba has been amazing, and I hope you've taken loads of pictures. Let me know once you're back, I have a design query about a poster I'm working on to run by you. Katherine, I want more news from London. Your once-a-month updates are very lacking. To Mom and Dad and everyone else, I send my love, pictures of the house and from the fishing escapade to come soon!