Where in the world is Helen?

Written April 13, 2008

The answer: Uruguay. Why, you may ask. The answer: Asado Mas Grande Del Mundo. The world's largest barbecue. Not just Uruguay, not just South America. The world.

Sunday night (last week), I went to Buenos Aires (Argentina, clearly) for a Fulbright conference that lasted all week. I have to say, it's pretty freaking awesome to be a part of this program. Super VIP treatment all the time. I actually made money by traveling to Buenos Aires, in addition to a paid plane ticket and paid accommodations.

Monday the Fulbrighters all met in the Ministry of Education to meet each other and schmooze. There were about 40 of us that met in Argentina from the Southern Cone: Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. Throughout the trip, my favorite part was being able to talk to all these interesting people and just having totally fascinating conversations. The research topics varied greatly. Some of my favorites were Brazilian circus and street youth outreach, Habitat Fragmentation in Chile, Habitat Fragmentation in Paraguay, Racial Identities of Ex-US Immigrants in Brazil, Fisheries in Chile, Secularism in Uruguay, the list goes on and on. A lot of people had topics about public health, many people are studying history, several studying biology. There are two people doing astronomy research, one in the Atacama desert in Chile, and one in Sao Paulo.

After a tour of Buenos Aires (BA), we got together to meet the US ambassador, which was a pretty big deal, although it wasn't very fun. I attended a tango class at the college of engineering, then went to a percussion concert.

Argentina is SO different from Brazil. It feels more like Europe than Latin America and there are SO many white people! The people are friendly, but not as friendly as in Brazil. But the crazy thing was that I only had 9 pesos on me and this concert was 10 pesos. In Brazil, and even in the US for that matter, I think they would have just let me in. But not in BA. I borrowed from a colleague that had already entered the concert, and it was really awesome. I love to belly dance, African dance, anything dance to some crazy drum beats.

Tuesday we presented our projects in 10-15 minutes in different groups. Amazingly, my research topic was one of the most popular. When I met people they would say, "Oh right, you're the sting ray girl!" and during presentations a lot of people asked what group I was presenting in so that they could attend my presentation. At night I went to a traditional Argentine barbecue. I had been told that while in BA I should eat a lot of meat. I did, and I have to say, it's better in Brazil. Then I went to a tango show. Not very good. I had been anticipating something equivalent of the Flamenco show I saw in Barcelona (on a side note, I went to Paris and then Barcelona the day after the war in Iraq started, which is a crazy story for another time), but the tango show was modern, more like musical theater, and it wasn't very good.
Wednesday we took a trip to an Estancia (Argentine countryside). I rode a horse, walked around the grounds, spent about an hour reading in a tree, took a nap in the grass. Pretty much perfection. At night I went to a Thai restaurant, which was really fun. To get there I rode the A line of the Subte, the BA metro. It's the original metro built in 1913. Made out of wood and with all the original circuitry, this metro was the first built in the Americas.

Thursday we talked about Fulbright stuff for the day, and at night I went to a Cuban restaurant (Delicious!) then to a bar called Miliones in an old mansion. Very cool.

Friday and Saturday I spent the night at a hostel (since Fulbright had stopped paying). I had never stayed in a hostel before, so it was definitely a trip. At first I thought it would be cool because there were tons of people doing various interesting things. But I really hated it. I probably won't do that again soon, but it seems like a good option for people traveling alone. If they're not anti-social, like I am. Saturday I got together with a couple friends from college (Juliet Shapiro and Mia Palomo) and we had a really good time wandering around Avenida Florida, a pedestrian street with lots of artisans and touristy shops.

This morning I took a ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay. From there I took a bus to Montevideo and met up with a couple Fulbrighters that are living here. Together we went to the Asado Mas Grande Del Mundo. Yes, that's right, the biggest barbecue in the world, recorded officially for the Guinness Book of World Records. There were 26,455 pounds of meet, all donated by slaughterhouses around the country. The grills totaled a length of almost 5,000 feet and 1,252 asadores (cooks) worked to grill the meat for more than 15,000 people. All this for about US$3. But we didn't even pay. We showed up late, walked in without a ticket like we owned the place, then my friend Ben who's a charming journalist talked his way into getting us free meat. After the record was officially reached, a lot of people left, and we picked up scraps left over on the grills. Pretty much awesome. Apparently Uruguay exports meat to 80 countries around the world. It is one of only 4 countries top meat exporters in the world without Hoof and Mouth disease and Mad Cow Disease (this does NOT include the US). Uruguay is the second largest consumer of meat per capita, at 117 lbs per person a year or 600,000 tons of meat produced a year.

Pretty crazy.

Afterward we walked around a botanical garden with trees from around the world. To my disappointment, they cleverly planted trees too tall to be climbed.

Now I'm about to go grocery shopping to cook some pizza tonight with my friends. Tomorrow I'll fly back to Brazil. I'm homesick for Brazil. I have been since I arrived in Argentina, although I don't particularly miss the US. But it's been really fun traveling to new places in South America. Speaking Spanish is an interesting trip. I've been speaking pretty well, but mostly in Portañol. Amazingly enough, I've had several people ask me if I'm Brazilian since I've been in Argentina/Uruguay, but NOBODY ask me if I'm American. Other people asked me simply where I'm from, but nobody guessed American. The only guesses were Brazilian. Awesome.
I maintain that I would make an EXCELLENT "Amazing Race" partner for anybody interested.
Sorry this Email was so long. I've been up to some crazy things! Soon enough I will finally arrive in Bahia. I can't wait.

Um forte abraço,

~Helen