if not…

the argentine president has raised the export tax on all goods to 45%. the response: lots of protests consisting of banging pots and pans up and down every street while walking towards plaza de mayo where the casa roja (congress) is located. all the while encouraging cars to honk honk honk into the wee hours. newspapers have shown fights. it has become an endless topic among the city. my spanish teacher’s response: argentina is crazy. you thought the tango was what we’re about, wrong, insane political protests! no worries. i am safe. but it is quite a sight.

on the bright side.

i saw RENT in spanish last night. amazing. amazing amazing. luckily i knew all the words in english by heart, so translating the plot and songs was easy. the actors and singers and dancers were absurd though. so energetic and convincing. voices just sound prettier with a hispanic accent. it was opening night. it cost 25 pesos…less than $10. it was a beautiful display of everything i love.

the night continued with amazing steak for free. for my friend noah’s 21st celebration.

the day started with an amazing argentine poetry class where we spent 1.5 hours discussing only the first two stanzas of Jorge Lois Borges’ “The Art of Poetry“. click to read it in english of course. but we compared spanish and english. translations damage the words. sort of fed up with english translations of the brilliant Borges.

following poetry, mia, kevin, robbie, and i headed to the museo nacional de bellas artes. national art museum. great huge collection. a statue i am obsessed with by Rodin called “Hand of God”

and a photographer who created beautiful mapped images, Georges Rousse. a brief pause for lunch, then more museum, then a continuation of lunch conversation. the ability to define and uphold unconditional love. leading to a discussion with mia and kevin about christian science later on the walk home. leading to conversations about liminal moments and contradictions.

agreeing that you cannot have answers without questions.

walked home. got asked for a cigarette by a seedy character. i said no fumo. he asked for money to buy some. i said no tengo monedas. he asked for a cell phone. i walked faster. do not worry. mia and kevin were close ahead.

then clang clang clang pots and pans the whole walk home. then stuck in traffic of protest in a taxi trying to get to RENT. arrive. back to beginning.

tonight. perhaps a repeat performance of the jazz club. with Loli Molina. our new young voice to ease the pain.