Latin American Idol

Just when I thought life couldn’t get any better I was invited to go to Latin American Idol!!! Yes you heard me clearly, I mean the adopted Spanish version of that pathetic show where almost talented people participate and has-been judges make fun of them. The role of Paula was played by a slightly less intoxicated but equally stupid blonde, Simon was replaced by a much heavier Puerto-Rican who spoke with a Spanish accent and is known as the “malo” or bad one, and the role of Randy, who is a jolly black man, was played by a skinny flamboyant and possibly homosexual guy from who knows where.

Down to the final four, each contestant sang not just one, but TWO songs. One of the finalists was from Panama, which is how I ended up there in the first place. No, not because I have secretly married a Panamanian (pretty sure that’s not politically correct, but I’m going to roll with it) and now have duel-citizenship, but rather I have a friend who is from there and his embassy was offering free tickets to go and support the young but talented Margarita. Of course I wanted her to win, not only because she has the same name of one of my favorite cocktails of which many fond memories have been formed due to drinking one to many of them, but because as far as the talent pool goes, she’s the only one that’s got it.

To answer some of the questions, for the most part it is live. The contestants weren’t allowed to sing their songs more than once and critiques were given by the judges immediately after. However, the Latin host, although seemingly kind while onstage, turned into a heinous thinks-he’s-famous star and was demanding make-up in between cuts. I have a strong feeling Ryan Seacrest is somewhat the same. Yes, the judges do have time in-between acts to smoke cigarettes and fill their cups with “water”, so no need to worry about them having to sit for so long without satisfying their basic needs. And no, the audience is not huge; it consists of 100 people sitting in a space appropriate for 30-super comfortable.

Despite only having a few seconds of cameos myself on the TV preview the next day, and having to wait in line behind the “super-fan” (you know the one who knows the life history of every contestant and has been to every show, but has yet to make it on TV) for an hour, I still enjoyed every minute of being there. If you ever wonder why they call it “Hollywood”, I’ll tell you, it’s all so much clearer when you have an opportunity like this.

Next step: trying out for the next! Thanks to Flavio and the Panama blood running through his veins for this incredibly “entertaining” experience.






"El Malo", friends and flags!!!



PS As cameras were prohibited during the performance, I'll let you know a life was risked for these highly desired and lucrative photos.

ACORN: La Gran Choripaneada

Choripaneada? What is that? Well my friends it’s a BBQ boasting one of Argentina’s most infamous meat concoctions- the choripan. The word choripan comes from it’s parts; the “chori” is short for chorizo, which is the closest thing to kielbasa one can get, and “pan” in Spanish means bread. So put these two wonders of the world together and we get a sausage sandwich. Genius!!!!! So being the smart and savvy volunteers that we are we realized that the closest way to someone’s wallet was through their stomach (we added beer in the mix to loosen up the process a little), so we organized a neighborhood BBQ for volunteers, neighbors, and friends in order to raise money for the community center.

The night itself was quite international with representatives from the US, Argentina, Holland, Peru, Mexico, Columbia, New Zealand, Britain, and Ireland. Neighbors and volunteers alike enjoyed the great cuisine, raffles, and most importantly each other’s company as all participated in ACORN’s fundraising event. The money generated will go towards supplies for classes and a field trip for the kids. Thanks to all who made this night possible and above all a success. In times like these the madness of the world is forgotten and humanity at its finest takes center stage, if only more of life consisted of moments like these.

Mendoza

Four days of mountains, bikes, shady sidewalks, beautiful plazas, good restaurants, and above all wine, one must ask themselves can life get any better than that? I submit that it cannot!!! A definite break was need from the big city after finals, so a trip to Argentina’s mellowed out wine country was planned. Mendoza sits at an altitude of 760m and produces 70% of the country’s wine. Argentina’s wines are getting better and better and are attracting international attention. Famous for it’s Malbec, a grape only grown successfully in the mountainous region outside of the city, Argentina has earned itself a place on map, and subsequently wine tasting has become a popular tourist attraction for many passing through Mendoza.




Taking full advantage of South America’s wine region, we rented bikes and headed out for a 12km trip consisting of 12 wineries, restaurants, and chocolate factories –sadly not operated by umpa-loompas to my demise- and olive oil plantations. Thinking wisely, we headed to the furthest winery on the map and began slowly making our way back trying varieties of wine, olive oil and chocolate along the way. Despite the occasional risk of being run off the road by an 18 wheeler, a good time was had by all!!




The next day was spent in the mountains of Mendoza hiking and kayaking. Trekking through the hillsides we made our way to a waterfall and from the top we repelled down. Despite having repelled hundreds of times, the rush of hanging from a string over a cliff still stirred up the old endorphins…I can’t imagine why! The second half of the day we leisurely made our way down a river in kayaks taking in the mountains of Argentina and marveling at it’s highest peak, Aconcagua (6962 m).

After 4 days a new appreciation of wine was acquired as well as a re-confirmation that Argentina continues to be one of the world’s most incredible countries for those who love the outdoors.

The saga continues

Well the agrarian sector of Argentina continues to be at war with Argentine President Christina Kirshner and her government for considerably raising the export taxes on agrarian products. Strikes and route cutting continue to be the methods used by producers in resistance to the tax increase. The exportation of grains has been the principle economic motor for Argentina since their economic crisis in 2001, and to date Argentina is the 3rd largest producer of soy, but as of now, no one is benefiting from the fertile lands of Argentina, and as the people of Argentina begin to feel the stress of the global food-crisis, they aren’t sitting idyll.

The pictures above are from an anti-government rally prompted by farmers and landowners that was supported by many middle and upper class Argentines that have ultimately been affected by the conflict. The same day a demonstration was held in front of the La Casa Rosada (the pink house) in favor of the government. Out numbering the government supporters, this manifestation had as many as 250,000 people, waving Argentine flags, and sporting t-shirts that said, “I’m for the farmers”.

Support is split among Argentines and fingers are being pointed in all sorts of economic and political directions casting blame. However, if a resolution can't be made, both sides will be to blame for the thousands of people who have found themselves starving and unable to feed their families due to inflated prices and food scarcity. I guess I just don't see the value of dumping gallons of milk in the river to limit milk supplies in the supermarket or stopping produce trucks from bringing food supplies to the city as a form of protest, while thousands of kids are being deprived of the nutrition they need to survive. As the whole world has entered into a food crisis it’s hard to stomach watching the destruction of food products in a political showdown knowing that somewhere a mother is trying to explain to her kids why there won’t be dinner again tonight.

Bariloche : A Friend's Day Celebration

Thinking of ways to spend our second winter of the year, some of us scholars decided to plan a skiing trip to the "Aspen" of Argentina, Bariloche. Being on the other side of the globe means our seasons are reversed, and while everyone back in the states is enjoying the summer heat, here in Argentina it's a different story. Although Buenos Aires may never experience a Lake Erie frigid wind-blasting winter, it does get chilly here. Being so close to Antarctica, a large body of water, and mountains parts of Argentina experience winters similar to those in the states. Bariloche is located in the southwestern quadrant of this huge country, near the famous Patagonia region and the Andes Mountains. Over the years it has grown into a popular ski resort town filled with chocolate shops, cafes, beer breweries, and of course out-door sport stores. Weather reports looked promising for snow as the heat of the skiing season was approaching, and still little to no snow had fallen in this city known for it's white winters. So we packed up all or our winter gear and headed 18hrs across the country in a bus, which was surprisingly comfortable, and arrived in Bariloche where snowflakes were falling.

That first hour of snow would be the first and last time snow was seen the rest of the trip. After the second day of warmer temperatures and rain it was apparent that we wouldn't be doing much skiing. Fortunately Bariloche offers much more than skiing; it's mountains and hillsides make for great hiking trails, and the city itself is surround by a series of lakes. Our first day out we hiked up to the Municipal Park of Llao Llao and walked the Arrayan path, which lead to a forest of Arrayan trees. The arrayan tree is a limited species of tree that has a yellowish orangish bark. I was later told by a friend that the forests in the movie "Bambi" were meant to replicate this little forest on the top of a hill in Argentina. We had been walking through forests of trees and plants for an hour when we popped out along the lake. There is where I experienced, for the first time since I've been here, an absolutely quite and still moment. We sat on a rock along the bank that was surrounded by mountains, trees, and a crystal clear lake. Sitting in silence, enjoying it because in a big city like Buenos Aires it's a rarity, we had lunch and relished in one of Argentina's most beautiful sites. Calm and full we hiked back in the rain, hoping not to run into the group of wild dogs that greeted us on our way up. (We didn't)

The following day the sun broke and we decided to go kayaking. We rented kayaks and headed out onto Lake Gutierrez. A lake formed by glaciers and filled by the nearby mountain's melted snow, one could see down for meters. Once we reached the middle of the lake, we were surrounded my mountains on all four sides, and out in the distance a rainbow formed over the top of Mount Catedral. Another beautiful day in Argentina!!!!

But before you think us scholars were only in Bariloche to play, we also held true to our Rotary responsibilities and attended Club Nahuel Huapi’s Friend's-Day" meeting. Club Nahuel Huapi is the host club for Project Patagonia, so I had a chance to meet with the members on the committee and share in their excitement for the project. Project Patagonia was designed by past scholars of the Ambassadorial Scholarship to help bring much needed supplies and multi-media materials to isolated schools in the Patagonia region of Argentina. These schools are small, isolated, and the fortunate students who get to go, need to board there do to the long distances they are from home. Many of these schools lack food materials and typical classroom items because of their distance from government funding and the "real-world". Starting with one school, scholars raised funds and donated materials to build a multi-media center with computers, books, and games for the children. Such a success, Project Patagonia is now planning a six-school "drop-off" off of supplies in late November and early December.

Everyone was in good spirits at the "Friend's-Day" meeting because it wasn't really a meeting, but rather a BBQ to celebrate the nations holiday as well as their Rotary companionship. Roberto Wallace, the member who invited us, said to me as we walked in that that I would probably be the only female there, he was right. I walked into a room filled with men, wine, cigars, and meat. The president of the club was busy cooking what seemed like 50 pounds of meat, members were introducing their friends that the brought to the meeting, and the tables were being set for a feast. A feast it was, the cuts of meat we were served seemed never-ending, as did the wine, and wile we ate members shared stories and sang songs celebrating the good friendships they've established. We were very warmly welcomed and it was a great evening. It was far from the Rotary norms we were used to in the states, but it's not such a bad thing to celebrate something great. A special thanks to Club Nahuel Huapi for sharing their friendship with us, and a special thank you to Roberto Wallace for inviting us.

Club ACORN

For the past few months I've been volunteering my time to a local community center based in La Boca and Barracas neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. It's funded by ACORN an American based non-profit whose mission is providing local communities with a safe and educational place. The idea is to help teach the children at the center concepts of communication, relationships, and respect for one another as well as their own self. At our actual center we offer English classes for the younger students and adults, dance, music, and art classes for the children, after-school tutoring, and literacy courses for the adults. Everything is volunteer based, so the more volunteers the more we can provide for these communities. We have plans to improve the adult classes and introduce an exercise program as well computation classes. In addition we are working on providing a free psychological service, as many of the children come from troubled back-rounds and could the extra guidance. We hope to provide the families of this community services that are currently unavailable to them in hopes that it will brighten their futures.

As of know we have a solid group of kids who come regularly throughout the week to partake in the variety of weekly activities. The above photos are from the other day when we took advantage of the nice weather and traveled all together to a nearby park to play a friendly game of soccer (an obvious favorite). In the background you can see the Boca soccer stadium, which is one of the more popular teams in Argentina, and for the people of this community their everything. Limited to the goal I waited for the perfect opportunity to show the boys that girls can play too. About 15 minutes into play one of the boys felt confident enough to pass the ball back to me in goal (Just so you know I was stopping shots like a wall up until this point...). I decided to leave my 6x6 box and advance forward with the ball. Schooling one little kid after the next and suffering blow after blow to the shins I made it to the other side. I took one look at the goalie...shot and made it! I retreated back to my box with cheers from my teammates, never to advance again. I wasn't proud of myself for schooling 12 year old boys, but I feel like I broke down the barrier of boys being better than girls...probably not forever, but at least for a second. I couldn't help myself.

Iguazu

Although I didn't go, I do think Iguazu in all of it's majesty, warrants a section of my blog. Hopefully I'll find myself there in the future.