A Day of Contradictions

For my Spanish class I had to write a 3-page essay on one of the “heroes” of Argentina. It was a pro/con paper in that I read about the different heroes in history and then read a part of a book on one of the heroes in a book by an author who has broken apart the myths surrounding these heroes. For my paper I chose Che Guevara so I watched “Motorcycle Diaries” and read the chapter about how Che shouldn’t be considered a hero. Because of all I have learned about Che, I was eager to see the sites around Rosario related to him. Apparently Che was actually born in Rosario, Argentina. So, I am living in the birthplace of the controversial Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. However, his family didn’t stay long and moved to another part of Argentina while he was still young. Still, there is a signpost where his apartment was, and a mural of him in one of the plazas. One of the other people on our trip (one of the only two varones) also has an interest in Che, so we made a day of it to visit the different sites. As we were “touring” around we also discovered from our map that there is in fact a monument to Che as well (a statue in a different park) which we are planning on visiting before we leave because we ran out of time on Saturday.

The sign outside Che's birthplace

Chad and me in front of the mural.

The reason we ran out of time is pretty much in complete contradiction with “Che day” as we lovingly called it. August sixth is the anniversary of the first atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. In remembrance of this day and to promote peace, Rosario creates a beautiful memoriam called “Mil Grullas Por La Paz” at the Flag Monument. People from all over Rosario (and perhaps a larger region, I’m not sure) fold origami cranes and send them to the organizers who hang them up on August 6th at the Flag Monument. It was absolutely beautiful and most of them had names of schools or grades attached to them. I loved it and would have taken hundreds of pictures if I had allowed myself. For now I will only post these, but it was a beautiful reminder of the need for peace and a wonderful way to remind students and the general community of the need for peace.

La paz es fundamental