some thoughts on

Right now I’m sitting on our balcony that overlooks Avenida Corrientes. The sun is setting and it’s pretty beautiful. As in all times of day, though, it’s extremely busy! See?

Almagro y Yatay

 

I live in Almagro, a working class barrio in the west of the city. It’s south of Calle Rivadavía which, it’s generally accepted, divides the city into its richer and poorer barrios. As I said, Silvia walked me around Almagro a bit on our first day but today was the first day that I was able to contextualize better the character of Almagro.

 

Yesterday morning, we took a tour with an awesome and adorable (and Jewish!) guide named Gabi around Retiro, one of the nicest areas of the city. The palacios of rich portenos past – generally the landowners of European descent – are in Recoleta. Plaza San Martín is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, as was the monument to Carlos Pelligrini and surrounding French and Brazilian embassies. Plaza San Martín spills into Calle Florida, a touristy shopping district that is also very beautiful. That part of the city, of which I have TONS more to see, feels very European, historical, and beautiful.

 

Where I live is completely different. I’m now looking onto dirty buildings. As far as I can see are tons of apartment buildings crammed into a tiny space, with a few multi-story houses with clothes lines hanging everywhere. Instead of the glamour of Retiro, the flavor is much more South American. We have kioskos everywhere, places where you can buy perhaps a bottle of soda or a card to recharge your phone. The stores are generally very utilitarian; rather than sell clothes, they sell paint or cheap lunch or photocopies. I like that a lot.

 

I walked home today, about 30 blocks, from Recoleta/Barrio Norte to Almagro. In some respects, probably a bad idea. It was over 90 degrees F today and I’ve had a dehydration headache for the past few hours. But I appreciated seeing so many different faces of the city. I am sure that I will continue to write about this until the cows come home, as it’s an integral part of the porteno identity crisis, but this city really does balance two very distinct identities. Two blocks from a packed Starbucks and Plaza Lavalle is the Paraguayan consulate where long lines seek Argentine citizenship and a better life. Really fascinating.

 

As for some other thoughts:

1)      Argentine women have a reputation for being really gorgeous. However, I am certain that men are the fairer sex here. Almost all of the Argentine young men are insanely attractive. Seriously so. One big caveat: someone should tell many of these attractive young men that removing their mullets would make them even better looking.

 

2)      I have been resisting picking up an Argentine accent and using vos instead of tú. It’s pretty fun to say Calle Callao in an Argentine accent (cay-yay cay-yao in normal Spanish, cay-jay cay-jao in Argentina) and to say “vos sos de Boston, ¿no?” but I feel weird copping something that isn’t authentically mine (or, rather, so unauthentic as no Spanish is authentically mine…). On the other hand, I don’t need to call any more attention to the fact that I am a foreigner by using an grammatical form that pretty much doesn’t exist here, as I seem to be doing a fine enough job of that on my own. I think I will lose this battle in the end. I give you full license to mock me.

 

3)      Instead of drawing bus routes on maps like normal cities, bsas has the Guia T. The Guia T is like an Atlas in which you locate an address on a map and then look at the corresponding box on the corresponding page to find which buses go to that place. The exact location of the stop isn’t marked, nor is it at all easy to determine which direction a bus is heading without assistance. This is some Southern efficiency, if you ask me.

 

4)      I passed a tattoo parlor today called True Till Death. It was in a shopping center called el Centro Americano or something similar and its explanation on the sign outside, aka that it was a tatuaje, was (the only one) in English. I am visiting ASAP to ask if they named themselves for the Chain song but I am asking in SPANISH. I would have today but I got shy.

 

I will post again tonight because I have something else to say but don’t feel like doing it now. I was going to go out tonight but I have, as I mentioned, a major headache so maybe not. If that’s the case, I will definitely post again.