As part of my trip, I´m doing research on the ¨Once¨ neighborhood for my Urban Planning program. Once (the colloquial name for the neighborhood, based on it´s proximity to the Once de Septembre train station) is basically the Lower East Side of Buenos Aires. Today its less Jewish than it was, but the businesses (mostly garment wholesaling - the schmate business is a staple of the Jewish Community here also) remain Jewish, and most major Jewish institutions are still headquartered in Once.

Tuesday I took a tour arrainged by Deb Miller of Travel Jewish . Our tour guide was Sol (you can also book tours directly through him at salg@movi.com.ar), who started doing tours of Jewish Buenos Aires after the currency devaluation destroyed his importing business. The Jewish Community here is still reeling from the economic crisis, and while Argentina was somewhat of a cause celebre in the Worldwide Jewish Community a few years back, support has started to fade, while need continues. During our trip we gave Tzeduka everywhere we visited - I also gave to Lamroth Hakol the Synagouge I visited for Pesaj. To my relatives - I´d overlook the fact that it´s mainly a German-Jewish synagouge because it has very good progressive politics, and is a good place to donate if you want to help out here.

Anyway, we started at the immigration museum, went to the memorial for the 29 victims of the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy, and visited the AMIA (basically the JCC), which also suffered a bomb attack in 1994, killing over 80 people and injuring more than 300.

As you can imagine, security at the AMIA was insane. Not only do they not let you take pictures of any of the Jewish institutions (hence the lack of pics here), when I went back to do research I had to call the person I met there ahead of time (and they took my Passport until I left). Also, Sol told us that all the security guards are now privately hired and ¨de la collectividad¨ (meaning they´re Jewish), after both Policemen on duty during the bombings were found to convieniently be down the street having a cup of coffee and fixing his car, respectively. Both bombing cases still are not resolved - the Jewish community is currently appealing to the Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States, having given up on the Argentine government and Supreme Court. Demonstrations demanding justice still happen the 18th of every month, with a huge one every year on July 18th, the anniversary of the attack.

Argentina is based on a principle of encouraging white, European immigration in droves, while excluding everyone else. Jews originally immigrated to the Campo (countryside), only later moving en masse to Buenos Aires, where today the vast majority of Argentinian Jews live. Sol explained to us that Argentina does not have the greatest history with the Jews, but not a terrible one either. Among the darker chapters are Argentina´s harboring of countless Nazi war criminals, and the brutal military government of the late 70s and early 80s - which in addition to a laundry list of other crimes, was notoriously anti-semitic. In fact, even today Sol told us that Jews are not welcome in the Argentinian Police Force or Military. And when the AMIA bombing happened, Sol told us the first thing he heard on the radio about it was ¨over 80 people killed in a bombing at an Israeli target in Buenos Aires, 6 innocent victims on the street are also dead.¨ Never mind that the AMIA is a Jewish community building, not Israeli, the implication that those inside are somehow not also innocent victims gives a very large clue to the attitude of the Argentinian press toward its Jewish citizens.

In the AMIA building there is a memorial to the ¨Desaperacidos¨ or dissapeared. These are political prisoners that were kidnapped, tortured, and killed by the Military government. While not specifically targeting Jews, a largely disproportionate number of the disappeared were Jewish - the AMIA quotes 1900 out of 30,000 (the official number of desaperacidos is 10,000, but 30,000 is considered to be a much more accurate number).

In other news I went to Iguazu Falls this weekend. It's - well, it's wet. It´s also quite a waterfall (that´s not even the main waterfall below), but you only need about 3-4 hours at the most to see everything there is to see.

Is it worth the 36 hours there and back on a bus from Buenos Aires? Even though the buses here are great and really comfortable (and for only 10 pesos more you can sit first-class), I'd have to say no. We left two full days, and had to pretty much kill time for a day and half of it. You can also go to the Brazilian side, which is supposed to have a better view, and you can even go to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay for a little while if you just want another easy passport stamp. I would have been up for it, but the folks I went with were not at all. Instead we walked a little while to Tres Fronteres - the place where the borders of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina meet (separated by the Rio Parana). Check it out. That´s Paraguay on the left, Brazil on the right, and Argentina in the foreground.