As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a small change of plans because an Argentine holiday postponed my interviews until Tuesday. This means I’ve had an extra few days in Buenos Aires, and have loved exploring the city. Luckily, my 18 and 24-year-old host siblings from my semester in Ecuador attend school here, so I’ve had some great tour guides. I had always heard that there is a huge European influence in Buenos Aires, but I was still surprised at how different my hosts’ neighborhood seemed compared to other South cities that I’ve visited. The streets are narrow and tidy, there’s a cafe on every corner, and the cars actually stop to let you cross. I’ve especially loved drinking a café con crema every day.
I’ve seen a lot of sites in the few days I’ve been here, including La Casa Rosada (the main government building, pictured here), the Chacarita Cemetary (I’ve never been so impressed by the scale of something), a tango milonga (I wished I had remembered more from the lessons I took at NU last year), and the Palermo Forest Park (great for running!). I’ve had so much great food along the way as well. My hosts took me to Guerrin, which may have the best pizza I’ve ever tasted. We also went to a great burger place in Palermo. Additionally, Argentina is famous for a special drink called mate, which is high in caffiene and is consumed like tea. It is usually served in a hollowed out gourd, which is often passed around and shared among a group of friends. And it’s not just a caricature that Argentines are always drinking mate – last night I saw someone pull out thier gourd and thermos on a 10-minute bus ride and start passing it around to his friends.
La Casa Rosada (Thanks Circumnavigators Club for sponsoring!)
Pizza in Buenos Aires with my wonderful hosts/tour guides
Enjoying mate
Yesterday I went to El Golpón, an organic market with vendors selling all sorts of crafts, beverages, jams, vegetables, and more. I was inspired by my market experience in Chile and was hoping to find someone who could speak to me about GMOs. I wasn’t lucky enough to stumble upon a overtly anti-GMO activist like I had in Santiago, but I had a conversation with one of the vegetable vendors. She said that they’ve had more and more people desiring GMO and pesticide-free produce, and that they can barely keep up with demand. Of course this doesn’t mean that everyone in Buenos Aires is following this trend, but it shows that the urban public has a stake in the GMO conversation. It will be interesting to see what scientists think of these agricultural discussions that are at once scientifically technical, socially complicated, and increasingly at the hands of the public. Tomorrow I head to the Rosario Institute of Agrobiotechnology to find out. Stay tuned!
Golpón Organic Market