Culture Of Argentina

Your chance to try another culture

BRINGING people together from different countries and cultures to increase international understanding has always been the mission of the Experiment in International Living (EIL), which this year is celebrating its 75th birthday.

Based in Malvern for decades, and currently headquartered in Malvern Link, EIL offers a wide variety of opportunities for young people - and not only young people - of all nations to visit other countries, study, work or volunteer abroad, and widen their understanding of the world and its peoples.

EIL is in fact an American invention, being founded there in 1932, but it was only a few years before it came to the UK, which is now one of 23 countries forming the Federation EIL. In 1989, Federation EIL was declared an official United Nations Peace messenger organisation.

With just nine employees working for its boards of trustees, EIL is highly effective, handling many hundreds of visits and placements per years.

And it offers a great variety of them, with something to interest any inquisitive young person who wants to find out more about the world.

Lorraine Lockyer, the organisation's development and training manager, said: "It was originally developed after World War One. The idea was to get people together to stop viewing each other as enemies and start forming links."

EIL was one of the first international organisations to pioneer the homestay, with visitors staying with host families, but what it offers now goes far beyond that.

It acts as a conduit for the European Voluntary Service programme, and the Leonardo da Vinci programme, an EU-funded scheme for young people who want to improve their working and language skills in another European country.

It runs medical and health schemes, which could mean anything from helping orphans in Argentina to working in a hospital in Sri Lanka.

It works together with another Malvern charity, HANDS, which works with disadvantaged communities in Thailand.

Its High School programme offers sixth-form-age students the chance to attend school for a term or a full year in a number of countries, including Germany, Argentina and Canada.

And its volunteering programme offers opportunities everywhere from Nepal to New Zealand.

One of EIL's newest programmes is not in fact 'international' at all, but it applies the same kind of thinking.

Changing Minds aims to bring together British young people from different backgrounds and cultures who live in the same area but seldom meet, to learn about themselves and others.

Markets in everything the culture that is Argentina — Marginal ...

Here at the Lujan Zoo near Buenos Aires visitors can ride lions, cuddle bears, stroke tigers and feed cheetahs. Cages are accessible to everyone who paid $50 and signed the paper saying that if you are eaten, the Zoo is not responsible.

Visitors can even pick up the smaller animals and manhandle them at risk to themselves and the creatures. Shockingly there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of safety regulations to protect either humans or animals and Internet blogs are littered with pictures of tourists with the animals.

Even children are allowed to enter the lion’s cage and fondle a range of animals that have the potential to kill or maim them.

“Would the waivers hold up in an Argentinian court?”

What a laugh. As much as I love Argentina, the entire place is corrupt. Waivers, schmaivers. To hold their court system, nay any part of their government to the type of scrutiny that we take for granted here in the US is absurd.

That place is run by the Golden Rule – he who has the gold, makes the rules. Until of course, you get nationalized and then eventually sold back into private hands. Head I win, tails you lose.

I still love that nutty place, but have no expectations that it will ever get better….

Reply

Where are the anecdotes of hurt or dead visitors? Would this be safe for American soldiers or should the US armed forces bomb the place with drones first?

I guess dying in an auto accident, from a gunshot wound or from dirty, particulate-filled air is socially acceptable but getting hurt by a “dangerous predator” is not. Come to think of it, the notion of cleansing entire human communities or destroying vast swathes of natural habitat for low-density housing are probably more socially acceptable.

North Americans make such interesting choices when it comes to managing risk.

Reply

And if the animals are not drugged or become resistant, we have evolution in action. Any parent that would allow their child near an unchained, top of the line predator should not have bred in the first place. It would be better to have the predator take out the parent, but one takes what one can get.

Kinda harsh, but this is stupid. Harms both the humans and the animals.

Reply

All the pictures look relatively tame, except for the guy swinging the bear cub by its hind legs. I would have liked to see him get eaten, all the rest not so much.

Culture and customs of Argentina

The Argentina reader, history, culture, politics

Argentina, The Culture

Culture Smart! Argentina, A Quick Guide to Customs and Etiquette

Fruit culture in Argentina