| Casa de niños – 9 April 2001
& 11 April
We also saw some other aspects of life in Argentina – life of the less fortunate ones. The idea was to follow a social worker to see what she was doing. We went to visit Martín, a young retarded boy, who had had a job in a supermarket. First we talked to the manager to see how Martín was doing his job. The manager was very pleased with Martín as a person as he was very helpful. Afterwards we talked to Martín himself. He was very happy with his new job and the fact that he had received a uniform to wear. Martín is a part of a project in Cordoba to try to give retarded young people a chance to do something with their lives. Normally they are left behind to a life in poverty and loneliness. After visiting Martín in the supermarket we went to his home – to Casa de niños. It is an orphanage, which is run by a priest, Father Gilera. The orphanage is home to about 500 children and young people. They also have a special unit for handicapped children where nurses and volunteers take care of the children and exercise with them. The money is small, but the love for all the children is big. The orphanage could use more money for books, clothes, toys and food. The maintenance of the buildings plus many other things are often taken care of by former children from the orphanage. In that way they "pay back" for the years they lived there, and they do it not out of duty but out of love. Padre Gilera, who runs the place, is very respected in the community and the children just adore him. Everywhere he goes he has a lot of children running after him, touching him and kissing him. All the children go to school. They are taken in a mini bus every day to the local school wearing their colour full school uniforms. Another visit went to a nursery for children from troubled homes. The children came from poor families, often from homes without running water. They were often sick, as they did not receive proper nutrition at home. The nursery made breakfast and lunch every day and in between meals the kids could play in the back yard. In the afternoon the staff would read a story before naptime. There were 40 children in the nursery between 2 and 4 years old. Furthermore they had invested in a few computers so young people from the community could take free computer lessons every day. The nursery originally started out as a project, where they received some money from the municipality - and from Rotary who is a sponsor. Now the municipality have decided the arrangement should be permanent. To see how people live and are taken care of in another country is very interesting. These visits really showed the soul of the country, and they will always be remembered. Botanical Gardens, Cordoba – 9 April 2001 The botanical gardens of Cordoba contain a widespread collection of Argentine plants and vegetation types. New and ambitious exhibitions aim at addressing the whole population of Cordoba. Visiting the botanical gardens was part of my vocational programme. The aim of the institution is to inform the whole population of Cordoba about the botany of Argentina. The most interesting part about the gardens is the brand new green house, which contains a number of trees and flowers from the rain forests of Argentina. Unfortunately, an architect without any botanical knowledge designed the green house. Therefore, the state of the collection is poor. The management of the gardens intends to offer education for children. One visible result of this ambition is a great aquarium, which contains a variety of fish species from the rivers and lakes of the Cordoba region.
Jesuit Crypt of the old noviciate – 10 April 2001 The underground temple (crypt) was discovered by chance only recently – in 1989, when the municipality of Cordoba was doing some wiring work under Avenida Colon. The crypt was built in the first decades of the 18th century, as a place of player for the novices of the Jesuit Fathers. Massive undecorated stone walls separate the three naves. The municipality of Cordoba restored this crypt which became a place for celebration of concerts, theatre plays, exhibits and conferences. Mr Isaac Edelstein who had written a book about the excavation of the crypt guided us. He was a terrific guide and the visit was very interesting, as we during our stay in the Cordoba-area would see different remains from the period of the Jesuit order. The University of Cordoba – 10 April 2001 The Jesuits settled in Cordoba in 1599. The Order quickly grew so already in 1608 construction of new buildings began to house all the students and the faithful, historic buildings that are now part of the Manzana Jesuitica. For instance the Maximo school (1610), the university (1622), the Montserrat school (founded in 1687 but relocated to today’s site in 1782 when the Jesuits were expelled), the church and the domestic chapel (1644-1671). After the Jesuits were expelled in 1767 the Manzana was given to the Franciscans until 1853 where the Jesuits returned. One year later the university and the Montserrat school were nationalised. Still today the Montserrat school is one of the finest schools, full of tradition – and since few years ago also available for girls. The university in Cordoba is the oldest university in Argentina and the second oldest in South America. It was founded in the 17th century by the Jesuit order and the university was for a long time one of the biggest outside Europe. The university is especially famous for its library, also founded by the Jesuits over a period of 150 years. The library preserves a collection of books published at the beginning of the printed press as well as a series of copies belonging to the Jesuit library prior to 1767. Among the curiosities is a book from the 16th century about hieroglyphs. Alongside the university are a chapel and a church. It is the oldest church in Argentina. It’s construction started in 1644 and did not finish until 1671. Especially the two bell towers and its beautiful ornamented interior were impressing. We had lunch at the cafeteria on campus. They make a big effort to serve a meal, which have all the right ingredients present such as meat, vegetables, fruit, and bread. Something you normally do not see in Argentina where meat is the dominating factor in almost all meals. Here on campus you could choose between several different things for just a little amount of money. Very impressing! In the afternoon we visited the newest part of the university on the outskirts of the town. Here you find a complete university-city with around 110.000 students. The employees and students of the university make out 10% of the population in Cordoba and it shows. There are one public and four private universities in Cordoba, but the public is by far the largest. Here the education is free though the students pay for books. We had a short visit to lab on campus. They produced different kinds of medical products based on human plasma. At the end of the visit to the university we met up with the headmaster of the university. Among other things he told us that the university co-operates with several European universities they are very interested in the European process of course concessions between different universities. It was a very interesting day. We met some very friendly and grateful people like the girl who showed us around the university. She was studying to become a lawyer and she was so grateful to be able to walk around the old library and look at all the books from the last centuries.
The dairy, which was founded in 1943, plays an important role in the small town of Freyre, as it is almost the only company in the town. Freyre has app. 6000 inhabitants, of these app. 1000 are directly or indirectly dependent of the dairy. Manfrey was different from other companies we visited in Argentina, as it was very modern. The efficiency is partly explained by the use of very modern production machinery, among them was Danish equipment. As in Argentina, the dairy production is very important in Denmark. Therefore it was interesting to compare the production of the two countries by visiting Manfrey.
Supreme Court and office for human rights – 18 April 2001 Argentina is normally not a country you connect with human rights. The country has had a long history with military dictatorship and is still a very new democracy. The office for human right was situated in the courthouse in Cordoba City. It is the first and only office for human rights in Argentina, though it is planned to open more offices. The human rights office opened 18. May 1999 and employs four people today. The office is a public office for every citizen to turn to for help and assistance. The office has not really made big publications about its presence because the four employees are already immerged in work. Especially cases from the time of the military dictatorship where hundreds of thousands people disappeared or were wrongly accused and sentenced to jail. Today the government have started to pay out to those families who lost a family member during that period. The family receive an amount of $250.000 in compensation. The office also spends a lot of time reuniting family member who got separated. Many infants were "stolen" or put up for adoption against the will of the parents. These babies are now young people looking for their roots. So the office for human rights also help them with DNA tests in order for them to find their families. We also visited the children’s court where we had a short meeting with a Supreme Court judge. The Ombudsman / El Defensor del Pueblo, Cordoba – 18 April 2001 Since the military gave up power in the early 80’s, Argentina developed its democratic institutions. The ombudsman is one of them, and the Danish Ombudsman directly inspires the function. In Cordoba, 15 people – employed at the Ombudsman office – are devoted to educating the population in complaining. The number of complaints and question rises every day as the population realises that they are allowed be critical towards the Government and its institutions. El Defensor del Pueblo, which is the Spanish name of the ombudsman, receives complaints about schools, hospitals, the banks, the police, the social insurance and others. The office is independent from any political interests and therefore it is able to provide a fair treatment for all citizens. The office has two great challenges at the moment. The first challenge is educating the population in thinking in democratic way; the other is to obtain financing for the activities and the growing demand. The visit to the ombudsman office gave a good impression of the democratic process of Argentina. It also made visible some of the enormous challenges that the country is facing. As the activities of the office are widespread, it was difficult to have in-depth discussions with the employees about specific subjects. Agencia Cordoba Ambiente – 11 April 2001 and 19 April 2001 Agencia Cordoba Ambiente is a new provincial agency, which manages the natural resources and areas of the Cordoba province. The agency has great expectations for the nature protection of the Cordoba province in the future, but competes with national parks and federal institutions on catching the attention of the politicians prioritising the grants. The story of Agencia Cordoba Ambiente (ACA) is strongly related to the new democracy of Argentina. During the period from the first constitution in 1819 until the end of the military regime in 1983, the natural resources were not mentioned or included in any legislation. Therefore, anarchy ruled the area of natural resources and natural protection. The economic and cultural value of the natural resources was described in laws for the first time in 1983. Today, the strategy of ACA is to create green corridors and networks of protected areas by locating small areas, where many nature types are represented. Another strategy is to carry out nature protection projects in areas with a rural population in order to involve the population in the protection. One example of nature protection projects is a 2.000 square kilometre water catchment area in the Sierra Grande Mountains west of Cordoba. This remote area is scarcely populated by indigenous people who speak a very special dialect. Besides the interests of water catchment the area contains several tree species endangered by firewood harvest by the local people. The authorities from ACA communicate with the population through the schools in the area, as these are the only official buildings. Besides this, ACA co-operates with representatives from the Catholic Church, as the inhabitants in the area are very religious. In this way, the inhabitants are educated in protecting the trees and other natural values. The relation between ACA and the national parks is somewhat tense, as the federal government controls the national parks and the provincial government controls the ACA. The two different governments are political opponents and therefore, the two organisations compete. Besides this, the national parks are well known and highly respected throughout the population of Argentina.
Fertilia – Salami production in Colonia Caroya – 20 April 2001 In Colonia Caroya you can eat the best Italian salamis outside Italy. We were invited to taste. The family run company Fertilia in Colonia Caroya makes a living out of the production of Italian salamis, fruit preserve and other delicacies, all with ingredients from their own garden. Colonia Caroya is widely known for its Udinese specialities – and the salamis are said to be the best in whole Argentina. We visited Fertilia on a very hot and sunny day. In the garden we saw the pigs that are only fed with corn and other healthy food in order to make the best meat for the sausages. The garden was a small perfumed, humming and twittering paradise of insects, birds and fruit trees of many kinds. The salami production is a manual process in which 100 kilos of salami are produced each time. After visiting the cellar where the salamis hang during 25 days we were invited taste the delicacies. Fertilia has a showroom where all the products were exposed, and the family entertained with Italian songs accompanied by an elder gentleman playing the accordion. The visit was very relevant for several reasons: It was interesting to see a very manual and small scaled agricultural production so preoccupied by quality. We still remember the salamis and the grapes in Grappa!
Santa Catalina – 20 April 2001 In the area in and around Cordoba there are six Jesuit estancias. We got to visit the Santa Catalina estancia founded in 1622. The estancia was the biggest one with originally 44 rooms in use. Today only five of them are left. The estancia includes a big church, a residence with three courtyards and annexed constructions, the remains of the noviciate, the room for the slaves and the remains of the irrigation canals and mills. The estancia was home to 500 of around 2000 African slaves in the Cordoba area plus a number of natives. The estancia produced agricultural products (they had fruit and vegetable gardens plus fields to cultivate wheat and corn) and the earnings were used to run the Jesuit order and the university in Cordoba. They also had cows, sheep, horses and mules. The mules were sold to Peru in exchanges for art and gold. However, the most important achievement in the history of the estancia is the completion of 40 kilometres of canals used for irrigation. The canals still exist and more or less function at present. Today the estancia is a private property. Although the owners live there it is used as a tourist site with guided visits. At the moment the estancia is used as a place to rest but there are plans to renovate the estancia using it as a lodge or holiday resort in the future. Two art universities from Florence, Italy and North Carolina, USA are together with Rotary supporting a renovation project of the estancia. Until now only parts of the church has been renovated.
Cerro Colorado - 21 April 2001 Around 1.000 BC the native Comechigones inhabited 3.000 hectares of the Cordoba mountain area. They liked it so much that they built a big ritual centre, which further inspired them to make 35.000 pictograms in stone. Each one of these paintings was a true expression of their dreams. Red, black and white shades dominate these paintings which even survived the Spanish invasion. In Cerro Colorado three hills unite to form the most important archaeological site in Argentina. These three hills lie in different sectors of the park – in each of these areas exist small caves, over a hundred in total where you can see numerous pictograms. The rock paintings are either natural paintings/paintings that express logical interpretation or abstract paintings. It is said that it is very difficult to understand the essence of these paintings. The recurring themes are hunting scenes and scenes of battles between indigenous people and the Spanish. The most popular ones are of archers adored with feather and Spaniards on horses. There are also a number of zoological motifs for instance pictograms of pumas, llamas, condors, reptiles and owls. There are also, though less in number, a few geometric figures. In the small museum you can see axes and arrows made of stones and bone. You can read documents of that period with full details about the place and the life of the community, which can help you interpreting the paintings.
Carpet factory in Catamarca - 26 April 2001 Another company we had the pleasure of visiting was the carpet factory in San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca. This is the only factory in Argentina that makes these kinds of hand woven carpets. We got a guided tour of the factory and were able to have a closer look at the production process. There were 32 women employed whose job was to make the many different kinds of carpets in different sizes. It takes about three months to learn the skills properly, which is quite a long time before you are fully trained. The average salary for these women is £250-300 a month. According to the spokeswoman of the factory who showed us around, the fact that it was all women working with the carpets had its disadvantages. The factory did not consider the women a reliable working source, because they also had to take care of their children and the home, and therefore often gave their work second priority. That was not satisfactory for the company since they had invested a lot of time in training the women. The carpets can be divided into different categories depending on the quality. The quality is measured after the number of knots per square meter. The price for a large carpet in the finest quality is about $1.600 A large carpet takes about six months to finish with an average of five centimetres made each day. The sales today are going down as the carpets are very expensive as they are handmade and of very fine quality. The economic crisis in Argentina at the moment does not allow ordinary people to spend that kind of money on carpets. However, the factory had made an agreement with the municipality to make small carpets with the coat of arms of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca. These carpets were used for official presents. It is a very unique gift because of the fact that is it the only factory left in Argentina that makes these hand woven carpets. A goat farm in Catamarca – 26 April 2001 In a green valley in Catamarca, a goat farm received the Danish GSE team. Among former visitors are school children and the Argentine president. Catalina Krapp is an agronomist and has specialised in goat breeding. She breeds 5 different races, and uses the goats for production of milk and cheese. She also sells goats to other breeders. Her farm is a nature school: schoolchildren can come here to see how cheese is made, and how bread can be baked in an outdoor clay oven with a wooden fire. The farm has had trouble with a puma that killed the goats, and as a protection Catalina keeps two bloodhounds – whom not only scare the pumas… Part of our visit consisted of tasting the delicious cheeses of the goat farm. The cheeses are very different from the traditional types of cheese in Argentina and very appalling to the Danish taste buds. We also had the occasion to admire the photographs and newspaper articles exposed on the walls of the kitchen. They showed the visit of Argentine president de la Rúa in the goat farm some time ago!
Jojoba plantations in Catamarca – 26 April 2001 A Rotarian from Catamarca, Eduardo van Esso, told the team everything we needed to know about jojoba. For instance, did you know that oil from the jojoba nut is used for space shuttles? The jojoba nut originally comes from Baja California and Arizona. The plant grows in the deserts and therefore small amounts of rain. The Indians used to eat the nut when they had nothing else to eat, as it is very satisfying. Almost like an energy bar of that time. However, the nut is poisonous if eaten in larger amounts. In modern times, oil from the nut has been used for various cosmetics, but lately it is even used for protecting the steel cover on space shuttles. It is also use for biological pesticides. Eduardo van Esso is the plantation manager, responsible for 400 hectares of jojoba and 100 hectares of olives. He told that the Argentine climate is almost perfect for growing jojoba. Besides this, the Government promotes new plantations by permitting tax-free production through the first years. It is also the policy of the Government to allow new plantations practically anywhere as long as it is profitable. Compared to other enterprises, growing jojoba is quite profitable, the return rate being some 3.500 dollars per hectare per year. Mr. van Esso expects the production to become organic in one or two years because of demands from US customers. Argentina has great potential for growing jojoba. The most important reason for this is the growing conditions. Another reason is the fact that there is hardly any competition on land use. In US, areas suitable for jojoba are often suitable for crops of greater economic value than jojoba, for instance apples and oranges. Even though Argentina has one of the largest productions of jojoba in the world at the moment, Mr. van Esso expects that other countries will take over the leading position in a few years. The reason for this is that other countries like Australia and US have carried out ambitious research programmes in the use of jojoba. This is not the case in Argentina. The plantation employs 20 – 100 workers, depending on the season. The minimum wages are 350 dollars per month, which is more than the official minimum wages. Carsten Møller: The visit was an excellent example of materialising the intentions of the GSE-programme. The host, Eduardo van Esso, was hospitable and highly professional. He had a good sense of the various vocational interests of the team and a pleasant, unorthodox approach to his own professional field.
The family Jacobsen – 27 April 2001 In Catamarca we had a very different experience and it was not even planned. It all started at our first Rotary meeting in San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca. We were having dinner and telling people we were from Denmark. Then we were all asked if we knew the family Jacobsen. After having heard that question a few times we had to investigate who were the Jacobsens. It turned out it was a Danish couple living outside San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca. They were known by a lot of the local people as Mrs Jacobsen had been selling honey on the local market every Saturday the last 25 years. We were very lucky that we got to visit the family for tea one afternoon to hear their story. Mr Jacobsen aged 93 and Mrs Jacobsen aged 83 emigrated from Lemvig a small village in Denmark 50 years ago. They lived a few other places before they settled down buying 20 acres of land outside San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca some 30 years ago. Their home was characterised by Danish flags, a huge map of Denmark and sculptures of the little mermaid. We did a walk in the fields and had a very nice chat about life in Argentina, which is not easy at the moment. The couple manage receiving moderate pensions from the state. Combined with the earnings from selling honey on the local market they get by. Three of their four children live in Argentina. One left for Denmark a few years ago. The visit was a unique experience for us - really interesting and giving and something we will always remember.
Talampaya National Park – 29 April 2001 Who would imagine rain and snow in a rocky desert? Nevertheless, this was what the team experienced in the beautiful Talampaya National Park in La Rioja province. Our hosts from La Rioja picked us up in a bus early in the morning, bringing along all the coats, gloves and sweaters possible as the weather forecast called for low temperatures. Talampaya National Park is reached by a 250-km drive from La Rioja through enormous desert landscapes – not the best spot for hitchhiking or breakdowns with the car. In fact, we passed less than 5 cars on the way. The park was founded in 1997 by the former president Carlos Menem who comes from the La Rioja province. The total area of the park is a 215.000 hectares, which makes up with half of the total forest area in Denmark. Every year approximately 30.000 visitors enjoy the natural monuments of red rocks and the number of visitors is expected to increase once the standard of facilities is improved. The park contains unique sandstone formations, some of which with vertical walls of 200 meters of height. One of the most famous formations is "The Chimney" which is perfect for echoes. This stays a fact as the whole group demonstrated a memorably loud yell, which was replied by the old rocks. The central gorge stretches about 4 kilometres. We walked most of the distance crossing the small river, which shaped the sandstones through millions of years. During our visit it didn’t even manage to make our boots wet. We had the luck of watching 5 condors gliding gracefully far above our heads. However, we convinced each other that they were only waiting for us to give in to the rough climate so they did not have to stop over at McDonald’s on the way home! All visitors in the National Park are carried around
in the back of 4x4 pick-ups. On sunny and warm days this is a perfect means of
transportation, but on days with temperatures below 0 degrees including wind and snow the
standard of comfort is less admirable. The team members had difficulties in living up to
the image of fierce, Nordic Vikings who endure any climate! The visit was of immense scenic beauty and, at the same time, it was a good opportunity to get to know the hosts and the Rotaracts of La Rioja. It would be a crime to visit the La Rioja province without also visiting Talampaya National Park!
The public hospital in Chamical – 30 April 2001 On a sunny afternoon, the team visited the small hospital of Chamical. Here the department of childbirths caught particular attention to the reporting team member. The hospital of Chamical has 40 beds and at the moment about 200 employees. The actual need of staff is merely about a 120, but the rest of the staff has been employed by the local government in order to reduce the unemployment rates. The manager of the hospital emphasised that each room at the hospital had separate air-condition systems. In this way diseases are not spread as rapidly as a central air-condition. Every bed in the hospital was covered with red or blue bedspreads made of the synthetic clothe lycra. These bedspreads were the gift of a local sponsor. The hospital also employs a specialist in diets for ill and weak people. Among other things this specialist recommends empanadas for people who need to gain weight. This treatment also applies to the Danish visitors! The staff of the department of childbirths attends about 30 births every month including caesareans. There is always one medical doctor and two nurses present at the births, but midwives (parteras) are not common in Argentina. Due to the economic situation there are no longer any specialised obstetricians in Chamical and the province no longer educates any specialists in this field. Therefore, only general practicians attend to the births. Women who do not have the special health insurance Obra Social frequent the department of childbirths. Women with the health insurance typically prefer the hospital in the city of La Rioja where facilities are better and more modern. The women normally stay at the hospital for about 24 – 48 hours after giving birth. During this period the mothers are offered advice in breastfeeding and childcare. The manager told us that children of poor women tend to have nutritional problems as they are fed by breast for more than 6 months without supplementary food. The visit to the hospital was very relevant and educative although it did not match to the vocational background of the team members. However, it provided a clear impression of the health care system of the provinces of Argentina.
The University of Chamical – 30 April 2001 In the small town of Chamical is a new university, which offers an international Masters Degree in desertification. The university co-operates with 3 other universities abroad, e.g. The University of Massachusetts in USA. One of the ways to attract students is to offer nice accommodation and leisure-time facilities. As the town only holds some 10.000 inhabitants, the university is of great importance for the life and survival of the town of Chamical. Residential home in Chamical - 1 May 2001 During our stay in Chamical we got the opportunity to visit a residential home for elderly people. It was the only one in Chamical and had 17 inhabitants. The home had separate wings for women and men plus several shared living rooms. Furthermore a church was situated on the premises and services were performed every month. The inhabitants were living in shared rooms where they each had their own bed, desk, chair and a closet. The rooms were small but very clean and organised. The kitchen was very busy as they cooked meals for both the 17 inhabitants as well as the inmates in the local prison. The elderly people had applied for a place at the residential home via the health insurance. They appoint the places and pay the fee of about $150-200 a month for all inhabitants. This way of life is a quite new way of life in Argentina, as the families took care of the elderly in the family before. This is changing as the family patterns today are changing. Today many elderly people are waiting to get a place in a residential home. As this concept is quite new there are not that many homes – especially in the small cities, but the concept is growing. The visit was very interesting as it showed us the beginning of a new culture in Argentina. We saw old people enjoying their time with new friends in a place where they were taken care of by people who were very happy and proud to help them. Especially the sense of pride in the work with the old people and with the home itself was very nice to see. Something we could learn a bit from in Denmark.
The trout hatchery La Tramontana in Capilla del Monte – 3 May 2001 The Rotarians in Capilla del Monte received the team with a 2-day notice and still managed to arrange some interesting visits. The trout hatchery was one of them. The trout hatchery was founded in 1997 on an experimental basis. 2001 is the first year with an actual commercial production. The plant mainly produces trout fry and trouts for breeding. Besides this, there is a production of trout for consume and caviar from sturgeon. Later on, the manager expects to produce even crayfish and frogs for consumption. The water in the plant comes directly from the mountains, as the purity of water is of great importance for the fish. The wastewater from the trout hatchery is led through pipes and channels to fields in the valley below and is used for irrigation. In this way all the nutrition from the production is utilised. Besides the ordinary production the trout hatchery is planning to carry out research and to educate school children from the schools in the surrounding area. The visit was very interesting and the manager of the plant was very engaged in showing the team the new plant. The most interesting aspect about the visit was knowing about how new companies are started in Argentina. La Voz del Interior, Córdoba – 7 May 2001 In the outskirts of Córdoba, a very modern building is the head office of the regional newspaper. We visited the editorial office and the production facilities. La Voz del Interior is the largest newspaper in the province of Cordoba. It is owned by Argentine multimedia group Clarin, which is owned by a Spanish group. La Voz has a circulation of 60.000 on weekdays and 120.000 on Sundays. The newspaper is said to be politically independent. Two years ago, the newspaper moved both the editorial office and the printing facilities to new and very modern buildings outside the centre of Cordoba. Their production facilities are among the most advanced in South America. In the editorial office, a television camera makes it possible to broadcast news live on a regional television station. La Voz also has a website (www.lavozdelinterior.ar.com) where it is possible to read the news online or subscribe to an email newsletter. The market for web-enabled news is growing but not so large yet, since very few people in Argentina have access to the Internet from their home. We meet Sebastián Capdevila, who works in the marketing department of the newspaper. He tells us about the use of "anabolics" – a nickname for the special sections of the newspaper, which are added from time to time in order to boost the sale. Local distributors who can offer to their customers to deliver the newspaper handle the sale and distribution of the newspaper. There is no subscription system as such, so the marketing department has no direct contact with the end users. Before leaving the newspaper, we received a nice present: El gran libro de Argentina - a book about our host country. A couple of days later, the newspaper brought a photo of the team and a brief text about the foreign visitors. The visit at La Voz was very interesting and very relevant from a general point of view: For us, it was a good opportunity to visit a modern and visionary company - the production facilities were quite impressive, and the company’s thoughts and ideas about the future look promising. Estancia Belen, Jesús Maria – 8 May 2001 After visiting some of the very old estancias in Córdoba it was time to visit a modern one. Just before the end of our stay in Córdoba we visited a modern estancia near the town Jesús Maria: the Estancia Belén. The main crops of the farm were soybeans and corn, and there was an important cattle stock too: 700 cattle. The farm has 15 employees and even more during busy periods. We were invited to drive around the establishment in a horse-drawn carriage – this allowed us to get an impression of how big 1500 hectares really are. We had lunch in Cabana San Carlos, the bungalow of the estancia together with members of the Rotary Clubs in the area. With a nice view to the swimming pool, we enjoyed delicious grilled baby goat meat and beef with home baked bread and salad. Plantation forestry in the Cordoba Province – 9 May 2001 Plantation forestry in the Cordoba is small-scale business on the limits of economic and ecological sustainability. Despite considerable fundings from the government plantation areas are stagnant, endangering the future timber resources of the region. The first plantations in the Cordoba province were established in the mid-50’s. Most of the plantations are located in the Calamuchita Valley some 100-km’s south of Cordoba City due to the local climate and the amount of rain. The tree species initially selected were inspired by plantations in the US, Chile and New Zealand, but it soon became evident that the species did not apply to the local climate. Today, the pine species called Pinus elliottii and Pinus taeda are the most common. Both species originally come from the southeast part of USA. All plantations are privately owned and they are divided in 20 hectares blocks. The average plantation area per owner is about 50 hectares. Seen from a bird’s eye view, the plantations are shaped like green squares and it seems evident that there has been no considerations on landscaping and aesthetics in the overall planning and layout phase. Speaking of aesthetics: Many of the original, unsuccessful plantations have been deserted, as virgin land is very cheap and legislative regulations on forests have not been existing. These deserted plantations leave a strong impression of decay – and a messy natural resources management. The plantation forestry sector in the Cordoba region faces typical small-scale forestry problems:
All in all, these above-mentioned problems result in a very poor economy for the plantation forestry in the region. Forester Nicholas Crespo works as an independent consultant for the forest owners in the area. He believes that the forest owners should co-operate and establish co-operatives in order to promote development of the forestry sector. However, his attempts to establish co-operatives have been unsuccessful so far. Apparently the lack of will to co-operate is stronger than the need to develop the sector. According to Nicholas Crespo’s assessment, the timber resources in the region will only last another 15 years. The provincial government has promoted new plantations with substantial funding programmes since 1992, but without success. One of the reasons is that the many small-scale forest owners have not heard about the programme and information has been scarce. Another reason is that the programme is not economically attractive for the forest owners, despite that new plantations are tax-free for 20 years. The afforestation had a climax in 1977 with 4.500 hectares of new plantations in a year. In 1992, there were 36.000 hectares of plantations in the region.
Every second minute a new finished Fiat Siena is ready to leave the Fiat plant in Cordoba. At the Fiat plant we saw both the production area as well as the assembly line and the area where the cars were painted. The annual production reaches a number of 40.000 cars and the cars are sold all over South America. In order to reach this number the factory is running 24 hours five days a week. It takes app. four days to produce a car. Every employee takes care of one function; there is no job rotation.
What did you expect? – and what did you find? These were some of the questions from journalists that the team tried to answer several times. Throughout our trip we met a lot of journalists and photographers: already on our arrival day where a welcome reception was organised in the Rotary District Governor’s home, we met the first television team. We visited some TV stations and radio stations, and were interviewed for local newspapers a couple of times. The most frequent questions (and our answers) were: Q: Do you like Argentina? Q: What did you expect before arriving? Q: What has surprised you the most here?
If you study international investment magazines, Argentina’s overall economic situation is described as quite promising in spite of a strong dependency on foreign loans. The common people do not seem to share the optimism of the financial world. The impression of a population with a strong ability to buy remains when visiting one of the shopping centres in Cordoba, for instance fashionable Patio Olmos. Here you will find all the luxury you could ever dream of, besides expensive bars and restaurants. Discussing the economy with some of the people we met during the visit leaves another impression of the reality of the economic situation. Argentina is in the middle of a structural adjustment of the economy. This adjustment has already resulted in growing credibility in the eyes of the World Bank and international investors. On the economic side, the result has been low inflation rates, open markets and a reduction of the growth of public expenses. On the negative side, the economic reforms have resulted in increasing unemployment, growing foreign debt and a widening of the social gap. The official unemployment rate is about 20 % but nobody really believes in this figure. The enormous foreign debt means that all prices are high (more or less the same level as in Denmark) and that the government has been forced to lead a very restrictive economic policy. In 1998, the foreign debt was about 13 billion dollars, which resembles 3,7 million US dollars per capita – a figure of astronomic dimensions. On top of all this, it is the general impression that only about 12% of the population actually pay their tax. Yet another economic problem is corruption. According to the people who wanted to discuss this subject. Corruption among politicians is the rule rather than the exception. We heard a story about one politician who made a statement to the press about corruption. He said that if all politicians refrained from accepting any payment besides their official wages for one year, all the economic problems of Argentina would be solved. This politician now had his career behind him. The economic reforms have deeply affected the life of the large middle class of Argentina. Social services are small and the result is a new and growing class of poor people. According to a teacher from Chamical, the problem is that the "new" poor people are not used to living in poverty and therefore tend to become involved in crime. Most of the people that we discussed the economic situation with were very worried about the crisis and the future. But one biologist said: "This country is always in the middle of an economic crisis", as he shrugged his shoulders.
The Argentine provinces – and the difference between the city and the countryside Our visit in Argentina included three provinces. This allowed us to experience many different things and to meet people with very different backgrounds and life situations. Argentina consists of 24 provinces, which have immense differences. Generally, people tend to see Argentina as two parts: the province of Buenos Aires (Capital Federal) and the Interior, which represents all other 23 provinces. During our trip we visited three provinces: Córdoba, Catamarca and La Rioja.
The city of Córdoba is Argentina’s second largest city and is sometimes seen as the capital of the Interior, situated almost in the centre of the country. This makes it a natural geographical choice for investments and for divisions and subsidiaries of Buenos Aires companies. The province is rather wealthy and has a good average standard of living. The population is rather young since the province has many schools and universities, which attract students from many places. We stayed almost three weeks in Córdoba where most of the vocational activities of the exchange took place. During our stay in Córdoba we also enjoyed visiting museums and churches and going out to concerts and tango restaurants. Northwest of Córdoba we visited Catamarca and La Rioja, one week in each province. In Catamarca, we stayed in the capital, whereas in La Rioja, we also visited a small village, Chamical. Both these provinces are very poor, only a few provinces further up north are poorer. There are only few business activities, and unemployment is a very big problem. The biggest resource here is the nature: not least from a tourist point of view Catamarca and La Rioja have very much to offer for their visitors. The mountains, valleys and huge national parks are breathtakingly beautiful and we really enjoyed the break from the more hectic city life of Córdoba. In most of the towns that we visited we had the pleasure of visiting the Mayor’s office. These visits gave us a good impression on what kind of problems the specific town or region had, and how the local politicians tried to solve them.
What is life like after the military regime? In Catamarca we met Viviane Jacobsen, the daughter of Danish immigrants. Viviane studied psychology in Tucuman during the military regime, and she still recalls the rough times where 10 – 30.000 persons disappeared. Situated close to the border, the Tucuman area was an area with many partisan activities and therefore a strong presence of military forces. The military forces suspected all intellectuals as potential rebels. For instance, Viviane could not show her study books in public, as this could result in an arrest. Her husband was imprisoned for 9 months during the military regime. Viviane believes that the common scepticism towards authorities is a natural result of the years with the military regime. Another result is the public dislike in any kind of legislative regulations and regulations of public behaviour. In Cordoba there is an art museum in the same building where the police headquarter used to be. The cellars where people were tortured have been opened to the public. Symbolically, there is a centre for rehabilitation of victims of the military regime next door to the former police headquarters.
Everywhere in the three provinces visited you can see the epiphyte Thillansia, which is called "clavel del aire" in Spanish. Freely translated it means air pink. One team member felt a professional urge towards investigation the epiphyte… The epiphyte is indigenous in Argentina, but during the past years it has spread rapidly and aggressively. It grows on all types of trees and shrubs and feeds on the juice and sugar of the plants. In the long run, the epiphyte is lethal to the plants attacked. However, it even attacks overhead lines. Unfortunately, there is no effective pesticide or other treatment to fight the epiphyte. One of the reasons for the rapid distribution could be the increasing air pollution, which results in larger contents of nitrogen in the rain, making it possible for the pink to grow on overhead lines.
Most people in Argentina are very religious and the church plays a very important role in society – at least compared with Denmark. Though young people in Argentina today have a more relaxed attitude towards the church, religion and values and standards of society set by the church it still influences their lives – maybe more than they will admit. From our perspective Argentina is still very much a country influenced by the catholic faith.
A December day in 1620 a woman appeared before some locals just outside San Fernando del valle de Catamarca. The celebrations for the virgin take place in the second week after Easter and on December 8th. Then the virgin is taken out of the church, dressed in special close and taken through the city in a big parade. People come from all over to witness the celebrations. The December celebration is the biggest – quite wise, as the weather is warm, so the pilgrims can sleep outside - in the parks. The church gives out food and water for the pilgrims during the celebrations. The virgin is also the saint of tourism in the province of Catamarca as well as the saint of the northern part of Argentina. In other words – a very important lady. We had the opportunity to visit both the cave where she appeared and the cathedral where she is placed today. People have great faith in the virgin and many people leave small notes thanking the virgin for her help or asking the virgin to help. People who have recovered from a disease will leave flowers or silver medals shaped as for instance a heart if they had heart problems. Our only regret was we had to leave Catamarca the day before the big celebration for the virgin – something we would all have liked to witness as it is an experience so far from Danish traditions and so much an experience that tells you about Argentina and its culture. It was the year of 1767. The event took place the night of 31. March and the early morning of 2nd of April. After a period of uncertainty that lasted almost a year, the king Charles III of Spain signed the decree that determined that the Jesuit Order should be expelled from The Spanish Americas. It was for this reason that the "Jesuit State", one of the most successful ever social and economic projects of the community came to an end. It was a 400 years legacy and even though its opponents had praised this project, it would extinguish. The mark that they left was so important and the legacy so significant that their work has resisted the passing of time. The Jesuit Order was determined in its twofold purpose: to preach the New Testament and to bring knowledge. Under the shelter of the Jesuit Order hundreds of native became the first bricklayers, blacksmiths, woodworkers, jewellers and artists of their country. They also made an important contribution to science, technology and the arts of that time. For instance the Jesuits set up the first printing press in South America, made the first descriptions and especial maps of the region, built new water irrigation systems to cultivate fields and they also began to use lime stone in construction. Their heritage includes the Manzana Jesuitica and the five major estancias around Cordoba that were built between 1616 and 1725, Caroya (1616), Jesús Maria (1618), Santa Catalina (1622), Alta Gracia (1643), Candelaria (1683) and San Ignacio (1725). The estancias were large agricultural/cattle establishments which main objective was to finance the activities that took place in the Manzana Jesuítica. These unique places has led the UNESCO to take the decision of including "Camino de las estancias" and the "Manzana Jesuítica" in the list of the Worlds Heritage. Such a list includes worldwide testimonies of natural and cultural character relevant to the humanity.
Argentine family life is very different from family life in Denmark, and therefore worth a comment. We were very impressed by the strong family relations – something that disappears more and more in Denmark. We assume that the strong relations are partly due to the fact that most people are catholic and live according to the catholic church’s family ideal (divorce is not allowed and young couples are expected to marry before they start living together). The result is that most families consist of mother, father and children up to the age of 25 – 30 or even older. We also met some extended families, where more than two generations live together, for instance parents, children and grandparents or aunts. In these families, the elder people provide childcare help for the working parents, and the family can assist the elder person who might otherwise have to stay in a residential home for elderly. We were very often met with questions regarding our families in Denmark, and many people were surprised to hear that we live far from our parents and do not see them very often. In Argentina many young adults stay in their parents’ home when they start studying, even if the university or school is as far away as two hours bus ride. We met a young Argentine man who had been living in the United States. He told us that he would like to travel again but was afraid that the deteriorating family values in the States would have a bad influence on his own feelings about family. It was very fascinating to be able to experience Argentine family life from the inside – living with host families allowed us to become part of the family for a short period of time. Most families seemed to perceive the guest as an extra child – this was a warm and giving experience. Gender, machismo and the mother figure Among the team-members were a feminist and a non-sexist, monogamous man, and this sometimes led to confrontations with Argentineans with somewhat different points of view in many aspects… Denmark has a long tradition of equality between men and women. They are given equal rights regarding wages, access to work, parental leave, protection against sexism, etc. As a result (or as an underlying reason) Danish men and women are very much alike in many aspects. So for us, there appeared to be very big differences between the two sexes in Argentina. However, it is difficult to describe our observations in an objective way, so instead we have just gathered some quotations from people we talked to during the trip. A mayor: Women do not count very much in the labour force. You can only rely on the woman after the age of 50 when you can expect that the children have left the family’s home! A 27 years old woman: Sometimes when I am driving my car, a man shouts at me: "Sweetheart, why don’t you return to the kitchen instead of disturbing the traffic?" The same woman (who studies marketing at university): I know that no matter how hard I work, it will always be more difficult for me to make a career than if I were a man. A 45 years old man: Offending our flag or our national hymn is the worst thing you could do – it is as bad as offending my mother – and she is the most important person in the world. A 40 years old woman: I studied law at university – but unfortunately I have never been able to work, for right after graduating I met my husband and started having children, and then it was impossible to have a job next to taking care of my family. The spokeswoman of a carpet factory: We have a hard time keeping this factory running – for whenever a customer wants to order a large amount of carpets we must refuse the order. Our workforce simply is not stable enough for these big orders, as women dominate it. They are very often pregnant or on maternity leave and this makes us very vulnerable. A 30 years old woman asked the two single women in the team: Are you married? – (no) – Do you have children? – (no). Wow – That’s great! she replied. A 60 years old man asked the same questions and got the same answers from us – and replied: How come you are not married at your age? – You’re good-looking - Are you divorced??? However, it is important to mention that we also met some people with more liberal opinions regarding gender roles. In particular, we met some women who are very strong and self-confident and who fight for human rights for both men and women.
An Argentine girl told us that many teenagers stay thin by keeping a meat diet: If you eat nothing but meat, and much of it, you don’t put on weight! The team-members ate a lot, but not only meat; maybe this is why the diet didn’t work… Argentine beef is famous all over the world. So of course we were expecting to taste a great lot of it. But we were unable to imagine how much! It truly is very tasty. One man told us that making a barbecue (asado) is the easiest way to make a picnic: you bring bread, wine, a grill, and 500 grams of meat per person!! All Argentine families have an outdoor barbecue oven – and Sunday lunch is the weekly occasion for the man in the family to prepare a meal, or at least part of it: the barbecue is men’s domain! A typical starter is the empanadas; small half moon shaped fried or baked dough packets filled with minced meat or tuna fish (on Good Friday where meat is not served) or vegetables. Each region has its own recipe for empanadas, all delicious. The dessert is very often ice cream – our favourite was the dulce de leche flavour. Dulce de leche is an Argentine speciality: a soft brown creme made of boiled milk and sugar. It looks and tastes almost like fudge – and is consumed in large quantities: with biscuits for breakfast or afternoon tea, and in all kinds of desserts. All the team members received a glass of dulce de leche to bring home to Denmark – a sweet souvenir… A drink in Argentina is something too. For Danish people who are used to drinking coffee or tea totally black (without sugar), Argentine coffee could almost be called "sugar with coffee" – or even "artificial sweetener with coffee". It took us some time to get used to the sweet, sweet taste of the warm drinks – and the mate, though not sweet, was strange to the Danish palate too. More easily adopted by the Danish group was the famous Argentine wine, a perfect match with the asado. The Argentine gastronomy impressed the Danes; the tasty beef even made a vegetarian team-member convert into omnivore during five weeks! The love of music connects people, said one couple who sang for us at a farewell party in Catamarca – and it does indeed. Just read about our experiences with the Argentine folklore music. If you say Argentina, dance and music, people would almost always think of the tango. But there is much more than that. We found out that the folklore tradition is very strong, especially in the countryside. At many occasions, both Rotary meetings and other social events, we were entertained by fascinating dances performed by proud local dancers dressed in beautiful outfits according to the gaucho tradition. The man wears a hat, a white shirt with puffy sleeves, black baggy trousers and tap-heeled boots. The woman wears a beautiful dress, and has her hair taken up. The folk music has local roots: In the Catamarca valley we visited Cuesta del Portezuelo, a scenic road in the mountains, where you can see a table with the inscription of the lyrics for the song Paisaje de Catamarca (Landscape of Catamarca). It is a tribute to the beautiful mountainsides and valleys of the province. We had so many occasions to listen to the song, that at the end of the stay in Catamarca all the GSE team members could join the choir… And Carsten even received the lyrics and guitar chords for the song so we can continue singing it in Denmark. For the Argentine people the folklore is not only an art of exhibition – it is for everybody. Many people enjoy singing, and when the red wine is on the table, and the dinner is over, the guitar and the bongo appear and everybody joins in on the familiar tunes. One thing we experienced as very different from Danish customs was the way people greet each other. In Denmark you shake hands where in Argentina you kiss. One kiss only – cheek to cheek. And everybody kisses each other, family members, friends, business associates and complete strangers meeting each other for the first time via a mutual friend. But for us coming from a complete different culture it was a bit of strange. Not that you do not kiss in Denmark, but you only kiss family or friends very close to you. So we got to kiss a lot of people during our five-week stay – probably more people than we will kiss the rest of our lives. But it was a fun experience – something that really shows you that you have arrived in another country and another culture. During the Rotary district conference in La Falda in May we did a little counting – how many people would we kiss from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. And here is the answer…………75 kisses per person.
Our new time schedules in Argentina was a major change we were confronted with. A typical day in our Argentina adventure would look like this: 8.30 Picked up by Rotarian 9.00 first appointment of the day 13:00 lunch with our hosts of the day 14.00 other GSE activities 17.00 Tea (e.g. Mate) with host family etc. 18.00 other activities 22:00 Meeting time for Rotary meeting. 23:00 Rotary meeting/dinner actually begins!! 00:00 Give presentation about Denmark 01:00 Time to go home 02:00 Very tired Usually Argentines have some time off during the day in order to relax. Never the less this was not the case for us Danes so the program was quite rough at times. The Argentine time schedule was an eye-catching cultural difference for the team. In Denmark, some people breed dogs in the hope of winning a dog championship and many people have a dog as a substitute for a child. In Argentina, dogs are supposed to protect the house and its inhabitants – or to keep the pumas away from the goats… In Argentina, it seems that everybody owns a dog – at least, because two, three or even seven is normal. In the cities such as Córdoba, many people have dogs for security reasons: burglaries are frequent, and the houses are secured with cameras, fences, private security services – and dogs. In the countryside, security needs are different: When we visited a goat farm in Catamarca, we saw two bloodhounds whose main purpose was to keep the pumas away from the goats! – Argentine wildlife is something else… One woman, who had seven dogs, told us that in Argentina you do not buy a dog, you receive it for free from somebody who doesn’t want to keep it. She got her latest dog by accident: one day somebody threw the puppy into her garden, and she couldn’t bear to let it go. In smaller towns and in the countryside, a dog’s life is a very free and independent life: The dogs run around in the neighbourhoods and meet other dogs – and sometimes the result of this get-together is a surprise to the dog’s owner: In Catamarca, one host mum was seriously surprised when she returned from work one afternoon to find her dog lying under a tree in the garden – with two new-born puppies – and nobody knew that the dog was pregnant!!! Dogs in many other countries must envy the Argentine dogs for the bones they get: the remains from the dog owners tables are sometimes bones the size of a small dinosaur thigh.
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