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Dengue Fever Outbreak

I'm on the U.S. Embassy's mailing list and I just received the following e-mail about the Dengue Fever Outbreak, a vector born disease. It's good I'm no where near mosquitos because I'd be the first one to be covered in bites. All the exchange student trips to the north have been postponed.


"This Warden Message, a follow-up to our message of March 27, 2009, is to
alert U.S. citizens in and traveling to Argentina that the Argentine
Ministry of Health reported 10,594 confirmed cases of dengue fever in
Argentina as of April 12, 2009. Up until recently, cases had been
restricted to the northern Argentine provinces of Chaco, Salta,
Catamarca, Tucuman, Corrientes and Jujuy, however 107 cases have now
been confirmed in the capital and in Buenos Aires Province. The Health
Ministry reported that all suspected and confirmed cases in Buenos Aires
had been imported from the most affected provinces, but media reports
said that at least five infected people had not traveled outside of the
capital region. Dengue fever is a mosquito-transmitted illness, for
which there is no vaccine, and no specific treatment. Dengue
hemorrhagic fever is a rare, more severe and sometimes fatal form of the
disease. For the latest information, you may visit the ministry's
website at http://www.msal.gov.ar/htm/site/default.asp
or call 0800-222-1002.



The Ministry of Health recommends eliminating sources of standing water,
which form breeding grounds for mosquitoes. To further reduce the risk
of contracting dengue, Argentine officials and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend wearing clothing that exposes as
little skin as possible and applying a repellent containing the
insecticide DEET (concentration 30 to 35 percent) or Picaridin
(concentration 20 percent or greater for tropical travelers). Because
of the increased risk of Dengue fever and the ongoing risk, practicing
preventative measures is recommended by the CDC. For further
information on Dengue fever, please visit the CDC's website at:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/dengue/index.htm
. "

Good editorial detailing the corruption of the past presidencies of Argentina.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/weekinreview/05BARRIONUEVO.html?ref=weekinreview

First Day of Class

I went to my first class today, "Spanish Grammar/Gramatica Española." Being the language dork that I am I absolutely loved it. We talked about verbs today, mainly the indicative tense. When the teacher introduced me to the class the guy next to me started talking to me in English about how he lived in New Jersey for 20 years and became a U.S. Citizen. He came back to Argentina 3 years ago. He considers himself lucky, his friends that live in the U.S. are really struggling with the recession. I thought it was interesting that he said that all he ever did in the U.S. was "work, work, work." That really says something about the difference between Argentina and the U.S. Although Argentines aren't as materially wealthy as Americans, they sure enjoy life a lot more. I should mention that we are on a 3 day holiday in commemoration of the ex-president that just died.

Raul Alfonsin, 82, Former Argentine Leader, Dies

By REUTERS

Published: March 31, 2009

Filed at 8:34 p.m. ET

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Raul Alfonsin, who guided Argentina's return to democracy in the 1980s after seven years of brutal military rule but failed to stave off a deep economic crisis, died Tuesday of lung cancer. He was 82.

Alfonsin died at his home in Buenos Aires, said Dr. Alberto Sadler, who had been treating the former president.

Alfonsin was president from 1983 to 1989 and won international admiration for putting on trial and jailing the former military leaders who tortured and killed thousands of suspected leftists in a vicious "dirty war."

He had been a prominent opponent of the junta that took power in 1976 and his presidency restored respectability to a country regarded as a pariah after decades of coups and often thuggish rule.

"Whether you like it or not, you are a symbol of the return of democracy," President Cristina Fernandez said last year when she unveiled a bust of Alfonsin in the government palace.

Alfonsin won the 1983 presidential election after the military dictatorship collapsed, and six years later he completed Argentina's first transfer of power from one elected president to another in decades.

He survived three military uprisings against his rule, but his term ended ignominiously when his centrist Radical Party, discredited for its handling of an economic crisis, was crushed at the ballot box by Peronist leader Carlos Menem. Alfonsin stepped down six months early with the economy in tatters.

"No president has the right to endlessly demand sacrifices from his people," a devastated Alfonsin told Argentines by television as he stepped down.

In the last part of his presidency, inflation hit a record 200 percent per month, sparking supermarket lootings and angry strikes by Peronist-controlled labor unions.

The poverty rate more than doubled under his rule to above 25 percent, and the currency lost 95 percent of its value in four months.

Alfonsin's government struggled to pay a huge foreign debt partly accumulated by the military juntas and debt-ridden state enterprises. Economists blamed the chaos on his reluctance to impose harsh measures to close a huge public deficit.

Born on March 12, 1927, in Chascomus, a town 75 miles south of Buenos Aires, Alfonsin was the son of an affluent Spanish immigrant shopkeeper and his British wife. He went to military academy but then chose to study law.

An eloquent orator, he rose through the ranks of the Radical Party -- the traditional opposition to the powerful Peronists -- and was elected to the lower house of Congress in 1963.

A political activist from his teens, he was jailed three times, first by the government of President Juan Peron and later twice for protesting against the military government that ruled Argentina in the late 1960s.

Married and with six children, he was an influential human rights leader during the 1970s and under military rule he risked his life offering free legal services to present writs of habeas corpus for leftists abducted by security forces.

After taking office he made a bold step unprecedented in Latin America, ordering the trial of former military leaders.

Five were convicted and imprisoned for human rights crimes, and an official report estimated 11,000 people disappeared and died under the regime.

However, Alfonsin later signed a controversial decree to halt trials, under constant pressure from the military.

"I was convinced that we couldn't build democracy based on total immunity, but it was impossible to put 2,000 members of the military on trial. We didn't have any weapons," Alfonsin told Reuters in a 2006 interview.

Alfonsin remained influential during the 1990s, helping to forge an alliance between the Radicals and dissenting Peronists that led to a Radical winning the presidency in 1999.

But when the Radicals were disgraced during the 2000-2001 economic meltdown, Alfonsin distanced himself from the party he had belonged to for decades.

Santiago Debrief

I’m on my way back from Santiago after a 3-hour flight, a night in Punta Arenas and a 4-hour car ride. I’m showing symptoms of PTSD (Post Trip Stress Disorder). I am always a little disappointed when a trip comes to end and I have to return to my routine. I always have to have another trip to look forward to. I guess the next one will be my trip back to the United States.
To be honest it was particularly hard to leave Santiago. I love being in a city with all of the excitement and places to explore. I also love being able to get on a bus or the metro to go do things. I am a very independent person and I think cities afford me that independence. After three weeks of hanging out with other exchange students and Chileans I developed a picture of what my life would have been like in Santiago had I been placed there. Of course I have no regrets and am grateful for all the opportunities and amazing things I have experienced this year. I have learned a lot about myself.
Now on to the Radiohead concert. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun in a four-hour period. Kraftwerk , an electronic music band from the 70s, opened for Radiohead. I think it was a really good pairing of bands though it seems a little weird that a band that has been around so long and that achieved fame earlier would open for Radiohead. Kraftwerk played their hits (Autobahn, Computer World, Radioaktivität, Trans Europe Express, Musik Nonstop, Boing Boom Tschak). Radiohead then opened with 15 Step from In Rainbows. I can’t describe how excited I was to see Radiohead in concert, it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was a freshman in high school. I sang along with almost all of the songs. I went crazy when they played Paranoid Android, Idioteque, and 2+2=5. I started to lose my voice towards the end. I thnk it was me trying to do the Thom Yorke falsetto. I think I’m going to be one of the parents that shows their kids the records of their favorite band (in my case I’ll be showing my ipod) and tells stories about going to the concerts.
I should note that the concert was held at Estadio Nacional (National Stadium) where dissidents were killed during the military coup d’état of President Allende in 1973. I just watched The Black Pimpernel, a movie about the Swedish ambassador to Chile and they filmed a number of scenes at the gate where I entered the concert. The people running to get into the concert before everyone else looked eerily like the footage of the Chileans running to avoid the police brutality.

I'll leave you with the opening to the Radiohead Concert:

Chile 101: Intro to Democracy

Argentina became a democracy in the early 80s but Chile remained under the control of Augusto Pinochet until the 1980s. Although he died in 2006, Pinochet is still adored by a sizable number of Chileans. My host uncle has a photo of his daughter receiving a kiss from Pinochet hanging in the living room.



My friend's host parents had this book in their house. "Chile: Yesterday and Today" is a coffee table book/anti-communist pro military government propaganda. On each spread there is a photo with a caption describing life "yesterday" under communism (usually death and destruction) and life "today" under the military (usually happy people strolling down the street).

Best of Santiago (So Far)

Some highlights from my trip to Santiago, Chile:

• Taking the metro. Santiago has really good public transportation and a very clean/safe metro system that's very extensive. Unfortunately it takes me 2 hours to get from where I'm staying in Buin (a suburb of Santiago) to Barrio La Reina in Santiago.
  
• Cheap food and drinks. Sometimes 1/5 the price of Buenos Aires
• Cajon de Maipo. About an hour outside of Santiago in the mountains. Places to hike, hot springs, solitude.

See My Photos Here

El Calafate Bike Trip

Here's a summary and some photos of my bike trip this weekend with my advisor and his friend.

Day 1

We left Gallegos around 12 and arrived in Calafte in the late afternoon. From Calafate we drove Lago Roca, about an hour away by dirt road. Lago Roca is pretty rural. There's a small lodge for tourists at the end of the road, a campground, and a camp owned by the Province of Santa Cruz. We stayed at the camp which is owned by the government and is free for residents. It has over 100 bunk beds in around 15 rooms. Visitors also have access to a communal kitchen and dining hall. Very nice. After we unpacked we went for a short 15 km roundtrip ride to the end of the dirt road. There we met two french tourists and I even was able to practice a little of my rusty french. On the way back we got stuck behind a skunk going down the road in the same direction. We kept a safe distance for about 5 minutes until it wondered off into the woods. When we got back Hugo made us homemade pizza.

Day 2

The next morning we drove to the entrance of Parque Nacional de Los Glaciers. From the entrace we rode about 20 Km uphill into the wind to the Perito Merino Glacier. After eating lunch infront of the glacier we rode back (downhill with a tailwind). When we got back to the entrance Hugo prepared an asado (grilled steak).

Day 3

On day 3 Hugo's Calafate friends met up with us at the camp and we rode the 60 Km from Lago Roca to Calafate. There were hardly any cars on the dirt road plus we had a tailwind and were going mostly downhill.

See All My Photos

7 Months

I started to think of all the things I haven’t done since I left for Argentina. Some good, some bad.
-Eaten shrimp
-Eaten tofu
-Consumed high fructose corn syrup
-Driven a car
-Worked
-Vacuumed
-Used a drier
-Taken a test
-Done a math equation

Counting Sheep

Traffic was at a stand still en route to Punta Arenas...

Stay Tuned

I have made a resolution to write at least two entries per week in my blog. This is a huge increase over what I have been doing. I also would like to do some more interactive blogging where people leave responses to questions, etc so if you have any questions for me about my experiences, Argentina or anything else leave a comment on one of my posts and I’ll try to answer them in future blog posts. I’ve also given my blog a slightly new look. Keep checking in!

Books

I watch movies and television in Spanish and I speak Spanish all day long but I have one guilty “English-speaking” pleasure and that’s reading in English. Since my parents brought me books from the United States I have read:
-Stubborn Twig the Oregon Reads book about a Japanese American family in Hood River.
-The Road by Cormac McCarthy
-The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Right now I’m reading On The Road by Jack Kerouac and then I’ll read either Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey or Lion in the White House: The Life of Theodore Roosevelt by Aidan Donald. After that I’ll be out of books in English.

Wishing and Waiting...

So it looks like I'm spending 3 weeks of March in Santiago, Chile. Roundtrip airfare from Punta Arenas (3 hours from Rio Gallegos) to Santiago, Chile? 160$ USD. The only tricky part is we have to buy the tickets in Chile, which means a 3 hour drive to Punta Arenas.

I'm also trying to snag a Radiohead ticket for the 26th in Santiago.

0 tickets down, 2 to go.

Communication (or the lack thereof)

I have had the worst luck making phone calls within this country. First of all I don't understand why you're phone number is different when someone is calling you long distance (you have to take away 15 and ad it somewhere else and then plug in a zero and some other code). Second of all it drives me crazy that most people do not have calling plans that allow them to call from their home phone to a cell phone. I can also send text messages on skype to cell phones in France and the United States but for some reason not in Argentina. It costs about an arm and a leg to make a call from a cell phone so about the only thing you can do is send text messages.

After having my first cell phone stolen I went in to buy another one in Buenos Aires. They told me that they were out of Rio Gallegos numbers but that I could switch from a Buenos Aires to a Rio Gallegos number within two months. But I can't go into one of the company's stores. I have to do it over the phone. In Spanish.

I'm now at Günes house (the Turkish exhange student) where, after running out of credit and trying to use her chip in my cell phone to send a message to a friend who sent me a message on my phone (we would use her phone but it's not allowing her to send messages right now), I have locked myself out of my phone without my friend's cell phone number. So I called my home phone (using Günes' home phone) to get my friend's cell phone number. I went online to my cell provider's website where you can send free text messages. I was told his number doesn't exist, although I'm not sure I used the correct combination of 15s. So we gave in and called his cell phone (using Günes' phone which you must remember can make calls which are expensive but cannot send messages (although it can receive messages (that's another story))). So his phone rang and rang and eventually went to voice mail. I left a voice message telling him that I was coming over later and to send me a text message to my cell (my phone chip is currently in another phone without any of my contacts). Meanwhile he sends a message to Günes' cell saying he can't answer the incoming call and wants to know who is calling him. Shortly after I received a message on my phone (not really mine, just unil I can unlock my real one) from him telling us to come over at 10. Did you follow all that?

So now I've got to go back to my house, write down my host parents' cell numbers and buy a phone card. Tomorrow I'll try to unlock my phone and change the number to a Rio Gallegos number. If you need to get ahold of me I recommend e-mail.

Buenos Aires

I can’t think of many cities that I don’t like (Los Angeles) so when I say that I absolutely love Buenos Aires I know my words don’t carry much weight. However, having seen most of Argentina as well as parts of Chile and Uruguay, I can say that it is my favorite part of Argentina.
Best of Buenos Aires:
• Recoleta Cemetery- Burial sight of Argentina’s wealthy and powerful, Recoleta, with its stone mausoleums of designs varying from modest to outrageous, has a certain charm: abandoned graves—I’ve literally seen a basket with a skull and bones inside—to polished marble buildings lit on the inside by crystal chandeliers, the eclectic mix of new and old, rich and famous, remembered and forgotten.
• Palermo SoHo- My favorite neighborhood. Not quite as ritzy as Barrio Recoleta and with a hell of a lot younger residents, Palermo is dominated by boutique shopping, trendy restaurants, and café culture.
• Café culture- When you go to a café in Buenos Aires you see your waiter three times: when they give you the menu, when they take your order, and when they give you the check. Having been accosted one too many a time by the over zealous Red Robin waiter, the hands off-take your time to enjoy your meal and company attitude is especially appealing. You can leave the tip calculator behind as well; gratuity is included in the bill.
• Taxis- Unlike in the United States the taxis in Buenos Aires are pleasantly cheap (a 20 minute cab ride costs about $6 USD) plus the ride is always an adventure. Lanes are a suggestion on 9 de Julio, the worlds widest avenue. I’ve met some really interesting taxi drivers in Buenos Aires. My favorite would have to be the driver singing along with “I Want to Know What Love Is” on the way to the airport.
• Culture Clash- 1/3 of Argentines are of Italian ancestry. Great gnocchi. Angry drivers.

I'm Not a Writer, But I Play One on Blogspot

The Expat Argentina Blog has graciously accepted my offer to contribute to their blog. They should have my first piece up shortly, in the meantime they've posted a Ten Questions Interview with me.

I'll cross-post any future publications to my personal blog.

Geoff

Cursing and Loving the Internet (At The Same Time)

The perception of American culture in Argentina has always surprised me. Someone told me that they thought everyone in America drank whiskey. Someone else told me that Americans eat huge breakfasts. People want to know if cowboys walk the streets of the West or if jocks, cheerleaders, and nerds make up highly segregated high school cliques. Obviously a lot of this comes from the American movies that are shown on almost every film channel day and night.

On the other hand the perception of American politics and current affairs is almost dead on. My host dad watches the Argentine news and knows just about as much as I do about the election in the United States. Listening to Argentine reporters talk about the election also takes away a lot of the bias. All this aside I found the following incident pretty amusing...

I got up from a nap today and walked into the office where my host dad was watching a video of an American talking about the collapse of the U.S. financial system and the introduction of the Amero currency. The man went on to describe how the United States had minted the Amero (he even had gotten his hands on one of the coins) and how we would all be doomed if it were to be implimented. He urged all Americans to exchange their money to gold or silver or even French Francs (de facto as of 2002) immeadiately. My host dad was in disbelief and wanted to know what I thought of this. Of course I told him I thought it was some stupid conspiracy theory.

I decided to look up the host of the video, Hal Turner. Here's the first line from his wikipedia entry: Harold "Hal" Turner is an American white nationalist and white supremacist from North Bergen, New Jersey. We soon decided that there was probably little truth to the video.

However, I guess there is some truth to the saying "don't believe everything you see on the internet." I'm just glad that we took the time to do a little further research. And that I have an internet dictionary to translate supremacist.

Health Care in Argentina

Considering all the current election talk of health care reform in the United States I thought I would take some time to talk about health care in Argentina. Health care here is free, unless you need a highly specialized treatment or want to pay for private health care. Free health care sounds great on paper but it comes with its own costs. I started thinking about this the other day after the following incident on the trip...

Marieke and I were talking about the trip during the ride back to Rio Gallegos when I looked up and noticed that the women in the seat in-front of me had a blood pressure cuff on her arm and that one of the nurse passengers was listening to her heart beat with a stethoscope. I nudged Marieke and asked her what was going on. The next thing I noticed was that the nurse had a giant syringe in his hand. At this point the bus had pulled over and stopped on the side of the road. The nurse turned to me and asked me to wake Marta (the other nurse who I talked about in the previous post). Fearing that the lady in-front of me was very sick I tapped Marta on the shoulder to wake her. She woke up startled, looked around, and went back to sleep. The others called her name and finally she re-awoke. She then noticed what was going on, let out an annoyed sigh, rolled her eyes, cracked her knuckles, and got up. She checked the blood pressure of the women and then pulled out another syringe and gave her a shot. She returned to her seat where she covered her head with a coat and went back to sleep. The woman also went to sleep and everything went on as normal. At this point I was very curious as to what had happened. I assumed that the women was diabetic.

When we stopped to cross into Chile I asked Angel what was wrong with the women. He replied non-chalantly, "she had heart burn."

Going to the doctor here is liking going to the grocery store. My host dad has a blood pressure cuff and when we were in the north he checked the blood pressure of his entire extended family. Then, to be sure that it was correct, we all loaded into his pickup and drove to the emergency room where they took everyone's blood pressure. They couldn't figure out why I was so amused.

A couple weeks ago my host dad had a stomach ache. They called the doctor who came to the house with a nurse and gave him a shot.

The attitude towards making a trip to the doctor is so passive here that my host mom actually suggested that I take a trip to the hospital to see the renovations.

This attitude also extends to all specialties of medicine. I read in a New York Times essay that something like 1/3 of children in Buenos Aires go to see a psychologist on a regular basis, and it's not because they're crazy.

I can't say this hasn't worn off on me. I have a bad sunburn on my nose and might just make a trip to the dermatoligist after I buy a newspaper...

The Trip Home

Day 5
We decided to start the day by exploring downtown Ushuaia. It was agreed upon that we would meet at 11:30 AM to start the drive back. However a number of us thought this would not leave us a enough time to cross the border before it closed at 11 PM.

We hit the road and drove for hours. We stopped in Rio Grande and made four different stops at gas stations looking for one that had enough gas to fill the tanks of the buses.

As the time passed people started to get more and more anxious about making to the border before it closed. It finally turned dark outside as we pulled in to wait for the ferry. One of the other cyclists (who I happen to share a class with) asked me if Marieke had a migraine (she is prone to very painful migraines on a regular basis). I thought she was just sleeping but to make sure I asked her if she was okay. She was barely able to talk but she nodded her head when I asked if she was having a migraine. Since we were stopped I got off the bus and went to the other bus to find the migraine medication. When I got back on the bus I had the driver shut off the music and the lights. I also had to tell everyone to stop talking which proved to be a challenge. A lady from the other bus finally came over with the medication and started massaging Marieke's forehead. Unfortunately she didn't have the strength to take the medicine yet.

In the mean time one of the passengers, a nurse named Marta, gets back on the bus and starts complaining about something. I "shushed" her a number of times because she wouldn't stop talking. Then another passenger, Juan Carlos (also a nurse), got back on the bus. Juan Carlos is very loud and had been drinking all night the night before, woke up and started drinking, had some wine drink at noon, and then was drinking beer in the afternoon. I should note that he was the only one that was intoxicated. When he entered the bus he was hooting and hollering and everyone "shushed" him (mainly me). Then he shouted jokingly, "what are you, my father?"

I continuously "shushed" the two nurses and finally Marieke took her medication. We got on the ferry, crossed the Straight, and started heading towards the border. It was already past 11 and we knew we might not make it into Argentina before the next day.

The pain didn't subside and a lot of the people on the bus were really worried but we tried to keep everyone quiet in order to reduce the pain.

Finally we arrived at the Chilean exit. Of course, considering the time, it was closed. Marta started talking about how she wanted to get home tonight and how this was a huge inconvenience for her. Then she says out loud "we have a sick person on board, they have to let us through." Having come to the realization that Marieke's migraine could be her ticket home she starts talking about how this is a violation of Human Rights that they won't let us cross.

Soon after the Chilean immigration officer came on the bus and the driver turned on the lights. I was the only one standing and told him that I speak English and Spanish and that I could translate. He asked questions like "can I see your passport" and "I need to see your face" (her face was covered with her hair). Juan Carlos tried to help translate but as soon as he did the officer turned to him and told him that only him and I were talking, I can't say I didn't have a slight smirk on my face after the officer shut him up. He also asked me if I was her boyfriend, which I'll come back to later. He left the bus with her passport and Marieke sat back down. In the meantime one of the passengers stands up from the back of the bus with is passport, walks over to his son, grabs his backpack and gets off the bus. I went over to the son and asked him where his dad was going to which he replied that his dad was a doctor and that he was going to go with Marieke. I didn't know he was a doctor because he never tried to do anything to help until the opportunity to cross the border arose.

The immigration officer came back on board the bus and told Marieke that she was going to cross the border with a driver and the doctor in a pick up truck that was part of our caravan. I helped Marieke gather her belongings and we got off the bus. She then started to throw up outside of the pick up. At last the pick up passed through the border and I got back on the bus. Angel, one of the passengers, then told me that I should have lied and said that Marieke was my girlfriend so that I could pass through the border too. I told him that I didn't really care that much. Then Juan Carlos, who is at least 50, made an inappropriate joke (in its nature and its timing) about this at which point I just about lost it.

We turned the buses around and headed into the middle of Chilean nowhere. The rest of the ride I kept thinking how I just want to fine a telecabina to call home to the United States. Marta kept complaining about how she wanted a hotel room.

Finally we arrived at what was literally a village. There was a tiny place with 5 beds for about $14 USD/night. Of course the place didn't take visa and I had no cash because I had spent it on lunch in Rio Grande. Anyways, 5 people slept there and the rest of us either slept on the bus or in tents that we pitched next to a gymnasium. When we were taking our stuff off the bus the lady that had brought Marieke's medicine started talking to me and asking how it turned out in the end (she had been on the other bus and didn't ever see the immigration officer). I explained to her my frustration with the people on my bus and she was very understanding.

The next morning we all got on the buses and went back to Gallegos. My adviser's wife came with Marieke to pick us up. I asked her if the doctor talked to her at all. She told me that the only thing she remembers is looking at the clock in Gallegos and realizing that it was 1:30 AM.

Keep in mind that this entire time I was trying to hide my frustration from everyone. People are very observant of some of our cultural differences and I didn't want to seem like the pushy American. Things like customer service don't exist here and people usually just let stuff go so I didn't want to make a big deal out of, what I thought, was a big deal.

So that is my story of how a bus with 3 nurses (one that just didn't say anything) and one doctor stood by and did nothing, or made things more difficult, until the situation personally affected them.