Passion & Pride

One morning I woke up, removed my earplugs, and knew immediately something was different - I couldn't hear the roar of traffic from our next-door neighbour, the motorway. There were hardly any cars and when we went into San Telmo for breakfast, there were hardly any people, and everything was shut. We found one helpful man who told us that today was the day of the national census but also, in a tragic coincidence, the former president of Argentina and husband of the current president, Nestor Kirchner, had died that morning. All day the city was eerily quiet.

The next day, these posters were everywhere (Forever Nestor, Strength Cristina) and we headed to Plaza de Mayo, where a memorial service was being held in his honour. And true to Eva, the people did not cry for him, but rather sang and shouted - it was a wild combination of football match and street party.

A couple of weeks later, the plaza was host to the Feria del Orgullo, the Pride Festival celebrating the achievements of gay/lesbico/bi/trans people in Buenos Aires. BA was the first city in Latin America to legalise same-sex civil unions and they are now legal throughout the country. We didn't film the actual march but their website has some great shots. http://www.marchadelorgullo.org.ar/10-marcha.php