Larrea

Monday 10 September 2007

This is our street, Larrea. It is named after Juan Larrea, who was a member of the "Primera Junta," the revolutionary think-tank that helped Argentina gain its independence from Spain, and governed the country immediately afterward. So, he's a founding father.

It's not unusual for streets to be named after famous people here - in fact, I would say that a HUGE majority of Argentine streets are named after 25 or so founding fathers, and a couple of important dates. Which means that there aren't really a whole lot of names to go around. You see the exact same street names repeated in every single town. There will always be a Mitre, a Sarmiento, a 9 de Julio, a Avallaneda, etc. Often, because of the rather elite class that ruled back then, you see the same surnames repeated several times within the same city, naming fathers and sons or unrelated people with the same important names. For example, here in Buenos Aires there are eight streets named Alvarez, after Agustín, Crisotomo, Acevedo T., Donato, Jonte, Julián, Prado Manuel, and Thomás. It can get a little confusing here.

But we figure it must be easy to set up a town - no wondering what to call streets or schools or hospitals! Ryan and I joke that there is some kind of town-start-up kit that outlines exactly which names are constitutionally required, and how big of a street each one deserves.