Buena Onda: Getting our bicentennial on.

On May 25, 1810, Argentina basically said, “Hey Spain, we don’t want you to have control over our government anymore. Get your controlling European-selves out of here inmediatamente.” And now, 200 years later, while I am living in this wonderful country, Argentina celebrated the bicentennial of its revolution. Throughout the week there were concerts, parades, and the much anticipated reopening of Teatro Colon in honor of the holiday. I could only make it to the celebration on Tuesday, May 25^th, but I was looking forward to finding out how Argentines party for their country.

Meredith and I were a few blocks into our walk, about ten blocks away from the center of everything, when she asked the pressing questions, “Where is everybody?” I’d been thinking the same thing since we stepped out of our apartment. The streets were virtually empty, and the few people we did pass showed no interest in their country’s holiday. I couldn’t help but think that if we had been in the United States for a celebration like this nearly every person would be wearing something red, white and/or blue. There would be people with their faces painted, American flags on every building, and the voices of people singing the national anthem as they walked toward the parade. This was not the case in Buenos Aires.

Though we did find a good amount of people congregating on the major road downtown, we were still shocked to find that not many people were sporting the country’s baby blue hue. While Meredith and I stood there in the middle of the road taking pictures of in front of the Obelisco (a national monument here that looks frightening similar to the Washington Monument), seven Blue Angel-looking jets flew above us. A few people started clapping while Meredith and I squinted up in the direction that the planes had come from.

“That’s it?” she asked after a solid minute of waiting for more planes. “200 years of freedom and they send seven planes? They couldn’t even make it an even ten?”

I laughed with her. I understood Meredith’s incredibility, but I kept telling myself that every country celebrates holidays differently and that we had to have faith that Argentina would pull through with a giant fiesta. We were in the nation’s capital on the 200^th anniversary of their independence. Something huge had definitely been planned.

We took some pictures of the newly re-opened Teatro Colon, met up with a friend for lunch and enjoyed the afternoon walking around the semi-patriotic downtown area. After sunset we headed back to the center to watch the big parade. From what I could tell each float told part of the story of the revolution. Some of the dancing and music was unbelievable. The parade moved too slow for us to stay and watch the whole thing – by this time we had been downtown for almost 8 hours – but we did get to see some of the more elaborate floats live.

Argentina celebrated its bicentennial the same way it does everything – in its own way and at its own pace. I had a great time celebrating with Argentina, but the day made me miss and appreciate the United States more than I have since I arrived here. This would have been an over-the-top, nationally televised, all-day extravaganza at home. We saw seven planes, a car show and a spectacular parade. I missed the patriotism.

But fear not, with the help of the Alamo and couple red-white-and-blue-themed care packages, Meredith and I are already planning the 4^th of July. We’re going to show this country how the celebration of freedom is done.