Just rolled out of the pollo store and boy is my tummy full. That is the way to do fast food. You walk in and sit down at a table with a tablecloth, and an old, homely looking lady comes up and says, "What would you like to eat?" No menu or anything, you just say what you feel like and they tell you if they can do it or not. Today I felt like having some raviolis but evidently she didn't feel like cooking them so she said, "Would you like some chicken?" Too which I gave the trusty old standy, "Sure." as a response. This place is known for having good roasted chicken so I was not afraid. About a minute later she comes out with a basket of fresh bread, a bowl of roasted potatoes in garlic, and a big plate with a half a chicken on it. Also there were two wedges of lemon and a salt shaker. Rad. This is my kinda fast food. The best part, was I could tell it was real food! It smelled great. They keep these chickens slowly spinning in the rotisserie all day and so they are juicy and tender, just like all little chickens would want to be in the afterlife. Rubbed with some spices and the outside is really crispy and golden and nice. It took about fifteen minutes to eat it, the lady gave me a smile and the bill and I was outta there. Sin problemas! And the deal maker is that it cost less than four dollars! Rad. Did I mention I am never leaving here! (A joke. I am still coming home later.)
So now I am on San Juan trying not to fall asleep with all this pollo in me belly. I left the Altube's today. I have finished with my schooling here and am on the verge of travelling a bit. On monday I am headed to Uruguay for awhile. The school turned out to be really great. I think the best part was Guillermo, the prof I had from Cuba. He was a great teacher and I get the feeling he will always be my musical homie too. That is a language that transcends other languages.
I went to a cool "Historia del Che" lecture. Che Guevara is from Cordoba province here in Argentina and there is a lot of pride to have sired such a son. The discussion that followed was centered on the nature of the "movement" he left in his wake after he died in Bolivia. Many American youths, and those in almost all countries of the world are able to identify with the sentiment of rebellion and revolution but do many of them actually understand the reality that lay beneath that face? Not generally, no. That was the concensus. Is Che a fashion or a symbol? Is he a hero or a man who was obsessed with action and adventure and would pursue it without pause until his own death. We concluded that he was both, in both of these cases. The third question that was addressed was the idea of armed rebellion. Was his method of armed revolution the right way to go about political and social reform? Was it the only way? Are there other ways? It clearly depends on the situation, but there really wasn't a concensus on this answer. In an international crowd like the one I was in it was really interesting to see the variety of answers, mostly dependent on the place the person was from. Swiss people didn't really think that he was doing the right thing, and thought that his ideals were interesting but not really relevant because they live in a secure country where human rights and the question of freedom is not an everyday concern. Most Americans seemed to be for armed action. No surprise there.
I went to a cooking class to learn how these guys make thier empanadas. They are a lot like wontons or potstickers, just not asian, and the dough has lard in it. You make the dough (masa) out of water, flour, lard and salt. Sounds icky but it is actually de-ricious. Then you make a filling (relleno) and wet the edges of the round of dough and fold in the filling and then do a little shimmy with your fingers and voila! An empanada. You gotta bake them too. These things are addictive and not really that great for your heart. What'r ya gonna do?
I became semi-addicted to a thing called Bendita TV. It is a social commentary show, probably similar to the daily show, that airs nightly on Canal 9. It is one and a half hours and focuses on funny things that are happening in the media. You have to remember that at this point in time, Matteo Del Norte speaks like a four year old. He does not have control of a large vocabulary and he does not have an assertive command on all tenses of speech. Thus, he does not have the ability to understand all that is happening in a tv show or rapidly moving conversation. That said, I can understand Bendita TV!!! And it is hilarious! The culture here is much more open with satire and humor. You would never see Jorge Bush getting interviewed by Jon Stewart but here the equivalent of that happens quite a bit! With really funny outcomes. During the election in the past weeks, the canditates were out and about all the time, thus making themselves targets for these types of shows and I must say that they handle themselves pretty well. Sure politicians are still douche-bottles everywhere you go, but these guys and gals at least have senses of humor. It seems as though the repercussions of making a joke on air are much less intense here. They may get made fun of, but they won't get impeached.
Tomorrow I am going to a huge Partido de Futbol with a bunch of my friends from school. That translates to soccer match. They do not have football like we have football, but we could only wish to have soccer like they have Futbol!!! It is really something. Each team has a gang of drunken crazy people that sing songs and battle with the other gangs, creating an intensity that I have never before witnessed in the area of sport. It is sort of like a Braveheart type situation DURING the actual futbol match. People have been killed during these battles and it really is something to behold. Up until now I have only seen these types of things on video, but I am hoping to change that tomorrow. (Don't worry mom, usually the spectators are fine! Ha ha:) What else would we expect from the ancestors of bullfighters. I guess this soccer related violence is a European problem too, and just as we would hope they would, they call this problem "Hooligan-ism"!!! How great is that.
In response to what I wrote about Malachi Ritscher I got a note from a friend of his the next day. It said that this person had also created an archive of info regarding his life and message that can be seen at www.ritscherarchive.org -it was today a year ago. Time really goes by ya. But check this stuff about him out. Before most of you who are reading this, and me, who is writing this, were born, in the country of Vietnam, there was a war...we all know that. We, in America, call it the Vietnam War, the people of Vietnam call it the American War. That's interesting isn't it? During this war a lot of horrible things happened and a lot of those things spawned other things that were equally as nightmarish. During a period of discriminatory treatment towards buddhists in the south of Vietnam in the early sixties, a senior buddhist monk by the name of Thich Quang Duc took a surprisingly brutal action to draw attention to these human rights infringements. Along with 350 other monks he began by leading a march through the streets of Saigon carrying banners denouncing the governments behavior. Upon arrival at a predestined intersection he was seated in the lotus position on a pillow in the middle of the street. A second monk emptied a 5 gallon can of gasoline on him and while moving his prayer beads with his fingers and reciting a mantra he was set aflame and he proceeded to burn to death in front of a horrified mass of onlookers. His last words were written in a letter that he left. "Before closing my eyes and moving toward the vision of the Buddha, I respectfully plead to President Ngo Dinh Diem to take a mind of compassion towards the people of the nation and implement religious equality to maintain the strength of the homeland eternally. I call the venerables, reverends, members of the sangha and the lay Buddhists to organise in solidarity to make sacrifices to protect Buddhism." It was a move that changed history. It won a photographer and a writer a Pulitzer. It got the attention of the world. It was in this spirit that Ritscher took his life. One year ago today. This deserves our attention and thought, despite whether we agree with the manner of protest.
And on a lighter note...it is now the greatest time of the year!!! Know why?¿?¿? Cause it is the heart of birthday season for the Scorpios!!! Of which I am one. So happy birthday Phil and Ryan and Cuppies in San Francisco. Tomorrow is Suzanne's birthday and you can bet she is already celebrating! We are all getting older...soon enough yours truly will stop "pushing thirty", and instead be thirty!! Ha ha! But I am not stopping pushing thirty cause I am tired out!! No way bitches...Anyway, most people live in fear of Scorpios so look out!
Last thing. Just as I thought I had come to know old Miguel Altube, he performed something that made me realize that we all have an infinite number of sides to us. You remember from an earlier broadcast that I mentioned him to be capable of some astouding Mr. Bean replication. That is to say that he can be a silly son of a gun. He is also a very well read and verging on brilliant son of a gun. But last night, Alba prompted him to do something that opened up a whole new chasm of historical possibility. We were trying to write down all of the words to this really catchy song that is the theme from a show on tv here called Decisiones. It is a rad little ditty with some funny words. So we were all singing along when Alba turned to me and said that Miguel used to be a tango singer. The way he looked at me made me think that this was a joke so she told him to sing and then he stood up and did and it was one of the most impassioned things I have ever witnessed. And it silenced me and Alba completely. It was astounding. He was terrific, a deep, rich voice with such emotion that only an older person could possess. The pain of life right there in the music...and that was right there in front of us. It was really something. That is all for now. Hasta luego...
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