As I write this blog post I am sitting in the living room of my apartment sipping yerba mate because today is a feriado/holiday! I am interning at a small non-profit in Córdoba, Argentina called the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Politics (FUNDEPS), however today the city turns 444 years old, so I do not have to go into work.
The FUNDEPS office consists of two small rooms on the 6th floor of an office building that fill up with a rotating cast of staff and volunteers each day. Their mission is to work towards creating more sustainable and inclusive policies at the local, national, and international level, with working groups in public health, gender equality, global governance and the environment (the group that I am in).
During my first week I worked on a variety of projects, including reading Argentina’s 2017 platform on the environment and writing a comment (well really a critique), comparing its commitments to those of other countries and encouraging more ambitious actions. I also joined a trip to the nearby city of Alta Gracia to investigate allegations that sections of a public river were illegally enclosed in a gated community. The past two weeks I have been working on a project looking into plans for anew landfill to be built outside of the city. I have been SLOWLY chipping away at a 120 page environmental impact report. In Spanish. So I have certainly been expanding my vocabulary!
Three interns and three staff members after an environment group meeting
Speaking of new vocabulary: anyone that thinks they speak decent Spanish, come to Córdoba and you will be humbled! They speak rapid fire Spanish with a smattering of local colloquialisms. I am starting to get a handle on the slang, but still speak at a snails pace, comparatively.
One of my favorite parts of Argentine culture is the way they drink mate! At work someone will make one cup of mate with one straw and fill a thermos with hot water. They then continuously refill the cup with water and pass it around the table for all to share. In the U.S. people would probably be worries about germs, but here it’s the norm to share with everyone around you! Last Sunday I went hiking at a STUNNING national park with three of my co-workers, and a half hour in, they pulled out a bag of mate, and we passed the cup around as we walked until we had used all the hot water.
Mate on a mountain!
Pushing through the wind at Quebrada del Condorito National Park
