Hola New Life

i should have mentioned the villa which surprised me in many, lucky ways. villa 31 is a sizeable villa (aka slums) located between an industrial area alongside the part, gracing the giant retiro station, and edging along one of the wealthiest streets in the city (hidden by a wall, of course). the government tried to eradicate the villa by putting up a ramp to the highway directly over some of the homes, but they refuse action erring on the side of progress. sam and i got a bit sidetracked and found a gracious lady who insisted we turn around and use the road on the highway to get to the bridge we were seeking rather than cut across the tiny road ahead of us. that was likely in our best interest. we found the church where my professor was waiting for us. the church was the first built in any of the villas by a very ambitious man and priest. he did a ton of social work in the area and prophetically stated "sueno que muero con ustedes" (aka, I dream of dying with you all). one year prior to the takeover of the military dictatorship of 1976, a paramilitary group known as el triple a assassinated him. a lovely old woman and a bolivian woman told me of a dinner that took place just before his death. it was held at an enormous table alongside many people that included french journalists. she kept saying that the food was so spicy! and even though the food was so spicy, he ate it all up! everyone else ate it all up too! i was charmed. in argentina, if there is the slicest hint of spice, it is so spicy! it is hard to find spicy foods here.
we were escorted by my professor and a man who lives in the villa all along, and, obviously, what ran through my head though most were the images of living there. of course they are quite poor comparitively, but it had a similar feeling to what an average town in the north or in bolivia or elsewhere would create. the biggest problem in the villas are young kids on drugs and theft among outsiders. of course, these things often accompany arms, but violence isn't as great a problem there.
i watched a very intense soccer match taking place there that sunday, and it was all very traquil. i have never seen serious soccer playing up close, and it unlocked something there, in that place.