las islas malvinas

this is how one is meant to refer to the falkland islands in argentina. you see, they rightfully belong to argetina, as the exhibit in the military museum so earnestly argues. the museum leaves out that the military dictatorship in the 80´s launched an invasion of an island populated by not much more than a few british people shopping at tesco´s and enjoying episodes of upstairs downstairs. the invaders then got roundly booted out by the british military in about two months. there still is a bit of resentment about it here, as there is with madonna playing eva peron in the musical. i spent yesterday afternoon walking the city and visiting the museums.
the eva peron museum is interesting, a cult around her personality has developed here over the years, some people even want her beatified at the vatican. she was only 33 when she died, and some whisper she refused treatment for her ovarian cancer so she could become a martyr. maybe the most striking part of the museum is seeing photos of her growing up as a country girl in the provinces, and then seeing photos from only about 12 years later of her funeral in buenos aires. the funeral photos look like the kinds of thing you see from the kennedy assassination or v-e day; black and white photos of an entire city´s population pressed into every open space, ranks upon ranks of soliders lining the procession, tanks leading the hearse, and so on. the fact that through sheer force of will and personality she was able to have that kind of rise from peasant to dictatress (my word) is incredible.
last night we made our first visit to a milonga, la catedral. milongas are the traditional tango venues, and it was amazing to watch the local couples here in b.a. on the dance floor. the venue itself was a great old dimly lit 19th century space converted into a dance hall with candles and crazy artwork and gas lamps suspended from 50 foot ceilings. the dancers themselves were amazing, it´s hypnotic to watch them move. i´ve taken a few lessons years ago, but would need a hell of a lot more to be able to hold my own at a good buenos aires milonga. still, watching the spectacle with a great (and absurdly cheap) bottle of red wine made for a great night.