Buenos Aires - la ultima vez

puerto madero...

old bus, new skyscraper

Facultad de Medicina

palermo parks

recoleta cemetery

students protesting the increase of university tuition around congresso

Plaza de Mayo

Coming up into Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo from the metro, I was in the middle of throngs of people. People gathering or protesting or being paid by the Argentine government to come out in support of the president, Christina Kirchner. The night before, the whole city stepped outside and banged on pots and pans for a little while, apparently to show the president that 'enough was enough.'

lots of people means lots of urine

the president's casa rosada. in the background, someone has a sign that reads 'Vine solo no mi pagaron' (I came here by myself. They didn't pay me.)

Here is a group of folks from Jujuy. It is the same flags and same people that I photographed on the 25th of May for the president's speech in Salta. It seems that the Argentine government puts some of their citizens on buses and pays them to show up for political rallies so that the president appears to have enormous support. These Argentines are part of a 'neighborhood organization' called Tupac Amaru: http://www.tupacamaru.org.ar/

It would not be a gathering of Argentines without Quilmes!

Flyers in the street say 'Por la affirmacion de la democracia'

Iguazu Falls

a portrait of smiley creating a self-portrait

mucha agua!

coati on the train platform

badly timed jumping

Road Block in Puerto Iguazu

the highway between the town of Puerto Iguazu and the famous Falls was blocked - not because of agricultural concerns, but because the citizens were fed up with their municipality and its ties with local mafia. When we wanted to go to the falls, we had to wait from 10 minutes to 30 minutes for the locals to open up the road. There were usually more people waiting in vehicules than there were protesters. Their concerns were pretty ambiguos; one guy gave me a sheet with bullet points. They were against slavery and the mafia, and were for equality and the freedom of the press. I think the bloccade began after a local radio station was shut down. The local police stood around close by to presumably make sure everything was peaceful.

they let a bus of children through the blocade

even pedestrians had to wait and most folks seemed patient enough

the mood was more jovial than hostile

and finally, the road was opened to let everyone pass through including all the omnibuses

Bus Ride to Puerto Iguazu

at dawn. Smiley and I ventured from Salta to Puerto Iguazu on a 22 hour bus ride with Flecha bus. There was a Will Ferrell movie during the night, Semi-Pro, and we were laughing so hard we were probably disturbing the other passengers.

smiley, dozing in the morning sunshine with a lama sweater