¡Piquetero Carajo!

Monday we went back to Solano. We seem to have figured out how to take busses: guess what bus is going where your're going and ask to make sure. It doesn't make much actual SENSE, but it kind of works. We got there, anyway, on 2 buses, instead of a train, 2 Subtes, and a bus.

We met the other American who's around. Her name's Jenny, and she's from Virginia. We sat around with her, Martin, Alberto, and Alberto's wife and 2 kids for a while. Alberto has a house in an area that was occupied by a bunch of people from the MTD and others. It's a really primitive area, no running water, stolen electricity. This morning we travelled to Yapi, another barrio in MTD Solano and sat in on their assembly, ate lunch, and talked politics. It's really awesome to see groups of EVERYONE in a community participating in a "revolutionary organization." They'd talk about everything from the bakery and the communal kitchen to the philosophy and practice of wearing bandanas over their faces during piquetes. It's incredible. And later we got a informative and interesting description of the mainstream and radical politics in Argentina. These people are incredibly proud of having kicked out the president. As would seem reasonable. According to one of the women, De la Rua (the guy they kicked out) blamed the disaparecidos for the repression of the military government. "In a word, an asassin," I was told by a 60-some-year-old man. And so everyone was so mad that THIS guy could be president but they had no power at all, that they kicked him out. He had to leave in a HELICOPTER.

These people are amazing. Unbelievably radical--they're all about changing the world--but so refreshingly normal and friendly that they're quite real.

Today we went hunting for books in English downtown. And, of course, ran into protesters. 2 groups. One was a group of well-dressed middle-aged people who were banging pots and pans and banging on the banks with hammers. Most of the banks downtown have beat-up metal shutters covering their windows, and now we know why. The people are protesting something about money, excange rates, and the crash in Dec. 2001. If I figure out what exactly is going on, I might post it, but at this point I've pretty much got no clue. It was amazing: these people were spraypainting "Asesinos" on bank windows right next to lines of cops, and GETTING AWAY WITH IT. This went on for a good long time. THEN, as we were heading back to the Subte station, we ran into a bunch of workers from Brukman (an occupied factory that got evicted) who were demonstrating (along with the socialist party and other assorted groups) in front of a judicial building. We saw Jenny there, too. This seems to just keep happening! We go somewhere, and we run into some sort of protest. It's incredible.

I swear, if they only had peanut butter, you'd have to pry me out of this place with a crowbar.