Argentina Travel

Madres de Plaza de Mayo and off to Mar del Plata

June 5, 2003

Today was Thursday, the day that the Madres de Plaza de Mayo turn out at the Plaza de Mayo to remember their "disappeared" childen and family and to demand their return. We were staying in Buenos Aires long enough today to witness this event.

After breakfast, we headed out to do some shopping - at least window shopping if nothing else. We headed down Avenida Lavalle and then on Avenida Florida - the other main pedestrian mall. We stopped in at Galleria Pacifico, a small (by US standards, anyway) upscale shopping mall where Margarita had lunch at the food court. Getting a steak at the food court here was no problem, unlike in the US. After lunch, we found the bathroom, as Michaela needed to be changed. First, Margarita headed into the womens' bathroom, but returned when she found the changing table broken and not enough space on the counter. Fortunately, 1) there was a changing table in the mens' room and 2) it wasn't broken. I changed and her and off we went.

We walked to the end of the Avenida Florida that ends at a nice plaza. We crossed the street and sat down on benches next to a children's playground. This is another nice thing about the many plazas that one finds in Argentine cities - many of them have play areas for children. Some even have carousels (not this one though). And this one had baby swings and sand (instead of hard dirt or broken-shells, as with some others). We set Michaela free and she had a blast, especially when there were other children nearby. She still has problems walking in sand though so she spent most of her time crawling. I swung her in the swing a couple of times and walked around with her while holding her hand.

During the time Michaela was playing, I saw a group of three well-dressed military soldiers make their way to the other side of plaza. Since Margarita thought that the other side of the plaza was the port area, she wanted to go as well, so we headed to the other side of the plaza. After realizing that the other side was not the port, Margarita lost interest while mine remain piqued. It increased when another 3 well-dressed soldiers walked up the stairs towards us. I handed Margarita the camera and grabbed Michaela as I planned to intercept the soldiers to take a picture. (Kind of ironic for me, who has worked as an activist against the Argentine government and military to take a picture with the soliders, but it's for Michaela, right?) I asked in my best Spanish "Senores, un foto, por favor," and they kindly obliged. Then I tried to get Margarita to walk down with me to see what the soldiers were "guarding" but she wouldn't budge so I made the short trip alone. It turns out that they were guarding a memorial for those who died in the Malvinas (Falklands) war.

After I rejoined Margarita and Michaela, we headed back onto Avenida Florida to make our way to the Plaza de Mayo. First we stopped at a shop where Margarita saw a poncho/shawl that she liked. It was about 90 pesos, much less than the one we saw for something like 300 pesos when we were in Calafate. So we bought it and headed back to the Galleria Pacifico because we both needed to use a bathroom and thought they had a decent chance of being...not nasty. They were decent...and they even had toilet paper.

When we got to the Plaza de Mayo, there were a few mothers around, including the table set up by the Association selling t-shirts, books, CDs, etc. There were also plenty of tourists waiting for the Madres de Plaza de Mayo to begin walking around the Plaza de Mayo, as many have for more than 25 years. The walk begins at 3:30pm and lasts until 4pm. Many people outside of Argentina are unaware that there are two groups of Madres de Plaza de Mayo: the Linea Fundadora and the Association. Most people know the Association and its outspoken leader, Hebe de Bonafini. It has evolved into a powerful political organization and today was sporting a sign supporting non-payment of Argentina's foreign debt. The Linea Fundadora, on the other hand, has stuck with its original purpose, is less flashy and therefore, tends to get less international attention. It's sign merely said "Madres de Plaza de Mayo - Linea Fundadora." There were also people walking in smaller groups or by themselves, some carrying pictures of those who had been disappeared. We asked one of the mothers of the Linea Fundadora group if we could join them and she agreed. She also introduced to some of the other mothers. We fell in behind them and walked in quiet contemplation for most of the 30 minutes. Meanwhile, people would quietly join and leave the procession or meet and greet some of the mothers. During the walk, I contemplated the thousands of people disappeared by the Argentine military and police and the effect it had on their families.

Afterwards, Margarita talked to some of the people she saw holding pictures of people she recalled from the Disappeared Project (http://www.desaparecidos.org). One was a sister whose brother had been disappeared. She had promised her mother that she would continue walking at the Plaza after her mother died. She was there with her father. We continued talking with some of the mothers and were invited to join them at the cafe at which they meet afterwards. We walked the few blocks up the street from the Plaza and joined the mothers for tea and sodas. One thing I immediately noticed is that only one of the mothers present smoked. I later learned that the other mothers give her grief about it as well. I spent most of the time entertaining or watching Michaela. A few of the mothers were surprised and concerned by Michaela's fondness for ice. One tried to convince Michaela that it was too cold while Michaela reached into the container of ice cubes I had ordered for her. Unfortunately, we could not stay as long as we wanted because we had to catch a bus to Mar del Plata and we still needed to get our bags from the hotel and get a taxi, so we left, but not before we paid the bill for all of the mothers. Of course, they refused, but we left the money and said to use any extra for the organization - or all of it, if they prefer.

So off we went to the hotel, where they called a taxi for us and retrived our luggage, which took f...o...r...e...v...e...r. We apologized to the taxi driver and made our way to the bus station. The bus station is huge - and pretty nice. It's not the usual sleazy and grimey looking area I'm used to in the US - have you seen the bus station in Oakland, for example? Margarita found us tickets for 40 pesos each while I watched over Michaela and tried to prevent her from killing herself on the stairs. We stopped at a confiteria in the station and had a bite to eat before Margarita made sure we had milk, drinks, and snacks for the 5.5 hour bus ride.

Fortunately, the bus was cama coche, which basically means that the seats almost completely recline. Very comfy - for a bus. I wondered why the bus ride was going to take so long - that was, until it took us what seemed like an hour merely to get on the freeway. The ride was uneventful and Michaela slept most of the trip.

When we arrived in Mar del Plata, it was nearly midnight. I only remember seeing some large neon signs for Havanna, the famous maker of alfajores, and Balcarce, which also makes alfajores, but doesn't seem to have franchised out across the country like Havanna has.

The staff at the hotel was ready for us when we arrived. It seems that Margarita's relatives in Mar del Plata know the proprietors of the hotel so we were treated quite well and the rate was good - 35 pesos a night. When we finally got into the hotel room, we found out why. While it was clean and would suffice, it was a big step down from where we had been staying in Buenos Aires. That was OK though, since it was a block from where Margarita's aunt lived.

Posted by mike at June 9, 2003 10:21 PM