Shhh! It's Buenos Aires!

A city within a city
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Buenos Aires, Argentina

It has been raining for three days. The pool, which you can see from our rented flat, is just there to tease us.

Looking for the pulse in BsAs

We expected Argentina to be different than Brazil, but we didn't expect it to be this different.

saying hello to God in BsAs
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This is a big city, 10 or 12 million in the metropolitan area. It is an old city, more than 400 years. The residential density is a lot like New York or Vancouver's west end--nearly every block is stacked side-by-side with 10 or 12 storey apartments, most of them elegant French colonial style in response to a bitter move away from the Spanish style and Spanish rule of the past. The skyline of each block is remarkable and unique. Retailers occupy the ground floor, and every block is filled with small coffee shops and restaurants, book stores, hair salons, electronics stores and everything else you can think of.

Coffee is always served with soda or juice and cookies.
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And this density goes on and on and on, only occasionally interrupted by a small city park. I went for a jog the other night, and as far as I could go, block after block, filled with retailers and restaurants. It was hard to distinguish one block from the next (and easy to get lost.)

And it never gets dark in BsAs. The street lamps cast a dusk-like glow as soon as the sun goes down, and taxis and cars drive with their lights dimmed by half. Most of the roads are one-way, with expansive boulevards covering 16 lanes of traffic, and main roads with 6 lanes across. Not that those painted lines mean anything. Especially after 10 pm, where it seems that the traffic lights and signs disappear and the taxi drivers take over. There are thousands upon thousands of cabs. And they are super-cheap. There is always a cab available, just look for the wee red "libre" sign in the front window, but if you sit in the front seat, watch your head, as the passenger seat is pulled all the way up, to make banging your head easier.

John and the flower
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This is a tough city to get the feel for. John has taken to saying "Shhh! It's Buenos Aires", which is a very appropriate way to describe the Portenos (Argentines who live in the city of BsAs.) They are polite, and almost quiet, even though there are frequent street marches and protests, mostly about the employment problems, but also about numerous existing social injustices and a very slow justice system.

we have not been able to plug into the pulse of this city the way we had in Rio or Sao Paulo, but maybe it's because everything is so spread out and integrated. There is not one section of the city that is more lively than the next, not one park more popular than another...it's all one big homogenous blend.

monuments everywhere
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So far the entertainment we have seen here is smothered with rich Argentine Cheese. And under the cheese, just more cheese. But maybe we are spoiled, and we shouldn't compare this with Brazil, a country where "party" is in the blood.

Argentina is a country with a long history of political and social unrest, although the Argentine people seem to carry on, still going out for dinner at 10pm or midnight, still sipping a cold Quillmes beer and dragging on a cigarette, still dressing for a late night at the opera.

mas monumentos
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The youth of BsAs are like the youth of any modern city; much less interested in the formal culture of their parents and grand parents, much more casual. You would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between an Argentine teenager and one from North America.

One of the first things we noticed about Argentina, is that this is a consumer society, rich with selection and international brands. We also felt immediately safe here, so unlike the cities in Brazil. Maybe it the cops on every street corner. Sometimes, 3 or 4 copes for each block, and most retailers employ their own security guards. While we did not see any reason for all this security, it may be that all this security really works to deter crime.

posing in the park
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We see very few homeless people, and have only run into a few drunks (youths lost on the way home from the bar.)

We learned that the once-vibrant club scene was killed a few years ago after a fire in a bar killed 200 people, and the Portenos blamed the President for his inaction in monitoring and enforcing safety procedures. In response, he shut down all the discos for (more than a year?) while infrastructure was created. It seems the scene is still struggling to recover. We are trying hard to fit in, but most bars don't open until 1 am, and nobody goes out until at least 2am. and who can eat a full meal at midnight, then go out dancing? It all seems wrong to me... But at least we are trying.

Shadowy Men in BsAs
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Sunday- the sun is finally out, and we wandered a few markets (most of the shops are closed today). The markets completely sucked. The Antiques market was really just an excuse for people to sell their silverware and other household junk. The "hippie fair" in the big park was the usual collection of beads, woven bags, cheap silver rings and other crap. And not a beer or caiprihina in sight.

Oh well, we'll give the bars another shot tonight to see if this city has a pulse.