Apparently they wanted to nationalize Aerolineas...

Last Thursday I was walking along Callao towards the subway stop at Congreso to go home and take a nap. Along the way, I ran into a protest group, which is pretty normal for Buenos Aires. For example, two days earlier twenty guys were banging drums and blocking traffic because of something involving Bayer (the aspirin guys). As such, I was initially dismissive towards the group, and kept walking.

Then I noticed the flatbed trucks and the fact that although there were only about five hundred people in the area, each had a banner that required two or three people to be carried. Before I realized what was happening, there were several thousand people marching next to me along Callao. Every Argentine labor union I had heard of (and several whose names I still wouldn´t recognize) was there, marching towards the Congress and, according to the woman in the flatbed, the government house at Plaza de Mayo. Interestingly enough, she declined to mention why the syndicalists were marching. They were present, and figuring out why was everybody else´s problem.

By the time I got to the subway, it was clear that one of the bigger protests of the year was unfolding in front of me. I couldn´t help but to think of the instructions my college in the US had provided for this type of situation: walk away before you get hurt. But I had played it safe all my life, and the only results were security and happiness. Instead, I stayed on the corner, next to a shameless politician handing out fliers, and watched thousands of union members march by.

I was transfixed by the colors and slogans, the sound from thousands of cars that had chosen the wrong day to attempt passage along Rivadavia mixing with that of fireworks barely visible in the daylight. But most interesting was that none of this interested the Argentines surrounding me. The police stood idly in their riot gear nearby, looking thoroughly bored. Some of the more curious Porteños paused for a moment to smoke a cigarette and watch before moving along. But most just dismissed the demonstration as part of everyday life in the capital. Indeed, when I made it back to my apartment the most important part of the news coverage was not that so many people had gathered in the plazas of Buenos Aires. Instead, the newscaster reported that they would probably leave within the day, but had created heavy traffic.

Upon hearing him speak, I thought of the reaction such a protest would provoke in New York or Washington. The inevitable counter protests, or at very least interest from spectators. At that moment, I began to understand what people mean when they talk about "culture shock."

A note on the title

Last week, I suddenly decided that I wanted a blog. However, being the sort of person I am, I agonized over what name my creation would take. Suddenly, I looked up at a poster, reminding students that speaking English is against program rules (technically). Confident that I had finally found an obscure enough title, I began writing.