Hard Times In Argentina Reflected In Book Titles At One Giant, Beautiful Book Store

In the week we’ve been here, I’ve heard a lot about the terrible Argentine economy these days, About how corruption has badly hurt every day Argentinians.  How the Peso has dropped drastically in value.  I’ve tried to include pictures of people in the posts I’ve done so that you can see that this is a population that doesn’t look that different from people in the states.  Men in public are wearing jeans and tennis shoes.  Women are dressed in a range from casual to chic.  

There are lots of coffee shops with people sitting inside and out with coffee and pastries and more substantial snacks.  There was a strong middle class.  

I keep hearing that Argentina was once one of the richest countries in the world, per capita..  Here’s the beginning of an article on that by an Argentinian.  

In the textbook “Economics”, written by the Nobel Prize in Economics Paul Krugman together with his wife Robin Wells, in the chapter on introduction to macroeconomics, they make a small comparison between the evolution of Canada and Argentina. With the title “A story of two countries”.  “One of the most informative contrasts is between Canada and Argentina, two countries that, at the beginning of the 20th century, seemed to be in a good economic position. From today’s point of view, it is surprising to realize that Canada and Argentina looked pretty much alike before the First World War. (…) Economic historians believe that the average level of per capita income was almost the same in the two countries until the 1930s.”[1]

The Peso was down 52% in 2018 (the most of any country listed in the article)    The link provides five other factors leading to Argentina’s economic crisis.  

People were limited to taking only $200 (in US currency in one case I heard about) per day.

People jog, go to the gym, ride bikes, go to the university, and all things Americans and Europeans do, but they are also feeling the pinch.  Homeless are sleeping on the streets and in the subway walkways - but not as bad as I’ve seen in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and even Anchorage.  But then I’ve not seen a lot of the city, so maybe there are more.  

People look weary and our host and teachers and people we meet tell us the same story.  Life is getting harder and harder.  On the other hand, university is free, and we met a man waiting for the bus today who was born in Buenos Aires, but grew up in Miami.  He’s back here going to the university.  

All this is prelude to the book store we went to yesterday - the biggest one in Argentina.  

Tucked away in Barrio Norte, Buenos Aires is a beautiful shop that every bookworm would love to visit, called El Ateneo Grand Splendid. It is built within the almost 100-year-old Grand Splendid Theater, which opened in 1919. The premises were later converted into a movie theater and eventually, in 2000, it was transformed into the El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore, which currently welcomes over one million book lovers each year.

Below is my picture, but go to the link to see much better pictures of the building than I have.  And to learn more about the history of this giant bookstore.  https://www.boredpanda.com/buenos-aires-bookstore-theatre-el-ateneo-grand-splendid/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic 

I’m going to focus mostly on the Argentine politics section of the store which is a relatively small part of the whole bookstore.  So I’ll add just a couple of pictures of other nearby titles.

I don’t recall ever seeing a section on Military Dictatorships in a book store before.  

I Do Not Forgive:  The Testimony of Erika Lederer, Daughter of a Genocial Obsterician.

Google isn’t giving me anything in English - even though I’m asking for English - on Erika Lederer.  Here’s a translation from google.  There are some oddly gendered pronouns.  Is this book available in English?  I’m guessing not:

The Spanish version was from Planeta de Libros.  

She is the first daughter of medical captain Ricardo Lederer, second chief of clandestine maternity in Campo de Mayo during the period of State terrorism. Raised in a professional middle class family, she attended a private school in the German community of Villa Ballester, where she began to read her first philosophy books. His father was an obstetrician doctor, a commando soldier and part of the carapintada uprising of the La Tablada barracks, in 1987. The union is also called, in the book Nunca más, as "the madman with pretensions to purge the race."She is a lawyer from the University of Buenos Aires, specializing in Family Mediation. Works in family mediation in confinement contexts. As she defines it, this is "doing magic; Provide tools to build an alternative story, that is habitable for the person. "He practiced swimming, running and today pole dance; disciplines in which are the metaphors that mark his life in different stages.He joined the founding group of "Disobedient Stories" and, later, "Former children and former daughters of genocide for Truth, Memory and Justice".

Perished::  Who wins the America Cup of orruption?  

[While writing this post, the screen here went blank.  I was able to post it - and what I’d done was still there, but I wasn’t finished.  So now I’m finiahing.]

Another book in that section.  

Google translates this as Under the Water, but I’m guessing that it might mean Under Water.  I suspect any English speaker can decipher the subtitle.

Here’s one book that appears to look at how the world’s torments impact the River of Silver (the area around Buenos Aires.). And another that seems to look the other way around - how the torments of Argentina affect the world.  

And as promised, a couple of books from different sections.

Our Spanish classes ended today.  I learned a lot, but I’m still tongue tied when I get out of class.  I have a sense of how my two year old granddaughter feels as she gets more words and sentences out effectively.  Actually, she’s advancing much faster than I am.  Both of us had excellent teachers.   

And J got her stitches out today.  If I posted pictures of the doctor stitching her up and the nurse taking them out today, the surroundings look pretty much the same.  Here it was the German Hospital of Buenos Aires.  Looks a lot like Providence Anchorage, but more patients, and better places to eat in the neighborhood.  

And I finally broke down and went to the travel agent recommended by the language school, to plan out the rest of the trip.  We aren’t tour people, but for the national park - Iguasu - it just seems a lot easier and they did some more planning until the rest of the family is here for the eclipse.  Then we have more time to plan out.  

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Overwhelmed - Here Are Some Pictures From Buenos Aires

Sorry, between being busy and doing homework and my iPad’s bad relations with Blogger, this will just be a few pictures.  We went to the Rosadel - a park with a rose garden - across a huge Avenida from where we are staying.

Then through other park areas to the Japanese Garden.

Apartments along Avenida Liberdad.

People eating out at coffee shops on the first day of winter.

It took me a while to figure out that this was a gas station.  I should mention that today was the second holiday this week, so no school.

Busy Day, Sun Came Out

We had to be at the language school at 8.  It had thundered a lot during the night.  Loudly.  So I didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked.  But we learned from our first bus trip, and this time we asked people to help us get off at the right stop.  It’s hard when it’s dark and rainy.  But all went well.

Classes were great.  There were only three new people and they rated us at different levels, so we ended up with private lessons.  There are also two holidays this week, so we only get three days instead of five.  But they calculate the private lessons as worth more time than group lessons.  And mine were prefect for me.

We got our sim cards into working order and we now have What’s App, because lots of people don’t get actual talking on their phone - text and internet, and call people using What’s App.

We had a tour of San Martin Square - we were told he was the liberator of Argentina and Chile and handed the baton to Simon Bolivar in Peru.  How come we all know about Bolivar, but not Martin?  I don’t know.

Then we were able to see a doctor at the Deutsches Hospital, but he said he rather wait a few more days to take our her stitches.  They’re ok, but a few more days would be better.

And then I’ve been doing homework all evening.  Pictures are:


1. Statue of San Martin
2. Our first sunshine in Argentina (we got here Saturday, and I’m writing Tuesday night)
3. Milo, our host’s dog

Güemes Died, The Clouds Cried

Martín Miguel de Güemes (8 February 1785 – 17 June 1821) was a military leader and popular caudillo who defended northwestern Argentina from the Spanish during the Argentine War of Independence.

If you read the quote from Wikipedia  carefully, you might realize that today is the 198th anniversary of his death.  And it’s a national holiday in memory of his heroic fighting against the Spanish and British. (At least that’s how he’s portrayed here and now.  So our Spanish class doesn’t start til tomorrow. So we went off to do errands and some sightseeing.  

Our host went with us at the beginning because she was walking the dog.  First stop the emergency room to get J’s stitches out.  But they only do emergencies and it’s a holiday.  Fortunately our host was with us and will try to make an appointment tomorrow.  We went on and she went back with the dog.  

Claro - the kind of phone chip we have - was closed for the holiday, so we still don’t have cell service.  Then by subway to Plaza de Mayo.  Our first time in the SUBTE (subway) and we had to figure out how to tap our card to get thru the turnstile.  

Subway is easy, clean, and fast.  But that could be because it’s a holiday.  The train we returned on was brand new, or so it seemed.  People come down the aisle and put little packages on people’s laps - a bunch of pocket tissue packets one time, pens another - and once they’ve done the car they walk back to collect a fee or the item.  I didn’t notice anyone buying, but people were nicely handing them back.  

I had my big camera with me today.  I also have my old Powershot since I can’t download from my phone yet.  It’s nice to have a piece of equipment I’m completely familiar with and it’s much easier than dragging my big camera out of the bag in the rain.  I used it for one picture, inside the Cathedral.  

Subway and rain pictures first.

The Cabildo - 

The Cabildo de Buenos Aires was the site of Spain's colonial administration in the city. Originally constructed from adobe and thatch in 1580, the current building was constructed over the second half of the 18th century, witnessed the Argentine Revolution in 1810, and served as an important administrative building during the first century of Argentine independence. MuseumThe building now houses the National Museum of the Cabildo and the May Revolution, and displays original artefacts and documents as well as interactive exhibits on the Spanish colonial era, the British invasions of 1806 and 1807, and the early days of independence. The museum was renovated in 2016, and now includes access to the former jail and more historic documents.

And then the Cathedral.

And then the Rosario - where Evita Peron spoke to the people from the balcony.  (There were two different balconies, but this one is more in the middle.

But mostly it rained today.  

Winter starts in a few days, but I know it can’t get too cold because there are palm trees and banana trees all over.

No Power, Then Powerful Art of Carlos Alonso

We had to decide when we got out of customs, between a bus into the downtown station and a cab.  In the end, the cabs were only about $33 into town and would take us directly to our home stay, that was arranged by the language school where we begin a week of Spanish lessons Tuesday.  (Monday is Argentina’s National Day, so no classes.). Our driver was friendly and spoke very little English and so I had to use my Spanish and we managed fine.  

My pictures on the way from the airport were on my iPhone and I still haven’t figured out how to get them to the iPad.  

We’re in an apartment on the 4th floor - very nice, and the host is great.  Her English is terrific, which isn’t good for our Spanish, but we are learning a lot about Argentina and Buenos Aires.  She has a couple of young men staying here too who are also going to the language school.

We went out last night just to get our bearings - well, we were trying to go before it got dark, but with the clouds it was already pretty dark at 5pm - and to get a bus card - SUBE - and Argentine chips for our phones.  We got both, but still haven’t gotten the phone chips fully activated.  

This morning I didn’t wake up until 11am.  When I got to the bathroom, the light didn’t go on.  But there’s a window.  I didn’t think much about it.  But then our host told us that there was a power outage for all of Argentina and parts of Uruguay and southern Brazil.  For us, there wasn’t a big impact.  No internet.  But the stove is gas, so we could make breakfast.  It was raining, hard, then light, then hard again outside.  There was some thunder and lightening.  

But eventually we decided to go the Museum of Belle Arts - seemed like a good idea for a rainy day.  The collection includes many famous European artists.  Nothing spectacular that I notice.  There was a room of Rodin, and examples of different periods including Rembrandt to Modigliani.   There was one red room with a lot of pictures that was someone’s collection donated to the museum.  (1)

But then we found an exhibit of Argentine artist Carlos Alonso.  Wow!   What powerful stuff.   He was born in 1929 and studied in Argentina and Europe.  His work is full of allusions to other artists’ work and politics.  From Wikipedia, we learn, perhaps why:

“Alonso married the artist Ivonne Fauvety.[7] Following the coup of 1976, and the disappearance of his daughter Paloma (born 25 July 1956) the following year, Alonso went into exile in Italy, and in 1979, he moved to Madrid. He returned to Argentina two years later. The Bienal de Pintura Paloma Alonso. named in her honor, is a 1990 joint initiative of Alonso and Teresa Nachman“

Though there were already pieces from the 60s that were pretty edgy.  [Due to the troubles I’m having with blogger in my iPad, I’d doing this in Pages and will cut and paste it into blogger and see if that works better.  But I’m not going to try to mix pictures and text too much because that’s been problematic  on the iPad.]

(2) Sin Pan y Con Trabajo  [Without bread and with work](1968)

Alonso:  “One of the keys that explain the life of Van Gogh is that he (perhaps every painter) becomes the sine of a society. Van Gogh is the sign of something that is rotting and that a new world is born. What he creates is“ (3)

The Hospital (1974) (4)

The Palm  (1952) (5)

Anatomy Lesson 1979. (6)

“Carlos Alonso was inspired by Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicotlaes Tulp (1632) as the starting pint for the series dedicated to the death of Ernesto “Che” Gueverra.  In these works begun in 1969, the body of the recumbent Che also recalls the famous Christ of Andrea Mantegna, from the 15th century. [There are several paintings, only the one is shown.  Not this one.].   The scenes Alonso presented also gave hints of a torture table and the photographs of the dead Guevara that circulated at the time and that were the source of the series.What emerges out of the intermingling of the various images is a hybrid of meaning  between that figure of Christ and that of Guevera.  At the same time , Alonso sparks a second interchange:  that of the languages of the eras of Dr. Tulp and of Che.  Figures from the 17th century blend with those of the 20th century, rendered in the manner of pop art and advertising codes.”   From the exhibition description English version

We had pizza near the museum walked a bit, then took the bus back.  But in what was by then dark with the bus windows fogged up, we went past our stop.  Though I’m not sure we would have seen it under better conditions.  But we figured it out and got back ok.

[Sorry I can’t adjust the fonts either.]. 

Crossing the Andes

Lima was under a heavy layer of clouds.  But there was a break going over this desert-like area of the coasts.  By this time we must have 30 or 40,000 feet.  That surf had to be pretty big to see it from the plane. The whole area here looked barren and it made me think of a story I read in a book about an early Peace Corps volunteer in a small village on the coast of Peru.  He related that stories about early Spanish ships trying to land on the coast but it was uninhabitable and the locals fought them off and said they must come from a terrible place if they wanted to land here.

br /> soon we were over just clouds and the captain announced that everyone needed to stay in their seats while we crossed the Andes. But we were over beautiful fluffy white cloud banks. Then we hit some openings in the clouds and I took these photos

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; [blogging on this iPad is a nightmare. The screen won’t scroll. It’s better I the html screen. But still awful]

Lima Airport

Overnight flight, crowded, but we got dinner and breakfast.

I discovered that I need a connector between my phone and iPad to get my pictures.  I think I did that thru my laptop before, but it’s safe in LA.  Maybe there’s a way to connect electronically.  But I took my photos with my phone.  

We have to get in line.  More later.  Grey and rainy here.  Bye.

Going From One World To Another

We’re in the international terminal at LAX.  Before too long we walk down a corridor and through the door to the plane.  When we get out we’ll be in Lima International.  Then another door and another plane, and we’ll be in Buenos Aires.  Jets take a lot of the geography out of travel.  If we went through different doors we’d end up in Asia or Europe or Africa.  But the voyage would be similar.

When we get out of the airport we’ll be in a different world.  (Well, of course, it’s the same world, you know what I mean.).  We’ll be in a part of the world we’ve never visited.  We’re on the threshold.    Imagination and reality will soon merge.

And I checked after yesterday’s post.  Others have had the same problems I had trying to use blogger on an iPad.  So expect posts where pictures are not well integrated with the text.