25 Years of Democracy

Argentina is celebrating 25 years of democracy. Well, I haven't noticed any celebrations, so maybe commemorating is a better word. Last night Hernan was channel surfing and he stopped on a documentary that featured people talking about the Malvinas War (the Falklands War), which was a half-hearted attempt by the failing military dictatorship to whip up nationalistic pride and maintain its power. Well, the war was a disastor and actually brought about the opposite. The military junta was kicked to the curb and Argentina returned to democratic rule. Again, I can't help see parallels with what is happening in the US now. A failing dictatorship (after all there was a coup in 2000) starts a war to increase its popularity and maintain its power. It worked better in the US than in Argentina, if only because defeat was not as immediate and definite. But here we are, on the verge of returning to Democracy, at least I hope.

I had acupuncture today, which was kind of hard to get to since I was up late last night with Hernan. He didn't get here until late and we didn't eat dinner until late and then we watched TV a bit before going to sleep. We did a bit of channel surfing and finally he stopped on War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise. At first we didn't know what it was but it seemed very odd and I thought Tom Cruise's acting was actually very powerful. We didn't see the end, but I imagine he transformed into a heroic figure who saves the world.

For some reason after that, I couldn't sleep. I was afraid I was having an allergic reaction to this new medication because my left palm near my thumb was oddly sore. It was sore all day but as I lay in bed it was throbbing. I lay there imagining me finally getting up and waking Hernan up in the other room and telling him I needed to go to the German Hospital. I guess I eventually dozed off, but I did not sleep much. When I woke up I was tired and feeling kind of achy all over. I also felt like I might be nauseous.

After acupuncture I didn't feel much better. I didn't feel like meeting Matias, my conversation partner for today, so I sent him a text telling him I wasn't feeling well and had to cancel. I never heard back from him, but I am assuming he got the message.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing with a brief trip to the gym.

It was fun hanging out with Hernan last night. Now that I am feeling better I feel more human and we spent the night speaking Spanish. I was feeling confident of my Spanish and he was very uncritical. It was fun for me to speak to him in Spanish because I really like the way he talks.

Hernan told me he could hear the bats outside my window. Right now the windows are open with the shutters closed so I get some air but hopefully no mosquitoes, but I don't hear the bats. I wonder if he was imagining them. It is Halloween after all.